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Recomendation on USB 3.0 Internal Audiophile PC Cards


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Hi All,

 

I'm new to this forum, I post on a regular basis on Audio circle and AVS.

 

I am building a New Gaming and Music PC for my Home Theater room. I have a MSB Diamond DAC with Galaxy clock. I am about to Buy MSB Anolog too in a few weeks.

 

 

The PC has a Seasonic Platinum Power Supply, Latest CPu and over 32 Gig of Ram and PCI Express SSD Cards. I am looking for a high End USB Audio Card which has the best possible noise floor. Any recommendation on a few available?

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Hi and welcome,

 

I'm not sure I get what you want. Are you planning to use the DAC with the pc? Does the DAC have a usb input? If not, is it a usb to coax converter that you're looking for so that you can use your DAC with the pc?

 

If none of that is the case maybe you could explain a little more what you want to do with the USB audio card. Generally the usb audio devices I've seen are meant primarily for recording and they would include inputs for microphone and guitar.

 

Chris

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Chris.

 

The DAC has a USB input. I have been using the USB from PC To DAC but i am looking for a dedicated card which will isolate from all the Computer Power noise and provide a cleaner output which can run into the DAC.

 

Basically The DAC is being Fed Data by the PC but through the motherboards USB device, There must be something out there which can provide a Dedicated USB PCI Card which is used for higher SQ on Audio Performance.

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I haven't heard of anything like that, which isn't to say that it doesn't exist. But I would just try it the way it is and see how it sounds first.

 

If you do have a problem you could try isolating the power part of the usb output from you pc. IOW, cutting the power lines in the usb cable and getting the power from elsewhere. A few folks have rigged up something like that, but it's a bit of a tricky endeavor. You'll have to do a search to find out more about that.

 

Chris

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Lot's of people here us just the usb on the motherboard to send signals to their dacs (including me). I don't hear much complaint, and no noise in my system which is a pretty basic pc. They do refrain from using other usb devices on the same bus at times and they often don't use usb extenders and things like that.

 

Chris

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Nice DACs.

 

If you search for SoTM or PPA USB you will come across a few threads discussing options you are looking for. SoTM card can be powered externally by a linear psu, which helps as well

 

An alternative is the IFI USB which provides a clean 5v and allows a ground cut.

 

Physically blocking or taping the pin 1 (5v), pin 4 (gnd) and jacket is also done, but sometimes what is downstream expects either or both. I believe the MSB requires a 5v and ground for the opto-isolator and USB clock.

 

Another, more indirect but isolating, route is to use a USB-SPDIF converter like a Berkeley Alpha, but then you are going USB-SPDIF-I2S. Who knows if that introduces more jitter...

 

Cheers

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Newest usb card is from JCAT, designed by Adnaco. It is clearly better than motherboard USB more detailed, better timing, more nuance, better dynamics, more frequency extension. Its worth looking into, but expensive...

 

I would avoid combining gaming with music PC. For a long time I tried to make that work, but if you want maximum sound quality the graphics card has to go, and doing this alone improves sound quality. It all depends how far you are willing to go for sound quality.

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I would avoid combining gaming with music PC. For a long time I tried to make that work, but if you want maximum sound quality the graphics card has to go, and doing this alone improves sound quality. It all depends how far you are willing to go for sound quality.

 

 

Ya I was in the same position. I really wanted to build a pure caps server but in the end I made compromises to have better performance, better video playback and a bit more future proofing. However I stayed true to the caps guidelines, namely completely fanless and no moving parts (and no graphics card obviously).

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