1. Home
  2. digital
  3. 198533-149317

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

antigrunge2
mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
1,102 posts
 

The problem these days with using the word "truth" is that it is a word that has changed meaning over the last several years. 

I am not an etymologist, but methinks for some it should still mean factually accurate, but for many they throw the word around too loosely and equate it to be what they believe. Perhaps truthiness is a better fit. 

Sorry for going out on a tangent, but it is my understanding this word "truth" does in fact seem appropriate for this article @ejh369 and the article lines up perfectly with how I see digital, the statements from the audio digital experts, and consequently the sound differences in different streamers*, digital cables, and everything else connected to the digital audio chain. I see these as facts, regardless of whether someone can or will produce numbers demonstrating it or not. Akin to the analog audio chain, surprise surprise. 

Thanks for the link- subscribed. 

If the square wave signal arriving at the DAC already carries damage, re-clocking can only do so much. Garbage in, garbage out. You want the cleanest possible signal reaching your DAC before it ever gets to that stage. - yes

ejh369
15 posts
 

@mclinnguy I agree with your assessment on the word "truth" our language has been hijacked and made into something that people can mold to meet their goals. 

Lets go with factually accurate or scientifically measurable. Anyone can see it if they connect a digital signal to a basic oscilloscope. You can even see how the signal gets corrupted and becomes unreliable to the receiving side. If that side is a DAC, the DAC has to interpret as best as it can which means starts errors. What you hear is not equal to the original file. 

Thanks

 

lanx0003
1,973 posts
 

It turns out that GoldenSound conducted testing in 2021 and advised audiophiles not to daisy-chain DDCs. Here is a summary of the jitter performance tests.

           Jitter (AES)                 RMS    Peak 

  • Singxer SU2 KTE        76.9    230.3
  • DI20HE                      111.1    337
  • Mutec                         115.7   351

When daisychaining these 3 together, the Jitter performance becomes worse.

  • SU2->DI20->Mutec   121.4   406.6

https://goldensound.audio/2021/10/05/mutec-mc3-usb-ddc-reclocker-measurements/

antigrunge2 OP
1,580 posts
 

@lanx0003 

These are DDC‘s! Nobody is talking about daisychaining those. Decrapifiers and Isolators aren‘t DDCs. Multiple runs through format conversions serve no discernible purpose.

ted_b
90 posts
 

@lanx0003 It turns out that GoldenSound conducted testing in 2021 and advised audiophiles not to daisy-chain DDCs.

And he is correct. That would be weird, with each successive DDC reclocking the audio. Using one (or more) USB isolator(s) ahead of a DDC however, is a viable idea, and may improve the performance of said DDC.

USB isolators are oftentimes referred to as "reclockers," but the only clocking is the 8 kHz USB packet protocol. No matter how may isolators are in series, the audio bits are clocked only once - inside the DAC. 

Some report that daisychaining USB isolators helps. This seemed unusual to me as well, and I experimented with it, but it didn’t seem to bring further improvement in my system. It may be dependent upon how much high frequency noise is present. Numerous system specific variables are in play here.

More to discover