[Ghoostknight]

Then again not many people mount their DAC inside the computer chassis

ah, got it
is this a dedicated streamer you are building? or just your "normal pc" you try to integrate the dac into?

either way, i would probably use this then: https://www.ebay.de/itm/195508967625 and a cable of your choice, the pcb layout is probably straightforward and best case impedance matched but even if not the short pcb traces shouldnt have much influence and from there you can go with a good usb cable of your choice

but you can also try the cable you already ordered first

Another option while not as "clean" is this adapter cable with a small pcb at either end. This particular adapter from China also has discrete components soldered to it which are there for a purpose, but they give no technical information what it does. It looks a bit hoaky but that is all I can go on as I'm not an expert here.

i would probably avoid it, since a straight cable is all you need in this case

 

[Ghoostknight]

If anyone is interested in seeing my computer build I'm posting it here

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/assembling-my-first-dac-headphone-amp-system-need-advice.966078/

ah looks like its mostly just a watercooled gaming rig, nice setup way too expensive parts for my taste tho

i made the expierence, atleast with my gaming PC, that a dedicated raspberry pi streamer will always sound better no matter what you do in form of tweaks, windows is a culprit here too tho
i would go for galvanic isolation either case, a GPU produces way too much noise but experiment yourself if you are curious

im also not a great fan of dedicated windows x86 streamer builds, i just think the minimalistic RPI4 setup is very hard to beat and costs way less, tho there are some nice software options for windows

 

[It Hz]

ah, got it
is this a dedicated streamer you are building? or just your "normal pc" you try to integrate the dac into?

either way, i would probably use this then: https://www.ebay.de/itm/195508967625 and a cable of your choice, the pcb layout is probably straightforward and best case impedance matched but even if not the short pcb traces shouldnt have much influence and from there you can go with a good usb cable of your choice

but you can also try the cable you already ordered first


i would probably avoid it, since a straight cable is all you need in this case

ah looks like its mostly just a watercooled gaming rig, nice setup way too expensive parts for my taste tho

i made the expierence, atleast with my gaming PC, that a dedicated raspberry pi streamer will always sound better no matter what you do in form of tweaks, windows is a culprit here too tho
i would go for galvanic isolation either case, a GPU produces way too much noise but experiment yourself if you are curious

im also not a great fan of dedicated windows x86 streamer builds, i just think the minimalistic RPI4 setup is very hard to beat and costs way less, tho there are some nice software options for windows

"Expensive" is putting it mildly

I package electronics for the defense and communication industry, so I have that end down pat! My current water cooled rig has been running for 12 years without a hitch and is very stable, but it's time for an upgrade. I suspect the CPU and GPU core temps maxed-out will run in the low 50's with the cooling capacity, loop layout and chassis design. I enjoy fabricating my own systems so it's a labor of love.
No one likes Windows!

The X86 architecture is so archaic and antiquated but it's hard to escape unless you're a programmer and can work around it.

I'm still going to figure out what the best approach is connecting to the DAC. Something tells me if there is a problem with that cable only a trained ear could tell the difference which I don't have. But I'm still open to advice. Chances are once this is settled what's going to be used will be there for the life of the system which I suspect will be for a very long time

 

[Ghoostknight]

I'm still going to figure out what the best approach is connecting to the DAC. Something tells me if there is a problem with that cable only a trained ear could tell the difference which I don't have. But I'm still open to advice. Chances are once this is settled what's going to be used will be there for the life of the system which I suspect will be for a very long time

if you didnt hear a difference before between usbhubs/cables i wouldnt really worry

i dont hear many of those changes with my DT880 either, i just hear them with my studio monitors, dont ask me why

"Expensive" is putting it mildly

haha yes, normally i aim for my whole PC costing as much as your motherboard (but i upgrade like every 3-5 years)

I enjoy fabricating my own systems so it's a labor of love.

yes i dig this, i had a phase where i wanted a watercooled rig really badly (im also somewhat of a tinkerer) but its so expensive compared to the remaining pc of mine so i always ended up with a quality air cooling setup
maybe with my next setup which will be probably a ITX or atleast mATX build, i have enough of huge towers for a little better cooling

 

[gregorio]

As castleofargh suggested, why don’t you just use USB2.0?

44/16 requires 1.4Mbps, even 192/24 only requires 9.2Mbps, while USB2.0 is capable of 480Mbps, 50 times more than needed even for 192/24! And, even a half decent cheap USB DAC will reduce jitter/noise to way below audibility.

G

 

[tjl5709]

I installed the following into my multi media PC tower to feed my DAC. I power the expansion card with an external linear power supply. For the money it costs it's a viable option to explore if feeding a DAC via USB.

