Can a blown piece of gear damage other components it was connected to?

[seanca]

Hello,

I'm not going to list specific components here as I respect each company, but I'm kinda freaking out. My DAC just started emitting a very strong smoking/burning smell and was also making weird crinkling/sparkling noises. I had it connected from my computer via USB, and to my amplifier via XLR's. When I turned it off and unplugged everything, even the XLR cables smelled burnt as well.

I'm no engineer, so this (I'm hoping) might be a really stupid question. But is it at all possible that my DAC could have "sent" a harmful current to my amplifier and damaged it? Since both pieces of gear were connected the entire time, I'm worried if the DAC could have "transferred" a damaging current/voltage through the XLR cables, especially since the XLR's smelled burnt too.

Anyone have any knowledge on this? Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

 

[Sal1950]

Hello,

I'm not going to list specific components here as I respect each company, but I'm kinda freaking out. My DAC just started emitting a very strong smoking/burning smell and was also making weird crinkling/sparkling noises. I had it connected from my computer via USB, and to my amplifier via XLR's. When I turned it off and unplugged everything, even the XLR cables smelled burnt as well.

I'm no engineer, so this (I'm hoping) might be a really stupid question. But is it at all possible that my DAC could have "sent" a harmful current to my amplifier and damaged it? Since both pieces of gear were connected the entire time, I'm worried if the DAC could have "transferred" a damaging current/voltage through the XLR cables, especially since the XLR's smelled burnt too.

Anyone have any knowledge on this? Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

I wouldn't make anything of the smell on the cables, etc. That smell gets into everything, even your nose and taints the odor of everything around it.
As to real damage, though unlikely, yes under the right conditions the DAC going wonky could certainly damage anything downstream of it, amp, speakers, etc. Just give them a good listening test with some other source, any real damage should be audible.
Good luck

 

[seanca]

I wouldn't make anything of the smell on the cables, etc. That smell gets into everything, even your nose and taints the odor of everything around it.
As to real damage, though unlikely, yes under the right conditions the DAC going wonky could certainly damage anything downstream of it, amp, speakers, etc. Just give them a good listening test with some other source, any real damage should be audible.
Good luck

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately I don’t have any other way or source currently to test anything. The amp was literally brand new though, so I really hope I don’t have a broken 1-day old amp now

 

[watchnerd]

I wouldn't make anything of the smell on the cables, etc. That smell gets into everything, even your nose and taints the odor of everything around it.
As to real damage, though unlikely, yes under the right conditions the DAC going wonky could certainly damage anything downstream of it, amp, speakers, etc. Just give them a good listening test with some other source, any real damage should be audible.
Good luck

Yeah, digital distortion is *nasty* at high volumes.

That doesn't even require funny smoke smells.

I once had a cheap TOSLINK/coax converter blow up my system.

 

[Bob-23]

hat my DAC could have "sent" a harmful current to my amplifier and damaged it?

I wouldn't connect anything to your dac - if you've got a smoking smell, any component might have failed, there might be a short... the rest of chain, in particular, the speakers are endangered...

Before connecting it to you amp again, I'd measure in any case, if there's any dc at the dac's output, and measure the ac-output voltage (using a 1kHz -signal by youtube)... AC-output voltage of the dac should be around 2 V. Dc vs. zero. Maybe you've got a (sensitive) multimeter, or know somebody who owns one. Or buy one, there's a cheap one which is very capable:
https://www.amazon.com/ANENG-AN8008...d=1&keywords=aneng+8008&qid=1600015113&sr=8-3
Dave Jones on EEV Blog reviewed it.

 

[Sal1950]

My DAC just started emitting a very strong smoking/burning smell and was also making weird crinkling/sparkling noises.

I wouldn't connect anything to your dac - if you've got a smoking smell, any component might have failed

I think he pretty much pinpointed the DAC as having the issue.

Unfortunately I don’t have any other way or source currently to test anything.

Nothing?
Doesn't your computer have a sound chip, headphone out jack? Or a smart phone with the headphone.
Take the DAC completely out.
All you need is a cable with 1/8 mini to XLR or even RCA if the amp also has those inputs.
Is that a integrated or basic amp?
Be sure to turn the volume on the PC or phone all the way down, start playing something on it, then slowly turn the volume up.

There are other basic checks we can walk you thru, let us know if you want to try?

 

[Thomas savage]

I think he pretty much pinpointed the DAC as having the issue.


