bcowen
Headphoneus Supremus
Now can I hear a diff? With EITR - No. With the D50 - Maybe.
I like a man that's confident in his opinions.
Now can I hear a diff? With EITR - No. With the D50 - Maybe.
Nope. I made 3 of the same length with the same wire and same connectors. One with all 4 wires, one with no 5v wire, and one with no 5v and no ground wire (only the + and - signal wires). That last one didn't work at all, and in fact I think it was @Paladin79 that backed that up over on the DIY cable forum quite a while back -- the ground wire has to be there for the cable to work at all (and apologies Tom if I'm confusing you with someone else). The cable with the ground wire but less the 5v wire worked fine, but I couldn't detect any meaningful sonic difference between it and the full 4-wire cable at all. But that was just one trial with one particular wire and one particular assembler (those USB pins are a supreme PITA to solder to even with a 22 gauge wire), so I won't rule out the possibility that a difference could exist with a different wire, construction, and/or assembly expertise.
I'll double check my facts. Maybe even the no - didn't work with Mimby. Tom actually made me 3 if you include the NORMAL USB and my recall may be flawed.
I'll also A/B the cables and see if I can hear any diff. I added a linear PSU to the D50 about the same time so maybe that's what I heard. Now that I'm aclimated to the sound, I'll be better equipped to assess.
Yes, I have done component level repair on PC’s and their power supplies. I also taught some switch mode power supply theory.Yes. PCs are electrically noisy and the thought is that noise can be injected from the computer into the DAC via the unused 5v + line. Sounds plausible and since my DAC is externally powered, I figured it was worth a try. Not really sure what audible difference it has, but it doesn't hurt.
I've been aware of their existence for the last 4 or 5 years. Have no idea how long they've been in business though. That cord scares me just by looking at it, but they do have this stuff that is kinda cool. It's messy, but it's not expensive and makes an audible difference depending on where you use it. Nothing night and day, but noticeable:
http://madscientist-audio.com/graphene_ce.html
And then there's this cable. I've seen postings from people going into nearly lunatic raves about it, and some calling it the equivalent of a $10 Belden from Amazon. I haven't tried it. I don't have the technical knowledge to support or refute their marketing claims, but what I *do* know is that hell will have entered a new ice age before I spend $400 on a USB cable.
http://madscientist-audio.com/bmusb.html
Ok here is a theory on tubes, and it is my theory and my opinion, nothing more.
--cut-- I like to do blind testing because you can eliminate some of the preformed ideas. That does not mean a tube-like a GE would finish toward the top, there are tubes that can be stand out in a bad way.
If you have access to a lot of Brimars, is that your tube of choice if you are British? Just some thoughts, nothing else.
It has been a while but was the improvement supposed to be that you are eliminating the 5 volt line and any noise it might induce? I know at the time you mentioned a reason for doing this. I am just trying to follow the theory. Would better shielding give the same result?
He may be the person I offered 9 different shades of blue to and he still wanted the jacket color to be half way between the first and last shade of blue.