Headphone Vinyl Meister Member of the Trade: TTVJ Audio
Joined
Jun 21, 2001
Posts
2,033
Likes
845
Hi All,
We are looking for 10 people who have a USB DAC who would like to improve the performance of their DAC. The USB Disruptor is a rather inexpensive upgrade at $159! We were skeptical when we first received the unit but firmly believe it made a very nice improvement. Now we are putting one in your hands for 1 week so you can try it for yourselves and let others here know what you think of it!
Loaner Program Rules:
Send your name and address as well as a telephone number and your Head-Fi user name to me at todd@ttvjaudio.com. Do NOT PM me as you will not be included in the program without an email.
You will get the loaner for 1 week to use in your home with your system. After your one week is up, you must send it to the next loaner participant. Email me (todd@ttvjaudio.com) the tracking info so I can pass it on to the recipient.
You MUST write a review and post it in this loaner thread. It must be posted in the same thread as this announcement for the loaner program. Please do not post it somewhere else!
Once you have received the loaner, email me to let me know you have it and I will send the address for the next person.
Our loaner programs are USA only. We are restricted from shipping/selling outside the USA on most products.
Todd,
I already have the USB Disruptor and DaBigGenius and will post a review shortly, Deo volente.
Am surprised that the HF community has not treated these accessories with any significant amount of "thread length" or "thread depth" yet.
Yesterday, I just set up my (modest) desktop system with these products and can say, in short, that they do a fine job: positive improvements are easily and immediately recognizable, as well as substantially musical.
. . . more later . . .
pataburd
PC
Foobar2000 v1.3.14
USB Disruptor/DaBigGenius
Pro-Ject USB Box S+
EVS IC95 interconnects
Qinpu A-1.0X integrated
JWCryo speaker cables
Wharfendale Diamond 9.1 speakers
We are looking for 10 people who have a USB DAC who would like to improve the performance of their DAC. The USB Disruptor is a rather inexpensive upgrade at $159! We were skeptical when we first received the unit but firmly believe it made a very nice improvement. Now we are putting one in your hands for 1 week so you can try it for yourselves and let others here know what you think of it!
Loaner Program Rules:
Send your name and address as well as a telephone number and your Head-Fi user name to me at todd@ttvjaudio.com. Do NOT PM me as you will not be included in the program without an email.
You will get the loaner for 1 week to use in your home with your system. After your one week is up, you must send it to the next loaner participant. Email me (todd@ttvjaudio.com) the tracking info so I can pass it on to the recipient.
You MUST write a review and post it in this loaner thread. It must be posted in the same thread as this announcement for the loaner program. Please do not post it somewhere else!
Once you have received the loaner, email me to let me know you have it and I will send the address for the next person.
Our loaner programs are USA only. We are restricted from shipping/selling outside the USA on most products.
I'm skeptical at the value proposition. This looks to be just a split power USB with the power run through the wall via a pretty standard 5v power supply. The finish looks horrific--it looks like an exceptionally poorly done DIY product. They shouldn't be charging more than $70 for this at that level of finish. The parts cost appears to be about $10-$20 (including labour). Also, to really clean things up you would need DaBigGenius, a USB cable that doesn't have power enabled. So your total costs run up to $258, not $159. Without removing the dirty power from your existing cable, you aren't going to see the big improvement in sound.
I have no doubt that this works, as splitting off the dirty USB power works in just the way that they describe, but I can't imagine that it will be more effective than an iFi Gemini cable ($175) or LH Labs Lightspeed 2G cable ($199) which both split the power all the way from the source and separate it from the signal and actually look like professional products.
I had a failure in another part of my digital chain, which I was planning to use for more comparison and inspection of how the USB disruptor sounds. Straight into my DAC, it sounds phenomenal. I compared directly against bare USB cable, a Schiit Wyrd, and an UpTone Audio "Amber" Regen. In quick summary, though I've used the Wyrd with success for other DACs before, it was not helping the specific DAC. The Regen was making an audible change, but also seemed to warm up the sound a little. Only through the USB disruptor was the sound clean, and not warm - left neutral as the original source, but without the "glary", grainy bits.
I really like it, and already ordered one to keep. I'll need to rewrite my review a little, without the failure parts, and post it in a few days.
