[leatherneck]

You know, I would think some of the people who could spend this kind of money for Chord products were around when CDs were in vogue and still have them (maybe lots of them), so maybe Chord should promote this as a selling point for the Blu2...

I predate stereo LP’s!
Bud

 

[BallisticGT3]

I do assume there will still be a fairly robust market for the blu2 given how many cd's are still out there and the huge collections many have...if you consider the cost of a high end cd drive the total cost of the blu2 can be justified even with the new m scaler

I totally agree; the BLU2 contains a damn good red book spec CD transport which was fetching strong money when sold as the BLU

 

[Crgreen]

I can no longer tell the difference between playing the same track on CD and WAV ripped file played on my Innuos Zenith SE (which is still up for sale and must be the cheapest available in the UK) feeding into the BLU2. I'm ripping my CD's on a separate Pc using DBPoweramp and transferring the WAV file to the Innuos over my ethernet mains home network.

I also rip using DB on a seperate PC and transfer over the network, though as FLAC rather than WAV.

I’m sure the Zenith SE does sound as good as CD, or at least closes the gap considerably. But for me, therein lies the problem. How much did the SE cost, why are you selling it, for how long have you had it, and are you planning on replacing it with something more expensive? It’s the expense and rapidly evolving technology that makes me hesitant to invest in something that will become superceded very quickly.

 

[leatherneck]

It will sound great without the hf ferrites but it wound not address the fpga ground noise issue your cables being an effective ground will transfer the noise from Blu2 to Dave’s analog ground and that’s where the issue lies. I have some Wurth 2.5 GHz ferrites left over pm me with your address you can give them a try if you like the improvement keep them my gift!

I contacted Ansuz about the problem with the noise. Its what I expected. I’m told that my active cables will actually do a better job than ferrites.

 

[jrfmd]

The isolation of the USB port, as @Rob Watts explained was only because he ran into an issue with the HMS itself which doesn't happen with Blu. He was seeing dropouts occurring within HMS itself in some countries. He didn't add it because it would affect downstream sound quality to the DAC.

slightly off topic: has anyone tried a simpler fix such as removing

I contacted Ansuz about the problem with the noise. Its what I expected. I’m told that my active cables will actually do a better job than ferrites.

couldn't the transfer of the noise via the shielding be prevented by removing an inch of shielding from the dave end of the cable? (or a small capaciter)?
pardon any ignorance that this question demonstrates, I can assure you the ignorance is real
JRF

 

[Triode User]

slightly off topic: has anyone tried a simpler fix
couldn't the transfer of the noise via the shielding be prevented by removing an inch of shielding from the dave end of the cable? (or a small capaciter)?
pardon any ignorance that this question demonstrates, I can assure you the ignorance is real
JRF

A signal cable also requires a ground link otherwise the signal voltage in the cable has no reference. Also, the noise is also in the central conductor as well as the ground and that is why it is called common mode noise - it is identical in both the signal and ground conductors.

 

[marcmccalmont]

I contacted Ansuz about the problem with the noise. Its what I expected. I’m told that my active cables will actually do a better job than ferrites.

Time will tell. Did you describe the issue correctly to them? It is not rfi it is Blu2’s fpga generating noise on the ground not the signal. This ground noise travels via the coax shield to Dave and “wiggles” Dave’s analog ground causing the issues. Ferrites turn this ground noise to heat (magnetic portion of the electromagnetic wave interacting with the ferrite material at right angles) not sure what an active cable is so I can’t comment on the Ansuz. Rob Watts solved the issue on the new Hugo M scaler by isolating the spdif output drivers with internal ferrites either way you’ll enjoy the sound. Dave alone sounds so much better than other dacs it’s all “frosting on the cake” after that. Some might even enjoy a little wiggle in their analog ground plane!

 

[marcmccalmont]

A signal cable also requires a ground link otherwise the signal voltage in the cable has no reference. Also, the noise is also in the central conductor as well as the ground and that is why it is called common mode noise - it is identical in both the signal and ground conductors.

Yes but single ended termination favors low frequency noise ie power cords and both ends terminated favors high frequencies (spdif coax)

 

[jonstatt]

Time will tell. Did you describe the issue correctly to them? It is not rfi it is Blu2’s fpga generating noise on the ground not the signal. This ground noise travels via the coax shield to Dave and “wiggles” Dave’s analog ground causing the issues. Ferrites turn this ground noise to heat (magnetic portion of the electromagnetic wave interacting with the ferrite material at right angles) not sure what an active cable is so I can’t comment on the Ansuz. Rob Watts solved the issue on the new Hugo M scaler by isolating the spdif output drivers with internal ferrites either way you’ll enjoy the sound. Dave alone sounds so much better than other dacs it’s all “frosting on the cake” after that. Some might even enjoy a little wiggle in their analog ground plane!

I am very curious on what Ansuz are doing. A Tesla coil uses very high voltages indeed. Fundamentally it is very high voltage (thousands of volts), low current, very high frequency. I am not sure how this has an effect on existing RFI on the signal. Furthermore I would be worried about adding noise by generating RF with this!

