USB Nervosa Thread Decrapifiers, pro interfaces, and bears oh my

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by zerodeefex, Sep 28, 2015.

  1. gepardcv

    gepardcv Almost "Made"

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    I'm thinking of dipping a toe in the USB-SPDIF interface waters. I'm partly interested in checking for sound changes between USB and other digital interfaces, and partly in making it a little more convenient to switch between USB-originated sources going to the Gungnir Multibit on my desk. (Rednet and Lynx are more money and hassle than I'm willing to dedicate to this project at the moment.)

    I'm not sure how to evaluate the various USB-SPDIF converter boxes on the market. Anyone have any experience with the Matrix X-SPDIF?
     
  2. Larry Megugorac

    Larry Megugorac Craps on Filipino accents to ease inner poverty

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    Me too....looking at the Wryed4Sound uLink and the Singxer SU-1....as value solutions at least...Bueller ?
     
  3. SSL

    SSL Friend

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  4. Larry Megugorac

    Larry Megugorac Craps on Filipino accents to ease inner poverty

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    My wallet sure likes that advice!;)
     
  5. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    SBAF: Stopping cruelty against wallets, one set of ears at a time.
     
  6. Larry Megugorac

    Larry Megugorac Craps on Filipino accents to ease inner poverty

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    I Like it!:p
     
  7. landroni

    landroni Friend

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    Please use the Like button more often, and unnecessary one-liners less often.
     
  8. takiy

    takiy New

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    what will be the best usb decrapifier for the original odac?
     
  9. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    Unplugging it entirely?

    Being serious ... "none at all" as you'd be better off spending the money on a better DAC.

    Given that the price-progression for various USB-decrapifier's started at $49 (Jitterbug), with the next least-expensive option being Schiit's Wyrd ($99) - and things going up in roughly $50 increments from there, you'll rapidly eclipse what you spent on the DAC itself - and none of these things are going to turn it into something it's not.
     
  10. Changeling

    Changeling Tube Slut

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    Hello! Welcome to SBAF!

    After you've read 57 pages of decrapificarion posts and also contributed a little bit to the noise you must be exhausted?
    Please take a few minutes to rest up. Spend that time to introduce yourself here. I also want to recommend the first post in this thread. It says a lot and is well worth a re-read. As a matter of fact, I'll give it another read myself.

    Please read this message as a friendly welcome-hello-nice-to-meet-you, and not as @börps .

    Again, welcome!
     
  11. Larry Megugorac

    Larry Megugorac Craps on Filipino accents to ease inner poverty

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    Just finished my first 15 minutes with my Yggdrasil! I know it's supposed to run about 48 hours playing music before making any judgement but even freshly lit up, it sounds quite a bit better than my Oppo's ESS Sabre DAC although still using the amp in there from the HA-1. The vocals are quite incredible as well as seemingly more dynamic range...gone are the suspected harshness I heard on Horns and female vocals. Actually my first pass at Donald Fagan's Morph the Cat blue me away at the difference ....

    I know I was slapped pretty hard by the local Schiit Heads when I mentioned how much I liked the Oppo HA-1/HD800S combo....the Yggdrasil has got me pretty fired up knowing what's been shown to me in the first hour!

    I gotta say I laughed pretty hard at Torq's comments above...a little point blank but honest!

    No USB converter box...straight out of my MAC...gotta get familiar with the Yggdrasil before I go down another dang rabbit hole...[​IMG]
     
  12. winders

    winders boomer

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    In my quest for the best sound quality possible from my digitally sourced music, I concentrated on devices to clean up and decrapify the USB signals sent to my DAC. I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing to do. But, a thread over on CA reminded me that there are other important steps to be taken as well. One of those steps is providing clean power in the first place.

    John Swenson suggested getting an isolation transformer with extremely low inter-winding capacitance (.005pf). This type of isolation transformer "doesn't pass the high frequency crud on the AV main". He then suggested using a quality power strip with no filtering or surge suppression as the isolation transformer will handle that. He recommended plugging all the audio components into the power strip. He said "This dramatically cuts down on the impedance between boxes, significantly lowering noise generated by leakage loops." John uses a Topaz isolation transformer.

