[ellevoid]

I've read the white paper that usb3.0 generate a lot of RFI/EMI when in use.
 
How you guys deal with this interference issue from usb3.0 standard that might affect the sound quality?
 
Thanks for the answer in advance.

 

[Music Path]

Apart from the iUSB, the iPower and 3M rubber feet, these are the rest of the contents in the box.

No split cable

 

[EVOLVIST]

I've read the white paper that usb3.0 generate a lot of RFI/EMI when in use.

How you guys deal with this interference issue from usb3.0 standard that might affect the sound quality?

Thanks for the answer in advance.

Are you saying 3.0 has more RFI/EMI than 2.0? Not that I've heard of, unless you're using your network card and surfing the web on your machine. You can get all kinds of RFI that way.

My question would be, does USB 3.0 offer a benefit over 2.0 when transporting music to your DAC? I mean, it sounds right in theory, but I haven't been able to read anything that music would need that much bandwidth going to the DAC.

 

[vnmslsrbms]

Yeah, I think with current implementations, it shouldn't make a difference. But I think they might come up with something like instead of streaming a song over USB, they could technically send the entire song over and create a huge buffer.  I would think that would keep the data integrity to a max.  

 

[ellevoid]

Are you saying 3.0 has more RFI/EMI than 2.0? Not that I've heard of, unless you're using your network card and surfing the web on your machine. You can get all kinds of RFI that way.

My question would be, does USB 3.0 offer a benefit over 2.0 when transporting music to your DAC? I mean, it sounds right in theory, but I haven't been able to read anything that music would need that much bandwidth going to the DAC.

 
Please google it. 

 

[EVOLVIST]

Please google it. 

This is what people always say who are too lazy to look it up for me.

But seriously, of course I've already looked it up, and already stated my findings. I simply wonder what iFi's view is, since they made this new product and advertised that 3.0 is "better," but not in so many words. It was implied by the pictures.

 

[Pedro83]

An interesting product. I own the Schiit Audio Wyrd which might not be the best on the market but for the money it's a no-brainer. I will wait for reviews to see whether this warrants the outlay. I use a thunderbolt HDD for my music storage so no gains for me with regards to routing my library from it.

 

[velvetx]

Lets look at the facts.  Is the product feature rich?  Yes. Does the product go beyond what their competition is doing?  Yes.  In my mind they made a good product and until people listen to it versus other products all we can do right now is speculate.  IFI has a reputation and honestly I would give them the benefit of the doubt.  The white papers listed below is where the RFI/EMI information comes from.  Obviously you can't argue that USB 3.0 has issues with RMI/EFI but remember that USB 3.0 is still pretty new.  Until we hear from IFI on what they did to counteract this issue no point in arguing over it.
 
http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/whitepapers/USB_SuperSpeed_CabCon_Whitepaper.pdf
 
Clarifying what "new" means is that most audio companies have not made the step forward into USB 3.0 cabling.  Yes HDD manufacturers have already but that is because all they care about is data transfer.  Ultimately when we have new technologies in the cabling/port departments it always boasts of faster transfer speeds and does not really touch on RFI/EMI because that is not ultimately USB 3.0 is trying to accomplish.

 

[iFi audio]

  Does the isoground functionality isolate the ground loop / galvanic isolaton from USB? 

 
Hi,
 
IsoEarth breaks ground loops that cause hum issues. But done in a way that we believe to be correct so there is no adverse impact.
 
Some background info from our tech notes:
 
http://ifi-audio.com/tech-notes/
 
Cheers.

 

[EH-Yeon]

   
Hi,
 
IsoEarth breaks ground loops that cause hum issues. But done in a way that we believe to be correct so there is no adverse impact.
 
Some background info from our tech notes:
 
http://ifi-audio.com/tech-notes/
 
Cheers.

So, it doesn't work that way, but a different approach. That's interesting to see. Would really hope to see someone crack open and take a peek inside.

 

[iFi audio]

EMI/RFI......diy

 
The whitepaper talks about very severe mis-implementations of USB 3. In competent applications there is no major issue, as said the frequency band of the emissions is higher (5GHz vs. 500MHz), meaning smaller openings can leak some signal.
 
But the 5GHz band is so cluttered with Wifi (which are intentional transmitters) and related signals and harmonics from 2.4GHz (Wifi, Bluetooth) these will invariably swamp whatever USB3 accidentally radiated.
 
Cheers.

 

[iFi audio]

  So, it doesn't work that way, but a different approach. That's interesting to see. Would really hope to see someone crack open and take a peek inside.

 
Hi,
 
There are some solutions that just cut the ground permanently taht results in two typical outcomes:
 
Result 1 - only USB 2 high speed devices can work at all, older DAC's (or even current USB Audio Class 1 ones) do not work.
 
Result 2 - as there is no ground, any significant voltage difference between the DAC ground and Computer ground will at least lock up the USB connection, worst case is that the USB Chip in either DAC or Computer can be zapped.
 
IsoEarth isn't just a 'snip' it is more of a major exercise.

 

[velvetx]

 

EMI/RFI......diy

 
The whitepaper talks about very severe mis-implementations of USB 3. In competent applications there is no major issue, as said the frequency band of the emissions is higher (5GHz vs. 500MHz), meaning smaller openings can leak some signal.
 
But the 5GHz band is so cluttered with Wifi (which are intentional transmitters) and related signals and harmonics from 2.4GHz (Wifi, Bluetooth) these will invariably swamp whatever USB3 accidentally radiated.
 
Cheers.

 
So basically what you are saying is that with your device you have "competent" applications which makes the USB RFI/EMI a non issue?  I mean I figure WiFi and Bluetooth are now pretty common so this would also be an issue with RFI/EMI since USB 3.0 is using the 2.4GHz band?
 
Sorry if I sound direct or mislead but I am just trying to understand.

Thanks.

 

[glassmonkey]

In the Noble Savant give-away, there were some people who made new accounts to enter into the competition twice. Is it possible that that has happened here? Are there any safeguards?

 

[iFi audio]

   
So basically what you are saying is that with your device you have "competent" applications which makes the USB RFI/EMI a non issue?  I mean I figure WiFi and Bluetooth are now pretty common so this would also be an issue with RFI/EMI since USB 3.0 is using the 2.4GHz band?
 
Sorry if I sound direct or mislead but I am just trying to understand.

Thanks.

 
Hi,
 
Not an issue at all.
 
The application note (not white paper) gives examples of poor implementations and then goes on to show methods for improvement/best practice...
 
We usually go well beyond "best practice".