Another great discussion. As a suggestion, could you provide some audio examples to help listeners identify the kind of problems you are describing? It's not always easy for most to relate to the issues you mention here. You had a video a while ago where you gave some audio examples of sibilance etc. More of this may be really useful for the aspiring audiophile. Keep up the great work

@allansh828

2 жыл бұрын

Those subtle nuances, such as the positioning of sounds and size of imaging are near impossible to demo outside a Hi-Fi system

@simontowning188

2 жыл бұрын

@@allansh828 Thanks Allan, that's a fair point. For me, it's not too hard to notice differences because I have tuned my ears over a period of time. For some of my friends, it's more challenging. I was just thinking that the Abyss guys could find a way of providing maybe a FLAC file to show more examples of what to listen for. Hearing examples side-by-side makes identifying those subtle nuances a bit easier. But I appreciate it's challenging

"Most of it is voodoo..."

I was under the impression that noise from a USB cable is not actually an issue because that data is ditigal. It would have to become so terribly distorted that the receiving device cannot destinguish a 1 from a 0, which is virtually impossible to happen under normal circumstances. I did understand, however, that the signal after digital to analog conversion is subject to noise. If I'm wrong, can someone explain why?

@DaBurntToaster

2 жыл бұрын

it kinda depends if its just usb data, its highly unlikely that it would make a distinguishable difference as the data lines should go straight to the DAC and if properly designed those lines wont be wiggling around the power supply or amplification circuits causing interference if your dac / dacamp IS usb powered then its not just a digital connection, you have a 5v signal coming through your PSU which is hooked up to mains voltage, next to a bunch of other components running at 12v putting out inconsistent levels of power, and then all that power then runs to your motherboard and hangs out around all those components for a good long while before finally going to to your deviceS, i capitalized the 'S' because other usb powered devices on that same bus will share a ground on the computer, so if your dac is on the same usb bus as your mouse and keyboard, then interference can be transferred every time you press a key or move your mouse. I actually had a setup once where I could hear my mouse move through IEM's plugged the DAC into a different port and the sound went away.

@fredfranssen5384

2 жыл бұрын

@@DaBurntToaster Thank you for this illuminating answer! I've actually had the same issue once, where I could hear my mouse clicks make a noise through my earphones

Okay, I haven't even watched this yet but damn good job on the USB Xenomorph / retro horror movie poster thumbnail. Already a thumbs up.

I love the longer form. Would also appreciate this in podcast form, to just listen to

@taidee

2 жыл бұрын

They've stated before that it is available as a podcast, I've just never checked it out.

@michaelcorcoran8768

2 жыл бұрын

If they did a podcast they could also post highlights. Kill two birds with one stone and add some revenue sources

Again , brilliantly insightful ! Thank You Tony in Venice Florida

Having fun with that Alien thumbnail I see haha

Great video! Would prefer a longer video or pretty much a podcast.

Could ferrite chokes or snap on beads be used to quell some noise? I see them used in amateur radio quite a bit to lower noise but didn't know if they could help in audio.

Noise shouldn't mean much for a digital connection as long as the bit voltage is above the SNR for that cable as 1 and 0 are always 1 or 0.

@matticeverhoeven6539

2 жыл бұрын

Ahh the good old ones and zeros…

@ElvenSpellmaker

2 жыл бұрын

@@matticeverhoeven6539 ONES AND ZEROS!

Yeah, noise is one of our problems where I work, as it is in a high voltage environment, but we work with low-voltage measuring equipment. We put a lot of importance on our shielded cable.

I used to connect my audio stuff to my pc. Over the past year and a half or so I have slowly separated the two. I use a RPI with a pi2aes HAT as a roon endpoint and recently separated the power for my pc and audio chain. The first time using a rpi vs my pc, there was a blacker background and the absence of some noise that I hadn't noticed before. The addition of a HAT and a linear power supply to the RPI has improved imaging, detail, and blackness of background. In my PC I now use a Matrix usb pci card with an external power supply as I was having noise issues, very audible noise, out of the usb ports on my motherboard. The Matrix card entirely removes this noise or at least removes the noise that was audible.

@olimphus26

2 жыл бұрын

I wrap a ring of onions around my neck and put a tuning fork in the middle of my forehead and that improves imaging, noise, more holographic presentation of the sound. On a good day I may rub some Vick’s vaporub on my back to up sample all my tracks to 1024 DSD without any problems.

