Users report the following USB DAC's improve with cleaner USB power

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USBdisruptor

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Audiophiles report being either “happy” or “very happy” using clean USB power products with dozens of DAC's at all price points. (Note: the below reports are from USB Disruptor customers, a clean USB power solution.)

Antelope DAC
Apogee Groove Black
Arte Forma DAC
Audioengine D1
Audioquest Dragonfly Red v1.0
Aune T1 Mark II
Ayre Acoustics QB-9
Ayre Codex

Bel Canto e.one c5i
Benchmark HDR1
Bryston BDA 2
Cambridge Audio Azur 851C
Cambridge Audio DacMagic
Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus

Chord Mojo
Chord Qutest
Denafrips Ares II
Emotiva XDA-2
Exogal Comet Plus
FiiO Olympus 2 E10K
Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-11
iFi Micro iDSD Black
iFi Pro iDSD
Korg DS-DAC-10R
L.K.S. Audio MH-DA004
Maverick Audio D1
Micromega MyDAC
NAD M51
NuForce DAC (unknown type)
NuForce uDAC5
Oppo BDP-105D DAC
Peachtree (unknown type)
Peachtree Nova
Pro-Ject DAC Box S2+
PS Audio DirectStream
PS Audio NuWave
Schiit Gugnir multi bit
Schiit Gungnir (old version, but USB gen 2)
Schiit Modi 3 multi bit
Schiit Modi Uber
Schitt Modi (original version)
Schitt Yggdrasil (latest version)
SMSL D1
SMSL M8
SMSL M8a
SMSL M9
Stax SRM D-10 dac/amp
TEAC UD-501
Topping D10

Topping D30 – “Since the Topping E30 dac is so affordable, measures well and has gotten good reviews across the board, I just wanted to report the astonishing improvement that the Disruptor makes when it is used with the E30. Honestly, it is amazing!” – customer quote
Topping D50

Topping D50s
Topping D90
Topping DX7
Wadia 121

Wadia 151 Power Dac Mini

Wyred4Sound MINT

The problem:
Most computers are just not optimized for high resolution audio streaming.
The USB standard allows for line level voltage to swing about 5%. This sloppiness can cause problems with sensitive electrical devices like your USB DAC. The technical outcome of poor line level power regulation is ripple voltage, which is basically electrical noise, and this could impact the way your DAC behaves.

Adding to the problem is USB cable design.
The mass of USB cables on the market today, audiophile or not, could leak computer noise to your USB DAC via things like the metal mounting hardware of the USB cable. This may allow more electrical interference to work its way into the USB DAC. Even the physical proximity of the USB cable power wire to the digital signal lines, within the cable itself, could impact performance, hence the availability of very expensive audiophile USB cables that separate the power wire. Those cables solve only part of the problem.

Solutions:
Providing clean power to the USB line with an external supply for the USB cable, and separating the digital lines from the power lines inside the USB cable reportedly improves USB DAC performance.

Users of clean USB power solutions report the following observations:

“The beautiful overtones of instruments and vocals became organic and palpable not only aiding in the overall quality of the sound but also its profound impact on the sound stage. Micro dynamics are delivered without blurring. Additionally, the Disruptor clarified the bottom end by providing impact and additional weight with a sense of great agility and speed.”
“An immediate and obvious improvement. Better detail and a sense of darker space between the instruments. Vocals are more articulate without losing any emotion.”
“It lowers the noise floor and instrumental textures and stereo separation is better, a bit more relaxed analog presentation if you will.”
“It does indeed make digital sound more analog!”
“When I play classical music now, it might be softer at the setting I usually start at, but when I turn it up, it still sounds like music, and it blossoms. In the past, it would start out louder, but when I turned up the volume, I’d get so much hash, that I couldn’t turn it up anymore.”
“The soundstage exploded in front of me, deep and wide with a new found clarity and instruments seemingly floating about the soundstage with very nice separation too. Articulation of vocals was quite telling now as well, I ended up listening very late into the night and didn’t want to quit!!! ….. I find the dynamics appear much improved now as well like a clean window VS a dirty one.”
“More tone, more body and spatial characteristics.”
“I installed them in my system and was amazed at the improvement right out of the box. My wife (not an audiophile) was up on the second floor at the time, and commented on the improvement (unprecedented for her)! Today, listening to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, she told me she heard instruments (horns) in the background she had never heard before (again, not an audiophile) and she got “goosebumps” from listening!”
 
Please explain what affiliation you have with USB Disruptor. Your post is a marketing ad and it's interesting that all of your "customer" comments are from nameless customers.
 
Hi. I read the rules and it's my understanding this post is okay. It's not an ad, it's information. It doesn't pitch a product, name a price, suggest it's for sale, etc. If the user wants to do more research they may do so. Sorry if this is upsetting to you. I am happy to conform to the rules of the forum, which is what I thought I was doing.
 
