Trends Audio UD-10 USB Transport and getting rid of computer interference.

[punk_guy182]

Can the Trends Audio UD-10 USB Transport completely get rid of computer interference and improve SQ. If not, what can help?

Check my signature for my setup. I use bit perfect onboard audio controller.


I HATE those little buzzing sounds that are more noticeable when scrolling firefox windows up and down.

 

[MD1032]

Even upgrading to a PCMCIA card like the Echo Indigo solves that problem IME. Onboard sound is just terrible.

 

[diego]

I used to have an UD-10 and I never had any noise or problems.

 

[punk_guy182]

I'm thinking of replacing the ZERO DAC (w/ OPA-Earth) for the DAC-100 by Audio-GD or the Keces DA-151. What do you guys think?

 

[audioengr]

Here is a shootout that Positive-Feedback did:
ramblings computer based audio

The best route to quality sound is XP and unmap the device (to avoid kmixer) or use Vista or Mac. Dedicated Laptop is best. Avoid Dell and try all USB ports. They are not all equal.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

 

[nyc_paramedic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioengr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here is a shootout that Positive-Feedback did: ramblings computer based audio The best route to quality sound is XP and unmap the device (to avoid kmixer) or use Vista or Mac. Dedicated Laptop is best. Avoid Dell and try all USB ports. They are not all equal. Steve N. Empirical Audio

This is just my opinion... But if we are going to be talking about *the best*, then I would really recommend a small Linux server.

With Linux you can:

1> Run minimal services with no graphic user interface.
2> Use all open source software and know exactly what the machine is doing.
3> Control a small server from another machine or handheld, thus letting the server concentrate on streaming your music and not get interrupted doing anything else.
4> Can run Linux on old and cheap hardware.
5> Not have to worry about Kmixer or ASIO issues.

 

[punk_guy182]

That is an interesting option but not one I have in mind. I'm thinking of getting a new USB DAC that doesn't take power from the computer via USB. I was thinking of the DAC-100 by Audio-GD that can easily be upgraded to OPA-Earth/Moon. н¨ÍøÒ³ 1

 

[milkweg]

Best way to ensure no EMI from computer is to use digital optical connection from soundcard to an external DAC or soundcard. Optical uses light to transfer signal and is made of glass unlike coaxial which uses copper wire and is electrical transfer signal. That being said, I have compared USB, optical and coaxial on my EMU 0404 USB and get no EMI from the computer going through any of the connection methods. My computers soundcard does suffer from some EMI though so the EMU solves that issue for sure.

 

[audioengr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkweg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Best way to ensure no EMI from computer is to use digital optical connection from soundcard to an external DAC or soundcard. Optical uses light to transfer signal and is made of glass unlike coaxial which uses copper wire and is electrical transfer signal. That being said, I have compared USB, optical and coaxial on my EMU 0404 USB and get no EMI from the computer going through any of the connection methods. My computers soundcard does suffer from some EMI though so the EMU solves that issue for sure.

You are confusing ground-loops with EMI. There is no way that EMI will cause this difference. Maybe the impedance matching and cables are poor that you have tried with S/PDIF coax.

Toslink is the WORST of the S/PDIF options IME. S/PDIF coax and AES are superior because they dont add jitter like Toslink as a result of the optical-electrical conversions. Get rid of the ground-loops in your system and get a decent S/PDIF coax cable and you will discover this. It's just a matter of experience, about 30 years of it.

How many years of EMI engineering experience do you have anyway?

Steve N.
Chief Engineer
Empirical Audio

 

[milkweg]

Zero years as an audio engineer and also zero years of being rude to potential customers. I never said I had EMI with coax. I said all three interfaces (optical, coax and USB) sounded the same with no EMI. What I said is that optical has less chance of electrical interference because it is glass and not copper wire and uses light to transfer the signal. One would think that is rather obvious and that is info I got right here from our friendly forum at headfi. And I have already taken care of any hum over analog with ground loop isolators on two of my computers. Furthermore; just so we are clear, I am fully aware that coax has less jitter but something you are obviously unaware of, which makes your credentials not very impressive, is that the measured difference of jitter between coax and optical is negligible and is not audible. Those numbers are meaningless in the real world and are there for audio engineers to bandy about and pretend they are smarter than the rest of us. Good day to you, sir.

 

[emmodad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkweg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Zero years as an audio engineer and also zero years of being rude to potential customers. [snip] Furthermore; just so we are clear, I am fully aware that coax has less jitter but something you are obviously unaware of, which makes your credentials not very impressive, is that the measured difference of jitter between coax and optical is negligible and is not audible. Those numbers are meaningless in the real world and are there for audio engineers to bandy about and pretend they are smarter than the rest of us. Good day to you, sir.

hmmm, what was that first sentence before milkweg's creative edit of his original post, I don't recall precisely if it was

"Zero years as an audio engineer and also zero years of being a ****."

or

"Zero years as an audio engineer and also zero years of being a prat."

In either case, nice selective revisionism.

Steve's comment wrt understanding of basic electronic concepts such as EMI and ground loops was perhaps overly blunt in presentation, but quite on point.