My sunscreen is audiophile grade!

Its a couple years later and my dac has circuits to kill USB noise. No need for crazy expensive cables either. Thank you topping.

Boris: “Heavy is good, heavy is reliable”

DACs have been isolating signals for quite some time. If your DAC is that much affected by USB input and power supply, it's not a very good DAC. According to it's specification page, your ExaSound e28 ALREADY has shielding from USB interference, so that Matrix Audio USB card adds absolutely nothing and does not change audio quality. And by measurements we know that jitter over USB is not a thing, no matter the cable quality. From ExaSound e28 page: Host Noise Rejection: Galvanic isolation between the USB subsystem and the DAC circuitry eliminates ground loop noise and blocks computer-generated interference

Amazing production quality Thomas! Keep em coming

Ah, this is a whole new world. Shingnosis is 100% correct; bypass of the windows audio driver is essential. If you're feeling adventurous, I highly recommend www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=4218.msg44532#msg44532 the xxHighEnd software for Windows. It is a tweaker's dream. You will drive yourself crazy tuning everything to your delight. If nothing else, the "Minimal OS" playback setting is a revelation. Additionally, EVERY computer part makes a difference, including the amazingly smooth sound I get from an old internal WD7200RPM hard drive compared to a SSD (common wisdom says I should get a cleaner sound from the SSD!!) or even USB sources. Must be synergy. I wish I had the budget to go linear supply, but I'm a dabbler and use comp for my Sennheiser HD580s. Love your channel!

Just because the mac mini has a clean looking exterior doesn't mean it's good for sound. I watch with amusement as audiophiles rush towards them because they think they look "clean". They've got the same careless crap inside as any computer. But it's amusing to watch. So thanks fellas for providing the show!

Another way of upgrading your computer sound without getting into its internals is to install a high-end PCIe USB card like the JCAT FEMTO. You can then upgrade the card even more with an external power supply like the Uptone Audio LPS-1.2

single board computer is the way to go because you don't need to spend a lot on power supply. the lower clock also useful for reducing the noise. i build a linear PSU for my UDOO x86 and the change was significant : exactly as you described. and the best part is i don't need a single fan to cool it off. total silence !

Not gonna lie, I paused at 6:23 to judge your thermal paste application 🤣.

Great video, thanks. I use a raspberry pi with usb out from the company Allo, streaming from smartphone to the raspberry Pi transferring data to the DAC. Low powered barebone mini computer with linear power supply is the way to go 🤗

Im using an older Mac book pro (early 2011), ssd, iTunes, Audirvana+, USB connection to a benchmark DAC2 (with external power supply), Class D Poweramplifiers and AOS Studio 24XL speakers with additional subwoofer. All together sounding excellent.

I'm an IT Systems Architect with 28 years experience building servers, clusters and CDN Networks all around the globe. If you would have asked me a few years ago if this level of detail/effort spent on 'audiophile' PC's was necessary, I would have laughed in your face. Then, some years ago I listened to a USB DAC with a tube-rectified power supply. Since you could turn off the tube-rectifier with a dedicated button on the DAC, it was very easy to compare the output with rectified power vs without. So, imagine my surprise when the sound noticeably changed depending on the rectifier being on or off. The rectifier isn't even part of the signal chain, all it does is convert AC to DC, the DC being used internally by the actual circuitry. But, without the rectifier the sound was noticeable 'grainier', and less focused, and it was very noticeable. And no - 'confirmation bias' doesn't apply, since I considered that on/off switch and rectifier to be a bit of a gimmick, and didn't expect it to do anything:) There's plenty of good advice in the video and the comments, if you're into digital audio keeping the signal as clean as possible is an absolute must. The only thing I would add is the importance of bit-matched playback, which is a topic you can google and find plenty of information on.

