SOTM USB card vs PPAstudio USB Card v2

[adamaley]

I have the ap1/pp also the offramp 5.

A real caps news that stuff away.

Usb cards and seperate psu are to me no worth doing alone.

Al

 

Are you speaking based on actual experience? Have you compared the Schiit Wyrd to one of the USB cards? I am also interested in whether the Wyrd bests the use of these cards, or vice versa. Also, will the effect be cumulative if one was to combine the Wyrd with either the SoTm or Paul Pang card? Hopefully someone can provide first-hand feedback.

[Tom75]

In my opionion having clean power for the OS disk is the most important hardware related tweak at all (i have tried a few things).

I have a 400W Linear Power Supply connected to my motherboard but do you think that it would be more beneficial to drive SSD and the USB card with a separated Linear Power Supply?

Thanks Phil!

[AudioPhil]

Definitely yes. Best is you start with the SSD (for the OS, not the music drive), then continue with the USB card.

[highstream]

I wonder if that depends on what you have between USB card and dac. If nothing more than a cable, then I agree with AudioPhil. However, if there's some serious transformations occurring on the back end, such as via a LanRover or perhaps a Regen, then what is supplying that chain takes on additional importance. In that case, a good quality SATA cable may suffice for the SSD. That's how my system is currently set up.

[ElviaCaprice]

Agree, if feeding DAC via USB from mobo, you want to start at the DAC and work back upstream from there with galvanicallly isolated power supplies. The USB audio card on a mobo is far more critical than the OS drive. Your never going to clean all the noise from a mobo anyways. Galvanic isolation will be needed. Secondly, power your hard drives separately from the mobo which goes for fans and any other external add ons. Lastly, power your OS drive separately.

[highstream]

To be clear, the question I was addressing assumed a separate USB card, the question being whether to use a single LPS to feed the card or the SSD (or mobo). If it's a matter of one LPS, then I would say the card would be the priority, all the more so if there's some transformation going on between card and dac. That would provide that process with a cleaner signal. Then if one wants to expand, they can work back on the computer side with various LPS's or isolations.