Model 12 Headphone out crackle

[JSchmo_Bass]

Hey Model 12 owners, is anyone getting a slight digital crackle/sizzle sound when adjusting headphone volume levels via the white knobs in the monitor section?

On mine this occurs for both headphone 1 and 2 out equally, and only when program material is playing back from master bus or aux send. It does not occur when transport is stopped (eg no sound) and seems worse when program material is loud and/or when fast adjustments are made on the volume knobs.

Anyone else getting this or just my unit?

 

[Mark Nicholson]

No noise on my Model 12.

 

[Mark Richards]

"worse when louder" makes my first guess inter-sample clipping of the digital signal that the meters aren't quick enough to display.

More on that here in relation to gain staging.

 

[JSchmo_Bass]

It definitely sounds “digital”... like clipping almost. but it’s not just at the peak volume ...any quick sweep the phone knob more than say 1/5th of a turn will generate it momentarily. Then goes away as the new volume is established . Never noticed before - and not sure what it is. I recently started expanding my use of the m12 as a USB interface so perhaps some combo of settings is eating up some processing power...?

It reminds me when my DAW causes mynlaptop’s processor to momentarily “tap out”

 

[Daniel Stroup]

Did you ever resolve this?

 

[JSchmo_Bass]

It’s still there. It got quieter, but a rapid twist of the headphone volume knob while playing material will cause a momentary digital burble. Not loud (can only hear if program material is quiet).

By the way, the overall amount of background noise on the Model 12 is super low - it’s a very quiet machine!

Quieter than the Model 16 which has some noise on the mix bus if you crank every fader. There is also a little digital interference of a similar sort as above on my Model 16, but rather than the headphone knob it is linked to loading a file from the MTR. This is only when cranking the master fader. None of this is noticeable at the levels I actually mix at.