Man if people only spent half as much $ on acoustic treatment as they do dac's , fancy cables, and various snake-oil devices like "anti resonance audio racks to improve the sound quality of solid state devices" - they would very quickly hear very significant and appreciable improvements in sound quality . After buying quality components to begin with, acoustic treatment should always be the next "upgrade", theres much better bang for buck and its future proof/gear-agnostic - a good treated room will always provide good improvements with any gear going forward. (I dont know why so man dont get this... theres a reason theatres and good concert halls and studios etc. are full of acoustic treatment ...)

Thanks Thomas ! Apos I will have to look them up 😃 thanks for the video

Thomas I’m listening to you, I stopped buying gear till I did room treatments and now fix my pc

This is so cool. I was just thinking about upgrading my computer to a little bit more music friendly option. It’s like you read my mind Thomas. Flawless victory.

Very interesting Thomas. I always enjoy your content/reviews. I think as long as I don’t listen to anyone’s system that “sounds better” than mine or step foot in a high end hifi store, I may be able to keep myself from spending anymore money on tweaks and upgrades. Ignorance is bliss in my case thank you very much😉

This is one of the very Best T & S Videos Ever. With Truly Profound Advice for all those Computer based Audiophiles.

dont ever work on a computer on a carpet. cheers another great video

Hello Thomas, Did you try external linear power supply for the Matrix Element H-card though? Looking back at my exploration on this audiophile pc topic, I initially found out adding an external LPS to my JCAT USB Femto was at least as substantial if not more than adding a separate "HiFi-USB card" itself. That's the reason I thought to comment this video since you felt the external LPS to be added last in the computer audio setup. I don't know what would be the best way to compare my experience on sound difference than without LPS the sound was more "flatter" and more centered. Sound stage also expaned quite a lot when LPS was in play. Overall sound signature I felt was more natural without some grainness that comes with motherboard USB output using your standard ATX power supply. I have not tried separate LPS's powering up the computer, yet. Although this has to be mentioned that of course it is first and foremost one's budget dependent issue. In prior buying the USB card I was somewhat uncomfortable to put few hundreds of euros for such card. You know, ones-and-zeros digital yada yada. I have added some fancy gear over time to my setup and few times I have occasionally tried temporary downgrading using just motherboards USB-outputs only to find out them to be quite unlistenable in relation to external LPS powered USB-card. I once tried Matrix Element H also just to compare to JCAT USB Femto. I felt they were quite close in sound performance, slightly favored JCAT though but also to note that I owned it that time. Since then I upgraded recently to JCAT USB Xe card. Price is hefty but also are the improvement (especially with external good quality LPS). Of course, again one needs to prioritize own budget on this matter but once/if audiophile bug bites you, the journey is just beginning and few hundreds maybe are just small investment then :) But all in all sometimes it could be sensible to invest in source tweaks if one is hearing harshness and sibilants. I think on a good quality gear one's "sibilant" headphones can be more listenable. I feel the saying "garbage in, garbage out" stands here. Good quality power seems to be important in these digital audio devices. Also to note that some people are quite loud expressing about proven science and engineering theory. Well can't argue against science but just on philosophical standpoint, is one's learned engineering background everything that there is into this topic. What I have read on some computer audiophile related forums where also electric engineers and manufacturers post giving out some information about their devices, there might be more science yielding better sound on these noisy environments (computers and switching mode power supply's than most loudest ones can master and measure. Keep on listening :)

I think like in many audio discussions it depends on the audio chain. Using a PC you have 2 main noise issues. The fan and electronic noise. I found a high quality CPU fan is key and for an audio system skip the video card (they generate so much heat) For electronic noise find a DAC /PC that uses USB in Asynchronous mode if you have a high quality DAC and the DAC needs to galvanically isolate the USD connection to remove the electronic noise

I currently run a Marantz 2325 with Yamaha NS-1000M speakers. My Source is a VPI Classic 3. My setup is in a 12x12 room. I could barely turn my volume up and I would get feedback into my system that would build upon itself and sounded dangerous. I could not have this!!! So I bought some bass traps for the rear corners and some sound foam panels for the side walls. Completely eliminated all bass bounce and feedback. My stereo never sounded so good. Room treatments are amazing.

