Are audio components the same in CC and GC Pandoras?

[BaDToaD]

The above is very important to me for two reasons.


1. I am contemplating upgrading my original CC Pandora to either a rebirth or 1GHz Pandora but I won't do this if the Audio isn't as good as the original CC Pandora. My Pandora blows all other portable devices I own out of the water for Audio and I don't want to part with that quality.


2. I'm a moderator on a headphone forum and I want to review the Pandora on there and possibly get you a few sales but I don't want to do that if the hardware can't produce the same awesome sound as my CC Pandora.


So in a nutshell. Do the new GC Pandoras sound as good as the old CC ones with decent headphones, not ibuds

 

[EvilDragon]

Yes, we only made things better on the PCB, nothing worse

 

[peelie]

how about the volume wheel? meaning have the 'crackly'' noise , (due to dodgy solder?) been addressed?

 

[ekianjo]

Question : I have a USB to optical audio cable converter - would that work on Pandora too ? Or would specific drivers be needed, not included in the current firmware ?

 

[EvilDragon]

how about the volume wheel? meaning have the 'crackly'' noise , (due to dodgy solder?) been addressed?

If you've got crackly noise, it's probably a broken wheel...

Question : I have a USB to optical audio cable converter - would that work on Pandora too ? Or would specific drivers be needed, not included in the current firmware ?

Uh... don't know, I guess notaz could answer this.

 

[mcobit]

Most external audiocards should work afaik. May need a hub though.

 

[the_marshal]

I've got an original CC Pandora and don't have a problem with the volume wheel. I definitely agree the sound coming out of Pandora is awesome


And you can drive a real headphone with it. With pretty much any other device you would need a portable headphone amp to get similar result.

 

[peelie]

how about the volume wheel? meaning have the 'crackly'' noise , (due to dodgy solder?) been addressed?

If you've got crackly noise, it's probably a broken wheel...

it's that issue where occassionaly when u turn the volume wheel there is a crackly noise, there is no noise once u stop turning. i think u mentioned once that this was due to solder issues on the volume wheel?

 

[mcobit]

Iirc some volume wheels were even deformed because of too much heat while soldering but that all should be history by now.

 

[peelie]

Iirc some volume wheels were even deformed because of too much heat while soldering but that all should be history by now.

hopefully ED can tell us if that is the case that this issue is no more

 

[TrashyMG]

Iirc some volume wheels were even deformed because of too much heat while soldering but that all should be history by now.

hopefully ED can tell us if that is the case that this issue is no more

Well since OPT moved production from the high failure rate board company in Texas (Circuit Co) to the Germany company this shouldn't be an issue any more.

 

[notaz]

There could also be dust in it, opening the case and blowing it out might help.

 

[EvilDragon]

I also had success spraying contact cleaner into it.

 

[Esn]

I added the "volume wheel crackles" defect to the Pandorawiki's "Hardware defects" article:


http://pandorawiki.org/Hardware_defects


I have this issue as well (among a host of others... to be honest, I was planning to send in my Pandora for RMAing long ago but have had intermittent issues with my main computer so I needed to have a backup computer around)

 

[peelie]

sweet the contact cleaner fix certainly improves this issue

 

[Esn]

P.S. ED, if you're reading this, please read the PM I sent you a little while ago. There are serious spam problems on the Pandorawiki that will only be solved by making it more difficult to register an account.