[Chopin75]

I’m basically concerned with how capable the device is when not in the center position, would it still be justified to use in the chain if not fully isolating therefore just extra cable and device that I can still return to amazon

If you can't hear a difference or it sounds worse, then return. For a while I used a DAC that requires the joystick not to be in neutral (center), and then it works. I then upgraded to a different DAC and then I am now able to use it at center position. However, I am not sure if I can hear difference in isolation with different position as I never tested the different positions. Now I also have changed the PC/music server, and the iFiGalvanic for strange reason would not work together with my idefender (which I always used together). With igalvanic + idefender the DAC cannot be detected. I can only use either one alone. There is also no longer any sonic benefits with either devices and perhaps it is worse with them! There is supposedly best galvanic isolation at neutral position. Does your DAC need USB power ? If so, then you need external 5V to supply both the igalvanic and DAC.

 

[macx]

If you can't hear a difference or it sounds worse, then return. For a while I used a DAC that requires the joystick not to be in neutral (center), and then it works. I then upgraded to a different DAC and then I am now able to use it at center position. However, I am not sure if I can hear difference in isolation with different position as I never tested the different positions. Now I also have changed the PC/music server, and the iFiGalvanic for strange reason would not work together with my idefender (which I always used together). With igalvanic + idefender the DAC cannot be detected. I can only use either one alone. There is also no longer any sonic benefits with either devices and perhaps it is worse with them! There is supposedly best galvanic isolation at neutral position. Does your DAC need USB power ? If so, then you need external 5V to supply both the igalvanic and DAC.

Not that I know of considering the dac I’m using mostly is the adi 2 Pro, which has its own dedicated power, im not sure on the usb spec if there is required power from the usb, but it shouldn’t matter should it? Considering the chain is pc-igalvanic-iusb3.0-ipurifer3-dac

 

[Chopin75]

Not that I know of considering the dac I’m using mostly is the adi 2 Pro, which has its own dedicated power, im not sure on the usb spec if there is required power from the usb, but it shouldn’t matter should it? Considering the chain is pc-igalvanic-iusb3.0-ipurifer3-dac

If the DAC is high grade with its own LPS there should be no ground issue. Unless it is trying to clock the signal which may cause issues ? not sure, as most DACs are asynchronous anyway. What PC or music server are u using ? Maybe that has ground issue ?

 

[macx]

Mai ge75 raider gaming laptop, and I’m using Roon

 

[Chopin75]

Mai ge75 raider gaming laptop, and I’m using Roon

There is apparently no ground or no good ground for laptops. I had issue with dropouts with my macbook in the past. Though as I said, when I switched to another DAC using same Macbook there was no dropout issue then. Not sure. I presume whether u plug in your laptop to AC or using battery it won't make a difference?

 

[macx]

There is apparently no ground or good ground for laptops. I had issue with dropouts with my macbook in the past. Though as I said, when I switched to another DAC using same Macbook there was no dropout issue then. Not sure. I presume whether u plug in your laptop to AC or using battery it won't make a difference?

Doesn’t seem to make a difference if plugged in or not

 

[motberg]

I’m basically concerned with how capable the device is when not in the center position, would it still be justified to use in the chain if not fully isolating therefore just extra cable and device that I can still return to amazon

I think @Chopin75 offered some good advice...

I have an Intona Industrial, an ISO Regen, and a Singxer UIP-1.

In my system, which sounds excellent with no noticeable hum or other obvious problems:
The Intona works well and offers to me a small but noticeable SQ improvement.
The Singxer UIP-1 works well and seems to offer a bit better SQ than the Intona.
The ISO Regen causes my computer to shut down if I switch on/off any lights close to the stereo room.. this is regardless of the ISO Regen isolation switch position.

I was following the iFi unit, as I think it may offer an SQ upgrade to the Intona if it works correctly with full isolation.. I have a lot of iFi stuff and am very satisfied with iFi performance in general.
but my guess is that in my environment, the iFi may react similarly to the ISO Regen (I think they use the same isolation chip iirc..)

It would be good if iFi could step in with some suggestions as to how solve these supposed ground problems and allow customers to use the "full isolation" position...

 

[Chopin75]

I think @Chopin75 offered some good advice...

