Expert LCD Brightness Max = Sounds Best?

[hardcore]

If you've lowered your Expert LCD brightness from the default (maximum), you might want to try it with maximum brightness and see if you notice any difference in the sound.

I had mine set to lowest brightness and just set it back to default / maximum. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I think it sounds better.

Many LCD displays use PWM to lower the brightness. PWM generates extra EMI noise. If the LCD display on the Expert is the same, then avoiding PWM is good.

[ada]

Then auto-dimming to zero makes total sense, no?

[hardcore]

Okay I'm not imagining it. It does sound different with brightness set to max. Sounds more focused and clearer.

I've always had my brightness set to lowest (1) in the configurator, so this is a revelation.

What's worse is I have a dual-mono setup. Lowering the brightness is worse for dual-mono setups because the web configurator has a bug where the Companion unit has a brightness of 5 (default) regardless of what you set. You can see this in the dp_cfg file. So, you'll get unbalanced LCD brightness, and slightly unbalanced left-right sound too.

If the auto-dimming affects both Master and Companion units, I guess that balances out the sound signatures of the left-right sides.

EDIT: Checked configuration files again, and the left-right brightness is set by a different setting which is balanced. Also, auto-dim turns off the display which should be better than having it on at max brightness.

[Vivialet]

I have set the brightness to 1 as well, but I don‘t see a difference between master and compagnon.

[daniel.avasilichioaei]

You can easily test if there is any difference. Set the display brightness to maximum and a dim interval. Then listen to the music and see if there is any difference in the sound quality when the amplifier applies the dim. I don't hear any difference in my system.

[hardcore]

Auto dim is turning off the whole display, so that's good for reducing potential EMI. Fully on and fully off are good options to avoid PWM. Brightness levels in between could be using PWM.

I'm going to try setting up auto dim to turn off the displays.

EDIT: I just set up auto-dim and it works fine, both Master and Companion. @ada since auto-dim turns off the display, this would be better than keeping it on at max brightness.

[Vivialet]

I always had auto dim active, but after removing the wifi cards the displays are switched on again. If you find a way how to avoid this would be greate...

[hardcore]

I have set the brightness to 1 as well, but I don‘t see a difference between master and compagnon.

I just made new configuration files and found that the left-right brightness is set by a different setting which is correctly balanced. The brightness is set per input in a line called BACKLIGHT_MAX_LEVEL. It's set to 100 for level 5 brightness, and 20 for level 1.

Also, auto-dim turns off the display which should be better than having it on at max brightness. Auto-dim does work with the Wi-Fi card removed btw.

I also see some settings in the config files for 'INIT_USB'. I wonder what happens if I turn it off...

[hardcore]

I always had auto dim active, but after removing the wifi cards the displays are switched on again. If you find a way how to avoid this would be greate...

I also have the Wi-Fi cards removed, and the auto dim is working for me on both units. I only have XLR and Optical 1 inputs enabled. When I set up auto-dim on either input, it works and turns off the display on both units.

Do you have Ethernet enabled? Do both displays switch on or only the master / companion?

In my configuration files, the relevant section looks like this. It is set per input, and set on both Master and Companion config files:

    "XLR":{
      "BACKLIGHT_MAX_LEVEL":100,
      "_auto_dim_timeout":3,
      "BACKLIGHT_TIMEOUT":3,

Here are some ideas to try:

In the web configurator: In the remote-control settings, disable "App Remote Control". In the Wifi settings, remove your wifi ssid and password configuration.

I also tried deleting these lines in the Master config file:

  "WIFI_CONFIG":{
    "DEVICE_NAME":"My Devialet",
    "SSID":"",
    "KEY":"",
    "DHCP":"ON",
    "IP_FIXED":"192.168.0.77",
    "ADHOC":"OFF",
    "IP_MASK":"255.255.255.0",
    "IP_GATEWAY":"192.168.0.1",
    "IP_DNS":"",
    "ADHOC_CHANNEL":6
  },
  "ETHERNET_CONFIG":{
    "DHCP":"ON",
    "IP_FIXED":"192.168.0.77",
    "IP_MASK":"255.255.255.0",
    "IP_GATEWAY":"192.168.0.1",
    "IP_DNS":""
  },

I also changed the USB_INIT to OFF on both Master and Companion and it works fine. Sounds more open too.

  "CONTROL_CONFIG":{
    "USB_INIT":"OFF",

If you want to manually edit the config files, you need to update the CRC checksum using the procedure described here:

manually manipulating dp_cfg.txt (devialetchat.com)

[Vivialet]

it only happens on the master. Wifi and ethernet have the default setting and are not activated. I tried the USB_INIT and APP remote control settings, but that has no effect.
So it can only be the WIFI and ETHERNET CONFIG in the master config file. Next test is to remove it...