Actually I have tried NAA to passive hub to Intona and NAA to Intona to passive hub. Both works for the red or a regular rpi4. However I do think logically speaking you should do NAA to passive hub to intona.
Cheers
Sorry, but we are talking specifically about the Holo Red and Intona 7055-C.
I donāt think you saying that Red ā 7055-C ā usb hub ā Dac works but Red ā 7055-C ā Dac doesnāt work
If an endpoint works with an Intona as is then of course you can functionally put a usb hub before or after the intona. For what reason you are doing that donāt know.
Yes I am saying placing the passive usb hub either before or after the intona will work for the red.
I am just saying I would think it more logical to go red to passive hub to intona instead of red to intona to passive hub. Both would work as long as a passive hub is in the chain
Ok. When I return from vacation I will try, as an experiment, to place the passive usb hub between 7055-C and Dac instead of Red and 7055-C. Maybe the downstream hub forces the 7055-C to draw more power from the Red or something. But as you said, you wouldnāt want to do that normally.
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Great discussion, but can we now please come back to the topic of this thread? Which is not USB isolationā¦.
Thx!
Happy New Year to all.
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fyi, as a quick followup, I did try this. Red ā 7055-C ā passive hub ā DAC. The 7055-C canāt connect like this. Not surprising as it would defy logic. Again, this is the 7055-C. Still unclear to me if you were actually using the 7055-C, and not a different Intona, in this case. But all good.
Sorry my bad, I had it mixed up. I have a 7055-C but thatās connected to a Fitlet 3 and a passive Anker hub, thatās how I been comparing the IFI Pro IDSD, Cyan 2 and the DSC2 and now the DSC3 in my main system.
I also have a couple of 7054 thatās connected with RPI4 no problem.
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My 7054 arrived today. Why did I wait so long? This should be required for anyone running USB. The Hifi was good before. Itās better now. Easy upgrade.
Roon -ethernet-> HQPlayer -ethernet-> RaspPi4 NAA Image -USB-> Intona -USB-> DAC200
boomā¦ sold. Everyone gets one in their stocking next year 
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I have one 7054-X coming in also (found one second hand) to try out between Red and DAC200. Iām not expecting a huge difference since Red has so low noise USB output already, but you never know before trying out.
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DAC200ās entire digital board is galvanically isolated from the analogue board
So that means all digital inputs , not just USB.
I canāt imagine what adding an Intona would do, electrically
Jussi had actually done measurements on the dac200 with and without the intona and confirmed improvements can be found with an intona.
I wonder if @Larry_HV can explain how this is possible with the DASS design?
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I shared your skepticism and on-paper understanding which is why I was hesitant to spend the money.
Now, granted, itās not just the Intona because thatās impossible. There is a new generic USB2.0 cable introduced (takes 2 cables to run the Intona) and the Pi got moved about 6 inches to make room for the Intona box. Maybe its the cable? Maybe something is different about placement? I donāt know. I just know what I hear and we know how flawed that can be. But, Iām not unhappy with my purchase although Iād like to be. I donāt think the cost of this thing is insignificant and itād be nice to not have extra boxes sitting about. But it is different in a positive way. Itās not what Iād describe as subtle but also itās just that little tiny bit of clarity that sort of topped off a an already good system. Like, not just having the cherry on top but the cherry with the perfect stem. Iāve not heard realism in piano like I am hearing now.
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Managed to get a loan for Audalytic (Gustard) AH90.
While I wait for it to arrive Iām waiting for Gustard to send me the DSD Direct firmware fix.
Will be interesting to measure and listen
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If I understood correctly, DAC200 USB input is not galvanically isolated. So even though the digital side is isolated from the analog side, noise can travel through the USB input to the digital side. Maybe this has an impact to the DAC performance as a whole.
Yes noise can travel into the digital board but being a DAC, after the digital section comes the analogue section - and DASS is supposed to isolate the 2.
The only thing I can think of is both sides share one common power supply? Ground currents are finding a path to analogue section through there ?
I donāt know - and thatās why I asked @Larry_HV if he can help
Without Intona:
See the 8 kHz USB packet noise.
With Intona 7054:
Poof, gone.
Just a bit of whine from the internal SMPS at 40 kHz. Which by the way in my unit at least makes audible whine when the device is in standby. So I usually cut the mains power when not in use. I mean physical acoustic sound through the case, not from the audio outputs. It is the low loaded SMPS feature that Iāve had with some other devices too. It can be fixed with electronics lacquer if the chokes/transformer coils are open and not enclosed in some casing. It think it is these two here:
Iāve been just lazy to take the device out of rack and open itā¦ I have fixed such in many other devices before. (these SMPS are related to EU standby power consumption regulations that require standby power consumption to stay under 1W)
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Thatās interesting. Is this SMPS active when not in standby (āECOā) mode? i.e. when playing or when in āComfortā mode?
Iām not sure if those are in use, but seem to be powered up based on the 40 kHz tone. It could be always powering the digital control electronics. But I donāt know for sure. It would be logical to me to power the non-audio related electronics always from the SMPS since it exists for the standby etc.
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hilo
do you have 7055 c for comparison as that seems to be most low in golden test?