Thank you Todd, for the opportunity to borrow the USB Disruptor!
::
What does it mean to disrupt the USB? I ask this question as introduction to the perspective of the listener, not the engineer. Beyond the electrical engineer verbiage of what it is supposed to do, and what each product promises to do, what does one actually hear when electrical noise is removed from the USB signal, and a "cleaner" digital stream of audio source information is fed into a decoding system?
I'll provide my answer later, but I'd first like to introduce myself. I've spent a little time in my past with a few options that I felt were needed to improve USB audio, mostly during the year I listened to various small dongle style USB-powered DAC/AMP. I no longer own DAC/AMP powered from USB, but the solutions I used to improve these are still in my arsenal today, and sometimes useful for DAC and DDC. And I think it is a worthwhile question to ask, how does the USB Disruptor, the topic of this review, differ from other solutions I have used, or I still am using with my current DAC and DDC solutions? I will compare it against my Schiit Wyrd and UpTone Audio USB Regen, the Amber revision with stock SMPS.
::
The first stream of consciousness thought I had - the listener is tired. I've been listening closely to digital audio for too many years - since I was given my first disc player in college, and stayed up nights listening to the whirring mechanical spin of the disc, and hearing the awful sound emit from the speakers of that portable unit. The convenience I like, but I've never been happy with it. I have hated the end result, the sonic result of the process of decoding bits from CD, or more recently from music stored on data storage devices. Annoying process really, getting it right - too much technical knowledge required. Yet I have been trying steadily to improve my satisfaction, as the listener. I'm not going to get into the middle of DAC wars - there are a few that make me happy. For this test, I'll be using an Ayre Codex, feeding directly from USB. And I'll be using a Chord 2Qute, feeding input via BNC from a Singxer SU-1. The USB disruptor output will feed into the Codex or SU-1. When the Codex or 2Qute are fed clean input, I like them both. In short, my target sound is known to me. I like how these DAC perform, when fed from an S/PDIF or good computer source.
Let me assure you - I've heard in no uncertain terms the output from a good computer source, and a bad one. My vintage 2008 Mac laptop still works to serve music. It also makes for an excellent test bench of a bad USB source. My Mac desktop is much cleaner in comparison. When I owned a Chord Hugo, I read the threads regarding how bright it can sound, and I assumed this was my issue. I tried the hours of recommended burn-in, and tried desperately to like its sound, as I'd liked my Mojo. But it was not until I stumbled onto how clean it sounded from my desktop that I realized it was fairly sensitive to USB input. My laptop has poor USB output. The bright, tinny, fatiguing sound immediately ceased connected to my desktop. The Codex is much less sensitive to poor input, but the delta is still discernible.
An aside, I mentioned I would be using the 2Qute from a SU-1. However my SU-1 failed, mid-review. So I tried listening to the 2Qute via USB, with and without the Disruptor. In short, the Chord folks got it right. I would not be able to A/B compare straight USB against Disruptor, feeding the USB input of the 2Qute. I had to find another point of comparison. For now, back to the Codex.
To describe the clean sound delta - when a USB signal path is changed from noise to clean, the music does not change. There is not the sudden addition of better, deeper bass or angels singing on high. You can get other audible changes if other things are happening somewhere along the stream - the only change I hear is the music simply becomes more visible, distinct from the noise. The overall sound changes from a cerebral engagement of trying to decipher what the 0s and 1s mean, from a poor implementation (i.e. was that a xylophone or a piano in the recording), toward a much clearer presentation of what is in the track (i.e. xylophone in a room of dimensions x-feet by y-feet, located a certain distance behind and slightly to the left of the singer). Another thing happened to the sound for me when listening to a recent favorite album - I realized it was more of a continuous series of songs. The gap between each track, or so I thought was a gap, was actually just low volume music.
