Topic: Grounds separation between ADI-2 DAC and laptop PC

I would like to know if in the case of connection between ADI-2 DAC FS and a portable PC via USB cable, to avoid sharing  the (dirty) ground connection of the PC with the (clean) one of the DAC, which of the following solutions is most effective :

1) Disconnect the power ground wire (pin 4, black) of the USB cable on the PC side
2) Disconnect the power ground wire (pin 4, black) of the USB cable from both sides
3) Disconnect both power wires (pins 1 and 4 red-black) of the USB cable, leaving only the two data wires connected

Does the ADI-2 DAC already have a system inside to separate or decouple these grounds or is this not considered a problem, and in case, why? How to avoid the problem of ground loops in a system composed of Laptop, DAC and power amplifier?

Thank You

2 (edited by vinark 2024-05-15 14:12:50)

Re: Grounds separation between ADI-2 DAC and laptop PC

You can never disable ground of the usb cable, it can and will eventually blow up the usb chip on the dac.
This can happen by accident when inserting a firewire cable and will blow up the firewire chip (this happened to me) it is a physical design flaw of the firewire plug were you can insert in a way ground does not connect first (before the other pins).
On properly designed equipment it should be no issue. Of all the devices I own(ed) only one gave a noise over usb problem, a digidesign mbox and that was a design fault. I thought my novation circuit had issues, but that was a faulty power supply.
So try first with all connected normally and worry if there is an issue and ask for help here.
Also, if there would be noise from the speakers, that is 99% of the time noise that reaches the speaker over the common ground and not from the dac which is designed properly, you will not hear the noise on the headphones out.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632

3

Re: Grounds separation between ADI-2 DAC and laptop PC

If you need safe USB separation at low cost then buy this one:

https://hifimediy.com/product/hifime-hi … olator-v2/

Doesn't cost a fortune and just works.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: Grounds separation between ADI-2 DAC and laptop PC

Thanks for your contribution.

Is it better to wire the isolator near the PC or near the DAC?
What are the technical parameters that a USB cable suitable for this use must respect?
Can you suggest serious brands that declare the characteristics of their models and don't cost a fortune?

Thanks again

Re: Grounds separation between ADI-2 DAC and laptop PC

Despite their look Hifimediy products usually work very well. Note "serious"  productsare well between 2 and 300 bucks.

Cheers, Ernst

ADI-2 PRO FS R BE / ADI-2 DAC FS / some old multibit treasuers ;-)

6 (edited by KaiS 2024-05-16 10:55:46)

Re: Grounds separation between ADI-2 DAC and laptop PC

semola wrote:

Is it better to wire the isolator near the PC or near the DAC?

There‘s no choice:
Due to the connectors configuration this isolator can only be mounted at the PC side:
https://hifimediy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_5289.JPG

semola wrote:

What are the technical parameters that a USB cable suitable for this use must respect?
Can you suggest serious brands that declare the characteristics of their models and don't cost a fortune?

USB-A to USB-B.
Up to 3 to 5 meters any half-decent cable will do.

I have 15m here working nicely, active cable with built-in repeater, nothing special.
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0042R … 8&th=1

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81ggxtqFl+L._SX522_.jpg