[Peter Hyatt]

After reading Rob's posts about this topic...
 
is the galvanic isolation discussion
 
a.  a tempest in a tea pot?
 
b.  a case of "pursuit is happiness"? 
 
c. a case of means more important than ends?
 
d.  Something to talk about as the days drag on to Hugo 2 release?
 
e.  _________________?

 

[flyte3333]

  After reading Rob's posts about this topic...
 
is the galvanic isolation discussion
 
a.  a tempest in a tea pot?
 
b.  a case of "pursuit is happiness"? 
 
c. a case of means more important than ends?
 
d.  Something to talk about as the days drag on to Hugo 2 release?
 
e.  _________________?

 
Very good question !
 
I think e) the answer lies in why Rob includes it in his non-portable Dacs. If it didn't serve a function I'm sure he'd rather not add it in those Dacs. It's more components in the signal path and since it's more components it's more cost.
 
But since he includes it in his non-portable Dacs I'm guessing he thinks galvanic isolation is rather useful.

 

[x RELIC x]

Very good question !

I think e) the answer lies in why Rob includes it in his non-portable Dacs. If it didn't serve a function I'm sure he'd rather not add it in those Dacs. It's more components in the signal path and since it's more components it's more cost.

But since he includes it in his non-portable Dacs I'm guessing he thinks galvanic isolation is rather useful.

The reason galvanic isolation is not in Chord's portable DACs is because galvanic isolation requires a power source and that's not good for battery life on the go. This has been discussed at length before. Remember, in Chord's line up portable is what the Hugo and Mojo are built for regardless if many users enjoy using them in a desktop scenario.

IMO, if you need galvanic isolation because of a particularly noisy source then by all means use one. However, I imagine many sources would be fine without it. It's included in the desktop DACs as there can be some improvement but that doesn't necessarily mean it will always provide a profound increase to the sound quality. It really depends on how clean the source is.

 

[maxh22]

   
Wow... why not just use an adapter cable? Of course he might be completely addicted to Schiit sound, but putting another amp in the chain, just so he can connect a balanced headphone sounds extreme and a waste of the Hugo2.
 

Hooster, I agree with you. Even with Mojo I do not feel the need to use a seperate amp. However, the Jot adds it's own sound and will make it sound "different"  then out of Mojo alone, he may find that Jot makes Mojo sound more lively (due to Jot's brighter tuning) but it should be less relevent with Hugo 2 since it has its out sound changing filters.

 

[flyte3333]

The reason galvanic isolation is not in Chord's portable DACs is because galvanic isolation requires a power source and that's not good for battery life on the go. This has been discussed at length before. Remember, in Chord's line up portable is what the Hugo and Mojo are built for regardless if many users enjoy using them in a desktop scenario.

IMO, if you need galvanic isolation because of a particularly noisy source then by all means use one. However, I imagine many sources would be fine without it. It's included in the desktop DACs as there can be some improvement but that doesn't necessarily mean it will always provide a profound increase to the sound quality. It really depends on how clean the source is.

 
Completely agree about the reasons why it isn't in the portable Dacs. I was hinting moreso that if it weren't for battery life concerns, Rob would probably include it in his portable Dacs too.
 
Best advice that costs nothing is to borrow an external USB galvanic isolation device from a friend (or shop) to hear if you can to hear it's effect with your particular Dac and your particular source. I was able to trial a PS Audio LANRover (30 days money back guarantee) with my Mojo and was honestly blown away.
 
USB audio sources like my microRendu don't need USB galvanic isolation devices the way my Surface Pro 4 does.
 
This is a good place for reading: https://uptoneaudio.com/pages/j-swenson-tech-corner
 
I think Rob's mentioned elsewhere that he's read it and agrees with it from a technical perspective.

 

[x RELIC x]

   
Completely agree about the reasons why it isn't in the portable Dacs. I was hinting moreso that if it weren't for battery life concerns, Rob would probably include it in his portable Dacs too.
 
.....

 
Yeah, that would be nice to be included for portable gear, but with a clean source run on battery power I have zero complaints. Of course YMWV. I've read all the literature/marketing from all the various vendors already.
 
I also have no complaints running coaxial vs the galvanically isolated USB in to my DAVE so again YMWV. My point was the difference is far more dependent on the quality of the source (or lack of) rather than getting up in arms about whether it's absolutely necessary or not, generally, as a blanket improvement.
 
Edit: I'm more talking about a terribly noisy PC vs a relatively clean one. Not so much about sources like the microRendu (which is a nice source, as are many other solutions). The annoying thing is reading the 'panic' about galvanic isolation when I doubt many would notice much difference when using a relatively competent source.

 

[flyte3333]

   
Yeah, that would be nice to be included for portable gear, but with a clean source run on battery power I have zero complaints. Of course YMWV. I've read all the literature/marketing from all the various vendors already.
 
