I bought a dual cable on ebay for $58 that allowed me to add a seperate power supply - solved the problem.
Regards
Regards
Audio grade USB cables
I've had issues with this for years, trying to wrap my head around digital bits being lost, etc. Anyway, the debate in my head is settled, the USB cable does in fact make a big difference to your sound. But not because the cable is special or not special, it's the computer. The 5 volt power feed from the computer's USB output port literally infects sensitive audio electronics - USB DAC's specifically.
Some expensive USB cable designs may in fact improve this problem but they don't solve the problem. The problem is the dirty 5 volt power feed.
So why not just eliminate the 5 volt power feed? I've heard of people simply cutting the power lead in the USB cable. That may work for some DAC's but the majority require 5 volt power to function. And USB DAC headphone amps are often powered by USB alone - no wall plug. So you can't just cut the line in most cases.
What you can do is replace the dirty 5 volt power lead with a clean source of power - and by clean I mean any wall outlet is going to be clean by comparison to your computer's USB output port. Why? Because your computer has literally millions of circuits that are making noise and that noise is transmitted down the 5 volt power lead!
And that dirty power may mess up the data bits too, by interfering with the data lines inside the USB cable. So it's a problem with many dimensions.
I created a new product called USB Disruptor to solve this problem. I've advertised on Audiogon and have a unit for sale on Audiogon. It's a simple idea, disrupt the computer's dirty power and replace with an independent source.
The units are hand made by me with 7 welds per unit. I use silver bearing solder and the best parts available - though you don't have to go overboard with digital because it really is just bits - so long as you've dealt with the dirty 5 volt power issue!
The improvement to the sound can be dramatic depending on your setup. With my headphone setup it's very easy to pick out the differences, and these have been replicated with several test subjects.
With my reference system I've already spent over $1200 on a USB isolation product that is supposed to clean up the power and more, but sure enough it's improved with USB Disruptor. For example, last night I was listening to The Doors debut album - has light my fire and break on through - and it's a high rez from HD Tracks - and this time, with USB Disruptor, it sounds like Jim is totally separate from the band. He's hovering 3 feet above the center of my speakers and I can hear him tapping his hand on his leg maybe, something I've never heard before.
Dirty 5 volt USB power clouds the music, but in a way that is evenly spread across the frequency spectrum, so it's hard to consciously isolate a specific problem, it seems to sound normal. It's like a shade is put over your music. You can still enjoy but you're not getting the clearest and most lucid picture. When you use USB Disruptor the shade is removed and you can hear the quiet spaces between musical notes.
You will only appreciate the difference when you hear it. Don't all of us audiophiles (sometimes audiophools) swear our system is just perfect and then we add something new and realize we were still missing something?
That happens to me a lot, and I was surprised USB Disruptor functioned as well as it did in my reference setup.
It's logical though: if your computer is connected to your audio system by means of a USB cable then interference laden 5 volt power from the computer is getting into your DAC and other audio electronics. It's going to be very, very hard to stop that dirty power from affecting your music.
The best way to solve this problem is to completely disrupt the power from the computer's USB port. And that's what USB Disruptor accomplishes - it's simple, effective, and affordable.
I have no doubt that USB DAC's of many flavors have been sold off or given away by many of our audiophile brothers because they just sounded crappy - too shrill at times, flat stereo image, etc. But it wasn't the DAC - it was the dirty USB power. This is hard to believe but it's true. And I know it's true because I've heard the results.
Have any of you guys tried cutting the 5 volt power lead in the USB cable? Did it work for your DAC? It won't work for most, but maybe some.
Anyone else try other products that have helped? I know USB Regen is similar, they claim to cut the power too but it's still actually connected, not exactly the same as USB Disruptor. Of course, USB Disruptor is less than half the cost of USB Regen.
And that Audioquest jitterbug, that is more like a filter. I don't want to filter anything for fear I'll lose precious signal. Anyone use those?
The fact is there's a problem with USB. These products all tell us that. But don't make any mistake, it's the dirty power from the 5 volt output that's the biggest issue, and that's the problem USB Disruptor solves.
