First split second of music tracks being replaced by a short 'click' :-(

[martinlest]

Hi. To me this problem is a real mystery - but I am in no way an expert in these things, so am hoping someone will be able to tell me exactly what the problem is, and how to fix it!

For a year or two, I have had my little HiFi Walker H2 'MP3' player connected to a Fosi SK01 headphone/pre-amp and from there to a pair of Sennheiser HD650s. I have never had any issues, and the sound (I listen to classical music, mostly) is great.

I decided to add a speaker setup last week, and being on a low-budget, went for a Fosi BL20a amp and a pair of Micca MB42X G2 speakers. The SK01 goes into the BL20a and the speakers are connected from that using the RCA terminals with bared speaker wire.

The problem is that, whilst listening on headphones is still great, all my music tracks played through the speakers start with a mild 'tick' and the intial fraction of a second of music is not played. Sounds awful, of course. The problem is always at the exact moment the music starts - any silence on the track before then does not cause an issue, it only happens as the music starts to play. If I keep starting the same track over and over, it will sometimes play as normal, but usually not. Once the track is over the initial hiccup, I don't hear any more ticks or clicks, not until I start a new track.

I have no idea whether the speakers or the amp are the cause: is the amp's bluetooth facility of the BL20A to blame, maybe?? It's turned off, ostensibly, but...? I have ordered a different Fosi amp meanwhile, to see if I get the same problem, but I may be barking up quite the wrong tree.

Hope someone can help me resolve this - I've spent a couple of days tryting to do so myself but, having had no success, am now feeling a bit miseranble about the whole thing!

Thanks!

Martin

 

[Gray]

I have no idea whether the speakers or the amp are the cause

You can immediately rule out the speakers Martin.
There's clearly an issue with the way the amp responds to the signal from the MP3 player.
As you've ordered another amp I think you'll get closer to a conclusion.

You say it's a different Fosi amp - presumably you mean a different model (and not just different, but still the same model).

Lets see what you find......

 

[martinlest]

Well, you were spot on, Gray; in the end, it seemed much more probable to me too that it was an amplifier issue.

Hope I am not speaking too soon, but the replacement Fosi amp arrived this evening (different model, without Bluetooth, which I don't need anyway) and after setting up, in half an hour of testing I didn't get any clicking at all as the music started up. Maybe a bit soon to say 'sorted', these things can kind of 'change their minds' overnight and I don't want to tempt fate, but I am quietly confident (and hugely relieved) the change in amps has, hopefully, fixed this (sending the old one back to good old Amazon for a refund).

Thanks for the reply 🙂