Crackling sound on Topping DAC connected to the Core

Audio Gear Talk
1

Hello everyone,
So, for several weeks now, I have been noticing an annoying problem related to listening to my music library on Roon.
My setup is as follows: Merrick 1R (a sort of Intel NUC), used as the Roon Core, DAC+headphone amplifier Topping DX3 Pro+.
The connection between the two devices is made via USB, as the Merrick does not have a coaxial input or a digital input.
The albums I have purchased come almost exclusively from Tidal and Qobuz, and some have been ripped from CDs.
Well, every time I start playing, I hear a crackling sound, not very annoying but constant, which usually goes away once I restart the core and/or unplug and plug back in the Topping’s power supply.
The DAC drivers are the latest available, and the headphones I use are the Grado SR325x or the Meze 99 Classics.
Honestly, I don’t know what could be causing this problem.

Thank you.

3

Well, I didn’t notice that.
What I’ve done this past few minutes has been to listen to the same song on Apple Music using my iPad and an external DAC (FiiO BTR5): no issues at all.
Of course this latest test is not conclusive but what I do think is that the problem might be caused by the USB connection…

5

Thank you very much for your help, Menzies.
I started listening to the same song with the same setup: I heard a slightly crackling sound, the same as before.
Touching the case didn’t change the situation but the strangest thing is that when I changed the gain on my Topping (from 6 to 19) things were significantly better.
I tried with other songs, everything was alright, so it could be something related to that specific recording but I’m only trying to guess.

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6

Well, that makes it seem as if the crackle is in the track file. Perhaps a bad rip. Nothing to do but rip it again.

7

No, well, the track was purchased and downloaded from Qobuz.

8

See for the likely fix in your other post about the same problem.

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