To listen, I first started with a Schiit PYST USB direct from my laptop into the USB of the Codex. I used iTunes with no external assistive software to play a song, ripped at full resolution to AIFF. This is another anomaly I have found - when the chain is clean, I become much less reliant on alternative playback software (Audirvana, JRiver, etc.). But in this instance, the sound through bare USB cable was kind of a shock to my system as the chain I'd been using for a few days prior was:
With the above chain, I could listen to HD800S with just about any music, for many hours and no fatigue. But bare USB into the Codex and HD800S was definitely more strident sounding, requiring much more cerebral energy to guess what each sound is in the recording. In a way, it mimics listening to the static from a distant radio station, where you need to "mentally" block out the pops and noises and focus only on the music, between the noise. In a digital sense, that static gets translated by the DAC into constant noise, often at an unpleasant high frequency.
My next chain was the Wyrd through a second PYST cable into the DAC. I've heard the effect of using the Wyrd into other systems, including the Chord Hugo referenced earlier. I particularly enjoyed Wyrd on Meridian Explorer and Director DACs. But into the Codex, it made no notable difference. I don't think I would able to reliably A/B. I went back several times later during my test, as a kind of baseline, and still I could not hear anything different. So for the purpose of this review, I heard nothing.
Again, wishing my SU-1 had not died, as I've read that the Wyrd is a good solution for it. Without doing any serious comparison, earlier in the week I connected Wyrd and then Regen to the SU-1. When the borrowed USB Disruptor arrived, I switched to it. And I was quite happily using it for several days prior to my more structured listening tests.
Using the same USB cables, I replaced the Wyrd with a Regen. The chain through the Regen was the first where I heard a noticeable change to the sound. The highs calmed down, generally a sign of some electrical cleanup. But I also noticed that everything calmed down, ever so slightly. This was more noticeable as I switched between the USB Disruptor or stock USB cable-only, and then back to the Regen. The USB disruptor and USB cable bare were at one volume, while the Regen was at a slightly lower volume. The sound was also generally dampened, not as speedy. Some of the noise issues were certainly taken care of by the Regen, but then the overall sound was no longer as crisp and snappy.
Last, I connected through the USB Disruptor. This is a slightly different chain in that the output from the Disruptor connects directly to the DAC. So I used a single PYST cable into the Disruptor. The sound is a little underwhelming to describe. That is, compared to everything above, it did not change volume, relative to the original chain. Nor did it lose any of the pace or quickness, snap and fast decay of the original sound. But at the same time, the music just became more "obvious". A layer of something, which is hard to describe, was removed.
Trying another tact, this review is really more about the cerebral experience. I had a friend describe it, his musical journey, as his desire to be engaged in the sound. His desire is to have the music pull his attention away from the external world into the sound - to no longer be distracted by other things (like writing this review - ugh). If I am fighting digital artifacts, this is difficult, and tiring to listen to for a long time. For fun this morning, I started playing an album of some 60s music. I'd heard it many times before. But I knew, from the first note, I would be sitting to listen to the entire album. Since digital, that want has been lacking. People would sit for long periods of time to an album on record, but why do we always switch the digital track? I think it more than just the convenience. When the music is cleared from the other distractions, it does this to me - draws me in and makes me want to stay there. There's not really a lot I can say about the character of the Disruptor because it does, to my ears, this and only this. Everything musical remains. Whatever is recorded, good, bad, and indifferent, is there. Only the sound is seemingly more because the stuff, the electrical stuff in my cheap source chain not in the original recording, is gone.
::
I probably should have ended here, but the disruptor is not without fault. However its faults are small, and ergonomic in nature. For my test system, I put everything on a dining table. However when connecting the Wyrd or Regen into a chain and into a music system, I would use two USB cables. My laptop being kind of far away from my daily DAC/AMP systems, the two cables help to cover the distance. The two cables allow me to space the Wyrd or Regen away from my DAC, closer to the laptop source. But the Disruptor plugs directly into the DAC. So a single USB cable has to be long enough to go from my laptop almost all the way to the DAC. For my use case, I may need to purchase a longer USB cable. And I hope that the same sonic benefits aren't diminished by a longer cable.
In parallel with the above, the power cord on the Wyrd wall wart is long - I've never had an issue connecting it to a power source. It was a similar non-issue with the Regen - for the table setup, I just grabbed a longer standard power cable out of a drawer. Yet to plug into the disruptor, I had to slide my surge suppressor box a little closer to my setup. I'd still say the power cable is a good length. But there's not the option to get one longer. So if you need any extra length, you'll have to use an extension cord specifically for the disruptor.
