RC-1570 PC-USB cable/connection

[RonLenker]

Hello,
I recently purchased an RC-1570 pre-amp as a replacement for a RC-972 in a stack of 2 channel Rotel gear. Before placing into service, I was persuaded to provide the ability to spin some vinyl at the beach with some college friends, so for the time being it is feeding some KRKs and a REL sub. Besides pulling the old vinyl off the self I have also been moving to 24/196 source material and installed the drivers provided to allow this from windows with FLAC files via JRiver. This has been a real treat and cemented the decision to demote the old method to phone support. My issue and question has to do with the USB input connection from the Laptop. When using the cable provide and placing the laptop directly in front of the pre-amp everything functions properly, but when I switch the cable for one (i.e. 6 ft.) that lets me sit back a few feet I start hearing a relay switch and the music playback is momentarily interrupted, which I assume is a reset, and caused by something like a timing or sync issue. I tried new and supposedly high quality cables with no success. Does anyone know if that is the issue or if converting to isolated fiber, purchasing a specific cable, etc. would allow working around this? For that matter, will the optical inputs function in the same way the PC-USB does? Thanks in advance.

[Patrick Butler]

Hi RonLenker,

Thank you for purchasing an RC-1570!

When you swap one USB cable for another in a system that is already on and operational, you should hear a relay click. However, that click should happen once (as everything synchronizes) and not continuously as the music plays. There is nothing inherently special about the supplied USB cable (other than it working.) I routinely use a longer USB cable (2m) with the RC-1570 and RA-1570 (they use the same DAC section) and have no issues. That said, I have used some USB cables in the past that were not designed correctly and caused issues with a variety of DACs. Feel free to drop me a PM if you have any more questions.

Regards,

Patrick Butler
B&W Group North America

Hello,
I recently purchased an RC-1570 pre-amp as a replacement for a RC-972 in a stack of 2 channel Rotel gear. Before placing into service, I was persuaded to provide the ability to spin some vinyl at the beach with some college friends, so for the time being it is feeding some KRKs and a REL sub. Besides pulling the old vinyl off the self I have also been moving to 24/196 source material and installed the drivers provided to allow this from windows with FLAC files via JRiver. This has been a real treat and cemented the decision to demote the old method to phone support. My issue and question has to do with the USB input connection from the Laptop. When using the cable provide and placing the laptop directly in front of the pre-amp everything functions properly, but when I switch the cable for one (i.e. 6 ft.) that lets me sit back a few feet I start hearing a relay switch and the music playback is momentarily interrupted, which I assume is a reset, and caused by something like a timing or sync issue. I tried new and supposedly high quality cables with no success. Does anyone know if that is the issue or if converting to isolated fiber, purchasing a specific cable, etc. would allow working around this? For that matter, will the optical inputs function in the same way the PC-USB does? Thanks in advance.