Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
What excites me about this one: -People are going to love the USB connector :) -Small enough to be very compatible with many different system set-ups -How it looks on top of our THX or LCX amps -All the stuff crammed into that back panel…making the dual 3-pin XLR fit! -Coax SPDIF option (great for CD players or USB-to-SPDIF converters) -USB 2.0 to support more filetypes, very high resolution -Great for output into powered speakers while using digital volume control on your computer
I just keep checking out the back:
One question I have is if this is a fully balanced DAC with one DAC chip per channel? Or is this just balanced output with a se -> BAL conversion? I only saw one DAC chip listed so I don't know which.
Either way there is still a benefit.
> On the back panel, you’ll find a balanced output
Should be unbalanced output.
And please, a description of what the USB 1/2 switch is for and why it's needed?
The USB 1.0 / USB 2.0 switch allows you to toggle between the USB modes. The Original SDAC is USB 1.0 and very easy to use. No drivers with either Windows or Mac. This new version can be switched into USB 2.0 mode for more resolution on PCM files and the addition of high resolution DSD files. In USB 2.0 mode, you can use without any special drivers if you have Windows 10 or Mac.
Expanding capability for those who would like to have it. More outputs, more inputs, more USB Modes for more file types and resolutions.
I would do USB2 and then switch if you have any issues.
Also the back has two XLR jacks, it's clearly balanced.
> We have both balanced and unbalanced output.
Yes I realise that, but the whole sentence (of which I only quoted part) makes it clear (at least to me!) that the part I quoted was supposed to refer to the unbalanced output:
"On the back panel, you’ll find a balanced output, three-pin XLR outputs, and a coaxial SPDIF digital input, which will allow the DAC to interface with balanced amplifiers and single-ended amplifiers at the same time."
Thanks for the explanation of the USB switch, although I must say it surprises me. I have a few USB 2 DACs, and I always assumed that they'd work in standard USB mode without needing a driver (or a switch!) I guess I've never put that to the test though...
We have the USB mode switch so that you know you can use this DAC even if you don't have a Windows version that easily/quickly supports USB 2.0. Glad you have not had any issues with USB 2.0 and I hope nobody will!
Unless this is a different chip with essentially 4 DACs instead of 2 (L/R, +/-, if a quality DAC chip like that exists I'm not aware of it) the only way to do that is by phase-splitting the chip's unbalanced output. That gives you a balanced output but does NOT make this a balanced DAC, and IMO does not provide much benefit in a home audio setting. This arrangement gives you XLR's noise rejection over long cable runs but does not give you the sonic benefits of fully separate + and - signal paths (which have to start at the source to provide much benefit other than the noise rejection.)
(ETA that I see now that it's an AK4452, a good chip but definitely a 2 channel one - if it's using only one of these, it must be phase splitting & cannot be a true balanced DAC.)
edit: misread specsheet on chip. ^^;
https://www.akm.com/akm/en/file/datasheet/AK4452VN.pdf
I'd also like to see this in a chassis that matched the LCX, CTH, and THX instead of the current box. Dead space is perfectly fine in a box, just make it stack with the others.
That said, it is a valid question. A bit more information than 'we used this chip' and 'it is balanced' would be nice, for sure.
From my (rather ignorant) reading of this, it sounds like the DAC chip is outputting what is essentially a single-ended signal and then it is being split out into (psuedo?) balanced signal after that point. Is this a correct reading of this?