I have an Intona Industrial, an ISO Regen, and a Singxer UIP-1.

In my system, which sounds excellent with no noticeable hum or other obvious problems:
The Intona works well and offers to me a small but noticeable SQ improvement.
The Singxer UIP-1 works well and seems to offer a bit better SQ than the Intona.
The ISO Regen causes my computer to shut down if I switch on/off any lights close to the stereo room.. this is regardless of the ISO Regen isolation switch position.

I was following the iFi unit, as I think it may offer an SQ upgrade to the Intona if it works correctly with full isolation.. I have a lot of iFi stuff and am very satisfied with iFi performance in general.
but my guess is that in my environment, the iFi may react similarly to the ISO Regen (I think they use the same isolation chip iirc..)

It would be good if iFi could step in with some suggestions as to how solve these supposed ground problems and allow customers to use the "full isolation" position...

Yah, the ifiGalvanic + idefender are quite picky in terms of getting the DAC to read the signal from PC. Often if I disconnect the chain: PC_--> idefender+ ipower ---> igalvanic--> DAC, and then try to reconnect again it fails to reconnect and may sometimes shut down my DAC's Xmos-F1 internal board ! Like as if the F1 got stunned and no longer worked. I have to restart my DAC (R2R7 Audio-gd) for it to work again. Perhaps Isoregen which has similar design, has similar issues ? I think intona may be more transparent and less intrusive. Now I can only use igalvanic or Idefender alone but not together with my new PC, well as I said before, I took all the iFi out as they are not helping a whole lot with the upgrade of my PC.

 

[technobear]

I've found that the ADI2-DAC needs to see 5 Volts on the USB connection before it will connect to the PC.

The RME seems to be immune to PC noise. It's headphone outputs are silent. However I have a power amp that seems to pick up on noise which I'm pretty sure is on the ground wire of the USB connection and is passed straight through to the RCA outputs of the RME. Unplugging the USB cable stops the noise from the speakers. An iPurifier2 or iPurifier3 did not stop it. I swapped the cable for a Gemini and injected 5V from an iPower 5V into the Gemini. This stopped all the drive and mouse related noises but there is still a high-pitched buzz present which I guess is some interaction between iPower and the power amp. It's not too loud and doesn't vary but it would be nice to be rid of it. The power amp is a Class D one - the XTZ Edge A2-300. It sounds great when the RME is fed via optical from the TV recorder but has this high-pitched whine or buzz when the iPower 5V is on (even when the PC is off). I'm now wondering if iGalvanic might be the solution here and whether it is worth the cost for a pathway I don't use very often.

 

[music_man]

Best setup I found was out of PC into AQ jitterbug, to High end USB hub powered by LPS with +/- power lifted on USB cable. Your dac will not handshake if it uses USB power for the USB interface however. most high end Dac's do not use USB power on the input. to begin with those type of DAC's do not really need any of this anyways. They are immune to the input signal and reclock anyways. It depends on the DAC. If the DAC's board is isolated really do not need anything else. In fact it can detract from sound, cause connection issues as noted here. I never have a connection issue with my setup. some of the top Engineers use their own TOTL DAC design with exactly what I have done. jitterbug filters the data line. The LPS on hub provides clean power rail but my DAC does not need power rail anyways. honestly there is no difference in SQ but why not. I use the JS-2 linear PSU on it. Obviously if I have that could have got more but I found it ultimately detracts/ connection issues. Most of these things are based on a USB hub chip anyways. Only better you can do is Ethernet if your dac supports it. Mine all do but I prefer the USB. Just my personal feelings. Either way regardless my noise floor is immeasurable. Mostly these things are nothing but a headache as evidenced here by many. Spend the money on a better dac IMO. this is the same headache realized by going USB>ethernet>USB. Which is why PS Audio discontinued that product. It had issues with Windows 10 among other problems. I am not sure about AIOP or DANTE but should be unesscesarry for anything added in the signal chain of a high end dac. In fact it may actually detract from SQ and cause other issues. nothing but a headache really. More in the signal chain is often worse if the dac is up to snuff. Although with my setup I hear no difference so just left it alone. Computer reboots with no signal loss on my setup. You do need a high end hub with USB type 'B' connection to do this. Probably do not need psu at the level of JS-2 either. RadioShack regulated wallwarts of yore should be fine. Find on Ebay for $5-$10. Much less than JS-2 and has same effect. That is only if your dac's xmos is USB powered which any good one should not be. It has its own internal regulated power source. Lower end dac may make a big difference even with the PITA of using these devices. Plus probably limits maximum speed. I am currently using 50x DSD. It may not even support that much bandwidth. All of these things have one issue or another. Unless dac xmos is not USB powered to begin with. In which case it should make absolutely no difference. Other than "issues". I feel what I did, if anything is best but really unesscesarry in my dac's case. YMMV of course.

