Fatigue free listening

[sandyk]

15 hours ago, Rexp said:

Digititus, fatigue, glare, the feeling you just want to turn the music off after a while to give your ears a break. Now not everone suffers from this but its the biggest problem with digital playback for most folks. One way to alleviate the problem is to listen to lo-res, quite a few members prefer Spotify to Tidal/Qobuz for example. I've gone back to using the headphone out of my laptop rather than external DACs cos, although its lower res, it doesn't make my ears bleed. Any more solutions out there? 

 This suggests that you need a better source than the current laptop that you are using.

An example of this is the marked improvement many members reported after retrofitting an Uptone Linear PSU to their Mac Minis, despite using the same DACs etc.

Does the DAC performance improve if you run the Laptop off it's battery ?

[sandyk]

3 minutes ago, Rexp said:

On battery the fatigue is reduced but not eliminated.

 

If you are using a high quality DAC, this appears to confirm that your source is the main problem.

[sandyk]

9 hours ago, dmance said:

t's all about RFI/EMI noise affecting the DAC ...more specifically its final D/A conversion from bits to volts that needs to be free of RF noise.  Deviations in the DACs output clock and reference voltage will perturb the output waveform. These are caused by even impossibly small levels of RFI/EMI coming from digital devices, switch mode supplies, the AC mains, etc to impinge on the DAC. More RF noise = worse SQ and more fatigue. Our ear/brain only relents and relaxes to digital music when the DAC output is as RF noise free as possible ...well below what we can measure. Otherwise we all 'feel' the fatigue. I know all this to be true because I continue to research these boundaries and provide products and honest information. Here's a few good tips:

 Here's another tip

If you are using a Desktop PC which has a metal Drive Bay, ensure that the SSDs mounted there have their cases securely earthed with as low a resistance as possible to 0 volts/and IEC earth of the PSU.

 This can be done using a DMM on the mV scale with the PC powered up and measuring between the actual case of the SSD and 0 volts/ Earth of the PSU case. A.S. member one and a half (Gary) suggested using supplemental Star Earthing if need be to reduce this voltage to virtually zero. The result (as in my case too) was a marked reduction in distortion and a substantial improvement in soundstage with good recordings, and this also resulted in fresh rips of the same CDs sounding markedly better than the original rips.

 You should also use screened leads for the SSD power to the 4 pin Molex connector closest to the PSU itself if possible..

 In my case I also use +12V regulated down to an extremely low noise (<4uV) +5V dual supply PCB for improved isolation between my 2 internal SSDs and the rest of the PC.

 

[sandyk]

4 hours ago, Albrecht said:

IMO, FWIW. This is a great, and helpful, (and one rarely mentioned), post.

 

However, - I feel like a gotta ask, -- why spend all the money and labour trying to turn a multi-function computer into something that it is not.... and wasn't designed to be?

 

We have better, cheaper, things for that...

 

 A multi function computer when  properly implemented is capable of outperforming most stand alone servers etc. especially when Subscription services are used where the quality of the material listened to will never be quite as good as when the information is directly extracted and saved to an electrically quiet PC or Server. The front end DOES matter, despite what some members here will insist.

I have spent a small  fraction of the money that the guys in Rajiv's thread are doing.

These days much of my listening is with headphones, although I can output from the PC to my main system when I wish to, which BTW is used even for watching TV. 

I also use my PC to download Music Videos from YouTube and  extract the hidden higher quality Video and Audio streams to create markedly better looking and sounding Videos that I can play on my main system, as well as capture some of the great music performances from USA late night TV when available as uploaded .ts streams.

Not everybody has a separate listening room available , and I am also on a pension these days. 

In fact, if the Covid 19 virus keeps going much longer, many people won't be able to afford to do what so many members of this forum are currently doing.

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, Blackmorec said:

Hey Sandy,

.Surely I’m mistaken, right? 

 

My PC is quite removed from typical, as it uses dual isolated, <4uV low noise +12V to +5V JLH PSU add-ons with a simulated capacitance of around 2 FARAD to power both internal SSDs , both of which are mounted in a metal drive bay with their cases also having a very low measured resistance to the main 0 volts supply.. It also uses a <4uV noise  +12V and +5V JLH PSU add-on for powering the LG GGW  H20L BR writer for superior sounding and BIT Perfect, (not that this means much 😋) CD rips .

As it doesn't use additional  external Linear PSUs and has all 0 volts (Earth) going back to a common  "Earth" point, there are no minor earth loops either, and the JLHs for the BR writer being a variety of Shunt Regulator also further improve the noise of the internal +12V and +5V rails as they actively cancel incoming ripple/noise from the PSU.

Neither do I need to use crappy USB like many need to use with more expense for Opto Regens and additional low noise Linear PSUs, as it has an internal Asus Xonar D2X soundcard which further improves Coax SPDIF Out into a highly modified Musical Fidelity X-DAC V3 which has an isolated transformer Coax Input, and is also powered via a Linear + and -15.5V supply which also has <4uV noise from a dual JLH PSU add-on as well  .  This then goes into a DIY Class A Headphone amplifier which is only -3dB at 1.5MHZ and has a distortion considerably less than 0006% and is fully DC coupled .with dual + and -20V supply rails (<4uV noise also) from 2 external 18-0-18VAC toroidal transformers which results in way better than normal channel separation

 

I already have 2  12VDC thermistor controlled fan speed controllers to replace motherboard PWM control but will need to obtain 2  x 2 wire fans as the 4 pin fans can not be powered directly by DC due to typically using internal LM324 I.C .s  and BTW, all non essential processes are minimised.

Oh, I also use quite a bit of 3M 2552 anti vibration adhesive aluminium tape on panels etc and have done so for years

 

 Seeing that your setup  MUST be so much better , perhaps you can help John Dyson for a while in his Dolby -A decoder project where a few of us have been routinely able to hear differences of a little over 0.1dB with his corrected CD rips  ?