davide256 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I'd like to try isolating USB power for the Audioquest Dragonfly as I think this would help. The iFi USB power device is a good concept but to my thinking, I could do what it does much cheaper with one of the USB sockets on my Ankar battery if I had the appropriate USB cable. Before I go to the trouble of cutting and splicing two A USB cables to cut out the PC power and use the Ankar, I'm wondering if anyone can point to already made cables? Regards, Dave Audio system Link to comment
4est Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 A powered hub with no power attached if you cannot find a cable. Forrest: Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP> Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz Link to comment
davide256 Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 A USB hub is headed in the wrong direction for performance... has a cheap wall wart power supply which introduces degradation from the AC transformer. Regards, Dave Audio system Link to comment
davide256 Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 Maybe I'm being dense... are you suggesting a USB hub that accepts a battery for power? Model please? Regards, Dave Audio system Link to comment
4est Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Plug them both into the hub, and the battery should power the hub that powers the cable. Forrest: Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP> Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz Link to comment
davide256 Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 I'm just leery of a hub adding degradation. I did find an Elijah premade cable on the web to the tune of $115 but before I spend that a proof of concept test is reasonably cheap. Bought two generic cables last night, a A-B ended USB cable and an A ended extender USB cable. Step 1: cut the power leads (red/black) inside the A-B USB cable. I'd been really curious whether this would help the LiPo powered JkMkIII asynch USB converter... tried this and it did, eliminating raspiness on vocals. Used some tape on the power leads of my better USB cable and there was a palpable sense of reduced background dither on low volume signals. So while I still prefer my DLNA setup, USB cable power isolation looks to be a worthwhile tweak for those that can indepedently power their asynch USB converters Step 2 tonight, will cut the A end off the cable from step 1 and see what happens after I splice it in to use battery power with the dragonfly and cut out power from the PC. Total cost for test cables $27, Ankar battery I already have, purchased for about $50 Regards, Dave Audio system Link to comment
davide256 Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 After 1 misstep I was able to get this to work. Seems the Dragonfly needs PC, battery and dragonfly black ground wires all tied together for the dragonfly to boot up. Initial impressions on my gaming PC are that this has eliminated a lot of irritants in the sound....was listening to Alice Cooper "Billion Dollar Babies" using the dragonfly on this machine last night and hated it as hard and edgy. Now its easy to listen to although boring since this isn't a media optimized PC.. even so the bass shines. On next to the upstairs media optimized server. Regards, Dave Audio system Link to comment
PorkChop Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 More out of curiosity than a real solution.....is it possible to adapt one of those generic Y USB cables by taping over the power drawing pin as described in another thread? Would that force the auxiliary power lead to take the primary power role? If it works I realize it would be very low-fi, but it could be useful for sound testing or a better-than-nothing temp fix. Link to comment
davide256 Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 More out of curiosity than a real solution.....is it possible to adapt one of those generic Y USB cables by taping over the power drawing pin as described in another thread? Would that force the auxiliary power lead to take the primary power role? If it works I realize it would be very low-fi, but it could be useful for sound testing or a better-than-nothing temp fix. That makes perfect sense if you have a Y USB cable with all "A" type ends. Didn't see one in the store though. Regards, Dave Audio system Link to comment
4est Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 I was just thinking of it as a $15 experiment, not a permanent instal. I'm just leery of a hub adding degradation. Forrest: Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP> Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz Link to comment
davide256 Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 So repeated test with my optimized media server and got similar results. The digital artifacts that cause a "fingernails on chalkboard" type reaction with digital are greatly reduced... basically stuff that obscures the music is not present on battery USB power with the Dragonfly and digital noise irritants are eliminated. FWIW all my listening was done direct into the dragonfly using Hifiman HE-400 headphones. However cable quality still matters, the cheap generic USB cable caused music detail loss compared to plugging the Dragonfly direct into the PC, little different from my experience in needing a better cable for my old asynch USB converter. Given how much I hate cable shopping and that I already have a USB cable I like, the Ifi USB power device is beginning to sound like a better idea at $200 than the Elijah cable at $115... allows you to choose/change your USB cable. Hope to see it on sale. Regards, Dave Audio system Link to comment
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