2. amps-preamps
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electrical isolation of amp and other gear

I have a question about power and isolation involving an amp and other gear. Apologies if this is not the right forum.

I have (or will soon have) 3 primary audio devices:
- Pass Labs XA30.8 amp
- Lampizator Golden Gate DAC (with volume control)
- Sonore Signature Rendu SE streamer

My understanding is that that recommendation is to electrically isolate digital gear from analog gear (in terms of lines, outlets, power conditioners, etc.) However, both of the digital units that I have use linear power supplies, so I wonder if that isolation is still necessary in my case.

I also have a Furman Elite-20pfi power conditioner in which I plug some other devices (SonicTransporter that feeds the streamer as well as pro audio/guitar gear unrelated to the hi-fi system). So, with the above gear, I will have a total 4 devices to plug into the wall (the amp and DAC tend to sound better plugged into the wall then through the power conditioner).

I have 3 dedicated lines. Each one has different outlets - Furutech GTX-D NCF(R), SR Blue, Maestro. I’ll plug the power conditioner into one of them. My question is how should I group the other two? Here are some options:

- amp in 1 outlet, DAC and streamer together on 1 outlet, power conditioner on 1 outlet
- amp in 1 outlet, DAC 1 outlet, power conditioner on 1 outlet, streamer in an isolated bank in the power conditioner.

Are there other options that I should be considering? If there is no advantage to isolating gear with linear power supplies, I might as well go with the first option. At the end of the day, I’ll let me ears do the final judging. However, with all the possible options as well as the combinations of mating different pieces of gear with different outlets, there are a ton of permutations and combinations. So, I’m looking for general guidelines as a starting point.
strats

Showing 1 response by monoogan

monoogan
55 posts
 
I'm with Steakster. Keep an open mind.

Shielded AC cables can pick up a lot of hash on the shielding and introduce that to the component chassis. If you're running single ended components where signal ground and chassis ground are tied together this noise can show in the output.

I found this out using a Schiit Bifrost DAC with an older unbalanced ARC preamp. On top of the ground loop hum it picked up all kinds of other RF hash. The cheap cable that came with the DAC actually sounded better than a couple of shielded AC cables I'd always been using.

Best cables were the ones with the lowest ground to AC line capacitance. There is a lot of good documentation on ground loops out there.

I'm thoroughly convinced this is related to why so many people hear differences in AC cables that shouldn't be there. It's a third interconnection between components that's normally not measured. 
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