Headphone Heights

Posted by willkayakforfood (A) on July 02, 2012 at 22:33:22

In Reply to: RE: There may be a problem with my HiFiMan EF2A -- here's a copy of my post at Head-Fi... posted by genungo on July 02, 2012 at 00:30:00

Tonight, I continued my troubleshooting efforts, and I'm still pretty much unable to point to anything but the EF2A unit itself as the primary suspect.

Here's a copy of my last post this evening over at Head-Fi:


Okay, further unhappy news...

Switched USB cable: same problem

Switched USB ports (tried both of the other ports - a 2.0 and a 3.0 port): same problem

After all this, here's what I seem to know at the moment:

1) Cables are not the issue.

2) It happens regardless of which USB port is used.

3) It happens with or without any other USB port being occupied at the same time.

4) It only happens with the HiFiMan EF2A (just now happened again - sudden silence now). This problem has never happened with the Audioengine D1, nor has it ever happened with the Schiit Bifrost DAC.

5) Considering all the above, I also doubt it's "the computer's fault" (or could it still be a particular driver issue--even after the driver uninstall/reinstall?)

6) This makes me sad, because the sound of the EF2A is so much more "3D" than that of the Audioengine D1 (which really does feel two dimensional and rather lifeless in comparison).

7) If I can't solve this problem with the EF2A, can anyone recommend a reliable, brilliant sounding portable tube DAC/amp that won't make me miss the EF2A too badly?

8) I've had enough for the night. :(