Best means of isolating digital equipment i.e. DACs, CD transports, wall warts etc.


Is it better to route these digital noise polluters through a conditioner, isolation transformer or both in series?  Is a "digital" power cord sufficient by itself or could it be used with any of the above without negative side effects?  There are a lot of anecdotal observations in many old threads.  Can anyone help clarify based on what they have found?  I'm getting ready to add a dedicated circuit for my audio system and will be reconfiguring power cable connections.
jc4659

Showing 4 responses by tomic601

two lines are fine, i would swap the Hydra and the Transformer and see which sounds better.

on the post above, maybe...but first get your audio clean circuit off the dirty leg of the AC panel, that is the one with refrig compressor and motors.

also good to tighten your panel connections including grounds on a periodic basis - dont do any of the work i mentioned in this post if unqualified.
but to come back and nail down your question a bit more. In my reference system I have essentially 3 dedicated circuits back to the panel for audio: Low level analog w power conditioning, Digital wall warts, server ( even w linear supply as it has no Faraday cage ) , streamer, network switch all on a seperate line and power conditioning, finally monoblocks w no conditioning on a third line ( split from 240 ).

experiment and listen
 i did a quick Craigslist search for MSB, DCS, Aesthetix, Benchmark and Bricasti...Weiss, Wadia Pro, etc...no luck...must be the musings of a wishful egotist...
putting the DAC on the clean or dirty side depends on two or three issues.

Linear or switching power supply?, Switch = dirty

Ladder or chip ?, IF chip with Faraday cage = clean,  IF not then dirty

Chip vs. analog display or switching ? see ARC and Aesthetix defeat of those w improved sonics, otherwise = dirty

finally listen

always use a quality power conditioning and a dedicated line for dirty