Because the Disruptor plugs directly into the DAC, it will only support DAC with the USB standard B connector. For example, it works with the Codex and 2Qute. But it does not work with the Grace Design m9xx, Mojo, or upcoming Hugo2. I ordered a couple of cables, and may post back later. But cables to connect from Disruptor to Micro USB are not part of my standard arsenal.
I suggest a method to both connect to Micro USB and to get a longer USB cable - you can purchase a female type B to female type A connector. I bought one off eBay for less than $5. This not only lets you use your regular cables, it also gives you a two cable length by separating the USB Disruptor from the DAC. I was also able to put a little less stress on the USB input on the Codex.
Last, there's not a lot of space to plug the USB cable into the Disruptor. I'll try to post pictures, but I actually had to push the PYST cable in firmly because the width of the plastic around the end of the connector of the cable was enough that it rubs the rubber wrapped around the disruptor. In later tests, I used a cheaper AmazonBasics cable, which slid easily onto the disruptor, with no space issues.
The disruptor build quality appears quite good! So I'd have no concerns about plugging and unplugging the USB cable. It has a thick wrap around the internal components. And the sheath for the power cable is similar material as the durable sheath on the PYST cable.
::
This was the part of the review when I tried to switch to the SU-1. I still wanted to use a second setup to test through a DDC. Instead I used a Peachtree X1 feeding optical into a Chord Mojo, connected directly to an HD600. Nothing in this chain is as resolving as the first test system. However I did like the concept of using the optical between the DDC (X1) and the DAC (Mojo) so as to eliminate any additional electrical noise issues further down the chain. Thus for the test, I would be strictly listening to how the DDC reacted to a noisy USB feed from my laptop versus the feed from the USB disruptor.
As noted, the fidelity of everything was down a notch. But the results bared out the same end. The end sound and how it changed was less to do with obtrusive noise levels that bothered me, and more to do with individual sounds. Xylophone, guitar and cymbals had less of a hazy ring, and more of a focussed, natural decay to their sound. When a string is plucked, or metal is struck, it has a natural decay, which was more easily heard after connecting the disruptor. Similar, the quick bass notes where less of a "whump" and more of a faster, single-note "thump" sound.
::
I also wanted to compare this against other popular solutions, like the AudioQuest JitterBug and Intona USB Isolator. But to my ears, these solutions change the sound. I hear some things more clearly and other things not so much. The Intona is newer to me, so perhaps I'll give it more time. But my initial listening to it just told me it was doing something - I don't know what? My first listen to the USB Disruptor told me it was doing something right, without changing the sound. Not sure how to express it more clearly than I've done in the above review, but it works quite well for me. I suggest if it is of interest to you, the USB Disruptor from TTVJ is most certainly worth a listen!
Thank you Todd for lending me this for my listen! I am enjoying it immensely!
Headphone Vinyl Meister Member of the Trade: TTVJ Audio
Joined
Jun 21, 2001
Posts
2,033
Likes
845
Hi All,
This loaner program still has openings and if you would like to audition it and write a review email me at todd@ttvjaudio.com and I will get a Disruptor out to you to try for a week!
Thank you Todd for lending me the USB Disruptor to use. I wanted to see if the USB Disruptor would improve the Sonore MicroRendu in any way, it did to a small degree, it wasn't enough of an improvement to use it that way. So i tried it with out the MicroRendu and use this straight to the Schiit Gungnir Multibit dac..Bingo.. that sounded good, much better in fact on my system than a few other devices i had used to improve the USB from my computer , but wasn't as good as the microRendu.
I also tried it with my workout room system, we have a small room that the family works out and studies. I have a small Logitek system with a Schiit Modi in there that everyone hooks there iPhone to when they are in the room, to my surprise it made that system sound very good, and the family also noticed the difference to the point of being a distraction in a good way.
i wished this would have been out sooner, could have saved a bit of money. The disruptor provide better deeper bass on my system, along with better space between instruments. The drums in particular sound better as the drums had more separation between them, they were not all bunched together. If your looking to improve the USB on your computer system, i would start here first, it has a 30 money back guarantee, but i believe you may like what you hear.
Again thank you Todd for the loaner.
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