 

[leatherneck]

Time will tell. Did you describe the issue correctly to them? It is not rfi it is Blu2’s fpga generating noise on the ground not the signal. This ground noise travels via the coax shield to Dave and “wiggles” Dave’s analog ground causing the issues. Ferrites turn this ground noise to heat (magnetic portion of the electromagnetic wave interacting with the ferrite material at right angles) not sure what an active cable is so I can’t comment on the Ansuz. Rob Watts solved the issue on the new Hugo M scaler by isolating the spdif output drivers with internal ferrites either way you’ll enjoy the sound. Dave alone sounds so much better than other dacs it’s all “frosting on the cake” after that

Yes, I'm confident that I explained the problem as it is. Here's what I was told....
In our DTC Cables we have some coil-based devices wrapped around the shiel/ground of the cable. They work similar to ferrites, but at a steeper/higher frequency and with more resolve. They work by actively dealing with the steep slopes of noise. Quite confident that they’ll be more efficient in this respect than coils, as coils also has the side effect of rounding the corners of your digital pass signal.
By active, I mean that they require a separate power supply to power the active parts of the cables such as the Tesla coils that are part of the cable. A separate cable is provided to go from the Tesla coils to an Ansuz power box that can support multiple DTC cables.
You should reserve judgement until you learn more about Ansuz. The designer of Ansuz Acoustic products along with Aavik electronics and Raidho speakers is a brilliant Danish engineer.
The cables are hand made in Denmark.

 

[marcmccalmont]

Yes, I'm confident that I explained the problem as it is. Here's what I was told....
In our DTC Cables we have some coil-based devices wrapped around the shiel/ground of the cable. They work similar to ferrites, but at a steeper/higher frequency and with more resolve. They work by actively dealing with the steep slopes of noise. Quite confident that they’ll be more efficient in this respect than coils, as coils also has the side effect of rounding the corners of your digital pass signal.
By active, I mean that they require a separate power supply to power the active parts of the cables such as the Tesla coils that are part of the cable. A separate cable is provided to go from the Tesla coils to an Ansuz power box that can support multiple DTC cables.
You should reserve judgement until you learn more about Ansuz. The designer of Ansuz Acoustic products along with Aavik electronics and Raidho speakers is a brilliant Danish engineer.
The cables are hand made in Denmark.

The Raidho tweeter is one of the best I’ve heard I’m sure he’s smart

 

[leatherneck]

I am very curious on what Ansuz are doing. A Tesla coil uses very high voltages indeed. Fundamentally it is very high voltage (thousands of volts), low current, very high frequency. I am not sure how this has an effect on existing RFI on the signal. Furthermore I would be worried about adding noise by generating RF with this!

I can't comment since I don't know much about it. I do know that the DC voltage supplied by the Ansuz power box is relatively low. I did a lot of cable a/b'ing while I was waiting to get my Blu2. I'd bought a pair of Ansuz C2 digital coax cables to connect it to my Dave. I compared one of these to an Ansuz DTC digital cable that I use between my Aurender streamer and the DAC in my Aavik Integrated amp. It was so obvious that the DTC cable was better, I sent back the C2's and bought a pair of DTC's at more than double the price.

 

[marcmccalmont]

I can't comment since I don't know much about it. I do know that the DC voltage supplied by the Ansuz power box is relatively low. I did a lot of cable a/b'ing while I was waiting to get my Blu2. I'd bought a pair of Ansuz C2 digital coax cables to connect it to my Dave. I compared one of these to an Ansuz DTC digital cable that I use between my Aurender streamer and the DAC in my Aavik Integrated amp. It was so obvious that the DTC cable was better, I sent back the C2's and bought a pair of DTC's at more than double the price.

How does the sound change with the cable powered and unpowered? Just curious
Where is the noise going with this active cable? With a ferrite it’s being dissipated as heat does this Tesla coil dissipate the noise or filter it to ground?

 

[onlychild]

Off topic, but this might be the best thread for it. Am I right in thinking that with the new M-Scaler, if you feed an optical signal to it, from lets say a stock mac mini, then that should negate the need for an expensive USB server like the Innuos SE or Statement since the optical transmission will get rid of all noise. I understand that optical is limited to 192K.

 

[leatherneck]

How does the sound change with the cable powered and unpowered? Just curious

The power is required for the Tesla coils. The results are very low noise and other benefits. The cables are made one at a time in Denmark by a single person.

How does the sound change with the cable powered and unpowered? Just curious
Where is the noise going with this active cable? With a ferrite it’s being dissipated as heat does this Tesla coil dissipate the noise or filter it to ground?

It's my understanding that it's reshaped and changed to a frequency that doesn't affect the sound quality. It's beyond my comprehension how it's done but the Ansuz designer knows what he's doing. He has the freedom to design the best he can and hence the very high prices, Then the design is modified for lower price points.
As an example, the Raidho speakers aluminum driver cones are uncoated, coated with Ceramic using a methoid from the Israeli Army, Ceramic plus Titanium, Ceramic plus diamond dust (a 4 day process). The law of diminishing returns applies but if you are willing to spend a quarter million dollars for a Raidho 5.1 each little bit contributes to make it the best. Needless to say, owners of those speakers have full looms of Ansuz DTC cables which would cost more than a Mercedes S-Class.