[gimmeheadroom]

Just tried installing the drivers for a RME ADI-2 DAC and there was no difference compared to the ones that windows installed automatically - noise is still present.

It might be worth asking on the RME forums. There is a lot of knowledge there, not always expressed in the most friendly manner possible, but maybe somebody can help.

 

[c0rp1]

It might be worth asking on the RME forums. There is a lot of knowledge there, not always expressed in the most friendly manner possible, but maybe somebody can help.

If it was related to just that specific dac, okey... but it's not. I experience the same with many more...

 

[Infoseeker]

Silly Question, but can you try to unplug the power your pc monitor and see if it is causing any interference.

Also your house electrical outlet installation could not be up to standard. The Chord Hugo and your laptop draw from their batteries in the end and are not as directly involved with the how ac power.

Also ferrite cores galore on everything.
US $0.76 28%OFF | 5 Pcs 5mm Clip-On Ferrite Ring Core Noise Suppressor For EMI RFI Clip Cable Active Components Filters
https://a.aliexpress.com/_s6VgMv

 

[c0rp1]

Silly Question, but can you try to unplug the power your pc monitor and see if it is causing any interference.

Also your house electrical outlet installation could not be up to standard. The Chord Hugo and your laptop draw from their batteries in the end and are not as directly involved with the how ac power.

Also ferrite cores galore on everything.
US $0.76 28%OFF | 5 Pcs 5mm Clip-On Ferrite Ring Core Noise Suppressor For EMI RFI Clip Cable Active Components Filters
https://a.aliexpress.com/_s6VgMv

Will try with the monitor and see how it goes. Just to ask - these ferrite cores should be put on AC power cords only, right? And is one enough, or couple of them at both cable ends?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

If it was related to just that specific dac, okey... but it's not. I experience the same with many more...

I get it but I still said what I said. You can lead a horse to water...

 

[Infoseeker]

Will try with the monitor and see how it goes. Just to ask - these ferrite cores should be put on AC power cords only, right? And is one enough, or couple of them at both cable ends?

Since it has been a year. You probably have to go to this guys level. XD

 

[Infoseeker]

I wonder if this FiiO module is targeted at people in your situation. I thought it was silly, but who knows maybe? (assuming you only need the data and not the power, since it is limited to 3watts)

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fii...-from-noise-on-the-road.922441/#post-15453025

 

[Meanstreak242]

Is it just the Hugo 2 that does not have the problem? I think one thing you're not taking into account is the Hugo 2 runs off it's own internal battery, and does not take power from the pc. (It's supposed to have galvanic isolation.) I think you can rule out RFI so I don't think you're going to need ferrite clamps. If it was it would affect the Hugo as well.

Another thing to check, do you have any powered usb hubs connected to your pc? I've found that on most budget friendly motherboards, the power from a cheap (or sometimes even expensive) usb hub can feed back into the usb controller. (They have no isolation at all). If you do, try unplugging this from your pc and see if the problem persists. (Personally I would unplug each of your USB cables from the pc one at a time while the sound is going, as a bad USB cable can also feedback into the USB bus. With a resolving enough system you'll hear the noise.)

Lastly, you can try to get a decent pci add-in card. There are some that have their own controllers (some even have their own controller per port. I used these for passthrough to VM's, very handy.) This will take you off the motherboards usb controller, which can also be introducing noise into your signal. The one you purchased might not have had it's own controllers. The one I use is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XPUHO10/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . (I would not normally recommend this as this card is rediculous overkill for just a usb dac. )

I highly doubt the type of usb connector has anything to do with it.

What model is your motherboard? What kind of power supply is in your pc?

 

[c0rp1]

Is it just the Hugo 2 that does not have the problem? I think one thing you're not taking into account is the Hugo 2 runs off it's own internal battery, and does not take power from the pc. (It's supposed to have galvanic isolation.) I think you can rule out RFI so I don't think you're going to need ferrite clamps. If it was it would affect the Hugo as well.

Another thing to check, do you have any powered usb hubs connected to your pc? I've found that on most budget friendly motherboards, the power from a cheap (or sometimes even expensive) usb hub can feed back into the usb controller. (They have no isolation at all). If you do, try unplugging this from your pc and see if the problem persists. (Personally I would unplug each of your USB cables from the pc one at a time while the sound is going, as a bad USB cable can also feedback into the USB bus. With a resolving enough system you'll hear the noise.)

