[Telin]

Yeah I cancelled my order, so looking for something that isn't made to beat everyone in measurements. I think Aune X8 magic dac will work

Maybe unpopular but.. audio-gd has some interesting options if you're more into "organic/musical" sounding equipment. They measure absolutely schiit but many appreciate their sound signature.

 

[senegalas]

I will get schiit asgard 3 with modius

 

[Telin]

I will get schiit asgard 3 with modius

A solid stack

 

[portalheadd]

anyone with any experience with soncoz la-qxd1 compared to modius?

 

[Overlord041]

Anyone selling schiit modius?

 

[cdacosta]

About two weeks ago I got my shipment from Schiit for a new Asgard 3 and Modius stack. I am using a Sony MDR-Z7M2 56 ohm headphones with this Schiit stack. I am using my PC (with Asus mother board) as a source. There is a lot of other gear I had when modding and tweaking my main HT system that I am using with this setup like power conditioners, cables, etc. But the purpose of this post is to share what I did to address the USB noise that is in my or a PC. I have read others are also experiencing PC USB noise issues.

Usual listening levels for me is between 10 o'clock and 12 o'clock (peak volume) in high gain. First if no USB cable is attached to the PC the Modius the amp is dead silent at max volume, so I know it is not the amp or Modius. If the supplied USB cable is used for power and signal from PC (using the USB port with the least noise) at 12 o'clock the noise starts and gets louder as the volume knob is turned. Yes, some USB ports are quieter then others. This noise sound like a ground loop or static. So I tried a Toslink from PC with the supplied USB cable used for power using the supplied walwart and that is much quieter, no noise until 4 o'clock which is almost max volume. By the way I found out most PC motherboards either have digital out with card supplied or a separate board can be purchased (what I did) to plug into the motherboard. This board costed me $13.99 on Amazon. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWNKIKN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But I found the sound via Toslink to be different and wanted to experiment with USB more. So a trip to Frys Electronics and I picked up a $3.99 cable. Used this cable to the supplied walwart and used the included cable to PC USB. Now I can switch back and forth to see which I prefer, USB or Toslink. But the noise on he USB is still there when volume knob gets to 12 o'clock. So then I used a small thin strip of electrical tape and covered the power connection inside the USB A plug that goes into the computer. It worked, seems the walwart will power the USB signal outside without using PC USB power. Sonics are the same and no noise until 2 o'clock. So then I taped off the ground also in the USB plug and again it worked and the noise now does not present itself until about 3 o'clock.

So what I have learned from this exercise is the power and ground is (or can be) very dirty or noisy. Definitely the case in my PC. Noise at any level will effect sonic performance, this is why I want to get rid of the noise. By lifting the ground and power from the signal carrying cable the noise is eliminated within the volume range I listen to. Different USB ports in the same PC can be quieter then the others. The supplied cable when plugged into the supplied walwart sound a little better then the $3.99 cable from Frys (USB cable quality can matter). I will buy and try a few other cables and see if there is a difference for USB signal and power. The Toslink cable I used is a glass cable purchased from Amazon. Usually glass Toslink sounds the best in my experience.

Hopefully this helps someone!

 

[benjisun]

But I found the sound via Toslink to be different and wanted to experiment with USB more. So a trip to Frys Electronics and I picked up a $3.99 cable. Used this cable to the supplied walwart and used the included cable to PC USB. Now I can switch back and forth to see which I prefer, USB or Toslink. But the noise on he USB is still there when volume knob gets to 12 o'clock. So then I used a small thin strip of electrical tape and covered the power connection inside the USB A plug that goes into the computer. It worked, seems the walwart will power the USB signal outside without using PC USB power. Sonics are the same and no noise until 2 o'clock. So then I taped off the ground also in the USB plug and again it worked and the noise now does not present itself until about 3 o'clock.

So what I have learned from this exercise is the power and ground is (or can be) very dirty or noisy. Definitely the case in my PC. Noise at any level will effect sonic performance, this is why I want to get rid of the noise. By lifting the ground and power from the signal carrying cable the noise is eliminated within the volume range I listen to. Different USB ports in the same PC can be quieter then the others.

Hopefully this helps someone!

Hi,
Thanks for the feedback, Its a groundloop issue and I had the same problem with another DAC.

This fix that you did is not the best solution. It allows you to find that your USB is noisy but is not a durable solution.
I had the same Issue on my ADI RME DAC FS and RME strongly recommended me to not do the DIY tape fix like this.
In the end I purchased an ifi idefender and it solved the problem allowing to bypass properly the 5v rails on the usb out of the computer and replace them properly by an external 5v psu (i use a linear psu).

Hope this will help.

Best regards.

 

[cdacosta]

Hi,
Thanks for the feedback, Its a groundloop issue and I had the same problem with another DAC.

This fix that you did is not the best solution. It allows you to find that your USB is noisy but is not a durable solution.
I had the same Issue on my ADI RME DAC FS and RME strongly recommended me to not do the DIY tape fix like this.
In the end I purchased an ifi idefender and it solved the problem allowing to bypass properly the 5v rails on the usb out of the computer and replace them properly by an external 5v psu (i use a linear psu).

Hope this will help.

Best regards.

Hi Benjisun,

The Schiit Modius comes with a 5V Walwart (psu) which is what I am using and referring to. I looked into the ifi Defender, but this unit adds a signal connection to the mix which I would rather avoid. What I wanted to find out was 1) what was causing the noise? 2) is there a work around? 3) would using the external power psu power all functions on the DAC 4) sonic performance difference between the USB and Toslink (next I will try the coax spdif, I have at least one 75 ohm high end cable somewhere). May end up bypassing the USB all together to ensure that the noise from the PC does not enter the headphone setup.

