Detective Work
Posted on | June 12, 2009 | No Comments
Sometimes when something’s wrong in my signal chain, it requires a bit of detective work to figure it out. Recently I had the volume pot on my Benchmark DAC-1 replaced. It was getting scratchy sounding when I adjusted it, so I sent it to the factory for a replacement.
When it returned, I noticed that sometimes — even with the volume down — a bit of scratch noise would come through the speakers. “Weird,” I thought, “this didn’t happen before unless I was adjusting the volume.” So I e-mailed the company and they said I should disconnect the DAC-1 (which also acts as my preamp) from my power amps and see if the problem persisted. I did, and didn’t notice anything. So, I was sure it was the Benchmark.
The other day, I noticed a connection between the scroll button on the mouse and the noise. It would happen ever-so-slightly when I toggled between something or moved the mouse, now-and-then getting louder. The culprit, my wireless keyboard/mouse…which I got while my DAC was being repaired. Prior to that I was using a wired USB mouse/keyboard.
The thing that confused the situation was that when I disconnected the converter/pre from my amps, I’d always sit there very quietly (or go up to the speaker) to see if ANYTHING at all was coming out of the speakers. I thought that was verifying it to be the DAC/pre, but all it was telling me is that I wasn’t moving the mouse!
Comments
Leave a Reply
About This Blog
From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
We welcome comments from readers...pro or con!
