What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

[Spotted Horses]

Thanks. One more question, if I may: how does a power cable influence the sound proper? It either powers the system with the right voltage or it doesn't, but other than that what can it do in order to affect the sound quality for better or worse?

Now you are just provoking me. The answer is obvious. A power cable has to have sufficiently low resistance to transmit the voltage without significant loss. The higher the current drawn the larger the voltage loss over the cable. You wouldn't want to connect the power to a 1,500 watt toaster oven with a cable designed for a 5 watt CD player. It would take longer to toast your bread.

[Florestan]

Now you are just provoking me. The answer is obvious. A power cable has to have sufficiently low resistance to transmit the voltage without significant loss. The higher the current drawn the larger the voltage loss over the cable. You wouldn't want to connect the power to a 1,500 watt toaster oven with a cable designed for a 5 watt CD player. It would take longer to toast your bread.

Thanks. I was not being provocative, just genuinely curious about it. I'm a mechanical not an electrical engineer (had electric engineering courses during college but they were not among my favorites) so I thought there was perhaps something that I might have missed.

[AnotherSpin]

Now you are just provoking me. The answer is obvious. A power cable has to have sufficiently low resistance to transmit the voltage without significant loss. The higher the current drawn the larger the voltage loss over the cable. You wouldn't want to connect the power to a 1,500 watt toaster oven with a cable designed for a 5 watt CD player. It would take longer to toast your bread.

Not this only. AC power cables do influence audio sound quality — their construction, materials, shielding, and connectors affect how much electromagnetic interference, noise, and transient garbage reaches your audio system which in turn impacts clarity, detail, and the overall purity of what you hear. The difference becomes much more noticeable on high-resolution, revealing systems where small changes actually show up.

But — those who are used to listening to shitty sound from shitty devices shouldn't bother sweating over cables — they simply won't hear the difference anyway

[Roasted Swan]

The best audio device I ever bought was my Fiio DAC/amp for my PC.

I was very glad you posted this.  I have a Cambridge Audio DAC that I'd been meaning to hook up to my PC for ages - long story why I hadn't! - but your post prompted me to dig it out.  I have a pretty basic speaker system on the PC but the improvement does seem to be marked.  Quick question though - because I'm lazy I've plugged it into a basic front panel USB socket.  Would the audio quality be further improved by using one of the 'main' USB sockets on the back instead?

[AnotherSpin]

I was very glad you posted this.  I have a Cambridge Audio DAC that I'd been meaning to hook up to my PC for ages - long story why I hadn't! - but your post prompted me to dig it out.  I have a pretty basic speaker system on the PC but the improvement does seem to be marked.  Quick question though - because I'm lazy I've plugged it into a basic front panel USB socket.  Would the audio quality be further improved by using one of the 'main' USB sockets on the back instead?

There's really nothing difficult about giving it a try. I've come across situations where even identical USB ports — such as those on the rear panel of a Mac Mini — have produced subtle differences in sound. For example, some ports may be noisier than others. If you happen to notice a distinction, splendid; if not, it simply means there's none discernible to your ears, and that is perfectly all right as well.

[drogulus]

I was very glad you posted this.  I have a Cambridge Audio DAC that I'd been meaning to hook up to my PC for ages - long story why I hadn't! - but your post prompted me to dig it out.  I have a pretty basic speaker system on the PC but the improvement does seem to be marked.  Quick question though - because I'm lazy I've plugged it into a basic front panel USB socket.  Would the audio quality be further improved by using one of the 'main' USB sockets on the back instead?

     I've tried different ports. The one I'm using is on a hub connected to a back port on the mobo. I tried a front C port and as I expected it made no difference.

[drogulus]

     A PC is a noisy environment for analog audio. That's one reason to use a USB DAC. The second reason is to handle DSD files from SACDs without conversion. I could convert to high rez PCM with no audible change if I had a reason.