You can use a massively overpowered PSU and a massive radiator. I use a 560mm rad with an rtx3080 and Ryzen 7800x with a 1000w PSU. The water loop needs 3 liters of water so it basically cools by thermal mass and with the massive rad passively when not under load and without oc.

When I upgraded from Bluesound node 2i streamer to AURALIC Aries G2 the deference was huge (as it should be) Thank you for another great video Thomas

Perfect timing Thomas! I just started investing in some room treatment. Actually, two bass traps from gik acoustics just arrived. I have the KEF LSX for nearfield use and I was honestly thinking of selling them. At that time, I didn't think they sounded bad but I didn't love its tonality. So, I decided to start on some room treatment first and gik acoustics helped me out and gave some great advice. I knew a treated room can be the difference between keeping or selling the speaker but I had no experience for myself. Now that I have my bass traps, the difference was real and effective! So glad that I started treating my room. Now, instead of saving up for speakers (decided to keep the LSX for now because of how much of a positive difference the bass traps made), I'll save it for room treatment! lol

I do not stream music. I'm still a vinyl and CD guy. I have a computer with the Asus Essence STX II soundcard which outputs to the Yamaha R-S202 stereo receiver. The speakers are the Klipsch RP-150M. My playback software of choice is JRiver Media Center. Mostly FLAC files. I'm as happy as a pig in mud 🙂

Thomas i just tried something new and my laptop streamer is at a new level. I created an hybrid usb cable with 2 usb A on one side(for the computer and a 5v lpsu) and one Usb B on the other side for the dac. That way no need for a fancy usb module. I bypassed the 2 wires in the usb cable physically to create a plug for it's own power supply that way the bad power coming from the computer doesn't get to the dac. The 3 wires for data + data - and otg are still connected between the computer and dac. The results are amazing ! And it cost almost nothing to create such a cable. You'll need a 5v lpsu tho but it is less expensive than those audiophile usb card and more effective because you start with a new non tainted power. I also added a lpsu to my laptop. I gotta find a way to put my hands on those innuos thing for comparison because I feel i made it.

Thank Thomas, you are right , those upgrade are the last things to think of. It's more like testing if we can improve sound better and better, but when it's too much, we will lose something. Like i test many cables, even the most expansive power cord, it's not good in the front. Balancing a system to our ears it's hard. Like you said, ppl have to hear the different in room treated, and none to have an idea. Many give up because it's become insane, i must say it. but your passion is still there, so thank for testing for us :P

One day we will get audiophile-grade homes LOL!!! I have good hopes!! :) Amazing video like always Thomas :)

My 10 year old MacBook Pro outputs full resolution Amazon HD via USB direct to my DAC. Without spending a fortune, I can’t think of a significant improvement over this basic setup.

My living room audio pc is a gigabyte auros ga 270x and i use it with a smsl sk10 usb dac(using the motherboard usb Dac up feature for more control of the voltage and cleaner signal theatrically) utilizing foobar ASIO payback . On my second gaming/audio computer i use a cheaper b350 strix motherboard with amd cpu and A Evga NU audio soundcard that i really like for it's sound quality on both the rca Output and headphone output that you can use at the same time. All of my power supply are seosonic gold.Thank you for sharing your experience.

This might be a holy grail of a thread.

a 50€ raspberry with volumio will do the job. Expecially powered through battery

With modern streamers, a PC isn’t necessary for playback only systems. Properly designed audio equipment doesn’t need: power conditioning, re-clocking, etc. An example in the computer realm is the Cherry USB, which delivers an electrically isolated coax SPDIF stream to drive an external DAC. The Cherry 130dB+ DAC DAC 2 HS eliminates the concern over jitter with internal re-clocking and drives amplifiers directly with true balanced, DC coupled outputs. As far as streamers go, we use a Node 2i (

I compliment the systems appearance, it is very clean and will sell visually to a general consumer base.... No hard intentions meant, so please pardon the constructive criticism ......One cannot achieve any kind of uncolored, clean audio reproduction using flimsy electronics. That modular PC audio cards board has no visible/logical components to harness/execute proper signaling. The amplifier seems robust to an untrained eye, with a decent looking transformer in the housing, but look close at the capacitors......can't see the output IC's clearly, they are type and configuration is important as well as others. Software based processing can help, but must be used with real electrical hardware. Having been in the AV Engineering, design and development for over 4 decades have I never heard or seen such products promoted in the Pro AV Industry as well as long time HIFI enthusiasts. The word Audiophile is a ruse. Good work though, keep experimenting.....Just think there is a little snake oil in the presentation. Good luck!