Some expensive USB cable designs may in fact improve this problem but they don't solve the problem. The problem is the dirty 5 volt power feed.
So why not just eliminate the 5 volt power feed? I've heard of people simply cutting the power lead in the USB cable. That may work for some DAC's but the majority require 5 volt power to function. And USB DAC headphone amps are often powered by USB alone - no wall plug. So you can't just cut the line in most cases.
What you can do is replace the dirty 5 volt power lead with a clean source of power - and by clean I mean any wall outlet is going to be clean by comparison to your computer's USB output port. Why? Because your computer has literally millions of circuits that are making noise and that noise is transmitted down the 5 volt power lead!
And that dirty power may mess up the data bits too, by interfering with the data lines inside the USB cable. So it's a problem with many dimensions.
I created a new product called USB Disruptor to solve this problem. I've advertised on Audiogon and have a unit for sale on Audiogon. It's a simple idea, disrupt the computer's dirty power and replace with an independent source.
The units are hand made by me with 7 welds per unit. I use silver bearing solder and the best parts available - though you don't have to go overboard with digital because it really is just bits - so long as you've dealt with the dirty 5 volt power issue!
The improvement to the sound can be dramatic depending on your setup. With my headphone setup it's very easy to pick out the differences, and these have been replicated with several test subjects.
With my reference system I've already spent over $1200 on a USB isolation product that is supposed to clean up the power and more, but sure enough it's improved with USB Disruptor. For example, last night I was listening to The Doors debut album - has light my fire and break on through - and it's a high rez from HD Tracks - and this time, with USB Disruptor, it sounds like Jim is totally separate from the band. He's hovering 3 feet above the center of my speakers and I can hear him tapping his hand on his leg maybe, something I've never heard before.
Dirty 5 volt USB power clouds the music, but in a way that is evenly spread across the frequency spectrum, so it's hard to consciously isolate a specific problem, it seems to sound normal. It's like a shade is put over your music. You can still enjoy but you're not getting the clearest and most lucid picture. When you use USB Disruptor the shade is removed and you can hear the quiet spaces between musical notes.
You will only appreciate the difference when you hear it. Don't all of us audiophiles (sometimes audiophools) swear our system is just perfect and then we add something new and realize we were still missing something?
That happens to me a lot, and I was surprised USB Disruptor functioned as well as it did in my reference setup.
It's logical though: if your computer is connected to your audio system by means of a USB cable then interference laden 5 volt power from the computer is getting into your DAC and other audio electronics. It's going to be very, very hard to stop that dirty power from affecting your music.
The best way to solve this problem is to completely disrupt the power from the computer's USB port. And that's what USB Disruptor accomplishes - it's simple, effective, and affordable.
I have no doubt that USB DAC's of many flavors have been sold off or given away by many of our audiophile brothers because they just sounded crappy - too shrill at times, flat stereo image, etc. But it wasn't the DAC - it was the dirty USB power. This is hard to believe but it's true. And I know it's true because I've heard the results.
Have any of you guys tried cutting the 5 volt power lead in the USB cable? Did it work for your DAC? It won't work for most, but maybe some.
Anyone else try other products that have helped? I know USB Regen is similar, they claim to cut the power too but it's still actually connected, not exactly the same as USB Disruptor. Of course, USB Disruptor is less than half the cost of USB Regen.
And that Audioquest jitterbug, that is more like a filter. I don't want to filter anything for fear I'll lose precious signal. Anyone use those?
The fact is there's a problem with USB. These products all tell us that. But don't make any mistake, it's the dirty power from the 5 volt output that's the biggest issue, and that's the problem USB Disruptor solves.
Showing 8 responses by williewonka
Robp - You are correct - you do need a USB power supply adapter Plugging both ends into a computer is not advised - I did try it and although it was still better than my DH Labs USB cable, it did sound much better when plugged into the USB adapter I use an adapter like this for $5.99 Enercell 5V/1A AC-to-USB Power Adapter Charger I tried several adapters, ranging in price from $5.99 to $25 and ranging from 0.5 amps to 2amps and the one above performed the best. I've since tried it with my new Samsung Tablet adapter and it did not sound too good with that either - so the power supply is critical. Regards... |
Mesch - I’ve just been reading about the Audiophilleo product range and it looks very interesting. I would agree with your assessment, but only if the Pure Power option is used. The Doukmall cable addresses one basic issue...
