[DaveBSC]

Quote:

I wonder if you guys can tell me your views on hOw big of a difference audiophiles USB cables
Make when connecting the pure power and audiophilio .

John Atkinson said that he heard a very slight improvement with a $300 AQ USB cable over a basic one when connected to the Off-Ramp 4, but found no measurable proof why that would be so. IIRC he said the basic cable actually had slightly lower jitter. When connected to a dCS Debussy, he said the sound was identical.
 
The Audiophilleo on its own, or other bus powered converters like the Stello U3 may benefit a bit more from a higher quality cable than converters that mostly or completely use their own power. Regardless, I think your money is much better spent on a SoTM card, Vaunix, or AQVOX than an expensive USB cable.

 

[che15]

Thank u guys for the advise, last night I got a silnote silver USB cable for 125$ which I think is a really good deal. I have listened to wirewold and kimber USB both all silver construction .
These 2 cables were in my friends system ( macmini with pure music to a wadia 121 dac and I
for sure could hear the difference between the 2 the WW was more dynamic with more detail and the kimber was warmer and sweeter sounding. The 2 were great and I could be happy with either.
I asked the question because I did not know if the AP1 wih PP would benefit as much .
Thanks Dave for answering that ? , I have no gotten the vaunix because I taught I better wait to see if Phillip come out with something similar to the vaunix .

 

[drez]

I have received my Vaunix hub - initial impressions are unfortunately not so good - after hooking the Vaunix up with the stock switchmode PSU I noticed  slight warming of the upper mids, a slight vagueness in the lower mids and overall a slight loosening in the timing.  To give an example piano notes are less precisely imaged, especially the left hand seems very muddled, whereas with direct USB every note is distinct from both hands and each note seems to originate from a unique point in space.
 
Seems the Vaunix only uses positive and neutral from the wall power.  I would be willing to test a cheap ebay LiPo battery but I think the current problem is that I have just introduced two new elements into the USB chain which each will introduce their own losses to the digital signal (the Vaunix and the USB A-B adapter.)  I specifically chose a USB adapter as I wised to minimise the additional length of the USB connection, and this one seems decent enough with gold plated connections and hopefully isn't soldered by apes but honestly I don't think the USB adapter is the problem here.  I will try the short USB cable supplied with the AP2/purepower but I do not expect miracles to be honest.   I had plans to modify the internal voltage regulator in the Vaunix but I don't think that is worth the risk at this point either.
 
Withouth lab equipment to test the ripple on the USB power coming from the Vaunix I cannot verify how good or bad the power is.  I should also note that the power from my computer PSU has very little ripple - the only possible issue is the ground point of the computer, but again this might not be a problem at all.  I also had my eye on a nice large capacity 12V LiFePO4 with protection circuit and charger I spotted but again I am really not very confident to spend another $150+ on this tweak at this point.
 
EDIT:  Maybe its just that Phillip is right and only the power to the clocks and SPDIF output matter?  At this point I know where I would hedge my bets.

 

[Trogdor]

I have received my Vaunix hub - initial impressions are unfortunately not so good - after hooking the Vaunix up with the stock switchmode PSU I noticed  slight warming of the upper mids, a slight vagueness in the lower mids and overall a slight loosening in the timing.  To give an example piano notes are less precisely imaged, especially the left hand seems very muddled, whereas with direct USB every note is distinct from both hands and each note seems to originate from a unique point in space.

Seems the Vaunix only uses positive and neutral from the wall power.  I would be willing to test a cheap ebay LiPo battery but I think the current problem is that I have just introduced two new elements into the USB chain which each will introduce their own losses to the digital signal (the Vaunix and the USB A-B adapter.)  I specifically chose a USB adapter as I wised to minimise the additional length of the USB connection, and this one seems decent enough with gold plated connections and hopefully isn't soldered by apes but honestly I don't think the USB adapter is the problem here.  I will try the short USB cable supplied with the AP2/purepower but I do not expect miracles to be honest.   I had plans to modify the internal voltage regulator in the Vaunix but I don't think that is worth the risk at this point either.

