I have experimented with the digital side a lot, and although I don’t have fancy equipment I have managed to find a setup that works surprisingly good:
Cheap ethernet switch, TRENDNet with fiber port ->
The optcalModule, streamer and DAC runs on pure LiFePo4 cells (no electronics in the cells), and I have cut pin 1 on XLR between DAC and power amplifiers, so they are very isolated from everything.
This in combination with decent power amplifiers and speakers (Nord Acoustics NC500 MK2 and Volent VL-2 Paragon) in a very well treated room, does produce a very nice sound. Without any doubt, several steps better than for example USB directly from computer to DAC, and the only difference at the end between my setup and the computer->USB->DAC is (you guessed it) electronic noise.
Updated post with link to LiFePo4 cells (3.2V 20Ah), I bought a 4-cell and 2-cell charger from same place. They last way more than a day, so charge at night (DAC on 4-cells i.e 12.8V, streamer/opticalModule on 2 cells i.e. 6.4V).
Seems wrong to be attacking people for a hobby they enjoy. For me, I find myself getting sucked in but don’t end up happier but doesn’t mean someone else ends up with same conclusion. Seems in every hobby you have different levels of involvement.
I just bought a cheap bike to ride around with my son but have a friend that’s spend thousands of dollars for all his bike equipment. Does that make it wrong? Will I end up finding upgrading bike parts enjoyable. Who knows.
It really is only a sickness if you’re spending money you don’t have and don’t have a clear mind of where the hobby fits in with the rest of your life.
That’s exactly what I meant about “marking your own homework”. A change in noise is only one possible explanation for the fact that you hear a difference in sound quality, but you are assuming that it is the actual cause (unless you have some objective data that you didn’t mention) to justify your original belief. Again, that’s fine if you enjoy it but it doesn’t in any way prove that electronic noise is the cause of the difference.
Agreed, and I am not trying to prove anything. However, its the only explanation I can come up with, since the binary data sent to the DAC is identical in both cases, and the data sent is not time-bound (asynchronous USB is packet based without any time information for the bits/samples).
It’s a bit rich of you to try and claim the moral high ground here. Your second post on this thread was decrying the ‘naysayers’ whose systems have too high a noise floor to possibly hear the woo that you can hear so easily.
Again with the personal attack. What I did was refute your argument. Why not attack my argument instead of attacking me? Why not just simply acknowledge that you painted with too broad a brush?
Please provide an exact quote where I did what you claim. I make it a point to qualify my remarks with terms like “many” or “some” when making generalizations. If I failed to do so I would apologize if it was pointed out to me. I wouldn’t attack the way you just did.
Mods have closed this thread again as it continues to deteriorate into discussion about other posters and moderation. We will clean the thread up (again) and consider whether it should be re-opened.
If you want to discuss moderation, the proper place to do it is in the Roon Labs LLC / Community Forum section. Link to the relevant posts rather than derail the discussion in the original thread.
If you believe that a post is outside the guidelines, flag it and move on. Don’t comment about it. If the flag is agreed then the following comment will also need to be cleaned up. If the flag is disagreed then the following comment will be off-topic.
Don’t talk about the other posters. It doesn’t relate to the topic, quickly drifts into ad hominem attack and provokes off topic responses. No one cares about our profound insights into each other’s behaviour. Save it for the amateur psychology forum.