The Audiophillio Products with the Pure Power option will also alleviate this issue - i.e. by NOT using the power provided via the USB port. THEN - they go to some extraordinary lengths to ensure extremely clean power is supplied to the digital circuitry. However, if the Pure Power option is not used, the Audiophillio USB-SPDIF Converter uses USB power. In which case, it too is subject to the same issues any other USB powered device is subject to.
Personally, I have tried many "experiments" with providing "clean" power - especially to digital circuitry and found it paid big dividends in SQ every time and the Audiophillio products seem to be addressing this to the highest order. It would be very interesting to hear Audiophillio + Pure Power compared to my Doukmall setup - I would imagine the sound is very nice indeed - alas, the price is the only thing stopping me. You wouldn’t happen to reside in the Toronto area would you? :-) Regards... |
Mesch -here’s the cable... One side goes to the computer and the other to the power supply... Enercell 5V/1A AC-to-USB Power Adapter Charger or http://805onlinedeals.myshopify.com/products/new-enercell-5v1a-ac-usb-charger-purple-2730703-2-pack Please post your findings here - I would be interested to know how it compares - thanks Enjoy :-) |
Rob - I've just looked at your web site and at the pictures of the Disruptor and "in principle" it is very similar to the Doukmall cable...
Basically - As I see it, the differences between the two products are... The Doukmall product...
The Disruptor product...
The debate about the use of Computer Grade vs Audio Grade USB cables for audio data transfers will be ongoing and the outcome is always based on the "opinion" of a specific consumer. But one thing that is certain - asynchronous USB data transfers, as used in streaming to DACs, ARE NOT vetted for completeness by the DAC, i.e. it is not known whether the data sent by the computer actually arrived at the DAC intact - and as a result SQ can be affected. With all that said, I do believe the Disruptor offers an alternate approach to providing "clean power" to the DAC, which will improve the performance of any DAC/SPDIF Converter that utilizes power normally made available via the computers USB cable! It is unfortunate that I had not seen your product earlier, otherwise I would have purchased it - it just did not show up on my Google search at the time. :-( Regards... |
Jaybe - the phrase you quoted RE: "But one thing for certain..." is from one of my posts - so in response... I read it here... http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/USB_Trouble.htm
And here... http://www.beyondlogic.org/usbnutshell/usb4.shtml#Isochronous Isochronous transfers occur continuously and periodically. They typically contain time sensitive information, such as an audio or video stream. If there were a delay or retry of data in an audio stream, then you would expect some erratic audio containing glitches. The beat may no longer be in sync. However if a packet or frame was dropped every now and again, it is less likely to be noticed by the listener. And several other places on the web If that has since changed - I stand corrected. Regards... |
Jaybe - not a problem - I had to search all over when I started looking at why different USB cables perform differently. I originally "assumed" USB transfers would error check and resend - just as a computer communicating to a USB drive would - but that was not the case for streamed content. Regards.... |
Rob.... Williewonka, the operating principles of USB Disruptor would suggest that the type of USB cable from the computer into the Disruptor would not matter, so long as it's a certified USB 2.0 cable. In my case, I tried several cables attached to the signal cable of the Doukmall cable and although the differences were small I could discern improvements between several cables - especially when using a higher quality DH Labs Cable. But even the DH Labs cable did not perform as well as simply connecting the Doukmall Cable directly to the computer. Perhaps the USB connector could have introduced problems? - I don't know, but it was very simple and a very short female/female adapter like this one http://www.amazon.ca/niceEshop-Female-Adapter-Adaptor-Coupler/dp/B00A4RI326/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&q... Without actually trying the Disruptor I am unable confirm your observations. But I do believe the Disruptor achieves the improvements you cite and provides a very affordable solution alternative to overcoming the inadequacies of computer USB power. Regards... |