Lavcat
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2009
- Posts
- 255
- Likes
- 11
This girl is a new convert to galvanic isolation. Previously I had noticeable though faint noise when playing music from my Auzentech HomeTheater card through my sound system. The noise was less than the background noise on some recordings, but still could be heard if listened for. When the videocard switched into 3D (think World of Warcraft) the noise went from faint to objectionable and annoying.
What to do?
The first solution was to turn up ambient sounds and loop the in-game music. This helped, but was of course a Band-Aid.
What worked, completely, was to isolate the sound card from the preamp. I would not have believed the difference breaking a ground loop can make. The soundcard background is now as black as an unconnected preamp input. It is quieter than the SACD player input. I tried the same experiment with the SACD and it worked too, however I have only one isolator at the moment, and there is very little noise from the SACD player anyway.
My system wide limiting electrical noise now seems to be from a ground loop between the preamp and the amp. The noise in this loop is very slight, not obvious to me in normal listening, but there at headphone melting levels. Isolating the preamp/amp connection is a future project, as is moving the Hi-Fi gear to a different outlet away from the computer.
The isolator that works for me is made by Jensen:
http://www.jensen-transformers.com/ci2rr.html
What to do?
The first solution was to turn up ambient sounds and loop the in-game music. This helped, but was of course a Band-Aid.
What worked, completely, was to isolate the sound card from the preamp. I would not have believed the difference breaking a ground loop can make. The soundcard background is now as black as an unconnected preamp input. It is quieter than the SACD player input. I tried the same experiment with the SACD and it worked too, however I have only one isolator at the moment, and there is very little noise from the SACD player anyway.
My system wide limiting electrical noise now seems to be from a ground loop between the preamp and the amp. The noise in this loop is very slight, not obvious to me in normal listening, but there at headphone melting levels. Isolating the preamp/amp connection is a future project, as is moving the Hi-Fi gear to a different outlet away from the computer.
The isolator that works for me is made by Jensen:
http://www.jensen-transformers.com/ci2rr.html