Why my system becomes dull after sometime?

[fas42]

A very familiar problem ... I suffered from this from a system that performed extremely well, 3 decades ago, and used the same technique to resolve it - I never properly solved what the precise cause in that case was, but I suspect very strongly that there was a buildup of static, somewhere, that was resolved by switching off - and switching back on again.

 

What to do about it ... ? Impossible to say unless one knows every possible detail of the rig, how it's set up, and the surrounding environment ... what I would do is very, very methodically, try altering only a single thing at a time - like switching off only one component, letting the supplies drain, switch back on again - has the problem cleared? Do this step by step, for every part of the system, and see if you can isolate the, hopefully, single item that alters the SQ back to normal.

[fas42]

5 hours ago, sbenyo said:

Once I get it working well, I works like this for a few days, sometimes a week or more and then it happens again until I unplug everything and connect everything again. Strangely, the problem is not always fixed when everything is disconnected. Maybe I have to wait a bit for everything to drain or I did not disconnect all cables properly (not just the main power). 

 

I do tend to think this is related to the either the amp, pre or DAC. Next time this happens I will try to disconnect (and wait enough) only one component at a time to try and pinpoint the problem. It may also be there is more than one component affected.

 

Yes, try and be as methodical as possible with trying changes. And even though this may be very hard to do, try and keep track of what may have done during the period prior to the SQ going off, even though the link to how the rig is performing may seem very tenuous - as people have noted, particularly pay attention to whether some electrical device, no matter what type, may have been activated, or its status changed.

 

Also, be completely consistent with how cables are organised - don't change how they are lying or arranged any more than necessary to disconnect and reconnect.

[fas42]

Yes, consider doing something that separates the the three components that are stacked on top of each other, starting with the amp, so there is distinct vertical separation between them - I would experiment with what I used to make the separation happen, and with ways to minimise vibration perhaps causing issues.