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The rabbit hole of USB audio connection "upgrades"


jwc

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OK.  So to this point....I've heard some good ideas but is there anyone that has purchased a particular cable based on some "reasoning" other than cheap?

 

Is there anyone that purchased an accessory product to "better" the USB source to USB DAC or processor?

 

jc

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I've become a regular browser over at Audiosciencereview as of late. Purchased my first stand alone DAC after seeing his testing of it and different gear.  Ran into a test he made with a couple of different USB cables.  It might be of interest.

 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/kimber-kable-do-high-end-usb-cables-make-a-difference.11272/ 

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1 hour ago, A1UC said:

528fc52d6b9be6e69553272d356e0c25.jpg

Just updated my USB card difference was huge , what price range are you trying to stay in ?


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Well I can't say I really have a limit. It would depend on my ability to review the item to see if I personally think it's worth it. Can you tell me what brand that is model and such?

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Taiko Audio, to match his $45k $35K music server.

I was just going to tell him that card ain’t for him . But if I had an idea what he was looking for and his setup I could recommend something maybe


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Well I can't say I really have a limit. It would depend on my ability to review the item to see if I personally think it's worth it. Can you tell me what brand that is model and such?

 I’d use this card 

I know you like your PC but you would be way ahead with a Aurender N100H you would need to mess with a card

 

https://jcat.eu/product/usb-card-femto-audiophile-usb-audio-output/

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I use an AudioQuest JitterBug with my DragonFly Red.  When I tried the DF Red with and without the JitterBug (in the hi-fi shop, in the feed from the USB port on my phone to my headphones), I could hear a definite improvement in the sound, enough to convince me to buy it.  The difference was subtle, but it was definitely there.  This was a couple of years ago, for just a few minutes, so I can’t describe precisely what the difference was, just that I liked it.  I don’t use it with the DragonFly Cobalt, because that one has built-in circuitry that does the same thing.

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Personally, I've never really been satisfied with any USB/PC set up I have tried, and I have tried many different configs.

I understand you aren't willing to sacrifice content collection for a different solution, but I think you are going to have to have to learn to live with it.

Chris is right in this instance with jitter, clocking and output being the main choke points for you going forward... As is, I am sure your set up probably sounds pretty darn good. there is a myriad of re-clockers and 'jitter' eliminators that deal with USB, but it isn't enough for me to give up i2s or digital coax (hdmi for 5.1).

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5 hours ago, A1UC said:


I was just going to tell him that card ain’t for him . But if I had an idea what he was looking for and his setup I could recommend something maybe


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Yes you guys are now starting to hit on some of the things I was interested in. I did read a good bit about the jitterbug and how it works. I also read about other types of gadgets to add to the USB cabling to improve the sound. 

 

I did read a good bit about another USB PCI add-on computer card but I've not seen the one that you just posted. I'm going to read up on a good bit tomorrow night as I'm out of town. My DAC again is a Schiit Yggdrasil and I'm finding that the newest add-on USB card inside of it is very good and I'm liking the sound and I'm looking to improve that pathway.

PXL_20210416_083316245.jpg

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On 4/16/2021 at 11:41 AM, The Dude said:

This sounds interesting. Any pics to give a better idea how it looks? 

The goal is to make all grounds look the same to the electricity, also helps with noise in general IMHO

 

In the ideal universe, you trenched around the house and laid a ring of thick copper around the house and encased it in conductive cement at the time of construction, then tied all plumbing, cables, antennas and electrical boxes to various points on the ring, including roof antennae for ground. Just like a giant commercial radio tower. They even add legs off of the ring to grounding rods further out which is why they can eat lightening hit after lightening hit with no effect.

