The SugarCube Is Here At Last...Clicks & Pops R.I.P.

3 Sugar Cube tips from the School of hard knocks:
Tip 1: Recently a user asked about the appearance of the screen on an SC-1 during an upgrade. His SC-1 was frozen so he couldn't access the online manual. It occurred to me your Sugar Cube might also be off. For some reason and you would like to check the manual without the need to power it up. Another thing that happens is your network may have rebooted and some other device used DHCP and grabbed your Sugar Cube's old IP address. Without access to the hardware you can't access the the web browser interface to view the manuals to see how to get the SC on WiFi again. They are just links DropBox so they are easy enough to reach without the SC being available. You just need the URLs.

With that in mind and while everything was working, I took a couple minutes to bookmark the 4 manuals for the SC-2 in my browser favorites. Might be a good idea for other users to bookmark the manuals for their SC's while everything is working. The manuals periodically update so it might be a good idea to check the version and date and update the links as needed.

 

3 Sugar Cube tips from the School of hard knocks:
Tip 2: If you are using WiFi and you let your Sugar Cube get its IP address via DHCP, you may run into a situation where you router reboots and another device grabs the IP addy your Sugar Cube had been using. When you try to access the SC you will get a message that the SC cannot be found on the network. 3 solutions to that with varying degrees of difficulty and time required.

The first is assign the SC a fixed IP address. If you know how to do this you should never have the problem again.

The second is to access the manuals to see how to set up the SC on WiFi from scratch. This why I mention in my post above about bookmarking the manuals so you can always reach them.

The third way is to enter a different IP in your browser. This is what I do, mostly out of laziness and having a large and complex network set up which I don't like to fool around with. Typically my SC grabs 192.168.1.3/5123 for an IP address and my MacBook Pro grabs 192.168.1.4. Once in a while my MacBook is speedier and grabs 192.168.1.3 and the Sugar Cube can't be found. The first thing I do is change the .3 to a .4. That usually does the trick. If not, it is very easy for me to go into my router. I have a bookmark to access my router via a web browser. I go in and look at all of the network devices and find out the address the SC did get. Then I replace the last number in the URL with that number. Takes less time to do than to describe.

 

3 Sugar Cube tips from the School of hard knocks:
Tip 3: Recently a user asked about the appearance of the screen on an SC-1 during an upgrade. His SC-1 was frozen so he couldn't access the online manual. I was typing my other two tips above this post and my SC-2 Mini went into upgrade mode. So I observed the LCD screen. It was interesting because it seems like there is more useful information displays onscreen during to upgrade. It had been a while since I have been up to actually see the process. So for you SC-2 mini users...

Currently the process goes like this: You hear a clicking sound as the Sugar Cube reboots. This is what tipped me off so I could watch. All 3 blue lights as well as the red Record light flash on and off simultaneously. The LCD screen has the typical empty TV channel static as it reboots. When the update starts, the static remains with a superimposed message telling you the upgrade is happening. When the update is completed the normal splash screen is present with another superimposed message telling you an update has occurred and to power off the SC and wait 3 seconds to restart it. This message seems new. You have always been told to your supposed to do this as per the manual, but I don’t remember the onscreen instructions. This is good. Maybe this message disappeared after a certain time passed. This remains to be seen. Before the only way you knew an update had occurred was suddenly your SC was in BYPASS mode.

When you do this shutdown/reboot you get the empty TV channel static. This is replaced for a few seconds by a blue screen. Then, and this next bit also seems new to me but maybe not. Instead of getting the B/W Sugar Cube logo there is a color Sweet Vinyl logo with a yellow progress bar at the bottom and a yellow multi-line message the top saying: “Sugar Cube is starting up. Be patient, It will be worth the wait". You still must remember to go into the “Repair” settings and turn BYPASS off.

Toggling the BYPASS on you see a brief message: “System Engaged:” that flashes on screen and changes to: “Audio repaired”. If you engage BYPASS you see a brief message: “Bypass” that flashes on screen and changes to "Audio: No Repair"

I would guess this is similar for the SC-2 Mini phone and the SC-2+.

 

There are several reasons for this post about the SC-2 series devices. First I want to amend something I wrote recently about a new feature that has just been temporary rolled back. There is also a long time feature that has also been temporarily rolled back. Secondly I wanted to mention a great new feature in the latest firmware. Lastly I want to mention an upcoming feature that will be great if Sweet Vinyl can pull it off.

It all started with the recent firmware upgrade I received for my SC-2 Mini about 6 days ago. This week I was doing needle drops of new LPs and I notice two things not working as planned. First of all the recording buffer would no longer let me store 12 sides. This happened twice. Recently Sweet Vinyl had upped the limit from 10 sides to 12. Also when I downloaded the processed 10 sides to my NAS drive they were saved as 10 separate zip files of 10 separate sides, not 5 zip files grouped by LP. This is a bit of a nuisance because it is a bit more work with more potential for accidents-don’t ask me how I know this.

