Coupling mechanism can be through ground loops or through data lines.
And this is not just me saying 'blah blah':
https://intona.eu/en/support/answer/1233
And this is not just me saying 'blah blah':
https://intona.eu/en/support/answer/1233
There's no doubt there's a noise reduction in unbalanced, which is what they're showing there. But your thesis is that balanced is also subject to noise, so any evidence for that?
yes I am.
the topping DAC has an updated version of the DAC chip in the Marantz so I thought it might be a good platform to improve on.
I have merely suggested one possible cause for sound issues. What I do know is that any additional noise on I2S/PCM/DSD signals or Vref will impact DA process. Regardless if output is balanced or not.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/phase-noise-in-ds-dacs.387862/
But when that's investigated, you wave your hands around and put up nothing concrete.
So let's look deeper into this. Are we talking common-mode noise on the I2S signals into the DAC chip or normal mode ?
I’ve tried the following DACs and none sounded as good as the Marantz for some reason.
Topping D90 SE. horrible timbre , thin sounding.
topping D30pro. good timbre but a bit dull sounding. No weight to instruments.
Venus II. I literally couldn’t believe how much I didn’t like this DAC. Little weight to instruments. Too laid back. Very good layering but it was quite exaggerated. Like some DSP was going on.
RME ADI 2. Akm chip version. Very wide soundstage. Grainy on top though. Pretty good timbre.
Benchmark DAC3. About the best of all these. Best low end detail of any DAC I’ve tried including my Marantz. A bit flat and dry tho.
mojo 1. Cool sounding DAC. A touch bloated bass but good detail. Crazy deep soundstage.
Mojo2. Meh a bit more linear than the previous version but too rolled off. Narrow soundstage.
Schiit Bifrost 2/64. Too sharp. Timbre is off. Good texture.
i might be missing some there. But just to give an idea.
Topping D90 SE. horrible timbre , thin sounding.
topping D30pro. good timbre but a bit dull sounding. No weight to instruments.
Venus II. I literally couldn’t believe how much I didn’t like this DAC. Little weight to instruments. Too laid back. Very good layering but it was quite exaggerated. Like some DSP was going on.
RME ADI 2. Akm chip version. Very wide soundstage. Grainy on top though. Pretty good timbre.
Benchmark DAC3. About the best of all these. Best low end detail of any DAC I’ve tried including my Marantz. A bit flat and dry tho.
mojo 1. Cool sounding DAC. A touch bloated bass but good detail. Crazy deep soundstage.
Mojo2. Meh a bit more linear than the previous version but too rolled off. Narrow soundstage.
Schiit Bifrost 2/64. Too sharp. Timbre is off. Good texture.
i might be missing some there. But just to give an idea.
Ah I see now you added it later. Will do.
<later> Its title is phase noise. Will it answer my question about CM/DM noise ? If so which post should I look at?
<even later> Looked through the whole thread. Plenty about DAC reference voltage hygiene but nothing I saw about noise on I2S signals. So a link to a particular post would be appropriate, its possible I missed it.
Did I need to put something up? Have I avoided any of your questions?
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is that directed to me for connecting the DACs with the Ifi galvanic or Intona?
is there any way to make that DAC sound good with mods or should I just get another DAC to mod like the new Gustard A26 with the new AKM chip?
Every DAC with an ESS chip I didn’t like.
Except the benchmark DAC3. They did a good job
but dry. And the timbre was a bit off. ESS has weird timbre
Except the benchmark DAC3. They did a good job
but dry. And the timbre was a bit off. ESS has weird timbre
I don't believe in modding. Especially compact devices using SMDs. Good sound is subjective. Some seem to prefer sound with elevated noise or distortions. It may well be that you are so accustomed to Maranz HD DAC1 that anything different does not sound good.
I found that too on listening to Khadas Tone 2 board, 'noisy' in higher frequencies is how I would describe it. But its hard to separate characteristics arising from a particular implementation from the DAC chip's own qualities. I've not listened to enough ESS DACs to generalize confidently.
You seem to have a need to argue. You probably missed that I also added Vref to that post as well. Possible ground noise from USB can impact Vref and the results could be similar to what I showed in that thread.
