[Letmebefrank]

Haha man this is good stuff. For real though, I would have to hear my computer in a direct a/b comparison to a dedicated server to be convinced. I've read posts claiming a $600 usb cable makes their music sound better. You could say I would have to purchase it to A/B for myself, but my bullschitometer starts going off when I read claims like that. I have to remain skeptical on most of the digital stuff these days when it comes to increasing sound quality.

 

[AudioBear]

I use $5 cables with my server and all my gear and hear tiny differences between computer-Eitr and server (maybe). Like you, claims of improvements heard with expensive cables drive my bullshitometer off the wall. I don't think the two (severs versus cables) are comparable, however. Meaning one is plausibly different and the other is not.

 

[Kn1nJa]

I just use a really long USB cable to go from my computer to my gen 5 bimby. I think it sounds perfectly fine. Maybe it's the ferrite chokes in the cable

 

[Letmebefrank]

I use $5 cables with my server and all my gear and hear tiny differences between computer-Eitr and server (maybe). Like you, claims of improvements heard with expensive cables drive my bull****ometer off the wall. I don't think the two (severs versus cables) are comparable, however. Meaning one is plausibly different and the other is not.

You are right, they aren't truly comparable things, dedicated servers will have a different topology than a desktop PC, whereas most expensive USB cables are exactly the same inside as a belden or straightwire. I would love if an electrical engineer could please explain to me how a dedicated server would impart less noise while feeding an Eitr by USB than a desktop PC doing the same, and whether or not this could result in a sound difference. I'm really not trying to be argumentative here, I would genuinely like to know the logic behind this.

 

[AudioBear]

If there is any explanation I would suspect it comes from the server being SSD, no fan, no video, no other I/O activities; just a dedicated one-trick pony with nothing to add noise. Couple that to a nice quiet power source and use ethernet between the source-serrver-rederer and you have a very quiet noise free system. Obviously (to me at least) it can't magically make the music sound better.

 

[Letmebefrank]

If there is any explanation I would suspect it comes from the server being SSD, no fan, no video, no other I/O activities; just a dedicated one-trick pony with nothing to add noise. Couple that to a nice quiet power source and use ethernet between the source-serrver-rederer and you have a very quiet noise free system. Obviously (to me at least) it can't magically make the music sound better.

That all makes total sense. I've been saying that my next house will have a music room with a raspberry pi serving up music from my pc located in a separate room so I don't have to listen to the fans. Although when I'm not listening to music, dead silence messes with my head, via blood rushing through my ears, the sound of my own breathing, etc. I can't be in a totally silent environment for more than 30 seconds before I start to lose it.

 

[AudioBear]

Real dead silence in an anechoic chambering can be a frightening experience. Most people don't like it at all.

 

[Letmebefrank]

Real dead silence in an anechoic chambering can be a frightening experience. Most people don't like it at all.

As Mike would say, phuc that noise, or lack thereof...

 

[johnjen]

Another factor to consider is.
The fewer the sources of noise in your electrical and electronic environment the better.

By way of example every time I eliminate a SMPS or any other 'noisy' source (any digital circuit), with but a very few exceptions, yields a SQ step up of some sort.
Adding another digital processor to the environment just adds that much more digital noise to the region. This may or may not always help the SQ, but even powering down the internet modem/router can help SQ.

Just a thought or two to consider.

JJ

 

[Mike Foley]

Totally off topic (whatever that is!), but we did our Christmas decorating last night. Am I the only one who gives their system a little festive cheer? I hope not...

 

[artur9]

I can't be in a totally silent environment for more than 30 seconds before I start to lose it.

Much longer than that and you'll turn into an ape like William Hurt in Altered States

 

[Whazzzup]

you will need these first

 

[FrivolsListener]

Totally off topic (whatever that is!), but we did our Christmas decorating last night. Am I the only one who gives their system a little festive cheer? I hope not...

All those LEDs, generating 60 Hz harmonics from the mains power...

I do have decorations near my Schiit, but they run on DC. USB dongles, to be specific. Plugged into different computers than my Schiit is plugged into.

 

[Mike Foley]

All those LEDs, generating 60 Hz harmonics from the mains power...

I do have decorations near my Schiit, but they run on DC. USB dongles, to be specific. Plugged into different computers than my Schiit is plugged into.

Good audiophile that I am, the figures are battery powered.....

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

At the risk of being branded a heretic:

For those interested in the science of signal transmission via cables, issue 48 of Copper Magazine has an excellent article titled "Cables: Time is of the Essence". The article is written by two engineers from Belden and is written in layman's terms. I thought the article did a good job of describing signal flow in cables and thought others here might be interested as well.

In the interest of full disclosure, Copper Magazine is published by PS Audio but apart from publishing this article they didn't have any input to the article. Also, I have no relationship with either company.

JC