Do You Use USB for Streaming?

Thanks Williewonka, I use a Audiophilleo2 with PurePower. I am thinking that the PurePower approach is analogous to what is described above excepting that the USB conversion is external to the DAC. Possibly I am missing something.

Mesch - you are correct - your approach is similar in principle to the cable + power adapter approach I identified - which is, fix the power issues and fix the data issues - then pass the good data to the DAC for conversion.

My Bifrost DAC takes care of the necessary reclocking - which I believe is also what the Audiophileo2 does.

The outcome of both is significantly higher quality audio.

Regards

Power over USB for digital circuits is just like all other digital loads. IT requires a very fast responding regulator. Batteries don't work very well for this, even LI. SMPS power supplies, at least the latest generation can respond very fast, but they also introduce noise due to the switching.

The optimum solution is a very fast linear regulator in a linear supply, like the Power Block. This supply is based on Hynes regulation technology, so it has the best regulator available. Extremely low noise and very fast regulation. No adapter cable needed.

Power supplies are the MOST IMPORTANT part of any audio system, whether for digital or analog sections. The Power Block is the best of these solutions. The others are just toys:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=128620.0

30-day money-back if you are not satisfied with the improvement, less shipping.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Steve N - I cannot agree more. Power is of prime importance.

However, not everybody on this forum wants, needs or can afford a Ferrarri - some people will settle for a VW.

But we all want to get past a GREMLIN :-)

For the younger readers - A Gremlin is a really old crappy car

Regards

I've just finished trying something a fellow member had asked me offline - but I think it's definitely worth a mention...

The "dual cable" mentioned in the initial post above is only 1 meter long and the member had asked...
- does it still work as well if USB extension cables were used to extend it's reach
- as apposed to ordering a longer, more expensive cable.

I have now tried---
- a standard 15ft BELKIN Pro Series USB extension cable on the signal cable
- and a 10ft no-name USB extension cable on the power side of the cable.

I have tested this setup streaming 16/44, 24/96 and 24/192 files and they did not affect the audio quality at all.

But, I did find that the quality of the SPDIF cable between my v-link192 and my DAC made a considerable difference to sound quality

Just another little tid-bit to tuck away :-)

Regards...