[Jbucla2005]

My Dragonfly Black v1.5 was giving me noise out of my computer's USB hub. This is has been 100% fixed by using a USB cable with a ferrite ring. I also have an iFi iSilencer+ which I ordered before I figured this out.

The iFi iSilencer+ does NOTHING since the problem was already fixed with the ferrite ring cable. It doesn't enhance the sound or change the sound in any way.

So I would say, before you buy a USB noise isolator, try a cable with a ferrite ring.

 

[warrenpchi]

Thanks for sharing the tip!

 

[ellisr63]

I used to use the TDK ferrite rings on all my cables.

 

[Ghoostknight]

The iFi iSilencer+ does NOTHING since the problem was already fixed with the ferrite ring cable. It doesn't enhance the sound or change the sound in any way.

not true imo, atleast on my setup

tho ferrites are definitely worth a shot, you can also use, lets say 5 for increased performance.... i specially do this on cables that are not directly in the hifi chain but on the same circuit, like on my pc and monitors for example...

there is also this video showing how good these cheap amazon/ebay ferrites perform.... you can buy like 20 of them for 10-20 euro ->

Also regarding USB... i just made this: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...oop-eliminator-and-filter.410706/post-7646726 which is basicly a ifi idefender with some other tweaks...

1. external power supply connector and a switch to switch between external power and PC power (this also lets you turn off the power line completely if you select external power supply and dont hook one up...
2. supercapacitor on the power line for aditonal filtering/improving power
3. common mode choke filter ic (2x) on the data lines (also the datalines are placed carefully and should be impedance correct)
4. you can, just like the ifi grounddefender does, add a resistor between DAC ground and PC ground ... this eliminates (greatly reduces) any ground loops without needing to buy a isolator (or you can use it aditionally to a isolator like im gonna test..), there are various resistance options ... ifi idefender uses 100 ohm... my pcb can be set to 100, 250, 333, 500 or 1000 .... but you need to test wether your dac still reconnects with these higher values (thats the problem if you break the ground connection completely too)

 

[Ghoostknight]

ferrite rings do specially no harm on power cables, they are even special "ferrite cables" from eupen (they are 3x 2,5mm2 cables and each 2,5mm strand is completely covered in some ferrite material) which have a german community around them, i have 2 power cables too like this, it really does help, you can also still add more ferrite rings.. there is not much harm on power cables here beside that it reduces noise, makes the background darker and makes the overall sound "smoother" and more coherent
'tho some people argue they might reduce dynamics or whatever... IMO this is the wrong conclusion ....

regarding usb cables, or data cables for that matter, its said that ferrite rings placed on cables alters the impedance (basicly filtering out the signal i think), since there are impedance specs on USB (i think 90ohm), you might wanna not place that many ferrites... one at each end or 2 at the dac end is probably enough..

 

[Whazzzup]

I’d use neither, but that’s me. Phoenix usb regenerator reclocker if one’s system is worth it

 

[Ghoostknight]

if one’s system is worth it

lol, yea maybe, i would still experiment even with expensive devices... probably would atleast try ferrites on the usb input cable to the pheonix and specially on the power cable if its 110/230V powered, specially if you dont use a (good) power conditioner...

 

[Whazzzup]

lol, yea maybe, i would still experiment even with expensive devices... probably would atleast try ferrites on the usb input cable to the pheonix and specially on the power cable if its 110/230V powered, specially if you dont use a (good) power conditioner...

No thx don’t need em but go ahead