Now I will be the first to admit I am guilty of not RTFM. Specifically the two New Features manuals. Instead I wrote to SV support on a Saturday no less. I heard back the same day. The told me nicely that had there were online manuals. Had I RTFM I would have found they rolled back the number of sides from 12 to the previous 10. People saving WAV or AIFF files were overflowing the storage. They are working on a solution that will base the amount of files you can save on the time and bit rate you are using. This will be great if they can do it.

According to Support they had temporarily turned off the feature that grouped albums by sides. Grouping by sides will be restored fairly quickly.

Reading the New Features manual I discovered a very nice feature they added. There is now a new tab called “System” in the “Settings” menu. There are some new items you can control including a toggle to turn on the new VU meters. The VU meters are found in the redesigned “Input Level” tab. You still get the red “Clipping Error” warning light but is nice to see where you are at level wise at all times.

 

I played around with the VU meter a few days ago. I’m not convinced it’s doing anything: even with no record playing my VU meter is bouncing all over (SC1+). Turned it off again for now.

 

I just noticed this too. I figured there was a recording buffer that causes the recorded signal to be delayed. It does not go away even 5 minutes later. Wicked weird.

 

After posting, I took a quick look again - now a few hours since I played anything through my SC - and the peak meter is "silent". So, yes, perhaps there is some buffering going on... either way, not particularly useful at present.

 

I risked it and used the VU meters to decide to set my levels to 0db from their previous setting of -6db. Way back in the day I had set this level, but I always ended up boosting the level a bit when I finished splitting the file in Fission. It looked like I could use the higher level and avoid boosting the final level every time. Now I am on the lookout for the Clipping warning since a little digital clipping is far nastier than analog. Unfortunately I confess I don't remember where you see the red "Clipping Detected" warning. Is it on the LCD screen or somewhere in the web interfaces? The new updated manuals tell you that you will get it, but not where you will get it ie: which tab of what screen?

Can someone point me in the right direction? TIA.

 

You see the "clipping detected" on the app screens.

 

Thanks.
Does it pretty much show up in all of them? Off to the right in the right margin?

 

Don't know about all of them - I've only encountered it a few times myself.

 

Hello everybody, I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I am very interested to buy the SC-2 Mini for my listening pleasure and digitizing some of my beloved vinyl records. I have a few questions, but I don't know if this is the right place and thread here or if I should start a new thread?

1. What is the best source to order the SC-2 Mini if you are in Germany? I think it is Music Direct even though I would need to add the shipping costs, custom fees and import taxes to the price of 2.500$. Correct?
2. Has anybody tried to start a kind of business with digitizing customer's records or collections in a professional way with the SC-2? The workflow seems much easier, not so time consuming and with better quality results then with software tools like Adobe Audition, Click Repair, XLD or iZotope RX. Would be interesting, if there is any market or demand for that?

Regards,
Roland

 

Hey Roland, welcome to the forum!

I believe your point #2 would be technically illegal in a lot of countries - it’s copyright violation, even if it’s being done for the owner of the records in question.

 

Ben, Point #2 may not be a legal problem, at least so long as the original vinyl source is returned with the digital copy to the original owner. There used to be allowances for back up copies, which for most people meant things like cassette tapes. There was never a concern with analog backups, because degradation was built in. So unless a country produced a broad prohibition that superseded the purchasers rights (from when a given album was originally produced) retroactively, I think the cleaned up copy would be okay.

What would likely be illegal almost everywhere would be for the owner (or the business making the copies) to start distributing digital copies. Owners typically have a right to a back up copy for personal use only.

 

Hi all, I have a couple of questions for the owners of SC-1 mini and SC-1 Plus, if I may.

- Does the bypass work when the unit is powered off fully?
- Can you turn it on/off any other way than the toggle at the back? It may be a bit of a hassle for me to reach all the way to the back where I want to put this thing. (in a media cabinet)
- For plus owners, can you engage the pop/click removal but not SVNR? I.e. is SVNR toggleable independent of click/pop removal? How about SVNR strength, can you dial it separately?
- Is there any way to turn off or dim the LCD screen (or does it dim itself after a while)?

Kinda between SC-1 mini and Plus here. To describe my situation:

• For me, the cost difference is not prohibitive but not insignificant either. Would be buying from UK (probably AnalogueSeduction, if I can't find a second-hand unit).
  
• I am intrigued by the hardware upgrades in Plus and don't think SVNR is super crucial (nice to have if needed I guess?)
  
