lol maybe it's just too many post in the past 2 pages but i've mentioned in an earlier post that I currently use 2 sources for my pontus ii (bought direct from vinshine in april). 1) node2i via toslink - worked without any issues up until 2 days ago after I updated the node2i's firmware. turned on clock trim and it's working fine now just like before 2)marantz cd6006 (cd player) via coaxial - works without any issues and just noticed you are from portugal! I used to live in macau.
I think it comes down to the accuracy of the clocks, both in the DAC and the streamer. If they are close in frequency, the buffer probably has enough range to avoid the problem. I suspect the DAC clock accuracy improves as you move up the model range. An inexpensive streamer such as the Node 2i is likely to have less accurate clocks so your likelihood of experiencing this problem is somewhat the luck-of-the-draw, and probably higher probability with the lower end Denafrips DACs (since they also probably have more clock frequency variability). Nothing against the Node 2i - I own four of them and they deliver excellent performance for the price, but they have to make compromises somewhere to achieve what they do for the price. I don't know how deep the buffer is that Denafrips uses, but I have not heard about this issue with other DACs that use a reclocker, so perhaps there is hope. It's possible that their current firmware does not reset the buffer with every song, so once the buffer overflows or underflows, it continues to do so until the DAC is reset. It seems to me that the best solution to this problem would be to 1) reset the buffer on every song (anytime the samples are zero value for more than a specified time interval (1 sec?), and 2) recognize when the source clock is slower or faster than the DAC clock, and adjust the starting position in the buffer accordingly to maximize the time before it overflows or underflows. For the first 10 months that I had my Terminator, I used an AES connection from a Bryston BDP-2 streamer and never experienced this problem. But since the Bryston is many times the cost of the Node 2i, I suspect it has a more accurate clock and never hit the buffer limits. For the past year, I've been using USB into a Gaia, and then I2S into the DAC (Terminator until Feb, then Terminator Plus). I haven't experienced this issue with this configuration either, but I would not expect to. I'm not sure if the Terminator was reclocking the I2S input, but both the Terminator and Gaia use very accurate clocks. Since switching to the Terminator Plus early this year, the Gaia uses clocks generated by the T+ so no opportunity for clock mismatch.
Correct. With USB you are only using one clock and there are no problems. With the other inputs two clocks are involved and sometimes (not always) there is an incompatibility that causes the buffer over run. So we now have one Pontus reported. We haven't seen much about Terminator problems but I think thats down to those that own Terminators mostly using Jays transports and USB.
Do we have 1 pontus ii user having persistent problem though? maybe i missed it in the previous pages.
This may be naïve question but I am looking for some clarity. I have recently purchased a Pontus II and and I am extremely pleased with the sound. I am considering adding in the Hermes DDC and with HDMI Is2 input into Pontus. I understand what happens with the USB signal but should I expect an improvement with the sound from my CD Transport which would be coax into Hermes? Currently the CD is coax into Pontus II.
Yes, me, and there are others on other forums. Again, why would anyone imagine that a machine with same basic (buffering) architecture might be immune from the issue? But to repeat, while it is technically "persistent", it is also infrequent.
Just for balance, and to add to Tony's post above, yes, there is an issue, but it is now so infrequent (and only affecting the Node 2i very occasionally) that it's not really a big deal, and easily compensated by the overall brilliance in sound quality of the DAC, its build quality and overall value. I'm not unhappy! But I would be happier if they resolved this
damn that's no good - I know how annoying the issue could be since I was getting the micro skip /static pretty frequently - feeling lucky now that i was able to fix it via clock trim toggling. hope there could be a firmware fix soon!!
100% - I love how my pontus ii sounds and was pretty bummed when the micro skip/static started happening after the node2i firmware upgrade. Hope others can find a way to fix it somehow as well! Now the question is why some ppl for example have issues with their node 2i into pontus ii while I was able to fix it on mine. Over the past 2 days I've probably spent 8-10 hours just sitting infront of it and have not heard any more micro skips since the fix.
This is a similar problem from Reddit: Bluesound NODE (N130) popping since update 3.16.1 with external DAC Hi, Last week I updated my 2021 NODE to version 3.16.1. Ever since the update I hear popping noises when playing audio through my Topping E50 DAC, which is connected with an optical cable. When I put the RCA cables back into the NODE, no popping or crackling appears. I can hear popping regardless of source: Spotify, Qobuz, HDMI ARC. Is this a known issue or do you have any suggestions? I am certain that before the update the sound was fine. Bluesound is coming up with a FW update to solve this. So far I have only seen acknowledgements and solutions from the streamer side. I recall iFi Zen Stream also having such issues. But has anyone come across a solution from the DAC side?