I used a dedicated streamer and it made a large audible difference compared to my computer. Did a review on it if you're interested. :) This was a great discussion.

How do you guys feel about the use of UPS' to clean the power input of a device?

I still get the "old" phone noise through my Schiit Bifrost 2, Loki, and Topping A90 (one or all of the three), because we live on a hill the phone has to switch to the older polling methods to try to get a signal and that comes through the devices.

Good discussion. Is there a correlation to the Physics And Music, the Gnomes, and the topic Noise, or is it just the first time I'm noticing the Gnomes?

@W1LYKAT

2 жыл бұрын

The Gnomes are always there, who do you think does all the work at Abyss?

Only time I've had really noticeable noise from audio gear was caused a tube HP amp. A wireless mouse can cause chirpy digital noise too.

@Thevikingcam

2 жыл бұрын

Yes. Basically the only times noise from computer can affect audio is tubes near computer and taking the data and power from pc at same time. When you dont take power from pc you are safe.

You should explain how a farady cage doesn't block noise

thumbnail appreciation comment

I have a great R2R dac and a blue node streamer which is pretty great for MidFi. However if I use USB input to my Dac it's a terrible implementation. The preferred route is streamer -> USB out -> DDC -> I2S out -> Dac. There are some upper level streamers that sound better (e.g. Cocktail Audio X50) that have I2S output implemented in the streamer but those are all $2k+.

In the thumbnail for this vid, is that supposed to be a “Alien” USB? 😆

@ABYSSHeadphones

2 жыл бұрын

Damn straight

@arrakian

2 жыл бұрын

@@ABYSSHeadphones 😆😆🤣🤣🤣

I use a XTZ A2-300 amp and a cheap stereo rca ground loop isolator from Best Buy, no noise. If that doesn’t do it, try a w-3900 ac noise filter.

He said “hey Siri…” and Siri started playing “Episode # 5713 - Dave Carollo On Religion And Politics” from “Winds of Change”… I guess I have 5712 episodes of audio to catch up on now 😝

CPU auto voltage and frequency can introduce clicking or popping on USB audio…. Hard set the frequency in the bios to resolve this… it will use more power, but it’s worth it.

@mcbowler

2 жыл бұрын

For AMD CPU’s I always turn of the auto power or auto over clocking features.

Alien is a pretty fun movie franchise.

Does CD transport have lower noise than network streamer?

@chipsnmydip

2 жыл бұрын

I would assume so, at least depending on the connection. It sounds that way to me. But I use an optical connection between my streamer and DAC and it sounds great.

@lwilson5594

2 жыл бұрын

Cd technology is much refined, they usually dealt more with mechanical noise. But high end streamer is catching up.

Would creating USB cables that work similar to balanced audio cables help with noise? Where the signal is sent with its polarity switched so when it gets to where it’s going you can flip it again and cancel out the noise. Idk, they may already do this but I’m just throwing it out there. 🤷

@aprillomat

2 жыл бұрын

afaik USB already does something like this for data lanes, but the problem is also the noise that gets through the ground shield, which you can't really eliminate since you need to keep the ground shield connected on both sides to dump the radiation it catches somewhere. but if the PC is very noisy and sits between your cable and the ground from the wall outlet, this ground shield may pick up on noise from the PC anyway and you can't really pass an inverted phase of that along with it (at least not as far as I know).

Quite an interesting topic. If you think about it, when it comes to usb I can do come out on my own and then I will have never done that before lol I have no idea how to make it lol lol that’s why I’m not gonna be honest with anyone I know. Makes you think 🤔.

What is the best way to deal with the noise? For me i just ditched usb

@ABYSSHeadphones

2 жыл бұрын

That answer came just after this video, kzread.info/dash/bejne/rKZkuJqeitnHkrw.html

I remember usb audio was bad couldn't enjoy chord hugo sold it after that.

Those ifi ac ipurifier actually works?!

Me listening on my USB DAC o__o

@annona718

2 жыл бұрын

@@kiavaxxaskew I use a laptop rn because I only buy audio gear. I'll look into it though. I may buy some real cheap desktop.

Guy poses like mrbeast.

peter parker

Yeah, it's bad and so expensive to try and clean up. Better to use AES, I2S, or fiber optic.