Any other DACs "click" like a Schiit Bifrost?

[Floosh]

Do any other DACs click like a Schiit Bifrost?

And when I say "click" I don't mean it in the good way, like "man that DAC really clicks with me." I mean it in the literal sense, that the box makes infuriating mechanical clicking noises when not being fed a signal.

I'll probably be returning the Bifrost because of this "feature" (Schiit assures me this annoyance is normal and by design) and I want to make sure any replacement does not do the same.

Any others to avoid?

 

[Catcher10]

Mine will have a light "click" occasionally on digital in (toslink/USB), when the song is stopped and then re-started. But in normal non-stop play no clicking during song switching.

I think it is normal. I have never heard/seen a Bifrost.

 

[sxty8goats]

I'm using a HRT Music Streamer II+ USB powered DAC on my computer at work. I had clicking and static burst issues with it initially. These were solved with a powered USB hub. The computer wasn't supplying it with enough juice.

Now it is silent when it isn't receiving a signal. Sounds beautiful with it is.

 

[ldatlof]

My DacMagic makes no clicks, whether it is receiving a signal or not.

 

[michaelhigh]

My bifrost rocks, I hear a slight click, that's just one way I can tell it's on. That thing works seamlessly. Best addition to my digital rig ever. I can't recommend it enough. Go to AudioAsylum and see how many folks over there have it and love it.

 

[ScramMan2]

None on the Rega DAC, or the Blue Circle USB Thingee I owned before.

 

[AlphaEcho35]

I have the Bifrost and the only click I hear is when I turn the unit on or off. I have never heard it click any other time. I use the optical SPDIF connection to a Sonos Zoneplayer. Is it possible that it is your source causing a dropped signal?

 

[jsixis]

have not heard my NuForce click once and it is always on

 

[Floosh]

Is it possible that it is your source causing a dropped signal?

One source is a CD changer where the Schiit clicks between discs, and if you pause the player, like to take a phone call, it clicks continuously.

The other is my macbook pro with various flac players. It clicks between some songs and playlists, sometimes without apparent rhyme or reason.

--

I listen about 12 feet from the DAC and even at that distance I find the clicks very disruptive to getting lost in listening. Schiit's response, that it's normal and wont hurt the DAC, misses the point, like telling someone nails on a blackboard wont hurt the blackboard.

 

[Skylab]

The Bifrost clicks (mechanically, not through the speakers) when the sample rate changes. But otherwise, it doesn't (unless are cycling your digital source on and off, or if you are changing inputs). I will hear the relay when my iPod (fed digitally to the Bifrost via the Pure i20 digital dock) changes from tracks I have at 44.1 kHz to ones that are 48 kHz. But if there are no such changes, it will go from one track to another with absolutely no "clicking".

I did have one other DAC that did this. Don't remember which. I think it has to do with the DAC chip that is used. My AVA DAC doesn't "click" even if the sample rate changes.

 

[perolator]

My ILTW DAC only clicks when powered on or powered off. It doesn't click otherwise.

 

[richamor]

My rdac is dead silent. Sometimes I get a click when I turn it on. I'd be sending that Schitt back

 

[Art K.]

I'm using a HRT Music Streamer II+ USB powered DAC on my computer at work. I had clicking and static burst issues with it initially. These were solved with a powered USB hub. The computer wasn't supplying it with enough juice.

Now it is silent when it isn't receiving a signal. Sounds beautiful with it is.

What powered USB hub did you buy?

 

[BadassBob]

My Benchmark DAC1 makes no clicks at all. A few years ago, I had a Behringer SRC2496 and it clicked when you switched sample rates.

 

[Dave54321]

My DACMagic clicks like crazy (mechanical clicks emanating from the box), but strangely only with redbook material (16/44.1 FLACs). When I play hi res stuff (24/88.2 or 24/96) it never clicks at all during activity, it just clicks once several seconds after the music stops (going into some kind of stand-by mode I guess?). But when I play redbook material it can sometimes emit an annoying click about once every 30 seconds or so. However, other times it behaves itself and doesn't click for ages. Weird. Does anyone have any idea what element is causing the clicks? I ask because I'm tempted to open the box to see if I can fix it, if it's something as simple as securing something that's become loose.

The source is a Squeezebox Touch with a USB-powered WD drive directly connected. The Touch is connected to the DACMagic with an optical cable.
I suspect it is the DACMagic that is defective, as it never made any clicking noises for the first 12 months or so that I owned it.

 

[Johncan]

My DACMagic clicked when I first got it. It clicked when lights or something electric got turned on or off in nearby rooms. I switched to a toslink cable and all the clicking went away.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

My HRT MSII was giving me clicking sounds, but it was really the fault of my under-powered (processor AND power) laptop and not the MSII. My laptop is an entry-level Compact, but it's served me well, but it needed a bit of extra help to work as the digital-audio-player of a computer-based stereo system. But throw in a couple of externally-powered usb hubs, a decent rca cable, and a software plug-in called Virtual Audio Cable, and I am getting click-free, jitter-free, detailed yet musical, high-end sound. Really-woke up my speakers and increased extension in a big, big way.

I'm really-impressed by the V.A.C. plug-in (Virtual Audio Cable). That really-kicked things up a notch. Initially, I had been having issues using both WASAPI as well as ASIO, but V.A.C. totally-fixed everything. Now everything plays fine and the sound has improved even beyond when I first got the Music Streamer (There's a noticeable difference in sound-quality between using VLC Media-player with the VAC plug-in and using Windows Media-Player which is NOT set up for the VAC program). V.A.C. seemed to tie everything into place. Now, everything is just right (i.e., the conditions have been optimized for the MSII to run properly, and boy, is it....). For those with under-powered laptops/computers (underpowered usb-hub and under-powered processor), V.A.C. might be a good solution to eliminate clicking/popping issues.

 

[mjw757]

As has been previously mentioned, the only time my Bifrost clicks is with a sample rate change. Mine is fed from a Squeezebox Touch using toslink. The SBT passes a signal through toslink even when paused or turned off. I think the OP's problem is with his CD player, not the Bifrost.

 

[dewdude]

My M-Audio only clicks when switching between 24 bit HD mode and standard mode....three clicks in fact.

 

[cdfac]

the clicking between sample rates is a mechanical relay throwing in most cases. my Denon DVD-9000 did this. each different sample rate has a different clocking setup (i think), and so some switching has to occur in the DAC circuit. depending on who you talk to, relay switching is sonically preferable to IC or transistor switching (i believe the Schiit website mentions this), even though the latter are mechanically quiet. my Accuphase integrated does all source switching, as well as some other settings, via relays too -- in that case it's to shorten signal paths and keep them freer of distortion.

you can also sometimes get relay clicking when playing back dirty or scratched CD's or otherwise error-ridden files. i've had this happen a couple times, IIRC, though it could have been relays inside the transport section... at any rate, if your DAC is clicking regularly during playback, that is a glitch in the relay control circuitry, and you should get it fixed. if it's clicking between back-to-back Redbook tracks (or high-rez tracks of the same rate), that's annoying, but it could be a design choice.

the white boxes are the signal relays:

EDIT: i should clarify that these relay noises are for the most part purely mechanical, emanating from the Denon's DAC section. there might be a slight audible thump or click in the signal, but i've never really noticed it. if you're hearing a lot of noise through your speakers when the Bifrost relays activate, that's probably a sign of a less than perfect implementation.