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USB decrapifiers....
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Author:  Jim G [ November 12th, 2019, 11:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

Oh, that hurts.

Author:  HAL [ November 12th, 2019, 12:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

I prefer I2S Bus over all of them, but not a widely adopted standard for external DAC connection. Used in about 99.9% of DAC's internally for separate Data and Clock lines.

USB2 Audio is my second choice for a fully asyncronous bus flexible buffer length interface. The USB interface at the DAC does all the high precision clocking in the DAC.

It is just getting the PC power supply noise off the interface. Very simple actually, just break open a USB2 cable and break the +5VDC connection and add your own regulated low noise supply. Lots of those out there. LT1083 +5VDC regulators work very well. Hard to beat the iFi iPower low noise 5VDC regualtor for $50.

If you have to reclock the USB interface, the XMOS U8 or XU208 USB2 Audio interface in the DAC sucks.

YMMV

Author:  TubeDriver [ November 12th, 2019, 12:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

I am running an upgraded XU208 USB module in my DAC. A couple folks measured it and found that it worked really well in this specific application (Holo Spring) better for example than when adding a Singxer SU1 I2S converter box. Analogue was supposed to be the tweaky format but digital has it beat at this point.


HAL wrote:
I prefer I2S Bus over all of them, but not a widely adopted standard for external DAC connection. Used in about 99.9% of DAC's internally for separate Data and Clock lines.

USB2 Audio is my second choice for a fully asyncronous bus flexible buffer length interface. The USB interface at the DAC does all the high precision clocking in the DAC.

It is just getting the PC power supply noise off the interface. Very simple actually, just break open a USB2 cable and break the +5VDC connection and add your own regulated low noise supply. Lots of those out there. LT1083 +5VDC regulators work very well. Hard to beat the iFi iPower low noise 5VDC regualtor for $50.

If you have to reclock the USB interface, the XMOS U8 or XU208 USB2 Audio interface in the DAC sucks.

YMMV

Author:  HAL [ November 12th, 2019, 2:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

The XMOS XU208 USB interface outputs I2S Bus data to the DAC. It is all about the clock stability driving the DAC chip itself. You have to have very clean power to the clocks and correct layout on the PC Board for the interface to work correctly as this is all at RF frequencies. Get it wrong, it sucks, get it correct and it sounds great. Getting is correct is the important part, and I have heard both bad and great in high end DAC's.

I will still go with USB2 Audio or possibly the new Ethernet connected DAC's, as they are galvanically isolated by the Ethernet interface, where USB2 is not. But, the same applies to that interface, still has to be designed and built correctly.

Author:  TubeDriver [ November 12th, 2019, 2:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

BTW, I appreciate everyone's input on this matter. I know most of you are experienced audio folks and I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve so I weigh all this advice more heavily than the average posts of some other internet forum! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Author:  Grover Gardner [ November 13th, 2019, 12:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

TubeDriver wrote:
BTW, I appreciate everyone's input on this matter. I know most of you are experienced audio folks and I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve so I weigh all this advice more heavily than the average posts of some other internet forum! :handgestures-thumbupleft:


You're very welcome. It's fun to make suggestions, and sometimes one is inspired to rethink one's own setup.

Author:  ratbagp [ November 13th, 2019, 9:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

It's sometimes useful to analyse a problem from the other direction. In this case, how would you design a 'crapifier'?

I was also wondering after the posts about USB cables whether USB DACs such as the DragonFly are inherently better because they don't have a cable.

https://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-DragonFly-Red-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B01DFMV4NQ

ray

Author:  Pelliott321 [ November 13th, 2019, 10:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

interesting point.

Author:  mix4fix [ November 15th, 2019, 6:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

Roscoe Primrose wrote:
Tom and I used this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MSZTD8N/ You'll need RAM and a small SSD if your media is all on a NAS or the Internet, a larger SSD if you want to store music locally.

Roscoe


Is it better than the small form factor PC I am using?

Author:  Cogito [ November 15th, 2019, 8:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: USB decrapifiers....

ratbagp wrote:
It's sometimes useful to analyse a problem from the other direction. In this case, how would you design a 'crapifier'?

I was also wondering after the posts about USB cables whether USB DACs such as the DragonFly are inherently better because they don't have a cable.

https://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-DragonFly-Red-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B01DFMV4NQ

ray


The difference is the DAC chip and amp.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/no-stereo ... nds-great/

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