When nobody else is doing what you do, is that a message?
It wasn't that long ago someone was posting here about how you can really tune your system by daisy chaining multiple interconnects. It didn't catch on.
USB connection to DAC: multi stage improvement
In my setup (Innuos Zenith Mk3, Antelope Zodiac Platinum with Sean Jacobs DC3/4 and Antelope Audiophile clock) sequential addition of decrapifiers has lead to increasing transparency, dynamics and soundstage depth.
My chain now reads like this
ZenithMk3->Singxer UIP->JHoinrich Isolator RH07b->IFi USB iPurifier3->LHY UIP2.0 Pro->Intona7054b->Zodiac Platinum
The Singxer is powered by Sean Jacobs DC3/4, The Lhy is reclocked by the Antelope clock
Of particular note: this is the best result of trying every conceivable permutation.
In terms of overall impact:
1. reclocking the LHY using the same clock on DAC and upstream Etherregen
2. introducing galvanic insulation after each powered device.
3. using isolator equipment with different chips at each stage.
i have learned the hard way that fighting ground level noise, RFI/EMI and other network noise is a gradual rather than binary solution at each step and that in digital audio ‘less is more’ doesn‘t apply as it does in the analogue section. Equally the whole bits are bits debate seems churlish against this background
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“in digital audio ‘less is more’ doesn‘t apply” In digital streaming, I’ve found that ‘less is more’ absolutely does apply. My experience has shown that focusing on fewer, higher-quality components yields far better results than piling on endless tweaks. You can tweak every stage of the chain, but beyond a point, those additions often do more harm to the sound than provide any meaningful improvement. Getting rid of USB and switching to a DAC with Ethernet card was the biggest improvement over a setup that included a Aurender N20 ➡️ EMM Labs DA2. My digital streaming setup: Apple Router → Matrix Audio SI-1 → Streamer (Merging DAC+clock+power supply) using a pair of FTA Métis LAN cables. |
Berkeley Audio has an interesting take on this....these guys did the original work and key developers of the HDCD (High Definition Compatible Digital) process. They felt USB should not be an inherent "built-in" function of a DAC: Berkeley Audio Design excludes USB connections from their DACs to protect the delicate digital-to-analog conversion circuits from computer-generated electrical noise and clock phase noise. They believe that connecting a DAC directly to a "dirty" USB source inevitably degrades audio performance. [1, 2] Key reasons for this design philosophy include:
Originally, they did not have USB as part of their DAC path, but due to demand they now offer a seperate unit to optimize the digital path for those needing/using USB. I have their Alpha DAC 3 in my system...it is a keeper. |
I can completely relate to the drive to optimize the USB path. Years ago, I was firmly in that same camp, deploying the iFi Micro and Nano iUSB3.0 power supplies, inline iPurifiers, and Gemini split-data/power cables across my main and secondary systems. When you are wrestling with standard computer audio outputs, adding these stages absolutely changes the sound, often bringing a welcome sense of calm and transparency by shifting the leakage current and power supply noise spectrum around. But for the lurkers following this thread who are looking for true isolation, it’s worth stepping back and looking at the root cause of the problem. Cascading five different USB isolators, reclockers, and hubs introduces a massive amount of hardware complexity, multiple power supplies, and up to ten physical impedance boundaries where high-speed digital signals can reflect and create deterministic jitter. It’s essentially treating the symptoms of USB's inherent liabilities—packet bursts and erratic CPU polling that generate EMI—with a long chain of hardware band-aids. I've since discovered a much more elegant, modern way to achieve this goal at the protocol layer rather than the USB hardware layer. Moving to an architecture like Diretta—specifically running Diretta Direct Stream (DDS) Mode 3 L2 frames over a simple, point-to-point CAT6 or CAT6a patch cable between a Host and Target—provides complete physical and galvanic isolation natively via the network interface. More importantly, it continuously paces the audio data to keep the endpoint’s CPU cycles perfectly flatlined and uniform. By eliminating the erratic processing spikes that plague USB transmission stacks, you stop the electrical noise from being generated at the source, leaving nothing to mitigate. If you enjoy the science experiment and the puzzle of mixing and matching different isolation chips, the multi-box USB route is certainly a path you can take. But if your goal is an elegant, low-clutter system with maximum isolation, fixing the transmission architecture via a protocol like Diretta renders the entire "decrapifier" chain obsolete. If you are at all curious, you can read my open source DIY "cookbook" for solving this problem architecturally here: Building a Dedicated Diretta Link with AudioLinux on Raspberry Pi |
jmrrobbie1
+1
Upon reading the OP I immediately thought of the Berkeley Audio USB converter I have the Alpha Reference 3P and USB converter. Remarkable sound quality and ease of use. For those of you struggling with issues I would recommend giving this a try before attempting a complex solution with multiple devices.
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