In a seperate issue, I wasn't aware that a stock UA-5 shows signs of clipping at -3 dB. I realize the light is programmed to light up at -3 dB per the manual but does anyone have a stock mod UA-5 that they've verified this on and could show some wav captures? I've looked at a lot recordings made with my stock UA-5 and never noticed. I always try to keep my levels high. I easily could have missed some rounding of the peaks in the -3 dB to 0 dB range. I'll go through a few of my stock original wavs tonight to see if I can spot it.
Here is the thread I was referring to.http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=57630.0Never run a stock unit so I can't comment and have never done any testing with sine waves on my unit. Maybe Richard can chime in with some of his experience with the stock units.
Yep, that's me
OK, *I believe* there are two separate issues here.
- the UA5 shows significant distortion (eg., 1% THD), when driven above -3 or -6dB. I *believe* this is due to the ADC and not the opamps.
- the observed distortion (clipped/assymetrical sinewaves) is different. I *believe* this is an opamp problem.
I think the first is a *defect* in the design of the UA5, but I cannot explain why or how to fix it. For comparison, driving something like a Minidisc with the same signal (line in, up to -1dB) does *not* produce the same distortion. This unit it *broken* in my opinion! A cheezy workaround is to run at -6dB always. Never let the clip light turn on and you will get better sound out of it, even if you have to add that 6dB back in post.
The second is *probably* an opamp problem. I've experienced this before on swapping various opamps. It could be defective amps, connections broken, or just the wrong opamps. I hope Busman2 can track this one down. I would not even know where to start!
OK, +T to all of you for isolating and tracking down these problems. It is not easy! And +T to Chris for great service.
Richard