USBdisruptor said:
Hi. I read the rules and it's my understanding this post is okay. It's not an ad, it's information. It doesn't pitch a product, name a price, suggest it's for sale, etc. If the user wants to do more research they may do so. Sorry if this is upsetting to you. I am happy to conform to the rules of the forum, which is what I thought I was doing.
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How about answering my question about your affiliation with the product? If your post isn't about promoting the "USBdisruptor" I'll eat a USB cable.
 
I'm going to assume you are Rob Priore.
 
Wow, let's not put personal data on a public website. I would appreciate it if you deleted that post. Please don't eat a USB cable, that would cause you irreparable harm and give me PTSD. If there is something wrong with the post I am happy to change it. I was unable to post biographical data on the site because it says I need to have 10 posts first. As I said, I am trying to follow the terms and conditions that were posted prior to registration.
 
USBdisruptor said:
Wow, let's not put personal data on a public website. I would appreciate it if you deleted that post. Please don't eat a USB cable, that would cause you irreparable harm and give me PTSD. If there is something wrong with the post I am happy to change it. I was unable to post biographical data on the site because it says I need to have 10 posts first. As I said, I am trying to follow the terms and conditions that were posted prior to registration.
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Your "personal data" meaning your name and where you live is on the web in a review that took 2 seconds to find. I'm not going to delete my post unless you delete the review on the web.
 
I am happy with my Denafrips Ares II dac, which is in the list. But I don’t understand why the Denafrips venus/pontus/terminator are not mentioned while they are better then the ares II, it is because I don’t have funds for it, else I would have changed.
 
The other Denafrips products have not been verified by users that a benefit of cleaner USB power improves their performance. If those products use the same USB chipsets and methods, it may be inferred that they might benefit from a USB clean power solution. Someone has to test it and then report their findings.
 
I forgot to ask, are you using a computer to stream Tidal or Spotify, something like that?

A lot of the modern streamers have built in improvements to the way they handle USB data. However, some of those really high-end streamers are very expensive.

I use a $200 laptop, frankly streaming from Tidal requires little else since the data stream is very easy for modern CPU's to process that data. In order to get the best quality from that data stream, in my opinion and experience, I have used an external clean power supply to run the USB 5volt and modified the signal transfer to cancel out unwanted noise leaks.

Let me know what you're using to stream. Thanks!
 
For some reason, my signature disappeared.

I use Roon and let roon does do the upsampling to 192 kHz 24 bit max.

As computer I use an intel nuc 8i7 build in an Akasa fanless case. It is the same board and the same components that Roon uses with its nucleus, it is 100% comparable.

I used to have a roon endpoint, the streamer, a sonore ultrarendu. I came across that hooking the Denafrips directly to the dac, with a Singxer Su-6 digital to digital converter gave a much better result.

So my current setup is:

Fanless nuc —> Singxer digital to digital converter —> Denafrips Ares II
 
Mep I don't see what he posted being any different then the Ify guy or a few others. Do they have some special permission to hock their product? Are you a mod? It's really not productive to the website to harass members.
 
Mr Peabody said:
Mep I don't see what he posted being any different then the Ify guy or a few others. Do they have some special permission to hock their product? Are you a mod? It's really not productive to the website to harass members.
Click to expand...

It's really not appropriate for a new member on AS to have his first post promoting a product without disclosing he is promoting his own product that he builds and sells . This is a version of gorilla marketing. And no, I'm not a mod on AS and never claimed to be. I'm just someone who speaks up and gives my opinion when someone is not being on the up and up.
 
mep said:
It's really not appropriate for a new member on AS to have his first post promoting a product without disclosing he is promoting his own product that he builds and sells . This is a version of gorilla marketing. And no, I'm not a mod on AS and never claimed to be. I'm just someone who speaks up and gives my opinion when someone is not being on the up and up.
Click to expand...

I agree. It is obvious the guy is biased for products he sells or is the owner of the company. Just a bunch of fluff and “reviews” with lots of audiophile speak without any reviewer identified. Sounds shady and a desperate attempt to push a product with unidentified reviewers but lots of flowery language and little evidence.

Send me one for free and I will try it and give an honest review. I’m sure most members on this forum would do likewise.
 
At least he’s not as stealthy as the paid shills on other forums.

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Wow. It is clearly an advertisement. ‘Users?’ Who, when, where? Who are you?

No, I don’t care about your product. Thankfully, I don’t use USB anymore.
 
It's obvious from his name and the way the post is written it's his product, never any doubt. However he isn't the first here to do that, the difference is he is the first one I've seen atttacked or even addressed about it. I wasn't aware it was any violation.
 
It’s up to the mods to decide if it breaks any forum rules. I never commented on that.

Even if it doesn’t, it’s a ridiculous post.
 
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