Hi Thomas. I saw your video on the Topping D90 so I purchased that and a laptop and use the two for all my windows music using both Jriver and iTunes. Sounds awesome.

It is also possible to add the Burson Audio Stack (swing, fun, bang) into the CD player slot of the case.

Thanks, great informative video. I have been interested in these power supplies for a while. As for room treatments absolutely agree. I think a real difficulty for most people is measuring the room before and after. I am not saying you can't do it by ear. It's just quicker and more likely to be more accurate if you can measure the changes to see ( in addition to hearing) what effect the treatment is having.

The one caveat to using a soundcard is that the PCIe bus is VERY noisy and generates broadband, gaussian switching noise that often gets thru the soundcard with at least a few mV of amplitude. By the time this goes thru the amplifier, it can be well over a volt or more p-p, which will cause some faint hiss (think good quality analog tape type hiss). Its not as bad as it appears as most of this goes well up into the RF spectrum, and will be knocked out by the RF filtering in the input stages of the amplifier. A bigger problem is if the amplifier is not VERY well isolated (grounded input stages will be a disaster if they do not use good star-point grounding in the amp). I ended up building my own amplifier with an SMPS because it was much easier to isolate than a large transformer with its large inter-winding capacitance. If the isolation is poor, there will be extreme noise and harsh 50/60Hz background hum from the computers power supply (and even the amplifier's) forming AC ground loops with the amplifier. If you can, get something external with its own dedicated power supply that will be quieter. Another issue I ran into with the Soundblaster Z is large DC offsets in the 5.1 outputs. Up to 30-40mV, which may cause issues if there is not good DC compensation in the amplifiers. At the very least, it caused lots of turn-on thump in the powered sub, so Im using the standard stereo output that has DC blocking caps on the card so I dont have an earthquake when the PC powers up. Downside is a 45Hz roll-off in the bass response, but it will do for the time being.

I just can't see using a 800$ power supply for a 800$ computer to drive a $200 sound card... but back a few years I was keen to improve things... I did 3 things to my computer, and the sound improvements were quit dramatic. I put in a Pangea power cord and a Seasonic power supply (2nd from top of line, $130). That improved things considerably. I also installed one of these- Elfidelity USB Power Source PC HiFi Preamp Internal Filter For USB Audio Device - which you can find on the Ebay for about $60, a less costly version of the same idea as the 250$ unit you're talking about here. This item I have a/b tested and the difference had me purchasing one, for the 2nd audio computer here at my lodge, within 2 minutes... All in all quite a good upgrade, but unlikely anywhere near the 5k$ innuos unit.

After switching to Vintage Sansui g-7500 and nice streamer , modern problems ,statistics , wires , and all that crap is gone to me WHAT A RELIEF !!!!!!

Pure silver cables, Tripp Lite Isobar (no chord) and NCF filtering all the way!

Grasping at straws…….sibilance……hours later….broken in quieted down, my ears that is. My ears are now broken in. Ta-dah!

Have the Mk3. The difference between that and my iMac as a server was amazing, it lifts a veil you never realized was there because my system sounded pretty darn good before. I then added the Innuos Phoenix USB Reclocker and, my goodness, further improvement. Great video as always Thomas thank you

Raspberry Pi is all you need. Low power, silent, more than powerful enough for audio, Linux based players outputting directly to ALSA is bit-perfect without resampling, numerous dedicated audiophile operating systems available for free. Using a desktop PC for a low power, low noise use case such as audio is a waste of money, a waste of electricity and space and using a desktop operating system like Windows does a worse job than a Linux/ALSA system and requires you to have a keyboard and pointing device to hand as it's not headless.

