SGM Taiko Extreme

[Miska]

1 hour ago, Nenon said:

One thing I can say for sure, though. Vibration treatment on my computer and my DAC is clearly audible in my system. There is no question about it. I was looking for a logical explanation why, and vibrations impacting oscillators made the most sense to me. That does not explain why vibration treatment helps my phono stage, which does not have any oscillators, so there must be more to it. 

 

With asynchronous clocking, only clock involved in audio playback is the one inside DAC.

 

Electrolytic capacitors are massively more microphonic than clocks. That would probably explain effect on DACs and phono stage.

 

[Miska]

1 minute ago, Nenon said:

I use I2S now, so it matters even more.

 

I2S is for connecting between chips, maximum 20 mm distances. And it needs very very careful PCB layout to not totally screw up. Sure, you can make things very sensitive to all changes (hard to get functional at all) if that is your goal...

 

I just don't prefer to go asking for trouble.

 

[Miska]

3 minutes ago, Nenon said:

It's using LVDS with very very careful PCB layout... And I like it better than any USB I have tried so far. 

 

I have not yet seen such... But I favor Ethernet over USB.

 

4 minutes ago, Nenon said:

Not my goal obviously. My point was that changes to upstream clocks with USB have always made a difference with any DAC I have tried, no matter how much DAC manufacturers / engineers keep saying that ONLY the DAC clock matters. I am yet to hear a DAC that is immune to crappy clocks in front of it. 

 

Can you provide some measurement results? Yes, I've seen using I2S over cable making difference, but towards worse.

 

[Miska]

57 minutes ago, Blackmorec said:

i can’t figure why they make a difference given the network layout and thorough isolation. 

What is clear however is that the results of a well screened, vibration optimised, low jitter and noise  data stream are simply stunning when they’re all added together, so I’m in complete agreement with Nenon’s findings

 

If you are using shielded ethernet cables, you are destroying the isolation ethernet would otherwise provide. For audio, only use UTP cables with plastic (non-metallic) connector bodies to make sure that you are no inadvertently creating ground connections between those devices...

 

That's unfortunately quite common mistake.