[adydula]

i have been playing with a powered USB 2.0 hub going back and forth on a Gateway desktop...to see it there is any real discernable difference....so far there is none.
 
Adding a external USB hub that is NOT powered, to me, is a recipe for disaster.....your using the "maybe' already taxes USB power and adding even more stuff to the load, including the hub itself..
 
The only reason I would use a non-powered USB hub is for logistics...ie the system has USB ports on the backside etc and hard to get to or cables would be too short for you application.
 
Good Luck!
 
Alex

 

[kkl10]

I've been searching for a nice little DAC and I'm interested in this ODAC. I've read that most USB powered DACs, and even DACs with their own power supplies, can benefit from an external cleaner power supply, instead of the dirty +5V sourced by most PCs VBus... Has anyone tried powering the ODAC with the Olimex USB isolator and a cleaner power supply? Or other cheap ADuM4160 based USB isolator? And there are devices like the AQVOX USB Low-Noise Linear Power Supply, Vaunix USB hub (Currawong says very good things of this with the ODAC), iFi iUSBPower... anyone tried these yet?

 

[tomb]

Quote:

I've been searching for a nice little DAC and I'm interested in this ODAC. I've read that most USB powered DACs, and even DACs with their own power supplies, can benefit from an external cleaner power supply, instead of the dirty +5V sourced by most PCs VBus... Has anyone tried powering the ODAC with the Olimex USB isolator and a cleaner power supply? Or other cheap ADuM4160 based USB isolator? And there are devices like the AQVOX USB Low-Noise Linear Power Supply, Vaunix USB hub (Currawong says very good things of this with the ODAC), iFi iUSBPower... anyone tried these yet?

According to NWAVGUY, "... the ODAC uses split digital and analog power supplies each with their own filtering and regulator."  So I doubt that a "cleaner" USB power supply is going to make any difference at all, unless your USB power is particularly bad (sags below 4.75V, for instance).
 
There are many inexpensive USB-powered DACs that do not use separate regulators and filtering to provide the 3.3V digital power and analog output regulation.  That's why all this talk of separately-powered USB hubs.  However, if the DAC is properly designed with sufficient onboard power supply filtering/regulation, such powered USB hubs are not going to make any difference.
 
In the case of the 3.3V digital power, many USB-interface or DAC chips may have that voltage ability onboard (because USB is ~5V), so some designs will shortcut and leave separate regulation out.  However, it's never as good as separate filtering and regulation on the PCB.  Lack of an analog output regulation is particularly easy to do in a USB-powered DAC design, but it has the most damaging affect on sound quality - just as if an amplifier made no attempt to regulate the voltage supply.  All the power variances get superimposed on the audio signal.
 
Anyway, as stated upfront - NWAVGUY says the ODAC has the separate filtering/regulation, so it's not going to benefit from a high-quality-power USB hub.

 

[chrislangley4253]

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-USB-Port-Power-Adapter/dp/B00483WRZ6/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t

these look nice. Might pick up one for the sake of redundancy to see if it helps with my laptop odac issues.

 

[adydula]

Cheap, works well...
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182057
 
I dont think with 99% of PCs out there that its really needed and I agree totally with tom b's posts above.
 
I have used the dac with IBM, Lenovo, Acer, Gatewas, ASUS, EVGA and other notebooks, and desktops and DIY and never had a real issue with the power supply making things sound better or worse.
 
I actually measured the current draw under load and no-load and its less than 100 ma....well less.than what a USB 2 or 3 should supply if implemented properly.
 
All the best!
Merry Christmas!
Alex

 

[chrislangley4253]

Blagh, never had good luck with rosewill. They are a bit too cheap from my limited experience.

 

[kkl10]

Despite the suggestions on the contrary, I still find it reasonable that there might be an improvement on the Dac proficiency, so I'm all set to get the cleanest signal possible to my USB Dac. ... even if just for the sake of making the Jitter removal task easier for the DAC...
So I'll just get one Y USB cable, rip off the +5V pin on the PC end, grab one of these bargains, switch the ground lift on my amp as I wish and I'm all set.
If I get the ODAC, I'll let you guys know if it makes a difference for me or not.

 

[MikePio]

Hey guys, just received the ODAC and want to listen to it for some time before making any impressions. Though I have a silly question, but going lineout out of my soundcard and lineout of the ODAC it seems the ODAC at the same volume on my amp sounds much louder, is that the detail or does the ODAC actually amplify the sound somewhat... Will post my impressions later! Cheers,

 

[stv014]

Are you comparing it to onboard sound ? That typically has 1.2-1.4 V full scale output voltage at most, while the ODAC can output 2.0 V, and so can many internal sound cards.

 

[chrislangley4253]

What stv said.. The ODAC likely just puts out a much stronger (2V) signal than your soundcard.

 

[chong]

Quote:

So it works ok on system with usb 3.0 ports bit after 5 min it starts crapping out on the same system with usb 2.0 ports?
 
And it works ok on a second system with AMD and us b 2.0 ports....
 