Nothing?
Doesn't your computer have a sound chip, headphone out jack? Or a smart phone with the headphone.
Take the DAC completely out.
All you need is a cable with 1/8 mini to XLR or even RCA if the amp also has those inputs.
Is that a integrated or basic amp?
Be sure to turn the volume on the PC or phone all the way down, start playing something on it, then slowly turn the volume up.

That's right doesn't have to be ' audiophile' a headphone jack from a phone , making sure the volume is set low to start with will do .

 

[seanca]

I think he pretty much pinpointed the DAC as having the issue.


Nothing?
Doesn't your computer have a sound chip, headphone out jack? Or a smart phone with the headphone.
Take the DAC completely out.
All you need is a cable with 1/8 mini to XLR or even RCA if the amp also has those inputs.
Is that a integrated or basic amp?
Be sure to turn the volume on the PC or phone all the way down, start playing something on it, then slowly turn the volume up.

There are other basic checks we can walk you thru, let us know if you want to try?

You're right, my computer does have those. But all of those require an adapter right? I just don't have any adapters currently.

 

[seanca]

Also just because I'm getting really stressed out, I guess I'll say the exact components just because I'm hoping that the more information I can provide the more specific advice I may be able to get.

Ok so the dac was the Schiit Bifrost 2. Wait! Please don't hate me haha. I didn't want to say it because I know a lot of members here aren't exactly fond of them, so I was worried mentioning their name might make it difficult to get objective advice without bias towards Schiit.

The amplifier was a Topping A90. So maybe @JohnYang1997 might be able to help?

 

[AudioJester]

I think you have been given lots of suggestions to test things, but lack the correct connectors/adaptors. Source the correct cables, test first then report back. Repeatedly asking for help wont work.

What exactly are you expecting John Yang to say - other than "warranty voided by faulty dac".....

 

[restorer-john]

Is the D/A converter still under warranty? I'd be getting on to that.

I doubt the A-90 would have been damaged.

 

[seanca]

I think you have been given lots of suggestions to test things, but lack the correct connectors/adaptors. Source the correct cables, test first then report back. Repeatedly asking for help wont work.

What exactly are you expecting John Yang to say - other than "warranty voided by faulty dac".....

You are correct and I'm not disputing that, I agree I've been given plenty of help and I don't want to be misinterpreted as being ungrateful; it is all very appreciated!
More what I meant was, as I admittedly know nothing about audio engineering or science, maybe the A90 has some kind of mechanism or circuit built into it that might help prevent these sorts of problems. I recall hearing about "fail-safe" type things in components previously, but as I don't know much at all about audio tech I thought John might be able to chime in on if the A90 has one of these "protection" mechanisms or not.

 

[Trouble Maker]

You changed something and the next day had issues. I immediately think the thing you change must have caused a problem. It would be a pretty big coincidence if it's not related.
Ignoring that, I'm honestly not sure how the amp could have done that to the upstream DAC.
Did you change anything else at that time?

 

[restorer-john]

It's not rocket science. Test the A-90 spearately and report back. Plug the Schitt D/A into a switched power strip and if it belches out smoke again, switch it off- it's toast and needs repair.

 

[amirm]

Disconnect the input from the A90. Plug in a headphone to it and listen. Should be siltent.

Now, turn up the volume fair bit on it. Take a small screwdriver, a piece of wire, or even a straightened paper clip and insert it gradually into the center pin of the RCA plug. At some point it should make a hum in one channel. If it does, then that channel is OK. Try it with the other channel. And oh, don't touch the chassis of the A90 while you are doing this.

Basically you are using the amp to amplify the AC hum that runs through your body.

Not a conclusive test but something to do without needing else.

 

[seanca]

Thank you for all the input.

@restorer-john I forgot to mention that I did try turning on the Bifrost 2 connected to nothing else, simply by itself with only the power plug. And it still did the same thing. So I think (with my limited knowledge) the problem is isolated to the dac.

@Trouble Maker Although the A90 was indeed the “new” variable in the chain, I do believe it’s the dac that somehow broke, since I managed to isolate the problems to it as mentioned above ^^ I don’t think the A90 was part of the problem, more just the unlucky amp that happened to be connected to the BF2 when it blew. That’s why I just wanted to see if John might know of any sort of protection mechanism that might exist to protect the A90 in this sort of event. Also, I thought amps were “downstream” of dac’s, or do I have it backwards?

And @amirm I will try that, thank you for the input!