 

[macx]

I get it working intermittently, I’ve decided the difference is minimal, not worth the headache returning the i galvanic and the extra mercury cable I won’t need now

Too much headache....

 

[Luvdac]

just wanted to post my findings of igalvanic 3 vs intona isolator. I find the intona wins hands down as far as sq and musicality are concerned, paired with the ifi micro iusb3. The igalvanic is very fussy with usb cables (dropouts) when paired to the ifi micro iusb3 . Also it has a very dry signature which I find irritating after a while.So my vote goes to the intona. One other thing of note, as an experiment I added the ipurifier 3 at the input of the the micro iusb3 and was quite shocked as to the improvement in sound. Improvement = more musical, lower noise floor, better instrument separation etc etc.So now the system in the bedroom is allo usbridge-> intona -> ipurifier 3 -> micro iusb 3 -> Chord Hugo 2 -> Stax srs 007/koss E-90/Phantom reactors.I almost sold the igalvanic but decided to try it out between a 8tb powered seagate drive and the sonictransporter i5. Viola, no drop outs so far and there is again an added benefit with the galvanic isolation to the entire system. In this position (sonictransporter/hard drive) I dont hear that dryness of character further down the line.
Given a second chance, I would go for the intona again. I even tried them out in the car, between the car usb port and the galaxy note 9. Intona comes out on top again although generally both tended to reduce the overall volume and made the sound feel a bit constricted.

 

[Chopin75]

just wanted to post my findings of igalvanic 3 vs intona isolator. I find the intona wins hands down as far as sq and musicality are concerned, paired with the ifi micro iusb3. The igalvanic is very fussy with usb cables (dropouts) when paired to the ifi micro iusb3 . Also it has a very dry signature which I find irritating after a while.So my vote goes to the intona. One other thing of note, as an experiment I added the ipurifier 3 at the input of the the micro iusb3 and was quite shocked as to the improvement in sound. Improvement = more musical, lower noise floor, better instrument separation etc etc.So now the system in the bedroom is allo usbridge-> intona -> ipurifier 3 -> micro iusb 3 -> Chord Hugo 2 -> Stax srs 007/koss E-90/Phantom reactors.I almost sold the igalvanic but decided to try it out between a 8tb powered seagate drive and the sonictransporter i5. Viola, no drop outs so far and there is again an added benefit with the galvanic isolation to the entire system. In this position (sonictransporter/hard drive) I dont hear that dryness of character further down the line.
Given a second chance, I would go for the intona again. I even tried them out in the car, between the car usb port and the galaxy note 9. Intona comes out on top again although generally both tended to reduce the overall volume and made the sound feel a bit constricted.

Perhaps if I read your review I would have gone for the Intona instead which is a more simple device. Someone reviewed thinking the igalvanic is more musical but it does not appear to be the case here. However I don't have micro iusb3. My igalvanic stops working properly once I have an upgraded PC with USB bridge. Have you tried intona vs igalvanic without the micro usb 3 ?

 

[littlexx26]

I have igalvanic, micro iusb3.0, 2 ipurifier3s, my system never sound dry

 

[Condocondor]

I have igalvanic, micro iusb3.0, 2 ipurifier3s, my system never sound dry

Just curious littlexx26, how much difference does the iUSB3.0 make? I already have an iSilencer, iGalvanic, iPurifier3, that I use with my Micro iDSD BL. You think I'd get much more sound quality adding a USB3.0 to the chain? Or, would this be so subtle that the law of diminishing returns would set in. I mean perhaps a better USB cable would do more? What is your advice?