Would you please explain what technical aspect of the digital signal transmission alters the analogue production of the DAC? (i.e. blacker background, wider soundstage, etc.) Can't get my head around it. Given that any crappy machine can send a complete and identical digital information to another machine (but possibly at different speed/timing), seems like if the DAC design is slightly intelligent and does some data buffering before the D to A conversion, then the power supply of the digital source shouldn't matter, having perfect digital data in its cache. So is it possibly the DAC's fault for being sensitive to "bad" digital signal? (Sorry, this just my rudimentary logic)

Most of us who listen to music are not fanatic audiophiles and maybe consider room treatments as displeasing to the eye....just my take on it

Hi,Thomas recently I just bought sotm audio switch, it changes the sound when listening music via tidal,Qubuz and Nas. It provide more clarity, separation and especially the bass more deeper and impact. it is worthy to upgrade.

I use Denon SACD DCD-A100 which has a superb DAC to connect to the TV (connected to my mini PC). bypassing the PC soundcard. I enjoy the youtube music via this SACD DAC and Sansui amplifier.

Thomas, wow you make so many really great videos! I wanted to just comment that I had used the mac mini with Audirvana for my headphone amps and thought it would work well with my stereo system too. I tried it and then saw your video on Zenith streamer which then made me want to try out a streamer. Bluesound Node 2i was for me obvious starting point. The improvement over mac mini was huge. Darker background, then paired with smsl M400 a wider soundstage. When I removed the M400 the sound stage was slightly narrower but still present. Also, i think BlueOS app has a slightly better UI than Audirvana. Wish I could get my $100 back from Audirvana lol. Happy Listening!

NUC i5 8GB RAM SSD 1TB Samsung 860Evo USB cable spliced into earth into power point, fixes ground loop hum and gives a massive noise floor drop.. Get new wall adaptor strip USB cable, outer jacket wired into Earth Pin (do not leave any stray wires to live or neutral, you blow it up or kill someone) Upgrade PSU to lager external brick, older HP Laptops came with monster brick power supplies, re-terminate 19V input, massive noise floor drop. Kill all start-up programs Run JRiver USB output, power data isolator (doukmall Ebay), isolates the PC noise on the power lines of USB USB to DAC to PA Cheap and super clean, no streaming if you use local SSD stored FLAC. Can be run without monitor, boot with no password run JRiver on startup and use Gizmodo app to control library.

Would be amazing if you could test a few streamers just as streamers. Not their DACs to see how different they are. For example. Is the Node as good as the Innuos just as a streamer using the same external DAc? Great channel !

I have the matrix element powered by an Sbooster also added the matrix spdif2 using the iIs port to your recommended smsl m400. Also have the tp-link for fiber optic connection . Very pleased with the sound sq from amazon hd and KZfaq.

Thanks Thomas, really enjoyed the video. I wonder if spending the money on a Innuos re-clocker and linear power supply would make a more significant improvement than changing the internal components on a PC. You are right, the room treatment and linear power supply would make more of a difference, but sadly those two areas don’t have the glamour of a new component in the hifi rack. Plus the partner factor has a big part to play with room acoustic treatment.

Hi. For pc i recomand siching off all usb that you don t use. ( keep just 1 on ) disable HT, disable intel speed ( is modulatinc the power and speed that you cpu is running ) not use anything like hhd jus ssd, izolating the vibtions and use a longer usb cable to put the pc out of the lisening room. And tray a streamer the cc audio or the new old xiaomi mi x box. With a nas on the same network. Xiaomi can be use with usb dac and you can a/b :D

amazing video!

I believe that the new MacBook Air would be a perfect "audiophile-grade computer" choice. No moving parts and all day battery powered operation. Best part? Price $999 or less and ample choice of "audiophile grade software" like VOX player, Audirvana (use your smartphone as remote), etc.

