The guy at Rigol has sent my data to the relevant group.
He asked me for data from a "direct" connection, [...]
Good to read that you reached someone who seemed to care and came back with a relevant follow-up question. Who did you contact? Is there an email address you could share?
Bode plot is RELATIVE measurement. You can have AWG amplitude vary (and in fact that is being used by Bode plot implementation if it is done right) all over the place, it shouldn't make a difference.
Yep, but he has got wiggles with straight AWG->CH1-Ch2 connection (see the above graph).
There is always 1:1 ratio.
Thus with my test you get whether the wiggles come from Bode math bug, or the AWG wobbles with 6% (0.5dB) modulation index..
...
Bode plot is RELATIVE measurement. You can have AWG amplitude vary (and in fact that is being used by Bode plot implementation if it is done right) all over the place, it shouldn't make a difference.
The plots look reasonably good to me.
The plots look reasonably good to me. I previously mentioned that I did some noise and AWG SIN wave measurements, by downloading the memory data to my PC. The noise on my scope was around +/-15 counts out of 4096 counts or +/- 0.4% of fullscale. If the waveform isn't fullscale on the scope then the noise will be relative to the signal larger. When searching for zero crossings and peaks a degree of filtering was necessary and uncertainty remained. It's not terrible but good filtering is necessary for good results. You might want to increase the waveform averages, but that will slow down results, as well as the memory depth, this will increase the sample rate and might give a little more resolution.
The plots look reasonably good to me. I previously mentioned that I did some noise and AWG SIN wave measurements, by downloading the memory data to my PC. The noise on my scope was around +/-15 counts out of 4096 counts or +/- 0.4% of fullscale. If the waveform isn't fullscale on the scope then the noise will be relative to the signal larger. When searching for zero crossings and peaks a degree of filtering was necessary and uncertainty remained. It's not terrible but good filtering is necessary for good results. You might want to increase the waveform averages, but that will slow down results, as well as the memory depth, this will increase the sample rate and might give a little more resolution.
I'll look at memory depth. I didn't see any appreciable effect from measurement averages (in the manual scans) except to slow the measurement settling time.
With 2 V pk-pk out of the AWG and 0.5 V/div, the voltages are a reasonable fraction of full-scale.
I think there must be some firmware bugs in the measurement display, as well: after changing the frequency, and waiting for the averaging to settle, the Max and Min values did not change and are much farther apart than the "Dev" would indicate.
The manual does not give any useful details about these variables.
(There are no screenshots for this latest graph of mine: data were entered manually from the "Result" listing into Excel, thence to Grapher.)
After having decided to return the scope and prepared the shipment, I'm looking at the whole situation somewhat more relaxed. Of course, I very well understand the urge to understand what's going on here -- I've been in the same boat just a few days ago and contributed with quite some observations.
But viewed from the "other side" of having made a decision, I actually can only recommend not to spend your time on a product that's not ripe for the market yet and let Rigol do their job, don't do it for them!
If the distributor where you purchased your scope offers a return policy, return it ASAP. This will make Rigol feel that there's something wrong with their approach to supply unfinished products to paying customers, and maybe finally change their attitude (though it's likely they won't...).
IMO, it's not worth spending valuable time on a product that shouldn't have been supplied as faulty as this one without any warranty that it will get fixed eventually.
Update on my communications with Rigol: (Rigol NA had escalated my case back to the R&D department).
Today, I received a request from the FAE department in China for information on my tests, so I wrote a 9-page organized memo with my relevant results, and sent it to them this afternoon, with attached data files.
Personally I am quite happy with my purchase in spite of its foibles. I do expect Rigol to remedy many of the issues,
but I also agree it looks rushed for sale.
Personally I am quite happy with my purchase in spite of its foibles. I do expect Rigol to remedy many of the issues,
Me too.
but I also agree it looks rushed for sale.
The holiday season is here, they need to get them on shelves.
AFAIK NO manufacturer can get oscilloscopes right on initial release.
So... if supposedly knowledgeable people buy a cheap-as-chips oscilloscope that's so new that there's still a waiting list to get one, from a manufacturer that isn't famous for speedy/regular firmware updates...
...forgive me for finding it amusing when thay act all indignant about having a few bugs then post several times about how they're sending theirs back because they have some important work that needs doing.
If you have work to do and need a specific function then buy something you know will do it. Anything else reflects more on you than on Rigol.
...
So... if supposedly knowledgeable people buy a cheap-as-chips oscilloscope that's so new that there's still a waiting list to get one, from a manufacturer that isn't famous for speedy/regular firmware updates...
...forgive me for finding it amusing when thay act all indignant about having a few bugs then post several times about how they're sending theirs back because they have some important work that needs doing.
If you have work to do and need a specific function then buy something you know will do it. Anything else reflects more on you than on Rigol.
I considered buying only the scope and making the probe set myself as per the instructions found here and elsewhere but finally decided against that since Rigol's digital probe set comes with proper connector housings, fast adjustable threshold comparators, a wide input voltage range (so I can even use it on ancient p-mos circuitry -- sometimes I'm a sucker for ancient calculators, right now I've got a broken Compucorp 326 calculator with a faulty ROM chip on my hobby table -- and comes with resistive interconnects and 32 quality microclips which adds up to combined representing some value for the money, considering the time required for a DIY solution and the limited performance (but that's OT).
IMHO, the Rigol will not start to fix faster and will not start to produce better sw/fw quality products unless the buyers will simply start to return their products back. It could easily be their leaders consider their products perfect as they do not see such a tangible buyer's feedback in their $$ numbers..
Update on my communications with Rigol: (Rigol NA had escalated my case back to the R&D department).
Today, I received a request from the FAE department in China for information on my tests, so I wrote a 9-page organized memo with my relevant results, and sent it to them this afternoon, with attached data files.
Did you report anything other than Bode plot?