[Benno1988]

Anyone with more of a clue help here.

Have a Topping D50S connected to a SMSL SP200

Now if no music is playing, there is some static noise. If I move my mouse around, that noise changes with the movements.

I held the RCA cable between the DAC and Amp off to the side, no change.

The D50S has a USB power lead and a USB data lead. Both plugged into the mobo at the back. Which is likely the culprit? To me it seems like the signal is being fed to the Amp like that. I'd have though the USB Data would not be phased, reasonable to assume its the USB Power?

Will try power it off a phone charge plug and see if that helps, and report back.

 

[Benno1988]

Changing USB to power off an adapter, no change, maybe touch less, minimal.

Changing USB Data to front ports, no change.

Unplugging USB Data and playing over Bluetooth instead, clean.

So its the USB Data cable and my PC. Things like the iFi purifier / Schiit Wyrd work?

 

[Monsterzero]

I used to experience noise,and after tearing apart my system multiple times I purchased:
iFiUSB 3.0 Micro,2 "good" USB cables,and a PSAudio Dectet. After dropping close to a grand on all of that,my noise problem went away. Which of those devices did the trick? I have no idea.

I have since upgraded power cables,RCA cables and USB cable. Sold the iFiUSB and the other two USB cables. Only the Dectet remains. Noise hasnt re-appeared.

Take from my experience what you will.

 

[Benno1988]

Shave my head before I attempt this fix?

 

[Benno1988]

It's in both USB cables to the DAC.

DAC can be off, as long as the USB are in, and Amp is on, it's there.

Unplug the USB cables from the DAC, just phones into Amp, Amp on obviously, dead quiet.

Will do some more testing, figure out exactly the culprits.

It's only when music isn't on, so isn't too bad.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

It's in both USB cables to the DAC.

DAC can be off, as long as the USB are in, and Amp is on, it's there.

Unplug the USB cables from the DAC, just phones into Amp, Amp on obviously, dead quiet.

Will do some more testing, figure out exactly the culprits.

It's most likely the motherboard, more so if it's an older board back when manufacturers totally didn't test this kind of thing although the same thing can still happen on some newer boards.

If you're still on an old Intel quadcore you might want to consider upgrading to a newer hexacore i5 or octacore i7, or AMD equivalents. Even if you get the bad luck choosing a Z390 or X570 that has a similar problem, especially if it has something to do with the PSU, you could consider upgrading the computer first. If you do go that route maybe start with the PSU before you get the other parts, that way if that works and you're still happy with the framerates or render times etc anyway then you can just hold off and hold on to that new PSU for when you really want to upgrade the rest of the computer, like when you get a new graphics card (if you're planning on getting into real time ray tracing and you got that power supply around four years ago when Intel's quad cores are pulling barely 120watts even at 4.5ghz, it might be worthwhile to shoot for 600w to 650w in case NVidia decides to pump up the RT cores while not gaining efficiency on those nor on the Cuda cores).

It's only when music isn't on, so isn't too bad.

As much as it's still worse if it's on the amp or DAC and the noise increases with the system volume, background noise is still making you listen louder to cover it up, and yet it's still there getting in the way of the music. The same DAC and HPamp without that noise would have more percetible detail in whatever frequency ranges the noise affects the most at the same output level.

I have a tube amp with a slight hum and while it's tonally similar to my Meier Cantate.2, I can't crank it up as high on account of the noise it picks up via USB coming on at 1:00 on the dial and tube noise using a DAC coming in at around the same point on the dial. Basically that's two noise sources getting in, and the gain is lower than my Meier so moving it that far doesn't actually make it louder, though on some tracks that I do crank it up for when using the Meier it can go much louder without any noise (volume setting, no music playing, no hum or whirr in the background).

 

[Benno1988]

See. My PC is pretty good. i7700k. Top of the range Seasoning PSU. Expensive mobo. Has a 1080ti in it though.

I'll try the cheaper route first. Phone charge power for the DAC and a iDefender. If no worky then have to suss other options.

 

[Benno1988]

Fixed it.

Sound was 50/50 from each USB cable.

Phone charger for the power USB. Tick.

USB out to front ports of PC. Tick.

She dead silent now.

I'll see how this mobo is wired and if I can run rear USB power off something else. If not, iDefender might do job. Else front USB.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

See. My PC is pretty good. i7700k. Top of the range Seasoning PSU. Expensive mobo. Has a 1080ti in it though.

Still relatively new unless you want to double the core count, so upgrading the computer is risky (at least otherwise not solving the problem at least improves other performance metrics).

Fixed it.

Sound was 50/50 from each USB cable.

Phone charger for the power USB. Tick.

USB out to front ports of PC. Tick.

She dead silent now.

I'll see how this mobo is wired and if I can run rear USB power off something else. If not, iDefender might do job. Else front USB.

Does the motherboard have optical? If it does then try that with the power USB on a phone charger.

If the noise goes away, then no problem. If it doesn't, try another USB cable and phone charger.

 

[Benno1988]

Yeah, think it does.

I haven't use an optical cable in 10 years.

They still the same? Any specific revision I should get?

The phone charge is annoying, its a bit short at the moment. Looking for an alternative like a power hub on desk or a stand alone 5V power supply.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I prefer no-name generic cables.
Order 2 or 3 cheap optical cables (from the same place), this way if one does not work, you can use the spare.

 

[NA Blur]

I have a D50s fed via optical and similar issues. I had to move it away from any RF noise as it was right next to my router. Noise is gone now. Things I tried:

New power cable
Shielded RCA cables
Optical Cable

None of those worked. I had to move it away from the source of the noise. Sad this little DAC is so susceptible to noise.

 

[NA Blur]

I should also mention the SP200 is also very noisy. I sold mine and went with the THX AAA 789 and now have a dead quiet system. So you have 2 contributors to your noise...your D50s which is susceptible to RF noise and your amp which is noisy especially using IEM's or and high gain.

 

[Benno1988]

Yeah.

SP200 to Verite is quiet.

USB into front ports and power USB straight to phone charger and we're good. Noise gone.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Yeah, think it does.

I haven't use an optical cable in 10 years.

They still the same? Any specific revision I should get?

Hasn't changed like HDMI since there aren't any extra contacts in there to add something else. Get the cheapest you can get since you just need to test if the noise can be dealt with.