Hey, Thomas! I haven't commented on your videos lately because I've just been too bust enjoying my system as it is. I purchased the Musical Paradise MP301 tube amp because of your review , and have been very happy with it. Later, also because of your review, I added the Musical Paradise MP-D1 tube dac. For me, this was a killer combo. I then added the Musical Paradise MP Berry music server, which is a windows 10 computer running Foobar. It is a fanless computer with a linear power supply and a cpu that doesn't draw much power. I find that all three products have a good synergy, and I do believe that the value and quality far surpass the very affordable prices for these units. I( have implicated almost all of the suggestions made by Shingnosis in his (her?) comment regarding computers as a source, except that I use the USB software that Musical Paradise supplies. I am sure that there are better setups out there, but they are all way more costly than these Musical Paradise products, and frankly, using these products gives me a very satisfying sound that i enjoy enough that I rarely think of trying to improve it!

Why do you have a Mac mini in your thumbnail when it is not mentioned at all in the video?

Not going to lie, the first thing that popped into my mind is that Costco sweat top. Back onto topic, great subject for the PC master race who want to get into audio.

i have a HP Z840 for using the digital out to my denon A100 sacd player's digtal In,

Great video. I bypass a PC in the listening room by using a NAS. I recently upgraded my streamer to an Allo USBridge signature. To my ears it made a difference over the Hatted raspberry pi I was using. I will have a look at this power supply since the USBridge's power supply can be upgraded.

You are a mad lad , great job . I was wondering about this USB card and if it was snake oil. Also I'm worried that you built that computer on the carpet due to the ESD , but if you had bare feet on the carpet you are probably ok .

Would love to hear your thoughts on Allo Usbridge vs an audiophile computer as a music streamer or server. That would be an interesting shootout.

Total cost should be around 2k for a PC and a return is almost zero when you sell them. Pay $5k and return maybe 50% but no junk inside your house. :))

I'm not convinced by the linear power supply actually is better and might be adding more noise in the 50 60 and 120hz range what is not good for audio, what is eliminated in a good quality switch mode power supply running at 120 kilohertz. The biggest problem I think with computers switch-mode power supplies is they are inside the unit causing admitting radio interference emi, with a switch mode power supply has to be in its own case grounded outside the unit a little distance away the cables have to be shielded in a metal conduit shower hose would be good, that is grounded. ideally with a ferrite bead of one turn on the positive leads and filter caps of 1uF and 0.1uF on each power terminal that would be the 3- volts 5-volt and 12- volts respectively. Switch mode power supplies should be used on valve equipment for the purposes I'm saying is a lot of noise on valve equipment at 50/60 and 120Hz this is completely eliminated with a smps above the audio spectrum

Hello Thomas, while it seems reasonable that a more stable power supply can improve the analog output of a DAC, I cannot understand what the tuning of the PC - when it does not contain the DAC - could improve sonically besides the PC itself having less noise. Anyway, I always enjoy your videos, BR, Joe

I use some iFi power adapter and usb adapter, at least better than stock. Did it work ? I dont think so, and i am glad it didnt, cos while it may clean up the higher end, it may also restrict the lower end according to others, or maybe the change is not to my liking. So I mostly tweak at the software level (wasapi, resampler, eq etc), and room acoustics.

What is your opinion about taking a motherboard with a ESS Sabre 9118 DAC built in and running high quality optical directly to a high end receiver? Such as a Sony ES, Marantz, or any other quality receiver brand. Or even a mid-range integrated amplifier such as a Cambridge audio CXA 81 or an Audiolab 6000A. Do you feel that there are inherent problems with noise going that route?

XLR-3 for DC Output is not a good idea...XLR-3 should be dedicated to microphone and line-in / line-out The XLR-4 will be a better choice.

Hi Thomas, excellent video on tweaking your audio system, please keep them coming! I did notice those lovely Triangle Genese Trio speakers in the background, are you planning to critique them in the future? I believe your viewers would appreciate your opinion of them. Cheers.

I would love to hear a comparison between zenith and macmini running audirvana. From the other hand I will get a zen mk3 on trial and do this precise comparison.

Thomas have you tried the Roon Nucleus?

