Hi!
i would like to get some advice on this experience of mine.
Yesterday i connected a usb dac/headphone amp to the pc through an usb extender on rj45 Ethernet cable.
It is made with 2 boxes,
- one sender to be connected to the pc with a usb cable
- one receiver that has usb ports and a dc socket for a power supply.
In the between the rj45 cable (flat type / 3 meters).
The sender is using usb bus power while the receiver has its own 5VDC smps.
I swear the sound in the headphone was better.
Less noise and more details.
Am i hearing things ?
Is it possible that this extender actually blocks some electric garbage coming from the pc ?
Thanks a lot, gino
i would like to get some advice on this experience of mine.
Yesterday i connected a usb dac/headphone amp to the pc through an usb extender on rj45 Ethernet cable.
It is made with 2 boxes,
- one sender to be connected to the pc with a usb cable
- one receiver that has usb ports and a dc socket for a power supply.
In the between the rj45 cable (flat type / 3 meters).
The sender is using usb bus power while the receiver has its own 5VDC smps.
I swear the sound in the headphone was better.
Less noise and more details.
Am i hearing things ?
Is it possible that this extender actually blocks some electric garbage coming from the pc ?
Thanks a lot, gino
Hi ! the dac that clicks is a Aune x1s
Amazon.com: Aune X1S 32Bit/384KHz DSD DAC Headphone Amplifier black: Electronics
when i connect the dac to the extender receiver i get a message that faster USB ports are available on the pc.
And actually if i connect the dac directly to the ports on the pc, usb 2.0 ports, no more clicks but also a more dull sound.
So my guess is that the extenders are low speed, usb 1.1.
Good for slow peripherals like mice, keyboards ... printers ... but not for 16/44.1 audio.
Looking at the two devices the sender (on the left in the picture) is quite simple. I see just one chip.
The receiver is much more complex and i see a cristal. So i guess it reclocks the signal at the output.
I like the sound better with the extenders, clicks aside.
I am going to test an higher speed version.
It promises to pass 480 Mbit/s ... maybe it is too optimistic.
This evening i will run some writing test test on an hard disk. I read that the faster the writing the best.
Are you aware of some extender pairs that does not cost an arm and a leg but reasonably fast ?
Fast enough to pass 16/48 files without glitches/clicks ...
Thanks a lot.
Kind regards, gino
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Hi,
After seeing the picture of the inside, I understand why it doesn't work properly. This is actually not an Ethernet extender but just a buffered USB signal on the sender side and a USB HUB chip in the receiver.
This is not a recommended way of extending USB signals. The clicks are probably the result of USB transmission errors.
USB 1.1, when done correctly, can transfer up to 96kHz/24bit audio... Anything higher needs USB 2.0
As your USB DAC is USB 2.0 and the distance is only 3 meters, you may have more luck with a standard USB cable of 3 meters or 5 meters. The maximum distance for USB 2.0 cable is 5 meters.
Hope this helps.
Hi ! thanks a lot indeed !!! very helpful advice.
Could you recommend me a real Ethernet extender for usb ?
I would like very very much indeed the possibility to extend usb without any loss of quality at max 4 meters for a my project.
Could you be so kind to show me a proper extender ? not a boutique one .. only one reliable and possibly with power socket on the receiver end because i have some devices that need usb power.
Absolutely no need beyond 24/96 ... actually most of my music is 16/44.1 with some concerts on dvd 16/48.
But an extender able to cope with usb 2.0 would be the non plus ultra
It helps a lot indeed. Thanks a lot again.
But i really would like to get an extender. Problem is that i am ignorant and i do not know if i am buying a real extender or what else.
Even if i open the boxes i do not understand anything.
But i really like the idea of the extender.
In this way i could solve any problem of extension present and future.
Do you know any brand/model that are reliable ?
USB 2.0 would be nice and also external power at least on the receiver side.
Thanks a lot indeed.
Kind regards, gino
Hi,
Proper extender looks expensive...
Quick search on eBay:
usb 2.0 ethernet extender | eBay
Be aware some extenders don't support 'streaming mode USB', so no webcam nor audio, only printer, storage. Check the description or ask the seller.
For me, an extender doesn't look like an attractive option for USB audio.
Noticed your DAC also supports SPDIF. SPDIF coax can be 10+ meters when using good 75 Ohm coax cable. DSD over SPDIF is a no-go though, only PCM and max192k/24b. Seems enough for what you need.
Proper extender looks expensive...
Quick search on eBay:
usb 2.0 ethernet extender | eBay
Be aware some extenders don't support 'streaming mode USB', so no webcam nor audio, only printer, storage. Check the description or ask the seller.
For me, an extender doesn't look like an attractive option for USB audio.
Noticed your DAC also supports SPDIF. SPDIF coax can be 10+ meters when using good 75 Ohm coax cable. DSD over SPDIF is a no-go though, only PCM and max192k/24b. Seems enough for what you need.
Hi ! thanks a lot for the very helpful advice.
I see products with very different prices. The main problem is that for only few there is the max transfer speed in the specs.
Better bet would be is to contact the seller and ask for confirmation.
I do not need of course 480 Mbit/s. Very much less actually.
More than enough and after all this discussion i think i will abandon the idea.
I notice that if the problem is to extend HDMI there is a huge selection of products for all different price levels. And i guess HDMI is much more demanding in term of data rate than audio usb.
Maybe it is a completely different transfer technique.
Actually i was thinking to use audio through hdmi but i read of possible high level of jitter on the hdmi connection so i abandoned the idea.
Thanks a lot again, gino
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