I donāt have the cable.
I removed the dac, the distortion disappeared.
Correct me if Iām wrong but the ad18 only has a 3.5mm output, so wouldnāt you need a 3.5mm to rca cable to use it as a dac? You would just unplug the 3.5mm from the ad18 and plug it into a phone or pc or something else The ad18 doesnāt even have a line out? Is it switchable?
Hmmmm, in that case, if you plug the dac back in, but remove the usb for signal (assuming you have it connected to a pc via usb) does the distortion still persist? (so still connected to power and still connected to the stax amp, but just no sub connected, checking for both ground loops and digital problems here)
the ad18 can power speakers through banana plug out in the back, I am using banana to RCA to connect it to the energizer.
what do you guys use before the stax energizer usually??
so I should just connect the energizer to the wall and let it run the stax for a while?
I would really really really not suggest doing that, it will not function properly, you are double amping and likely overdriving the input of the stax amp, hopefully nothing has been damaged doing this. For now, Iād really suggest getting a 3.5mm to rca cable just to test and use it with a phone or pc. The stax amp is absolutely not prepared to take a speaker level input. If you did want to use a speaker level input, you would need to find a speaker level to line level converter box (but I wouldnāt suggest doing this either). To prevent further possible damage to the amp Iād suggest you remove the ad18 from the chain for now, and head to a local store and find one of those 3.5mm to rca (also commonly labeled aux to rca, should be aval at most common electronic stores or easily found online if thatās faster)
As in like what dac?
Yes itās normal to let both the stax energize and also to warm up/burn in the tubes in that energizer for new units, but this really likely isnāt the cause of your problem here, I think the cause of your problem is trying to use the speaker out of the ad18 to give input to the stax amp (but letting it sit and settle is still something you should do)
wow I am retarded.
yes, and do I need one or should I connect the energizer straight to my pc?
1 Like
So while you technically donāt need a separate dac, BUT getting a good dac will allow your stax setup to perform much better than without. Generally Iād say you would be wanting to spend similar cost to the energizer or headphones on your dac to get a reasonable amount out of it, but something cheaper will still work but you wonāt be getting close to their full potential. For now, I think just figuring out if the stax amp and headphones still works is more important though so plugging directly into a pc or phone will work for now just to test. Once that is figured out then you can consider what you want to spend and what sound you are going for on a separate dac
Also my bad, I misremembered that the ad18 has a line in not line out, so there is no way to get just the dac signal out of it, so it cannot be used as a dac (so ignore my comments about the ad18 having a line out above). I just thought for a second there it did have a line out since you were using it as a dac, but that wasnāt exactly the case lol
I am heading to bestbuy quickly to get that cable. thanks for the save.
Cool cool, when you get it try plugging into a phone or motherboard line out and see if everything is working (you may have to adjust the volume on the phone or pc to get correct levels and prevent distortion, but you should be able to get actual sound and not what you were getting before), hopefully things should be fine, and we can go from there
They work!!!,
I guess i need to find a DAC now.
XLR output or RCA ?
1 Like
Great great cool nothing got damaged
Depends on the dac and how much you would be looking at spending. Right now my advice would be to use them as is, let it continue to energize and also warm up, listen to them for a few days to get acclimated, and then decide what you like about them and what you would want to change. This will give you info on what sonic direction you want to head so you can better suit the system to your tastes and make the dac upgrade more meaningful