 

The roof antennas have the value of grounding the air around the house which can accumulate substantial static electricity charges leading to lightning strikes when a front moves past your house. I have 2 ten foot masts on my roof, TV & FM, the masts are grounded together, then a wire runs from each one to a ground rod on different sides of the house. My electric box is in the rear, so I want to keep any hits as far as possible from the buried electrical cable to avoid bringing it back inside of the the house and frying everything. Both the mast and the coax must be grounded to an outside grounding rod, inductive loop for the coax, then better if through a grounded sheet of metal called a bulkhead where it enters the house (aluminum siding is good enough) then connected to a Gas Arc MIL SPEC fuse in the basement before running to the TV or Stereo. The Arc is connected to the plumbing as close to where it enters the ground as possible.

 

If you had a metal roof or siding, you would want to connect at several points to the ground loop.

 

If your home is already built, then drive in 8ft grounding rods on three sides of the house and connect them in a ring with a home run from the two on the sides to each other running behind the house, creating a ring without running wire in the front of the house. 14 Ga Solid or stranded is fine. All rods must be connected to each other.  Locate next to where the cable comes in, or there is a spigot to connect to the ring.

 

Inside the house, the electrical box is grounded to the plumbing, check this it's critical. The exterior  box should also be grounded to a rod a foot away outside, but they are not, there is a special grounding clamp that grabs the metal on the top or side of the box, a neighbor gave me a couple who does telco work and the aircraft dielectric silicone sealer used to protect the connections so they don't oxidize. You can't have too many grounding points.

 

Many houses get fried from a neighbor getting hit and the surge traveling via the electrical wires into your house and frying or weakening all of the motors in the house and killing some outright as opposed to slow death from weakening. My EE friend added a substantial mechanical throw switch to his main electric in and disconnects it when there are storms coming in. Same for his roof antennas, which I also disconnect in the basement when storms are coming in. 15 or 20 houses on his street were completely fried one time when one of them took a hit to an ungrounded TV antenna, the lightening arced across the house to the neighbor's breaker box and into the main electrical wires frying the transformers and the house appliances, all of them. My friend was working in his garage with the door open and saw the hit and felt the shock-wave. Electric was out for days.

 

For surge suppressors, I would like one on the main line in but don't have it, my city may not allow the addition of 200 amp external surge suppressor. I do have a whole house 20 amp which I added inside the breaker box, there are higher rated units I think up to 50-90 amps which are nice and not  too expensive. With 220VAC there are no second chances if you touch the wire, the party is over.  Whole house, then a suppressor for each piece of equipment I care about. Surge suppressors should also monitor for low power and shut off, when the grid is in trouble the power starts bouncing  in the low range and this weakens all of your equipment and appliances, it may be surging between 80 and 100 volts up and down. My AC compressor outside has both high and low voltage protection and when an event occurs it shuts off for 15 minutes. My AC mechanic who added this to my system also had lots of questions, the next time I saw him, he told me he had also completely redone his house.

 

An electrician I was speaking to asked me to explain this to him several times, finally I asked him just tell me what I'm doing wrong. He responded the opposite, he was going to rewire his breaker box to add a throw switch, external generator throw switch, whole house surge suppressor, and add  a grounding ring and a roof antennae and drop his cable. He also said he was going to do the same for his brother's house and add grounding wires from the metal roof to the grounding rods in 2 locations.

 

FWIW when we had finished the project, my daughter came home from school and looked at the TV which was on a cable channel, and asked "what did you do to the TV? It looks great".

 

I'll try to remember to post some pics.

 

L-Com UHF connector Gas Arc Fuses

https://www.l-com.com/surge-protector-uhf-female-to-uhf-female-bulkhead-0-3-ghz-600v-lightning-protector

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https://www.showmecables.com/f-type-female-to-uhf-male-adapter?msclkid=86634610dbb41c483e01266edef2ee2f&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=(ROI) Shopping - New&utm_term=4577266909614362&utm_content=Adapters

925_1.jpg

 

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iPurifier2 USB Type B Digital Noise Filter: Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific
 
Is something like this what yer thinking of. From what I've heard if your DAC has built in jitter  filter/re-clocker these are redundant
I guess I do not need one for my IFI Signature DAC then.

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