[Spotted Horses]

I was very glad you posted this.  I have a Cambridge Audio DAC that I'd been meaning to hook up to my PC for ages - long story why I hadn't! - but your post prompted me to dig it out.  I have a pretty basic speaker system on the PC but the improvement does seem to be marked.  Quick question though - because I'm lazy I've plugged it into a basic front panel USB socket.  Would the audio quality be further improved by using one of the 'main' USB sockets on the back instead?

Sometimes computers have different USB connectors that support different levels of USB (2.0, 2.1, 3.0, etc) which have different data rates. It can make a difference for a high data rate device like a hard disk. The data rate for digital audio is low, so I suspect there would be no difference.

The only time I had a problem with USB was when I was trying to use my Marantz SACD player as a DAC (it had optical, coax Toslink inputs and USB input). Worked fine with Toslink but the USB input had static. The thing also had the idiotic feature than when I programmed it to play successive tracks on a CD it would stop and the end of a track and seek the next track, producing a hiccup in continuous music. I think I had to pay $5 to dump that piece of garbage at an electronics recycling center.

[Roasted Swan]

I've tried different ports. The one I'm using is on a hub connected to a back port on the mobo. I tried a front C port and as I expected it made no difference.

thankyou!

[Roasted Swan]

Sometimes computers have different USB connectors that support different levels of USB (2.0, 2.1, 3.0, etc) which have different data rates. It can make a difference for a high data rate device like a hard disk. The data rate for digital audio is low, so I suspect there would be no difference.

The only time I had a problem with USB was when I was trying to use my Marantz SACD player as a DAC (it had optical, coax Toslink inputs and USB input). Worked fine with Toslink but the USB input had static. The thing also had the idiotic feature than when I programmed it to play successive tracks on a CD it would stop and the end of a track and seek the next track, producing a hiccup in continuous music. I think I had to pay $5 to dump that piece of garbage at an electronics recycling center.

thankyou - I really am a hi-fi dimwit so all insights gratefully received....

[Spotted Horses]

thankyou - I really am a hi-fi dimwit so all insights gratefully received....

We are all in the dark trying to deal with self-configuring digital components which we assume can talk to each other. The one observation I would offer is that a faulty digital connection will typically result in obvious gaps, clicks or static, since defective data will be random or replaced by zeros or a crude correction.

[Harry]

I thought I was ready, but....since my power conditioner nordost Thor is more than 20 years old, I am considering the Gigawatt PC-2 Evo+ Top Line Power conditioner. I probably get it tomorrow. There are some technical reason why I seek to replace my Nordost Thor.

Gigawatt PC-2 Evo+
DC Blockerboard : Standard built-in on the PC-2 Evo+
Power inputs : 1 x IEC 16A
Power Outputs : 6 x Gigawatt G-040 Schuko
Power Output Zones : 3 zones (Zone 1 Analog High Power, Zone 2 Analog Low Power, Zone 3 Digital)
Double Power Buffer System : Yes, 3 separate Power Buffers
Maximum Output Power : 3680 Watt Continuous
Weight: 14  Kilo

[Kalevala]

I thought I was ready, but....since my power conditioner nordost Thor is more than 20 years old, I am considering the Gigawatt PC-2 Evo+ Top Line Power conditioner. I probably get it tomorrow. There are some technical reason why I seek to replace my Nordost Thor.

Gigawatt PC-2 Evo+
DC Blockerboard : Standard built-in on the PC-2 Evo+
Power inputs : 1 x IEC 16A
Power Outputs : 6 x Gigawatt G-040 Schuko
Power Output Zones : 3 zones (Zone 1 Analog High Power, Zone 2 Analog Low Power, Zone 3 Digital)
Double Power Buffer System : Yes, 3 separate Power Buffers
Maximum Output Power : 3680 Watt Continuous
Weight: 14  Kilo

Aha!  I just knew that you couldn't stop "tinkering" with your system!   