Elfidelity AXF-100 ULTRA III USB isolator card​

 

[redrol]

or you can use spdif optical and forgo all that spent money

 

[It Hz]

if you didnt hear a difference before between usbhubs/cables i wouldnt really worry

i dont hear many of those changes with my DT880 either, i just hear them with my studio monitors, dont ask me why


haha yes, normally i aim for my whole PC costing as much as your motherboard (but i upgrade like every 3-5 years)


yes i dig this, i had a phase where i wanted a watercooled rig really badly (im also somewhat of a tinkerer) but its so expensive compared to the remaining pc of mine so i always ended up with a quality air cooling setup
maybe with my next setup which will be probably a ITX or atleast mATX build, i have enough of huge towers for a little better cooling

Ghoostknight

That's good to hear about your experience with the audio quality with the USB cables. Since it's a digital signal it's probably pretty immune from interference.

With regard to the cost of the MB: LOL ........... since I'm water cooling EVERYTING and the level of the Gigabyte Z690 Extreme and how long I keep my systems, for me it was worth the expense. If I have the system 10 years that's $200 per year. With me it's always: OVERKILL OVERKILL OVERKILL! Did I mention I like to "overkill" everything?

This whole chassis build is over the top and not really necessary. But it's been fun building it and it looks sooooo cool. Keeping a system as long as I do in the end it's worth it. I can always upgrade the system later all it will take is a new MB, ram and SSD's what ever that will be in 10-15 years or so.

I'm nearing the completion of the chassis. It's a lot of work fabricating the chassis components. I think I go close to 20 hours into one of the side panels alone

I should be posting pics on my build thread soon

 

[It Hz]

As castleofargh suggested, why don’t you just use USB2.0?

44/16 requires 1.4Mbps, even 192/24 only requires 9.2Mbps, while USB2.0 is capable of 480Mbps, 50 times more than needed even for 192/24! And, even a half decent cheap USB DAC will reduce jitter/noise to way below audibility.

G

I'm not sure this will be necessary. The engineers who design electronics are pretty keen and filtering the I/O or they could have problems all over the place and lots of complaints (keep in mind the MB also has a built in DAC so they need to take that into account. Not only that but the electronics are separated between aluminum panels and the Burson is completely sealed from EMI. The power supply is very "high-end" and has a clean output. The power input to the DAC is completely isolated from the rest of the system. The only connection the audio will have to the rest of the system is the UBS cable. I may use the Toslink connector which will electrically isolate the DAC from the rest of the system completely but that will be a little "messy" looping that cable from the I/O panel back into the chassis. I may be getting the Burson 3A supercharger as I hear it does make a difference.

I figure a good acid test would be the max out the video/CPU activity and crank-up the volume of the DAC without any audio input and see if I get any noise.

 

[It Hz]

or you can use spdif optical and forgo all that spent money

I try to forget about all the money but I keep spending more

 

[It Hz]

I think I found something that might resolve my problem

If you read my post where I wanted the connection to the DAC to be internal to my computer not wanting a cable sticking out the I/O panel and looping back into the computer which is kind of messy. The problem is I'm not 100% confident in the type E USB cable which can be connected directly into the MB I bought off Amazon as I don't want to risk a very expensive MB or DAC if it's not wired correctly. Others have suggested just plugging into the USB A connection with an adapter cable and loop it back as stated.

Well, I found something that may be ideal for the Burson DAC but would still require an external connection.

I found this on Amazon

It's a 90 degree TOSLINK fiber optic cable available in a variety of lengths

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088FLLXBT/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3OW2LX6W7Q4UQ&th=1

While it would require an external connection to the I/O panel, the right angle ensures it won't be sticking out past the I/O panel very far and will remain somewhat protected be staying close to the panel and can be rotated to the optimal position.

Being relatively inexpensive I suspect it's not a highest quality fiber optic cable but it did get overwhelmingly good reviews and will be immune to any electrical interference in the system. I will only need a 3' (1 meter) length where the quality of the fiber won't be as much of a factor (poor quality fiber results in light refraction which affects the quality of the signal the longer it is). I figure as long as the Burson DAC gets a clean enough signal from such a short run you probably won't do much better than this to deliver the audio signal to the device. The only thing you have to look out for with fiber are sharp bends which must take place at the right angle side of the connection. But since it's getting good reviews from people who are using it for their home theater systems which have much longer runs I don't think I will do much better than this with regard to the integrity of the signal. A few people in the review section said it made a big difference in the audio quality which may just be attributed by switching over from an electrical connection.

Seems like the best approach to sending the signal to the DAC. They brag about the end of the connection being gold plated

which means nothing with regard to a fiber connection.

It would be nice to know if there is another company that makes a higher quality cable than this one just in case a cleaner signal could be ensured but so far I have not found one yet. Then again it might not matter.