Hi All

I’m having a problem with my buffalo3 refusing to lock.

I have just finished my build and everything seemed to go well. Placid HD BP and Placid HD working well, DAC board seems fine with all tridents lighting up and currents as expected, Legato offsets all at 0V, the Teleporters have 5.25v independent supplies so looking good.

But no lock

OK my set up

Dedicated Music PC, WAVEIO USB/I2S,Teleporter,Teleporter Buffalo3.All on a dedicated mains ring.
So I plugged her in with great expectations

but no lock.

OK when I switch on I get the Mute LED and Lock LED flickers. Then the Mute goes out leaving the flickering Lock.
I’ve tried different grounding schemes with no luck so far. Maybe I’ve missed something switch wise and only have switch2 position 5 set to ON.

I have been using the WAVEIO for some time now with my 9023 DAC with no issues so I’m guessing that it’s not the problem.

My hunch would be the Teleporters which are the new things to the equation front end wise.

So I’m a little green Digital wise but I’ve built plenty of kits and this one has to be the best so far, well labelled, nice boards and well thought through with plenty of info.

So I may need a little help just to get past this problem.

Thanks

Take care

Hi Russ

sorry to break into your holiday.

A quick update

Out of curiosity I measured the voltage difference between the ground on my source and DAC.
423Mv so that would explain the not locking bit.

both sides the ground is floating

So I stretched a wire (5M) and joined the grounds and well it locked and played music but it’s clicking and dropping out quite a bit.

But hey at least I know that the DAC is working so plenty of up on that.

I just need a little help sorting out the grounding and it’s going to work.

Oh in between the clicks it sounded really good.

Cat 6 needed?

pictures to follow

Advice gratefully accepted.

Take care

Hi Russ

good thinking i'll give that a go and report back.

Hi Russ
Well I’m pleased to report that the problem is sorted.

I’m pretty new to PC based playback and my Music PC was my first attempt at building my own.
So I started to think on what was different about my home PC and Music PC.

Yup the grounding differences came to mind.

So I grounded my Music PC case to the WAVEIO Teleporter case and BINGO I had lock and the most delicious music.

So all grounds floating except the Music PC.

The Teleporters sound soooo much better than the 6M USB connection I used previously.

I’ll post some comments on the Kit and sound on the DIYAUDIO forum.

Thanks Russ your nudge re the grounding helped me to think

Take care

Hi Russ
Just a quick update

So the DAC has been working pretty well up to now but I have had one small issue with (I hope your heart won’t sink too much when I mention the word) drop outs.

I’ve been getting on average two or three totally random drop outs per CD length of play.

I’ve tried pretty much everything I could think of to cure the problem

Grounded and un- grounded the circuits Na no difference. OK must be the CAT5 which I changed to CAT6 err nope made no difference what so ever. Ok I’ll try the DPLL bandwidth switches and blast no difference.

Then I had a little search around the web and found your comments regarding switching devices and DC on the mains.

So

I took a trip around the house selectively switching things off.

Refrigerator no

Heating system no

Freezer (I think that you may call these ice boxes) Bingo switching that off stopped the drop outs and I’ve had none since.

So I’m hoping that my experience may help others having the same issues.

Check those appliances guys!

Today I did two things which improved my system SQ quite a bit.

1) I plugged the Buffalo III/Legato 3.1 directly into my power amp. Wow a big difference in clarity.
2) I connected up the headphone out socket and it’s driving my 64Ohm AKG 701 beautifully.

The Buffalo Legato is sounding great

Thanks Russ