Enjoy! Merry Christmas!
I have a ground loop problem, but it is not because of the Cable TV! I think it is the cables between the integrated amp and the speakers! It drives me crazy!
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So as a follow up to my original post and subsequent post in regards to the ifs LAN iPuifier Pro that I purchased, I wanted to let you know that I decided after listening for a couple of weeks that the thing that might be holding me/the sound back would be a better power supply!
After reviewing the various selection of power supplies I decided on the same companies’s ifi iPower X power supply unit.
I got it from Audio46 in NYC.
Again, after plugging it in and giving it some time to get adjusted, all I can say again is “WOW” What an increase in sonic performance!
It is totally amazing.
I feel that my system has gone up by perhaps 2 levels in sound improvement.
Yes, I fully understand that for some of you, it might be hard for you to believe what I am saying, and brush it off as “blowing smoke” And that’s alright.
However, if you are contemplating this tweak up grade, I will fully support up in doing so!
For me, it was well work the small amount of money invested to realize such a big improvement.
I for one am not sorry I purchased the tweak!
Cheers/
Sandrock/ian
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Having spent a lot of money on cables, network hardware, audio hardware and even video hardware, I totally believe you’re thrilled with the improvements. Glad it’s working so well for you!
Clean power and clean signal is always a good thing…
I found this old thread on the cheap tweaks that work, and I am not sure if you still have the same setup. Ifi iPower X, for the money, is a great little PS, I had been using it to power my Orbi Satellite, and then I switched to their iPower Elite. This one made yet another big improvement in lowering background noise. A member here said it beats his much more expensive LPS, and I believe it!
But it requires a separate power cord and unfortunately that makes a difference as much as the PS itself. I use a good cord before, but recently I have a spare AQ Dragon. Instead of selling it, I use it on iPower Elite. OMG, I was astounded how much better it made my entire system sound. Dragon kills the background noise totally (still one of the best cords in that regard).
Not to suggest anyone to use expensive PC to power their routers, but a good PC with a good PS on the router enhances SQ improvement by a lot! Here is another rabbit hole in the strange world of streaming.
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Get rid of your shielded cable unless you have truely shielded and GROUNDED jacks on BOTH ends! If you don’t have shielded jacks end to end, this causes a SPG resonance issue that induces NOISE into the cable. If that’s your thing to CAUSE RF inductive coupling so you need to correct them, well, keep the cable. Using the right cable will mitigate needing to correct “errors”. Ethernet is a balanced system and rejects COMMON MODE noise fine.
For streaming, do keep using a true CABLE connection for full duplex. WiFi no matter the BW is half duplex and will cause issues with streaming even at 1 Gbps. A true wired connection only needs 60 Mbps to stream 24/196Khz flawlessly. Why? It can send/receieve concurrently, WiFi can’t and the handshaking between send and receive causes stutters in streaming systems.
Are you hearng the errors or just assume they have to be there? Once I established the proper transmission channel, I’ve had ZERO issues streaming that is controlled on my side of the chain with Qobuz.
I bought these Ethernet isolators—they work for shielding and grounding issues, so I no longer need to use nail polish.
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??? There is no such thing as transferred common mode noise in Ethernet because it is CANCELLED as it is COMMON to both wires and the differentail signal technology cancels it. A 2 volt common mode noise is removed by the differential signal. EXAMPLE, one wire is 2V the other is -2V, or 4V potential between them. Now let’s add 7 volts of “noise” to both wires (the twist does this). One wire is now 9V the other is 5V or again the same 4V potential between them. This is how and why Ethernet is so good at noise mitigation.
What you are worried about is NOT common mode noise, but ground differential current noise. Grounds of differing potentials will find a route to ground, and not the way and route you think it will. It finds the lowest DCR path and that might couple to nearby sensitive circuits. But this is GROUND differential and not common mode noise. Things like PC’s have awful ground path differentials and yes, you get all sorts of concentrated ground noise paths that capacitively or inductively cupleo. USB is also impacted by the exact same thing, and the Audio Quest Dragonfly FMV also isolates the grounds between devices to stop ground differential noise. Again, the GROUND between tho items can be off enought to cause current to flow.
One of the WORST offenders is to use SHIELDED cables in our pedestrain set-ups where we NEVER, EVER test and certify the bonding potential(s) to be low. We make ground loops and differential noise thinking we are making it better, we aren’t. The IEEE requires BONDING potentials be within certified values to stop differential noise, and no, this is NOT common mode noise. Totally different issue. In bad connectors cancellable common mode noise can be converted to differential (not common to both wires but adds to one signal line and not the other) and can’t be cancelled, but this is with bad connectors or balance in the system. This is not solved with isolaters because it becomes part of the signal potentail between wires. We pass that along! Ethernet has CRC error correction and CSMACD systems to patch this “noise". What does this? CUB, capacitance unbalance, tests the sameness between wires. EVERYTHING has to be “the same" to 100% cancel common mode noise. Connector lands, especially thiose for CAT6 and up that use imbedded electrical circuits are prone to common to differentail noise conversion. Precision name brand cables and connectors all pass strict UL qualification tests to meet worst case 100 meter runs. Usually, and fortunately, we chase what doesn’t exist most of the time in Ethernet digital systems. Trust me, if you have a problem you will hear it.
Galen
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