Brand new Elac ddp-2 did not work for me!

[JoelShopper]

All I did was connect the Elac DDP-2 to my mac mini which recognized it but all I got was a horribly distorted sound! I am sure I will have to return it to Audio Advisor and take the financial hit of paying the return shipping. I am just posting in case by some miracle someone has a suggestion. There do not seem to be any tweaks to be done and what I tried to do could not have been more straightforward.

Thanks for reading. - JoelShopper

 

[Katji]

So what exactly did you connect...

 

[Koeitje]

What are you using? USB? Coaxial? TOSLINK? AES/EBU? Ethernet? Bluetooth? Wifi? XLR? RCA?

Have you tried it on anything else?

 

[JoelShopper]

USB on Mac Mini to USB port on Elac
That is how I planned to use it

thank you

 

[Koeitje]

USB on Mac Mini to USB port on Elac
That is how I planned to use it

thank you

Try using something else than a Mac Mini to determine where the problem lies.

 

[JoelShopper]

That makes sense but in my case, I am currently using a little Groove Dac which the mac mini recognizes and it works. The mac mini recognizes the DDP-2 but does not work. It does not help me to prove that if I used my old CD player it would work because that is what I am getting away from.

Thank you very much for the reply!!

 

[Apesbrain]

Is the Mac Mini set to output audio to USB?

Change the sound output settings on Mac

On your Mac, choose a different sound output (such as headphones or a speaker) using the Output options in Sound settings.

support.apple.com

Are you playing hi-res files? You might give this a try:

https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/t6l3pb

 

[JoelShopper]

Yes, as soon as I connect the USB cable the Elac ddp-2 appears in the Sound output pane, just like the Apogee groove does. Unfortunately, it then fails to deliver the music but presents a nightmarishly distorted rendition of it. I have it wrapped up and ready to return now because I don't want to take any chance of changing anything that would hurts its returnability. Thanks!! Oh, and I am playing files streamed from Amazon Music service and they sound fantastic with the Groove. I was hoping to use the pre-amp of the DDP 2 with its balanced outputs but the sound is not working from them or the headphone jack.

 

[FeddyLost]

Unfortunately, it then fails to deliver the music but presents a nightmarishly distorted rendition of it.

There is another possibility: it have 2 pairs of RCA, and one is fixed gain. Its analog out is 10V so it can easily overload analog inputs of many amplifiers.
I'd check sound at variable RCA output starting from low volume settings because if it's the case, another unit will do the same.
I had some troubles like that with old amplifier with high sensitivity and modern DAC with high output.