Just teasing you Harry,

K

[Harry]

Aha!  I just knew that you couldn't stop "tinkering" with your system!   

Just teasing you Harry,

K

Guilty as charged I am afraid. Since this is my last update in this earthly life, I wanted to check over the very old parts in my system and eventually replace some things that were made in a different era, and not always capable of handling the new digital world. But I have to decide yet over the power conditioner, for it takes quite some time to burn the bugger in, and my audio modules are still in that modus, so I must wait for them before I proceed tinkering. And then the power cables also need their time to burn in. Also a power harmonizer (Ansuz) is waiting to get connected, but I very much doubt that will have any noticeable effect.

[AnotherSpin]

I thought I was ready, but....since my power conditioner nordost Thor is more than 20 years old, I am considering the Gigawatt PC-2 Evo+ Top Line Power conditioner. I probably get it tomorrow. There are some technical reason why I seek to replace my Nordost Thor.

Gigawatt PC-2 Evo+
DC Blockerboard : Standard built-in on the PC-2 Evo+
Power inputs : 1 x IEC 16A
Power Outputs : 6 x Gigawatt G-040 Schuko
Power Output Zones : 3 zones (Zone 1 Analog High Power, Zone 2 Analog Low Power, Zone 3 Digital)
Double Power Buffer System : Yes, 3 separate Power Buffers
Maximum Output Power : 3680 Watt Continuous
Weight: 14  Kilo

I was just about to ask about the power supply. For a long time, I used linear power supply units in different parts of my audio system with great and very noticeable effect. What do you think about that?

[Kalevala]

Guilty as charged I am afraid. Since this is my last update in this earthly life, I wanted to check over the very old parts in my system and eventually replace some things that were made in a different era, and not always capable of handling the new digital world. But I have to decide yet over the power conditioner, for it takes quite some time to burn the bugger in, and my audio modules are still in that modus, so I must wait for them before I proceed tinkering. And then the power cables also need their time to burn in. Also a power harmonizer (Ansuz) is waiting to get connected, but I very much doubt that will have any noticeable effect.

I've been tempted to get a power conditioner particularly as my house is 1) old and 2) I occasionally get the odd--what to call it--I believe that it's a tiny bit of buzz (electrical interference?) which I suspect is caused by something getting through the electrical lines?  New wiring/updates would help too.

What does a power harmonizer do?

K

[Harry]

I've been tempted to get a power conditioner particularly as my house is 1) old and 2) I occasionally get the odd--what to call it--I believe that it's a tiny bit of buzz (electrical interference?) which I suspect is caused by something getting through the electrical lines?  New wiring/updates would help too.

What does a power harmonizer do?

K

Harmonize actually, it corrects electrical faults in your system, but I have yet to find out how reliable that is.

[Harry]

I was just about to ask about the power supply. For a long time, I used linear power supply units in different parts of my audio system with great and very noticeable effect. What do you think about that?

Well my stance in this is, if you find it too your satisfaction, its okay. I have to mention that I will also audition a few Audes power conditioners, that's a firm from Estonia

[Kalevala]

Harmonize actually, it corrects electrical faults in your system, but I have yet to find out how reliable that is.

What is the difference between that and a power conditioner?  Is it supposed to regulate/balance out power surges between components? 

K

[Harry]

What is the difference between that and a power conditioner?  Is it supposed to regulate/balance out power surges between components? 

K

The Ansuz Acoustics Sparkz TC3 Harmonizer is the latest version of the Sparkz Harmonizers from Ansuz Acoustics from Denmark. The Ansuz Sparkz TC3 features the 3rd generation of Ansuz's Analog Dither technology, a unique technology that originated from radar technology. This technology provides a more refined reproduction with more detail and impact. The Ansuz Sparkz Harmonizers are High End noise suppressors that are intended to be plugged into your power distribution box for your audio set, it also works with double wall sockets. The result is a more complete, more realistic and airy reproduction with more beautiful 'dark colors' and more impact.