Withouth lab equipment to test the ripple on the USB power coming from the Vaunix I cannot verify how good or bad the power is.  I should also note that the power from my computer PSU has very little ripple - the only possible issue is the ground point of the computer, but again this might not be a problem at all.  I also had my eye on a nice large capacity 12V LiFePO4 with protection circuit and charger I spotted but again I am really not very confident to spend another $150+ on this tweak at this point.

As I stated earlier, the Vaunix if anything would hurt not help the sound. Adding a wallwart power supply to an already nicely designed supply seems counterproductive to me.

This is what happens when you try to solve problems that AFAICT don't exist.

 

[sridhar3]

Did everybody's PP work straight out of the box?  I installed the drivers and flashed the firmware on the PP to the latest version.  When I connect the PP to the AP1, the PP starts making clicking sounds and cycling "AP Powered On" and "AP Powered Off".  The AP1 keeps showing a red message at the bottom that says "No Ext Power".  Not sure what the deal is.  Thoughts?

Edit: I had the two daisy chained when this was going on.  When I connected each one individually to the computer, the issue stopped.  Not sure why this is.  I'd prefer to have the two daisy chained.
 
Edit 2: Never mind, figured it out.  Swapped out the small USB cable that came with the PP for a different one, and now it works daisy chained. I guess that cable is busted.  Just tossed it in the garbage.

 

[tme110]

good troubleshooting.  Looking forward to your impressions.
 

 

[Rdr. Seraphim]

Looking forward to your impressions with the Vaunix too... 
 
EDIT: Is it possible to plug the Vaunix into your Audience? Would there be any benefit? 
 
Quote:

Did everybody's PP work straight out of the box?  I installed the drivers and flashed the firmware on the PP to the latest version.  When I connect the PP to the AP1, the PP starts making clicking sounds and cycling "AP Powered On" and "AP Powered Off".  The AP1 keeps showing a red message at the bottom that says "No Ext Power".  Not sure what the deal is.  Thoughts?

Edit: I had the two daisy chained when this was going on.  When I connected each one individually to the computer, the issue stopped.  Not sure why this is.  I'd prefer to have the two daisy chained.
 
Edit 2: Never mind, figured it out.  Swapped out the small USB cable that came with the PP for a different one, and now it works daisy chained. I guess that cable is busted.  Just tossed it in the garbage.

 

[sridhar3]

Quote:

good troubleshooting.  Looking forward to your impressions.

 
Quote:

Looking forward to your impressions with the Vaunix too... 
 
EDIT: Is it possible to plug the Vaunix into your Audience? Would there be any benefit? 

 
Thank you, gentlemen.  I'll do a brief write-up when I have a chance.  Based on what's been requested, looks like I'll need to move some gear around.
 
I actually don't have the Vaunix plugged into the aR2p, but I could do that.  I actually hadn't thought of it.  Good idea.

 

[sridhar3]

I know how much you guys like pictures, so here's a quick teaser:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Will be using AP1/PP -> Benchmark DAC1 USB -> Gilmore Lite w/ DPS -> Sony Qualia 010.

 

[Rdr. Seraphim]

THAT looks like a highly resolving system! 
Quote:

I know how much you guys like pictures, so here's a quick teaser:
 
Will be using AP1/PP -> Benchmark DAC1 USB -> Gilmore Lite w/ DPS -> Sony Qualia 010.

 

[sridhar3]

Quote:

THAT looks like a highly resolving system! 

 
It is!  I'm planning to swap out the GLite for an SPL Phonitor in the next few months, hopefully.

 

[tme110]

the pp is larger than the AP itself?
 

 

[sridhar3]

Quote:

the pp is larger than the AP itself?

 
You bet!  Yeah, I was surprised too.  It's heavier as well.  Build quality is excellent though.

 

[tme110]

interesting, thanks.
 

 

[sridhar3]

Got some bad news.  Looks like once the AP1 has been modded, it's not designed to work without the PP.  Tried to unhook the AP1 from the PP and connect it directly to the Vaunix/laptop.  The bitrate display just flickers, and the error message "No Ext Power" appears on the bottom of the AP1 screen in red letters.