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Microphonic from Vacuum Tubes?

HI,  I have a question regarding microphonic from vacuum tube.  I have a Cary SLP-05, and I've changed the output gain tubes to some NOS RCA, and also recently purchased a pair of Linlai for the balanced buffer stage.

I now occasionally hear a loud pop in the music.   It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it is quite loud.   This happens when I am streaming digital music, so it can't be those occasional pops you hear from vinyl.  

Can someone tell me if this loud pop possibly caused by microphonic in my tubes?  if so, how do I track down which tubes?   My guess there is no easy way but change one tube at a a time, which can be extremely time consuming.   Also I don't own a tube tester.  I wonder that would help tracking it down.

Also I read something about vacuum tube damper rings,  would that help calming down possible microphonic?

I still  consider myself a newbie in tubes,  so any hep will be appreciated.  Thanks very much.

xcool
xcool's avatar
xcool OP
273 posts
 

I think the trickiest thing about this issue is that it happens so infrequently, and I can’t reproduce the problem. So diagnosing will take a long while. That’s why my obvious focus is the latest change that I make to my system.

I have never come across anything similar to this issue ever for as long as I’ve been listening to music on any of my equipments that I ever owned. I was hoping someone in this forum had experienced similar issue and offer a quick way to diagnose and track down the culprit, but I guess there is no easy way to tackle this.

Thanks for everyone’s comment so far. I will definitely update you guys if I find and fix the issue!

acman3
4,425 posts
 

I have had unlistenable crackling and pops from streaming a bad file. It would be nice if you used a different source to see if it occurs without streaming.

immatthewj
3,300 posts
 

@acman3   +1

I have had unlistenable crackling and pops from streaming a bad file. It would be nice if you used a different source to see if it occurs without streaming.

xcool's avatar
xcool OP
273 posts
 

Thanks @acman3,  I wonder if it can indeed caused by a hiccup from streaming.  So far I've only experienced this issue while streaming from Tidal or my own MinimServer running on my NAS.   If I  know how to edit a digital file, maybe I can reproduce this issue.

My only other source is my vinyl setup, which I only use 10% of the time, and I haven't heard this popping noise while I was listening my vinyls.

invalid
1,378 posts
 

I get that popping noise on qobuz when a track switches from CD to high resolution and back again.

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