I can relate. I just got a VG copy of a holy grail in the mail today that I've been looking for for 4 years now. A quick clean with my UCM and playing through the SugarCube...wow! A few minor ticks here and there but essentially sounds almost like new. "It's good to be the king"
SweetVinyl (SV) should really warn prospective buyers that the Sugar Cubes may have issues with EDM and other music with signal characteristics similar to clicks and pops. I am not holding my breadth that SV can fix this issue completely, as it is probably very difficult (and processor intensive) to distinguish defect versus music click sounds. I inquired about this clicking issue before buying last year (Feb 2021?) and did not get an adequate response. I bought anyway and my unit has been perfect, but I mainly listen to jazz.
I got a pretty rough looking copy of Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads from my local shop. I got him to knock £5 off the price. It sounds excellent with the Sugarcube at 5.
My SC-1 has been great lately until this evening. It would not engage repair so I rebooted it, first time I've had to in a while. Once it restarted it worked again, but now I'm getting those little clicking sounds on the left channel only. Tried rebooting again (which has worked in the past) but no luck. I'm on version 622, anyone else have issues with the clicking? I've all but given up emailing them since they've never gotten back to me in the past. Wonderful device (when it works) terrible customer service.
I don’t think there’s a desktop app. But you can use an internet browser on your computer to access the SC via the IP address + port
The good news is that life without the SugarCube, should you ever be forced down that route, is survivable. I stopped using mine some months ago now due to the "tinks" issue I previously raised where something in my setup causes an artificial little "tink" sounds to be left behind after declicking (I 100% accept this is not a SugarCube issue BTW) and which I found worse to listen to than just the original clicks. Over that time I've once again learned to embrace the full vinyl experience, clicks and all. I do miss the SC, but you can certainly live without it.
No there is indeed a desktop app. It is not in the Mac App Store right now and I suspect it will never be. However, that is just my own guess. To download the app, access your Sugar Cube through your Mac or Windows browser: The KEY is to go to Support>>Updates where you will see a link: Download and install: Lest there be any doubt, here it is in my Applications Folder: The "Get Info" Command Clearly shows it is a Mac App on my hard drive : As I mentioned in my February post: the only thing wonky for me is you cannot access the various manuals via the Mac app. It launches in DropBox but I only get a non-scrollable single page. I got an email from DropBox prior to this telling me not to update to OS 12.2 because this version of DropBox doesn't fully work with this version of the OS. Only one little problem: you see 12.2 came installed on my 16" M1 MacBook Pro. But I can still view the manuals on my iPad or iPhone. So I suspect this is only true for people running Mac OS version 12.2. It is not Sweet Vinyl's fault.
BTW, after your "tinking" issue I tried very hard to listen on Grado Statement3, Benz Micro Wood SL and AT OC9/III (rest of my carts are high gain or MM). Could not detect any tinking with Pass XP-15 or Gold Note PH-10... May be I just have a dumb luck... I got my SC-1 mini in 2019 (my unit #26) and really never had any issues. One update lately introduced switching to bypass after the side - but it was fixed very quickly.
Thanks, it's helpful to see this information. What's particularly frustrating is that I heard this on my previous turntable/cartridge too. And through two SCs, the original SC-1 and my new SC-1+. Which seems to suggest I got exceptionally unlucky with my hardware choices (Rega RP10/Apheta 3, and now Brinkmann Bardo/My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent). I also hear the same tink now when I use iZotope RX to declick my rips. The friend that I passed the Rega/SC1 onto also hears the tinks, so it has to be related to something in the turntables. I'm pretty sure that on the older Apheta 2 cartridge I used on the Rega there were no "tinks", suggesting it's the cartridge. I've got my eye on the DS Audio optical system for my next cartridge upgrade some time in the next couple of years and will be certain to check for tinks with the SC1+ before I buy as I'd be more than happy to welcome the SC1+ back into my system.
I had the same problem with my SC-1. Except going from bypass to repaired resulted in no sound. I did a factory reset but now it won't connect with the Sweetvinyl server for updating. They told me it had to be returned for the s/w load. waiting to get it back.
I heard recently DS Audio cartridge (the second one from top, do not remember model) but with EMM Labs pre (not DS Audio). Transients were to die for, never heard such speed from vinyl. But cymbals were a touch unnatural, perhaps it was electronics.. The same track played with Van Der Hul cart (pretty expensive one) sounded slower and less dynamic, but cymbals were spot on)).
Played a bunch of 78's yesterday, works very well on those too. They seem to be pretty tough, even very well used looking ones play well.
Words of advice... Until SV gets religion about describing in detail what their firmware updates actually "update" ... get your box up to a level of performance that meets your satisfaction, and then get it off the interwebs. For what these units cost, the update history/revision logs should be much more detailed then they are. It's pretty much a joke, how they are approaching currently - TBBH. I know this is a terrible option for those with built-in recording functionality, but for those with the non-recording models - save yourself the grief. Remove your box from the bs path. I purchased the SC-1 Plus exactly for reasons like this.
I completely agree. The user experience feels a decade out of date. At this price the firmware lottery isn't acceptable.
I have absolutely no issues with my SC2-Plus. Just to provide some "equal time" commentary... - Kevin
You've been a vocal supporter. The question is would you publicly state it if you were experiencing issues?
I also was vocal supporter, and I definitely would raise concerns - but I just had nothing 2.5 years running with ,y SC-1 mini, outside of this recent "switch to bypass after playing the side" issue, and it lasted 10 days and fixed by update. I also keep it online and received every update... Perhaps it is combination of my equipment and listening habits (ie almost no electronic music).
Really? Even the simplest of modern devices that employ firmware, offered by the newest of companies, know it is incumbent upon them to have Change Log/Revision Histories that are technical enough to inform customers of what has changed and allow those customers to make informed choices. So again ... really? Oh I got it. Let's have the SC customer base all light up the SV inbox to ask for details. ( ... you obviously haven't read much of this tread and the poor response times from SV support ... ) It's a lot easier for the development team to publish the details on their end. Computer part manufacturers do it all the time with way more products to cover - - just one obvious example. Updating in the dark for the sake of updating - hoping some kind of improvement or fix will come - is a fools errand.
