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

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by DigMyGroove, Nov 12, 2017.

  1. Technocentral

    Technocentral Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    The scratches/surface noise samples are in hip hop going back to the early 90s, not new.
     
  2. Joy-of-radio

    Joy-of-radio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central ME
    I’m showing my age once again as anything from 1980 forward is new to me.

    While I’m entirely digital now, this subject of noise removal fascinates me. This “SugarCube” does an impressive job especially considering it’s performing its task on-the-fly! If I had phonograph records, I might consider getting one as opposed to performing manual noise reduction, which can be very tedious. I’m skeptical by nature and training, so I’m still mystified and curious as to how this “SugarCube” differentiates extraneous noise from sound intended to be heard. I have a basic understanding of how digital extraction works, but in those instances, the sound to be extracted is selected by the end user.
     
  3. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I'm no expert but I do know some of the basics. The impulse response (shape) of surface noise is fairly unique and doesn't appear in music unless intentionally used as a stylistic choice. It's almost never musically 'in time' with the underlying sound. These facts alone make digital surface noise removal less troublesome than you might expect. That SweetVinyl does it so well, leaving the source mostly intact is the secret sauce we're paying through the nose for.

    Electronic music fares less well (but still impressively) on the SugarCube as these sounds can resemble the loud snap of dirt in a groove. But I don't think this will be an issue for you.

    I can't imagine that you'd be dissatisfied with the result. My only caveat is that the hardware is prone to glitches and SweetVinyl are very slow to respond to issues.
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2022
    Panama Hotel and Old Zorki II like this.
  4. Old Zorki II

    Old Zorki II Storm Watcher

    Location:
    near Tampa, FL
    I think bugs are not that terrible for regular SC-1 devices, it is SC-2 with all its recording logic had some issues.
    Only one annoying issue popped-up recently (device turned click removal off after the side is over), and it was recently fixed in a matter of days.
    As of "intentionally introduced" pops and clicks - I have several such records, including Lindisfarne, Neu!, etc where they emulate (or record) beat-up old records. In every case Sweetvinyl remarkably preserved those clicks and pops removing only defects of an actual vinyl!
     
  5. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Every four or five days my unit stops outputting sound and I have to reboot. It's happened twice since the update to 2.3-577. Anyone else having this?
     
  6. Johncan

    Johncan Always learning

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    No, not yet.
     
  7. dangorange

    dangorange Forum Resident

    Location:
    Natick, MA
    It’s happened to me a couple of times too
     
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  8. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Thanks. Glad it's not just me.
     
  9. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Had a another issue on the latest firmware. Similar to last week the music glitched. This time it happened four or five times before the unit stopped outputting processed sound.
     
  10. Old Zorki II

    Old Zorki II Storm Watcher

    Location:
    near Tampa, FL
    My unit still running 2.3-531. Update in 8 days.. Absolutely no issues. Perhaps I should remove ethernet cables to stop updating until more stable version released.
     
  11. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    It's frustrating that I have to be so wary of updates. An option to disable them would be a simple solution. In an ideal world we could choose what firmware to use. The one just before 2.3-577 was running nice.
     
  12. Aq07

    Aq07 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Anyone experiencing issues saving to USB? Latest update to 2.3.596 seems to have created issues with saving to USB.
     
  13. dangorange

    dangorange Forum Resident

    Location:
    Natick, MA
    Interesting observation regarding this 2.3-577 update. Now when I compare bypassed to click repair, I detect a very slight boost in volume during repair, previously it was the opposite.
     
  14. dangorange

    dangorange Forum Resident

    Location:
    Natick, MA
    Another observation that I’ve heard mentioned before but never noticed until now. I detect this quiet but constant ticking sound on only the left speaker. I only realized it was present after I had no record on but the click repair was still engaged. When I played a record, it was obviously there in the audio during click repair, but not bypass.

    I can’t recall but is there a fix for this and is it tied to software updates?
     
  15. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Does the clicking still happen after going in and out of bypass mode? That extra delay in 2.3-577 is supposed to clear the repair buffer and fix the clicking.
     
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  16. dangorange

    dangorange Forum Resident

    Location:
    Natick, MA
    I'm not sure, and now it's not just the left apparently. It's subtle, but definitely noticeable when playing records. Since I'm not sure what this is, I took a short video showing what I hear when click repair is engaged compared to bypass, with no record playing, just the system on and ready.

    Dropbox - IMG_9552.mov - Simplify your life
     
  17. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Sounds very much like the clicking issue. Weird that it's coming out of both channels. Does it go away if you reboot?
     
  18. dangorange

    dangorange Forum Resident

    Location:
    Natick, MA
    I have not rebooted, but I will in the morning and report back.
     
  19. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    If you catch this in time. Be sure to try going into bypass before rebooting. It'd be cool to know if this new buffer clear feature actually does stop the clicks.
     
  20. dangorange

    dangorange Forum Resident

    Location:
    Natick, MA
    I still have not rebooted, was going to do that soon! Are you saying to make sure bypass is selected before powering off the unit?

    I usually have it set on bypass and only use click repair for records that truly need it, although I have been getting lazy and keeping repair engaged more than I thought I would.
     
  21. Dischord

    Dischord Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Malmoe, Sweden
    So that's the reason for the new added delay, I was wondering why that had appeared.
     
  22. GuildF512

    GuildF512 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Merritt Island Fl
    My guess is that clicks and pops have different sound parameters or signatures if you will from other audio that is music. The Sugarcane digitizes the sound and a constant comparison is performed to detect these irregularities within very short time frames analyzing them against stored . I would also suspect the the sugarcube then fills in the gap with a sum algorithm to fill in where it took out the anomaly. The previous statement of the ADC and DAC definitely plays a part in the quality of the sound.
     
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  23. GuildF512

    GuildF512 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Merritt Island Fl
    Looking at the update section on the sugarcube, I noticed a different pending update.

    Sugarcube Desktop App download

    GET Linex App

    note: currently unavailable, but coming soon
     
  24. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Press bypass. Wait a second and then press repair. According to Sweetvinyl that should stop the clicks you're hearing. Assuming what you're experiencing is the same issue that has been noted here. The fact that you're getting it in the right speaker isn't the norm.

    Otherwise just reboot and see if that stops it.
     
  25. WDeranged

    WDeranged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Yeah. I'm not keen on the delay. Feels janky. But if it truly stops the clicks without a reboot I suppose it's worth it.

    I decided to revert to factory firmware while these new issues get ironed out.

    It's pretty striking how much faster the app is to respond. Even turning the knob on the unit itself changes the OSD faster. And of course bypass is immediate without the new delay.

    My SC-1 Mini feels sluggish with the newer firmware. Maybe it's not the same for SC-2 owners?
     

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