Lastly, you can try to get a decent pci add-in card. There are some that have their own controllers (some even have their own controller per port. I used these for passthrough to VM's, very handy.) This will take you off the motherboards usb controller, which can also be introducing noise into your signal. The one you purchased might not have had it's own controllers. The one I use is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XPUHO10/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . (I would not normally recommend this as this card is rediculous overkill for just a usb dac. )

I highly doubt the type of usb connector has anything to do with it.

What model is your motherboard? What kind of power supply is in your pc?

As mentioned in the original post, I didn't have issues with the ODAC, nor with a JDS Labs O2+ODAC. Same with the Chord Mojo, but I guess it's the same as the Hugo 2 - it has battery. Mentioning the battery though, I run both the Mojo and the Hugo 2 through their power supplies as desktop dacs, so don't they act as regularly powered devices in that case?

No powered USB hubs connected to my PC. Yesterday, as suggested by another user, I tried unplugging my monitor and all other USBs (left only the keyboard so I could type and see if I'll get static noise). The keyboard is wireless and uses a dongle, but I doubt anything would change with a regular one anyways. So basically the only cables active at that time were the USB cable connecting the PC to the DAC and the power cable - sadly issue was still present.

The PCI card that I bought is total crap honestly... but just wanted to try cause I read somewhere that it fixed an issue like mine. Honestly I don't want to spend a lot more on additional devices, cause I don't really see the point when I have no problem running the DAC through optical connection. I might get an iDefender, but that would be my last try. It still bugs me though to why devices with inputs different than USB-B don't have the issue...

As a PC spec - motherboard is ASUS Z170-A, power supply is EVGA 750W G2.

 

[Meanstreak242]

Aah you have the ASUS Z170-A. I hate to say it but that might be your problem. That board is notorious for noise coming through the onboard audio and other issues. I used to have that same board myself (years ago) and I had nothing but problems with it. (Not noisy usb problems as I didn't use that system for music, but a ton of other problems.) The board just isnt' very well made.

I'm not saying 100% that's your problem, but hearing that makes me definitely wonder. One thing I found on that board that alleviated some of my usb issues was to go into the bios and disable fast startup. Unfortunately there are so many problems with that board, and it's bios, that I never was able to get it working 100%.

 

[c0rp1]

Aah you have the ASUS Z170-A. I hate to say it but that might be your problem. That board is notorious for noise coming through the onboard audio and other issues. I used to have that same board myself (years ago) and I had nothing but problems with it. (Not noisy usb problems as I didn't use that system for music, but a ton of other problems.) The board just isnt' very well made.

I'm not saying 100% that's your problem, but hearing that makes me definitely wonder. One thing I found on that board that alleviated some of my usb issues was to go into the bios and disable fast startup. Unfortunately there are so many problems with that board, and it's bios, that I never was able to get it working 100%.

Honestly I never had issues with the board, except with some of the DACs. But yeah... will probably buy an iDefender and see if it makes any difference - if not will just stick to coaxial/otpical inputs.

 

[Gandah]

Plug your DAC into a different power circuit, if this fixes the problem you can do 1 of 2 things keep it on its own power circuit or modify the usb cable by pulling the -+ usb power pins out of the usb plug, providing you dac doesn't need usb power

 

[c0rp1]

A little update - got the iDefender USB and ..... it didn't help at all

 

[Propagandist]

A little update - got the iDefender USB and ..... it didn't help at all

Did you power it with a phone charger through the little port on the side?

I had a similar problem - buzzing coming from my motherboard's USB to my RME ADI-2 DAC. The problem was only present when I was using USB and had a video game up. Turned out it was some kind of coil whine on my video card. If I swapped to optical, it went away. If I turned off my game, it went away.

It only happened for the single-ended amp connected to my DAC, and not with the balanced amp connected to my DAC.

I ordered the ifi iDefender and it reduced this buzz substantially if I just placed it into the circuit between my motherboard and my DAC. There was still something small there, though. If I used just a standard phone charger to feed into the side of the iDefender as well, the buzz was completely gone. Based on what I've read, the iDefender uses filtering to reduce/eliminate noise on the USB power/ground lines when unpowered from the side. If you plug in an external power source to it as well, it completely shuts off the power/ground from the motherboard and only uses the power supply you're feeding to it.

You can also try taking a spare/junk USB cable and literally cutting the power lines out of it, while letting the data lines remain intact, and see if that works.

 

[sensenonno]

follow