 

[JohnnyOps]

Yeah, I and many others use a streamer/transport like the Pi2AES to avoid this; I use SPDIF/BNC from the Pi2AES into my Gungnir Multibit, even though I found Unison to be pretty delectable. If I had an Yggdrasil I’d use the same set-up but would probably use AES instead, because it’s grounded. So you’re on a similar path to others, albeit with a different set of gear. Good luck!

 

[WaveTheory]

About two weeks ago I got my shipment from Schiit for a new Asgard 3 and Modius stack. I am using a Sony MDR-Z7M2 56 ohm headphones with this Schiit stack. I am using my PC (with Asus mother board) as a source. There is a lot of other gear I had when modding and tweaking my main HT system that I am using with this setup like power conditioners, cables, etc. But the purpose of this post is to share what I did to address the USB noise that is in my or a PC. I have read others are also experiencing PC USB noise issues.

Usual listening levels for me is between 10 o'clock and 12 o'clock (peak volume) in high gain. First if no USB cable is attached to the PC the Modius the amp is dead silent at max volume, so I know it is not the amp or Modius. If the supplied USB cable is used for power and signal from PC (using the USB port with the least noise) at 12 o'clock the noise starts and gets louder as the volume knob is turned. Yes, some USB ports are quieter then others. This noise sound like a ground loop or static. So I tried a Toslink from PC with the supplied USB cable used for power using the supplied walwart and that is much quieter, no noise until 4 o'clock which is almost max volume. By the way I found out most PC motherboards either have digital out with card supplied or a separate board can be purchased (what I did) to plug into the motherboard. This board costed me $13.99 on Amazon. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWNKIKN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But I found the sound via Toslink to be different and wanted to experiment with USB more. So a trip to Frys Electronics and I picked up a $3.99 cable. Used this cable to the supplied walwart and used the included cable to PC USB. Now I can switch back and forth to see which I prefer, USB or Toslink. But the noise on he USB is still there when volume knob gets to 12 o'clock. So then I used a small thin strip of electrical tape and covered the power connection inside the USB A plug that goes into the computer. It worked, seems the walwart will power the USB signal outside without using PC USB power. Sonics are the same and no noise until 2 o'clock. So then I taped off the ground also in the USB plug and again it worked and the noise now does not present itself until about 3 o'clock.

So what I have learned from this exercise is the power and ground is (or can be) very dirty or noisy. Definitely the case in my PC. Noise at any level will effect sonic performance, this is why I want to get rid of the noise. By lifting the ground and power from the signal carrying cable the noise is eliminated within the volume range I listen to. Different USB ports in the same PC can be quieter then the others. The supplied cable when plugged into the supplied walwart sound a little better then the $3.99 cable from Frys (USB cable quality can matter). I will buy and try a few other cables and see if there is a difference for USB signal and power. The Toslink cable I used is a glass cable purchased from Amazon. Usually glass Toslink sounds the best in my experience.

Hopefully this helps someone!

I'm glad you got this worked out. For the Modius using spdif over USB isn't a big deal. Modius doesn't do DSD decoding or anything like that where USB matters. I had a similar issue with all my USB dacs - which is a long list now but includes Modius and Bifrost 2 - and was able to solve my ground loop noise with this cheap little gizmo: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000K50HJE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I placed it between dac and amp. In each case it worked like a charm.

 

[ColdsnapBry]

Yea that's the problem with USB DACS to amps. I think if you're using a PC you really want to go full balanced. USB Dacs are best for other use cases...

 

[WaveTheory]

Yea that's the problem with USB DACS to amps. I think if you're using a PC you really want to go full balanced. USB Dacs are best for other use cases...

Going fully balanced certainly emliminates ground loop noise. I don't think it's realisitic go completely non-USB for all PC applications, though. If you want to do DSD - which I know is somewhat rare but some people still have large collections of DSD files - or you want to do MQA, it's USB or bust. There are also several dacs that only offer USB. And then there are amps like Asgard, but also most tube amps, that are only single-ended. I think having ground-loop mitigation options outside of going balanced is a good thing. Plus, balanced is inherently more expensive because it has to double the component count in the unit. Then, even in a price bracket where balanced makes more sense, an equally priced and equally well-designed SE-only unit will likely sound better because it can use fewer - and therefore better - components for the same cost as the balanced unit.

 

[ColdsnapBry]

I think I'll have to buy an ifi iDefender or something for my Asgard 3 with AK DAC. Seems like one of the only options to solve my grounding issue.

 

[WaveTheory]

I think I'll have to buy an ifi iDefender or something for my Asgard 3 with AK DAC. Seems like one of the only options to solve my grounding issue.

You can try it. I got one and it didn't help me. It might work for you, though. A friend recommended this to me: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2107. I can't vouch for it because I didn't actually end up having to buy one. I was able to solve my issue with an in-line ground loop isolator between dac and amp. But that's not an option for you if you have the internal dac module. But that's another thing you could check out.

 

[ColdsnapBry]

You can try it. I got one and it didn't help me. It might work for you, though. A friend recommended this to me: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2107. I can't vouch for it because I didn't actually end up having to buy one. I was able to solve my issue with an in-line ground loop isolator between dac and amp. But that's not an option for you if you have the internal dac module. But that's another thing you could check out.

Cool, thanks for the bookmarked. Maybe I'll get a Modius and run a in-line isolator. But probably won't be a noticable upgrade.