Is this all required if I have my laptop connected to a router via a Ethernet cable and then music streamed wirelessly to a Roon endpoint? The endpoint has a LPS. It then connects via USB to the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. Roon lifetime is probably cheaper than upgrading the computer.

I just dont see the need for my pc to be even close to my hifi, it seems irrelevant and my digital files are on a nas. I do however use componants chosen for better audio quality, but thats because i record and produce on it. Appreciate the videos you do and that you are happy to simply listen and enjoy your music, but im afraid im someone who believes that zeros and ones cannot be anything other than zeros or ones, so if your dac does the jitter and timing im not surprised i never hear a difference in, say, usb cables, despite hearing big differences for analogue cables. Better power supplies for almost any hifi companant seem to help... Electrical ones of course!

Hey I love these audio nerd videos. Even though it want the desire you and I were hoping for but still excellent information.

Hi Thomas, since you're familiar with PC building and PC components, why don't you explore the audiophile PC soundcards (mostly PCIe soundcards), for example: Creative Soundblasters, ASUS Essence Series, EVGA Nu Audio etc. I know it's old school but it's very convenience that you use PC and many audio enthusiasts are still using PC.

You need to start with your hardware. NO RGB. High Quality power supply. SSD only. Gerald Undone has created by accident a good build guide.

Cool toys ! I had no idea anyone made a linear pc power supply ! I want to ask if you use a power conditioner or just a filtered power strip? I keep getting advertisement for PS Audios power regenerators. I don't think im up to that level yet.

Hello. I am using Matrix X-Hi USB 3.0 card on my desktop computer. It makes real big difference. Do you think Matrix Element H is much better than Matrix X-Hi USB card? I am also using ifi micro idac2 DAC and feeding it with powerbank. I also have ifi gemini 3.0 dual-headed USB cable. Power connector is connected to powerbank and data connector is connected to Matrix X-Hi USB card. Should I feed the card with linear power supply or is it enough to feed the Dac with powerbank? Thanks

I am going to start with a question what is your source for daily listening ok what I really what to know is do you listen to music by watching you tube? its okay if you do I am not doubting your audiophile street cred I was just curious I do listen that way sometimes but I prefer playing thru cd player or my library thru dac to intergrated amp. or do you show the videos just for effect when making videos, thanks for the videos I enjoy them

thomas: have you done a/b blind testing video or thoughts on the camp that believes all good measuring amps and dacs should sound the same, otherwise placebo effect is in play? like the asr forum members.. would be an interesting topic

Hi Thomas, I have a keen interest in putting all my CDs onto a NAS drive, but would like to build my own using an existing pc which I no longer use. Would this be possible if I upgraded the fan, drive units, power supply and CPU? Would you consider putting together a video of such a project for novices like me? Thanks for the interesting video.

I use battery to power my Dac. No noise.

Didn’t treat my room:( Fortunately I bought headphones:)

I didn't quite get how you supply the power to a PC? PC uses multiple voltages, doesn't it

Thanks!

Just add water cooling, done 99% silent. Good at least +80% graded power supply (No hokus pokus power supply needed), good motherboard like Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (it has headphone AMP in it too capable to drive even my HD800s (Ofc you get external AMP and DAC). Oh and yeah Ryzen 3000-5000 series CPU. Done. Absolutely no hisses or EMI or anything through USB ports.

Thomas......, now upgrade your DC Cord to one from either Teddy Pardo or Gent Audio, but be certain to match both the type of DC barrel connector size, as well as polarity and thank me later.