    I bought a 1.8KVA Topaz 91018-11 Line Noise Suppressing Utra-Isolator (.005pF) transformer and received it today. I plugged it in to a wall outlet and then plugged a TrippLite power strip with all my audio equipment (not the computer) into it.

    The first bit of good news is that the transformer is virtually silent. If I stick my head right next to it I can here a slight hum but it is well below the ambient noise of the room with no music playing. I have no idea how clean or dirty my AC power is on the outlet I had the audio equipment plugged into. I can say that with the Topaz I think the noise floor is lower. In other words, the background sounds quieter. It's like the music is coming from a noiseless place. The details and clarity in the timbre of voices and instruments has improved. Finally, the separation of instruments and voices is even better than before.

    Listening to Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen" is amazing. The soundstage is fantastic. It is not too wide and the I can clearly discern the location of the various instruments better than before. Wow. I just listened to CCR's "Susie Q". Wow...just wow!! The clarity, separation, and detail are incredible! As I keep listening to my favorite "critical listening" songs, I continue to be more and more amazed.

    Using the Topaz isolation transformer and TrippLite power strip is certainly a step up in sound quality. I am impressed! Very Impressed!!

    I am still using the Singxer F-1 to feed my Yggdrasil via its SPDIF coax port. When the ISO Regen comes out I will test it to see if there is an improvement in sound quality. But, I have to admit that I have a hard time believing it could get much better than what I am hearing now!
     
  13. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    please @winders , do tell for those of us not following Uptone Audio product plans:
    what is an ISO Regen?
     
  14. winders

    winders boomer

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    The ISO Regen is basically a USB to USB galvanic isolator (think Intona) combined with the UpTone Audio Regen unit. The idea being to completely isolate the USB bus on the computer side from the USB bus on the DAC side.
     
  15. SoundSound

    SoundSound New

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    @winders , what TrippLite power strip could you suggest for Hi-Fi system, please?
     
  16. winders

    winders boomer

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    I used the PS2408RA. If you need more plugs, the PS3612RA would be good. These are the type of units that John Swenson recommended.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2017
  17. 2marco

    2marco New

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    hi, my first post here
    I wonder how you consider if item 9 becomes: Mac Mini or other PC > toslink out > dac ( Yggdrasil or Gungnir Multibit).....so question is if toslink output is galvanically isolated and the dac has a good reclock how is the result?
    Thanks
    Marco
     
  18. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    It depends, greatly, on both the specific TOSLINK output (the Mac Mini's is not that great and is limited to 24/96 KHz or slower operation and those on PCs are an equally mixed bag) and the optical cable you use.

    Also, TOSLINK is always electrically isolated.

    I got very good results with the optical output from a Late 2013 Mac Pro, using a Lifatec glass TOSLINK cable, into Yggdrasil, but it would still fall behind properly isolated S/PDIF COAX or AES into most DACs. You'll get a bit more leeway there with the bigger Schiit DACs; if it's not lighting the "buy better gear light" on Gungnir or Yggdrasil it should be indistinguishable to anything else on the list that's electrically isolated, though in practice it tends not to be.

    Which is a long way of saying that "it depends" and my experience has been that it'll come behind everything else on the above list, even if only by 1 or 2 points.
     
  19. mrflibble

    mrflibble Friend

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    Did you read item 1 in the very first post? :)

    The sound quality will be mostly dependent on the quality of the optical emitter on the computer. I am presently using a glass toslink from a decent soundcard into Gungnir Multibit. The result is excellent, I could not tell the difference from RCA S/PDIF.

    New forum members are required to introduce themselves in the new members thread :)
     
  20. 2marco

    2marco New

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    I did

    Which OS do you use :Linux , Win , Mac.... i ask because i use Daphile and is difficult to know if a sound card is properly working

    Thanks
    Marco
     

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