• My collection has been bought mainly new/mint, some near-mint or lower but either due to pressing quality/QC at the plant or an odd scratch due to the abominable, deplorable, punishable-by-death paper inner sleeves, audible defects during playback is affecting my enjoyment of the medium. What can I say, I am a kid (34yo) of the digital age (though I have dabbled with cassettes in 90s) so we are spoiled rotten by clean audio.
• Will probably use the unit when I encounter a noisy record/track, or playing one I know it to be noisy. Don't think I'll keep the unit "in effect" when not needed.
  
• I have a decent analogue chain (Clearaudio Ovation, Hana ML, Primare R35, Gato DIA-250S NPM, Focal Electra 1030BE) so if there's an audible difference due to the improved guts of the Plus that my system can resolve, that would sway my decision.
  
• I have a Degritter so I guess the records are as clean as they can be so I am looking for something that will prevent me from getting upset when listening to some very expensive plastic (especially rhythmic clicks a scratch would cause)

Would love to get opinions from owners to help me decide between these two models.

Cheers,

 

Thanks Kevin! It's great to hear that the SVNR is separately adjustable. I also guess/hope the unit remembers the settings between on-off cycles?
Also, you just reminded me that I can solve the power on/off inconvenience w/ a smart plug as well.
Any chance you can chime in on the "bypass when off" and the "LDC Light" questions? I see the LCD thing might be different for SC-2s though...

Edit: got an answer to my LCD question in a Youtube video, looks like the screen turns off after about 15-20 seconds of last interaction

 

Yeah, it probably is a SC-1 thing! Maybe dot-matrix LCDs are wired differently than the coloured ones in SC-2s. Would be great if someone confirms that the newer models of SC-1s do also have that dimming displays.

On the bypass-when-off thing, I just want to understand, when the unit is in the analogue chain (like TT => Phono => SC => Integrated => Speakers), if I have to turn the SC-1 on to have the signal pass through it, or if can just leave it off.
^this is not super-duper important as my Phono has an additional XLR balanced out besides RCA the that I can directly go into the Integrated if needed as a parallel chain, but I am just curious =)

Thanks,

 

My SC1-mini is in bypass mode (audiophile relay in the closed position) when it is off. So you don’t need the unit ON to pass the signal through.

 

I will state from the outset that I am an SC-2 Mini owner but a few comments:

• You may still want to do some listening tests when you get your SugarCube because you may find that you can't hear it in operation. When I got my unit in June 2020 my plans was to only use it primarily for used vinyl and NEVER for audiophile pressings which I was starting to buy in greater and greater quantity. The SC proved to be remarkable in its ability to do its job and be inaudible. I quickly threw some Analogue Products double 45's at it and some MoFi One Steps at the Sugar Cube. I did this just to see how much it impacted the sound quality on a really high quality pressing. It didn't to my great surprise. Through my speakers and through my headphones I couldn't hear a difference. Once I thought I hear a difference in sound stage on one LP, but it wasn't something that was reliably repeatable and was very nebulous. These days I leave my click and pop removal setting at 5 and leave the Click and Pop Removal on at all times. Once in a while I still use BYPASS just to check when I get a new audiophile grade pressing, but the results are the same. The benefit is I hate clicks and pops with a passion. I used to know where the clicks occurred on many of my records and dreaded their upcoming playing. Even the best quality pressings can have the odd click, even after cleaning them with my UCM. So to my ears, on my TT and cartridge, on my speakers or headphones, with the SC set to 5: I have yet to hear the Sugar Cube in operation other than the click and pops being removed. These days the less things to think about, the better. YMMV, but others posting on this thread have echoed this experience.
• SVNR is intended by SweetVinyl for the removal of clicks and pops as found primarily on 78RPM pressings and early analogy tape recordings. It is not really intended for modern records. If you don't have recordings of this type you MAY be wasting your money for a feature you do not need or will never use. The reason I said MAY is because I don't know if the newer SC-1 Plus, which has newer hardware, has better implementation of the standard Click and Pop Removal than the Sc-1 Mini which is a year older. I do believe @Joel Cairo has the SC-1 Plus and can comment on the SVNR aspects and if it has any use other than old recordings and if it is improved in the Click and Pop Removal department.

 

Fantastic to hear, thanks! Would you please be able to confirm if the display in your unit dims after a while, or it stays on indefinitely?

@Jim0830 Thank you for your input on the continuous use, it's great to have anecdotes like this from an experienced view for people like me trying to understand what it is like using a unit like this day-to-day and how it behaves.
I indeed do not possess any 78s yet, nor planning to acquire any, so if there's no practical application or benefit of SVRN for modern vinyl (post 60s), or if Plus does not offer any further benefit for Click/Pop algo over Mini, I may use the cost difference to get an Outer Ring instead.
Warp is real nowadays with new vinyl.

Cheers,

 

Mine does maybe after 30 secs. I’m guesstimating coz I never really timed it.