Cable, other usb 2.0 ports still the same...
 
It may be your usb 2.0 ports on this system arent cutting it for some reason?
 
Are there any other usb devices connected to the desktop when this happens?
 
Alex
 
Can u try a usb 2.0 hub connected to the desktop usb 2.0 ports and see if it is ok?

Seems when the ODAC is the only USB device connected to the desktop USB2.0 ports, the problem does not occur. 
 
When I plugged back my USB2.0 hub (built in to Dell 27" monitor) to the desktop USB2.0 ports, it also worked fine - upon reboot however, the problem resurfaced.  Then I unplugged the Logitech USB gaming mouse receiver from the hub and connected it directly to another desktop USB2.0 port, and the problem did not surface so far even after reboot.
 
I'm still testing it, so not drawing any conclusions yet.  I've also ordered a cheap PCIe USB3.0 NEC chipset based card with a direct power connector input from ebay - wanted to replace the crappy built in Etron USB3.0 ports anyway.

 

[MikePio]

Thank you guys for the technical insight! After spending some time with the Odac using the EF5 AMP with the K701's, I have pretty similar impressions to many on this thread. The positive with this setup: smooth treble, superb clarity, great resolution with micro detail and a sense of "air" which is hard to describe, subtle but impressive. The negative with this setup: unforgiving with poor quality records, sterile sounding at times, can also be too "digital" sounding for some. The strange aspect of the Odac is that some albums can sound incredible, an emphasis on detail is immense here while other albums can sound really poor, highlighting an artificial and harsh digital sound. These impressions were compared to my old Parasound 1100HD and straight line out of my soundcard. Once I get back, I will be able to directly compare the Stello DA100 with the W5000's amplified by the HA5000. To conclude, I would recommend to anybody looking to purchase a detailed, transparent DAC that will emphasize nearly all details on the recording and hold nothing back. At the end of the day, this little unit is worth your consideration, though don't expect miracles. It is a solid little DAC that has fantastic value for the price, a worthy purchase indeed that I will continue to rediscover many times when listening to my music. Cheers,

 

[chrislangley4253]

Quote:

Thank you guys for the technical insight! After spending some time with the Odac using the EF5 AMP with the K701's, I have pretty similar impressions to many on this thread. The positive with this setup: smooth treble, superb clarity, great resolution with micro detail and a sense of "air" which is hard to describe, subtle but impressive. The negative with this setup: unforgiving with poor quality records, sterile sounding at times, can also be too "digital" sounding for some. The strange aspect of the Odac is that some albums can sound incredible, an emphasis on detail is immense here while other albums can sound really poor, highlighting an artificial and harsh digital sound. These impressions were compared to my old Parasound 1100HD and straight line out of my soundcard. Once I get back, I will be able to directly compare the Stello DA100 with the W5000's amplified by the HA5000. To conclude, I would recommend to anybody looking to purchase a detailed, transparent DAC that will emphasize nearly all details on the recording and hold nothing back. At the end of the day, this little unit is worth your consideration, though don't expect miracles. It is a solid little DAC that has fantastic value for the price, a worthy purchase indeed that I will continue to rediscover many times when listening to my music. Cheers,

 
That's not strange. Some of your albums are recorded and mastered well.. Some of them are artificial and harsh. The DAC can't reveal detail on good recordings and hold it back on poor ones. Maybe it should come with a switch, lol.

 

[antberg]

Hi guys,i need some kind of advise of yours.
In September i did ordered a ODac-O2 combo.Well the first package went lost and now i am waiting for the second one (My new HD650 is starving...),supposing i will be receiving it in about 10-15 days.As i have been following this and the O2 AMP + ODAC thread since the beginning,and i noticed some of us have been suffering some issue about the ODac when plugged to some Notebook/PC USB direct port.
 
Now,i have an old Samsung Notebook which i am pretty sure is little weak on USB Port power,so i am looking forward some advise of whether i need to wait to get my hand on the DAC before to see if i will encounter the same issues or maybe i can already order something from Ebay right now.
There are plenty of powered USB Hub on Ebay,but i don't know which brand will be reliable as there are products from 2 to 30 dollars...
Thanks guys
 
Edit.:This time i did definitively learned something about patience

 

[mchang]

I'd just wait and see how it works out. If you need to, pick up a cheap powered USB hub.
 
I retrofitted an ODAC into my O2 a few days ago. I plugged it into my work Macbook Pro (1-1/2 years old) with no problems.
 
Later I tried on my 4-year-old Macbook (not-pro 13"). It started out sounding digitized and strange. I plugged and unplugged the USB, which resulted in clear sound for 30 seconds before it stopped playing. I did a bit more digging and noticed that a program called Soundflower had installed some drivers/extensions. I uninstalled and restarted (hadn't restarted in weeks). Not sure which of the steps fixed it, but the ODAC+O2 played perfectly thereafter.
 
I'm back at work now and plugged into a $15 powered USB hub from Fry's. Rocking out with no issues.