Firestone BRAVO 24/96 USB transport w/o drivers + reclocker?
Dec 16, 2010 at 1:17 AM Post #302 of 542
Aimagin's dongle it is after all, then?
 
Dec 16, 2010 at 2:44 AM Post #303 of 542
Lee: nice post, very informative.
 
The only time I hear a difference with the 4160 is when I am using USB out of a Windows-only machine (which I almost never do as my HP has toslink); Macs may have some kind of galvanic isolation built in to the USB already.
 
"The next step would be using a USB3 PCI-E board and feed its molex w/ a clean 5V linear regulated PSU...I'm not sure I wanna try that, though."
 
I am guessing that you will do it anyways 
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Dec 16, 2010 at 4:22 AM Post #304 of 542
hehe, never say never I guess...but I don't think I will
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BTW, do you agree that WM8804 is great sounding? I really love its tight sound, and I always miss it when not using the Bravo...hopefully it'll pop into more DAC's in the future.
 
Aimagin's dongle it is after all, then?


the SQ improvement is nothing short of amazing, especially w/ fresh ears. Aimagin's dongle is the only one I've seen that also has ADuM5000 onboard, meaning that both the data and power lines are fully isolated...so the USB audio device is fed a much cleaner signal, and man is it audible!
 
Dec 16, 2010 at 3:25 PM Post #305 of 542
Yes the Bravo really cleaned up my Mac > USB > Mini-i, and gave me bit-perfect s/pdif to boot
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Dec 16, 2010 at 3:39 PM Post #306 of 542
OK, but did you compare against other transports/USB inputs? for once, I believe that all the hype surrounding WM8804 is very real.
 
The audiophile market is full of fairy tales tellers, it's always nice to hear that science doesn't always go backwards(as it often seems to)..whatever w/ WM8804, ADuM's and Ortho's.
 
The Burson HA-160D has the same Tenor chip on its USB input, but w/o WM8804 the sound is not nearly as tight..anyway, the Buffalo DAC's are highly praised and they do include WM8804.
 
Dec 18, 2010 at 11:52 AM Post #307 of 542
I'm using a laptop for my music library and player. I have it tweaked to my liking. The o/s is stripped to the minimum and I actually have no complaints using usb to my dac and amp. The only problem is I would like to audition some 24/96 music to see for myself where the benefit is. My dac will accept 24bit through its coax, but only 16bit through usb (most likely a windows usb driver issue). I would like to plug it in and have windows see it as as a device that takes 24bit. I don't want to have to use custom drivers, so the HiFace and others in this category are out. The Halide Bridge would be my first choice if it were about $250, which is around what the Bravo will cost with the coax cable that I'll need. The Audio-gd DI also appears good, but it appears people are having some hardware/software recognition issues with it, and I want plug and play. The Bravo sounds like a good fit, so I have a few questions:
 
You say it's not usb powered, but the specs say 'Autoswitching Power Supply 100 - 240V input , 24VDC 0.5A output'. Is this a supplied walwart? If so, does this mean it'll still work as is until I can buy a linear regulated power supply to plug into the back for cleaner power?
 
Also, it says it works with asio. Do you know if it works with wasapi and KS and autoswitches between 16 and 24 bit music files sent to it?
 
What is its physical size?
 
Does the aMG USB Isolator affect the sound differently when used with and without the external power supply? It appears it doesn't come encased, so is it a good idea to use a short extension cable to keep it from hanging off the laptop port and protect it from accidentally being hit?
.
 
Dec 18, 2010 at 1:14 PM Post #308 of 542
I've never ever had any recognition problem after a reboot or so, it's always been flawless for me..no crashes either, that's the beauty of not depending on some crummy proprietary drivers(yes Musiland, I mean you
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).
 
Yep, it ships w/ a wallwart..and as long as you can provide a 24V DC 0.25A PSU, you'll be fine. The Supplier PSU has the major advantage of looking nice and running in its own discrete faraday cage, but if you're into DIY a TREADS would perform just as well(if not better).
 
I use it w/ ASIO4ALL on XP, I believe the Tenor chip is indeed compatible w/ KS and WASAPI on Vista/W7(considering it's using the generic USB audio drivers). I've seen screenshots of other Tenor based interfaces where you could see both on W7 in foobar. It plays 16/24bit natively, no glitches whatsoever either.
 