Given I updated the firmware only about 3-4 days ago i believe 3.16.1 (released on Nov 23) was the one that end up causing my issues (now fixed via enabling clock trim - bizzare ..) I bought my node2i back in Feb this year so it would likely have had 3.12.13 (released nov 2020) on it - did not have the micro skip/pop issue from the get go when i got my pontus ii in late Apr this year as i didn't update the node2i firmware at all since new.
and just more fyi for folks - for ****s and giggles i went and turned clock trim off again and within 2 tracks i started getting micro-skip/pops/static. Definitely worth a try playing with that toggle depending on your setup/firmware with the node2i.
Yes but you recently got A Jay's transport and are no longer experiencing the problem with your CD source. If you had to go back to your Cambridge as a CD transport I bet you would be a lot more bothered. So it's all relative to if and how often one experiences the problem. For me everything I send to my Venus triggers the over run and results in a skip every 15-20 min on average. But I agree, putting that issue aside, it does sound brilliant.
Totally. I would be more than pissed if I buy a venus ii and can't get around the micro skip/pop/static issue. Somewhat glad the venus ii was out of my budget looking back. @Tony C. can you pm me the link to the other forum where other pontus ii users are having issues? Would love to understand if there are things different between their set up and mine (i.e. using node2i and firmware#).
That's true, and I do think Denafrips should be fixing this as a matter of priority. I don't think that the Venus will be more prone to this than the Pontus, though it's certainly possible.
Apologies if this has been posted previously, but it is a clear explanation of the "micro-skip" issue that was posted by "jaytor" on Audiogon last April, and Alvin responded with a full endorsement of the explanation.
the venus ii to pontus ii part is what I don't get - I think the content Tony pasted here is a good start. Given I did not have any issues with node 2i --> pontus ii via optical for the longest time until I updated the firmware in the node2i perhaps that changed the node2i clocking somehow and then it started skipping/popping. I wonder if there is a way to down grade the firmware in the node2i to perhaps the firmware I had originally that did not have any issues with the pontus ii - this may be a possible fix for venus ii owners (all) other any other pontus ii users (if any). I looked at the audiogon link Tony shared and it's dated back to mid 2020 - it was likely referring to pontus i because pontus ii wasn't even a thing until late 2020 even though the upgrade was supposedly just power and dsp board but i'm wondering if they did anything else behind the scenes.
My Pontus II also suffer from the “pops” when connected to a Cambridge CXC transport. After reporting this to Denafrips, Mr. Alvin Lee send me a Firmware update that not only completely fixed the problem but (to my ears) improved the sound too. This was last month. I must say that customer service at Denafrips is second to none: careful, fast and resolving
this is awesome to hear and i also wonder if there is an core difference between venus ii and pontus ii since @oktapod is still having issues with his venus ii. When was the venus ii released?
I really recommended to everyone with Pontus or Venus issues to contact Denafrips directly. They will gladly help.
Alvin’s well aware of my issues with the Venus II, so I am assuming that there’s no ‘fix’ available yet. He has been very helpful thus far, but (AFAIUI) no fix yet…
and so bluesound replied to my ticket to them. if you started having the micro skipping/popping just very recently only on a node then it appears to be an issue with the latest node firmware. "Thank you for contacting the Bluesound Support Crew. After our recent interaction, our engineering team was able to replicate your specific issue in our labs. Our Quality Assurance team has identified a timing issue with the digital output. This issue seems to affect the COAX output (but is not limited to) in conjunction with older model DACs. Our engineering team will look into this further and release a fix as quickly as possible to resolve the issue identified in BluOS 3.16.1 and the audio dropouts you experienced in the previous releases of BluOS. Please follow this thread for the latest updates. We apologize for the inconvenience." Apparently there is a newer firmware that may fix the problem on the node but its only available for the newest node. Node2i or older still does not have a newer firmware yet.
Hmmmmm... but none of the Denafrips DACs are exactly 'older model DACs' (to use Bluesound's phrase). The acid test will be whether Bluesound can be bothered to release an update to the older models. Node 2i was a current model until very recently, so they ought to do the right thing by us,...