I also have no complaints running coaxial vs the galvanically isolated USB in to my DAVE so again YMWV. My point was the difference is far more dependent on the source rather than getting up in arms about whether it's absolutely necessary or not, generally, as a blanket improvement.

I'm also a big believer in a better source. JPLAY and SoTM have been making great USB audio cards for a while. Pricey though.
 
Other high quality USB audio sources are the microRendu and SMS-200 as I mentioned.
 
These external galvanic isolation solutions discussed can be more cost effective than these high end USB audio sources but then again, I've seen some long crazy chains that go bonkers. Still, much respect to those people too.
 
With your Dave, none of this matters btw - Rob has your back, by design

 

[x RELIC x]

  ...
 
With your Dave, none of this matters btw - Rob has your back, by design

 
Yup. 

 
 
Anyway, just my $0.02 is that most common sources would be fine with the Hugo2 from what I gather but if needed for a poor source then galvanic isolation can definitely improve the chain.

 

[flyte3333]

   
Yup. 

 
 
Anyway, just my $0.02 is that most common sources would be fine with the Hugo2 from what I gather but if needed for a poor source then galvanic isolation can definitely improve the chain.

Agreed, that's exactly what I was saying. For less than $0.02 you can even try it in your system , like I was able to do with a LANRover with a free home trial.

 

[Deftone]

I feel like if I keep reading the words galvanic isolation anymore I'm going to start dreaming about it...

 

[rkt31]

even with so called USB isolators hugo 2 will require the usb power line . so it will all depend upon how clean is the power line of that USB isolator . if the USB isolator is using a wall wart or even a linear power supply, it may even be worst than a battery powered laptop or tab. see what these isolators are doing, the power line is being cleaned by chokes inside. so why not use a device like audioquest jitterbug or ifi Isilencer to clean the USB power line of battery operated source instead of adding one more box ? if at all one is so concerned about USB noise , add few more chokes in the USB cable. believe me I have been using mojo with my laptop with few jitterbugs and ferrite chokes and recently changed the asio plugin of foobar to asio2 and I think the stage has come that the sound can't be improved further.

 

[Emerald Core]

Galvanic isolation is being demanded in the higher end market for multi thousand systems like Naim 272/250 pre/power. They were swapping their 10k+ Preamps/Dacs (i.e. 272) with Hugo to achieve almost similar sound. Apparently they mentioned how the galvanic isolation would benefit their system in making the noise ground even darker (to almost dead silent). Some of them upgraded to Hugo TT and swear by it that it is the biggest saving they have done in their multi-thousand speaker system. 
 
TLDR: Hugo replaced their expensive preamps to spend their budget on something else while retaining sound quality.  

 

[iAudio365]

Wow... why not just use an adapter cable? Of course he might be completely addicted to Schiit sound, but putting another amp in the chain, just so he can connect a balanced headphone sounds extreme and a waste of the Hugo2.

I think you enjoy blowing a lot of smoke out of your arse.

I also think it will sound nice with a Jot, being that you and probably no one else has heard hugo 2 with a jot. So you can keep your missinformation to yourself.

So what if the jotunheim is a 400$ amp lol? Please oh wise one explain to me why this matters?

Everyone knows that chord make amazing dacs, and my jot is amp only plus I want to use balanced without using that stupid adapter you have in the photo. And from what I understand hugo, mojo etc is a DAC first with an inbuilt amp,wiith more emphasis on the DAC therefore I will use it with my Jot as the amp + I do enjoy the schiit sound so thats a bonus.

Also if I want to use it wired into a potato I will, cost of has nothing to do with it, if it sounds good, it sounds good. I dont need a 10k$ amp to match my 2k$ dac lol or vice versa. And your right I don't need an amp at all, I also don't need a 2k$ dac or 3k$ Headphones. But we own them because we enjoy the hobby and use them for different things.

instead of being constructive you just come off sounding like a snobby arsehole. You didnt even bother reading my initial sentance and had had a go at me only to be corrected by a more inteligable member so I wouldn't be taking any advice of you to start with.

 

[Deftone]

It's shame we all don't have simple tool to test the noise in our sources, I think a lot of you would be surprised, not all of our computers are as plagued by tons of noise as we like to think. My custom built PC is actually pretty clean so I only use a defender and ferrite USB. The differences with and without cleaning devices I found to be quite small.

 

[Hooster]

Everyone knows that chord make amazing dacs, and my jot is amp only plus I want to use balanced without using that stupid adapter you have in the photo. And from what I understand hugo, mojo etc is a DAC first with an inbuilt amp,wiith more emphasis on the DAC therefore I will use it with my Jot as the amp + I do enjoy the schiit sound so thats a bonus.

 
Thank you for making that clear. Regarding the rest of the stuff you wrote, the less said about it, the better. I will keep my opinion of your setup to myself.