Rob Watts
Member of the Trade: Chord Electronics
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2014
- Posts
- 3,141
- Likes
- 12,370
Here's a question for the amazing Rob ...
My Hugo is wonderful. You've said on earlier posts that it's best to use the USB input with a USB isolator such as the Olimex because of ground noise issues. That leaves me with a problem, in that I can't play 24/96 or 24/192 music through the "standard" input. If I connect a second USB cable to the "hi-res" input of the Hugo, (which would save me unplugging/plugging the lead and the Olimex) will the second lead put the ground noise back into the Hugo when the hi-res input is not in use? I'm looking for the best possible sound quality, but it would be nice not to mess with cables and to be able to listen to hi-res stuff when I want to without compromising standard stuff. Or should I just always use the hi-res input?
I suppose an alternative would be to get a third-part USB to s/pdif converter .. but unless there was one that would give a better result than the USB inputs of the Hugo I'd rather save my pennies for the next Chord DAC !
Yes isolating the USB really helps; its smoother (lower RF noise) and with much better sound stage depth (this is normally an indication of correlated noise degrading small signal fundamental linearity - so as the PC is processing the data, it is adding audio related in-band noise into the ground, so isolating the ground stops this)
Unfortunately, the suggestion of adding two USB cables won't work as you are still connecting the grounds together.
The new QBD has galvanic isolation built in, and will still work with 384 kHz sources.
Rob