A good made dac like rme adi-2 dac fs doesn't have any difference at all with an intel nuc ,mac mini or this pc since it just takes a signal from usb and does it internal flawless conversion . In my case teac ud 501 or teac ud 505 which i had made a small but significant difference with the addition of usb card, but rme just didnt do absolutely nothing... it just didn't care and after my research this happens due to asynchronous usb and steady clock fs. So a better dac is better than all these electronics for pc in my opinion. This pc kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n7iTdJNpmJm0qXU.html now is past since rme made it totally useless

raspberry pi, volumio and a usb dac.

you dont want the dac inside the pc lol that card is probably ok i dont know, too expensive for me

Can u find out if there is audiograde HD docking usb ? Thanks

Thomas, I have an off subject question for you. I thought a while back you reviewed an Emotiva amp, so that's why I'm asking you. I never heard any of their products before, but saw a lot of reviews with satisfied owners. I wanted an external two channel amp to run my front main towers on a surround sound system in one of my living rooms. I do sometimes play stereo through that system, but it's not one of my dedicated stereo systems, so I wasn't looking for high ender, but something with good power, clean signal and lowish cost. So I ordered what looked to me as their best stereo amp, that being the XPA Gen3 Differential Reference. This has two amp boards per channel, making a stated 650W per channel output into 8ohms. On paper, that would be the most powerful amp I've ever purchased. I bought it as new, not refurbished. When I got it, I heard a rattle inside the chassis. Turns out there was a small screw rolling around in there, so I took the top of and removed it. Could not find where it should go if at all, may have been accidentally dropped in during assembly. So right out of the gate, I'm not feeling confident in the purchase. Hooked it up to the front mains and it only sounded marginally louder than going directly out of the AV receiver at any given volume. This was shocking as I expected it to be twice as loud and have to drop it a few DBs to match the center and surround speakers balance, but didn't have to. Then there is the sound. The bass seems strong, but the highs are rolled off and mids were way laid back. Not at all what I expected. I switched out the input cables to very bright cables and that did improve the top end, but it sounded kind of gritty with what seems like a touch of distortion. I tried the amp on a different pair of speakers and got the same result. My question is, did you get a similar impression from the amp you tested, i.e is this just the way Emotivas sound? I have several other amps that are 200Wpc and less that seem just as powerful and more detailed, both warm and bright sounding amps. Not sure what to do with this amp I just want to get an understanding of what to expect so I know nothing is wrong with it, especially after finding that loose screw in it. Thanks

There it is, watching now

Oh my are those the Genese Trio or Sig. Thetas? Please do a comparison against the S400.

Hi Thomas I want to know about the acoustic panels n where to buy

For people that thing digital audio is 1s and 0s they should look at how it's actually transferred. It's an analog wave with both the bits and timing information encoded on the same wave, lots of room for bit errors and timing errors to take place. There's articles that go into this. So to me better USB cables, interfaces and power matter. But like you said there's other areas to spend money first. But I did compare a "free" USB cable to a mid priced cable and noticed a difference so to me it matters! Also different DACs are better at different inputs. Some Coax sounds best, some USB sound best. Trust your ears! I actually think Toslink is hard to get right. A lot of people think it's best since it's electrically isolated but if you think about it an electrical signal converts to light, and then back to electrical. More areas for it to go wrong. Have you seen the Curious Cable's USB? It seems to get rave reviews. A bit out of what I'm willing to spend yet but maybe one day I'll get one.

sorry thomas, but i would like to chime in my two cents worth . i am not a deep audiophile, though i am trying to learn and do it for less money as I cannot afford it. But: i don't get it. isn't it that what is transferred from your computer to your dac thru the usb cable, are just zero's and one's of data for your dac to decode. how then can a power supply, a fan and a usb card affect the data that is being transferred. are you saying that when you transfer any data from a computer, to an externat hardisk or external usb, the data gets affected by the powe supply, fan noise and the usb card that you are using. i don't think it ever changes, cause if that is the case, then everybody should be paying attention to the usb card, power supply and cpu fan that they are using in their computer, hence the data, specially financial data, that they are putting in their external usbs' or external hardisk might be changing, if you try to observe, when you copy data, from your desktop, to an external hardisk or external usb, the file size would be the same up to the last bit - so no data is lost, even with a noisy fan, and ordinary power supply or just the built in usb port of the motherboard - so no data is lost whatsoever, and i think this also applies to music data or any data for that matter. sorry, but just my two cents worth. hope you will read this and comment and others too can comment . thanks much for your time and others' time.