The dimensions are 5.5 x 11 x 7.5 cm.
 
aMG's USB Isolator is self-powered and cannot handle an external PSU(which would be useless as the Bravo is also self-powered). The  only ADuM4160 dongle that needs an external PSU still feeds the unfiltered USB power to the computer side of ADuM4160, and doesn't embed ADuM5000...so the power lines are not isolated, only the data lines are. Major flaw when one's requires galvanic isolation IMO.
 
I've wrapped aMG's dongle into several layers of ESD paper and aluminium foil to protect it from dust & EMI/RFI. Neither of the two ADuM chips were even warm to the finger before wrapping it, so this is perfectly fine.
 
It's usually better to use an A/B adapter to plug this kind of dongle at the back of your DAC, so it'll also suppress the cable interferences
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Dec 20, 2010 at 11:53 AM Post #309 of 542
Another picture I forgot to post:
 
A friend of mine just pulled the trigger on the aMG dongle, he'll be using it on his Little Dot Dac II...hopefully he won't mind chiming in, I'm sure he'll be stunned by the SQ improvement as well.
 
Dec 23, 2010 at 2:09 PM Post #312 of 542
If you can clean up any portion of the signal chain from the power to the port to the end device you should.  There is a great deal of improvment to be had from just improving your chain even before it hits the converter. 
 
Dec 23, 2010 at 2:24 PM Post #313 of 542


Quote:
I understand, in fact i own a Adum as well.
 
As you can see here plugged into the DI.  Logic, reason, tests, expert opinions might not agree, but for some reason my ears hear an improvement.  Not so much with the DI but marginally so when plugged directly into a Dac.  Like you said, its always good to scrutinize tweaks to confirm that the claims are true.  Unfortunately the only test equipment I have are my ears, which is why I said it would be interesting to see lab results that counter my listening impressions. 
 



You use that mini USB A-B adapter like I have.  Cool.  It seems many are uses those now.
I also notice you use Wireworld cables what do you think of their USB cables?
I find some people I have seen in various forums have USB systems and use isolators etc but still use low quality USB cables.  I figure that defeats the purpose of getting the best signal you can from your USB system.  Your entire system for USB is very similar to one of he ones I have used with external power input but I used a 9Volt battery for testing.  Anyway, nice system.
 
Dec 23, 2010 at 2:55 PM Post #314 of 542


Quote:
You use that mini USB A-B adapter like I have.  Cool.  It seems many are uses those now.
I also notice you use Wireworld cables what do you think of their USB cables?
I find some people I have seen in various forums have USB systems and use isolators etc but still use low quality USB cables.  I figure that defeats the purpose of getting the best signal you can from your USB system.  Your entire system for USB is very similar to one of he ones I have used with external power input but I used a 9Volt battery for testing.  Anyway, nice system.



Thanks, I like the Wireworld USB cable, its smooth sounding and really lets the info through with clarity.  Even their powercords are pretty good, I have used maybe 4-5 different power cord brands, some silver, some copper and I have to say that the WW does a good job of taking the sound quality of a stock cable and only removing the grunge.  Other cables add something more like extra upper or low end sound, or changes to the sound stage, imo thats too much.  Since the pic I have moved to a very short cable coming off the motherboard directly to the Adum to reduce the extra connection as well as the length of the use wire.  Many tests around the web show that jitter and usb cable length have a positive relationship, so shorter is better.
 
Dec 23, 2010 at 5:46 PM Post #315 of 542


Quote:
Thanks, I like the Wireworld USB cable, its smooth sounding and really lets the info through with clarity.  Even their powercords are pretty good, I have used maybe 4-5 different power cord brands, some silver, some copper and I have to say that the WW does a good job of taking the sound quality of a stock cable and only removing the grunge.  Other cables add something more like extra upper or low end sound, or changes to the sound stage, imo thats too much.  Since the pic I have moved to a very short cable coming off the motherboard directly to the Adum to reduce the extra connection as well as the length of the use wire.  Many tests around the web show that jitter and usb cable length have a positive relationship, so shorter is better.



I have been testing a few different high end USB cables and I have a couple from Wireworld.  Haven't had much time to try them out but I like the flat design and how they isolate the signals.  I have never been much for power cords but a freind has a few he wants me to tes in the new year so I guess that should be cool.  I have a few different Isolators and other devices for cleaning up and converting USB signals.  Those small little A-B adapters work great for connecting an isolator to a DAC.  I do try and keep my USB cables short as possible.
 

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