Do USB Filters Make DACs Sound Better? 

I've noticed that too, Amir knows his stuff and he's very confident when explaining it.

Thank you both. :)

@@Gabriel-of-RU-vid He should know his stuff, as a renowned computer engineer he pretty much created digital music streaming as we use it today. I can't believe he's retired and still takes time to run ASR for everybody and make these awesome videos too.

@@herrtrigger7220 Little correction: He is an electrical engineer, not a "computer engineer"

Thank you Alan. :)

Thanks Issac. There is a lot more where this came from! :)

Appreciate the kind remark.

Thanks Mark. Motivates me to produce more videos.

@@AudioScienceReview I'd love to see a round up of different sub $30 cables including dollar store RCA cables. I'd be curious what really matters.

Nah - their devoted followers are very good at motivated reasoning! I discussed this very device at a danish hifi message board. It was ... interesting!

What's the old saying- a fool and his money...

@@Abrikosmanden RealHifiHelp?

I have 2 jitterbugs and have used them in several different configurations involving different PCs, iOS device and a proper streaming bridge, and in all cases it changed the sound markedly. Mostly improved it significantly, sometimes changed the balance to the disadvantage. I too have some ifi usb purifiers, they also VERY audibly lift the quality in various configurations (never changed the balance to a notable extent). So, neither being able to measure nor to hear what is very easy to hear.. what value is provided here?

@@gioponti6359 little value if you've convinced yourself that there will be differences.

Thank you so much.

Why is he fresh air. Have you tried anything that he debunks, or is it that people who can't spend the money on such things for ligitamate reasons feel better?

Thanks. It is a lot harder to compose text for me than to just talk. I procrastinated in setting up a video system but now that it is there, I can and will do more.

That's a tough one. I do plan to test the distortion of a crossover soon though.

@@AudioScienceReview That’s great news. Hopefully you can test the difference between the 2 one day and finally put to bed the argument about which type of crossover is technically better.

Thanks and agreed. It may be easier to do a video tutorial on a topic than trying to write a white paper on the same topic.

Underrated comment

Always fun to see people using expensive power cables while running unbalanced RCA between the devices

Re: the power cords, I don't think the PVC jackets are good for the doggo.

I'm a re-tired electrician and electronics hobbyist for years and have been arguing and trying to explain how a 6ft power cord can in NO WAY affect the sound. They look really cool but most are so stiff they will probably end up damaging the power jack. Then I always get, "why do I hear a difference?". The same way they hear a difference when you do a blind test to compare two cords but really don't switch them.

He is a smart dog. He is handling all video production for me!

@@AudioScienceReview atta boy!!! 😁😁😁😁 Waiting on the next video drop. 👍👍👍👍😬😬😬😬😬

Wonder if that would change with a different psu. Or maybe something was grounding to the case.

Thanks. I cannot. Another member in China had that and post the measurements. I don't have one to test.

AudioQuest is nothing but a con company. none of the product work as what they claimed. i got tonnes of audioquest product, and nothing works better...

@@bryansu I bought 4m Rocket 22 cable one year ago. I feel really sorry I lost those $100.

I am not an advocate for using a loaded PC power supply to feed anything analog, but as I understand it the jitterbug is a filter for the USB power supply, it does nothing to the digital stream. If you have slight noises coming from the DAC (I had major noise) their little added power filtering the power may just be enough to push it beyond your hearing threshold. Higher end DACs pay much more attention to their power supply design than the DAC itself since the end result is an analogue signal and depending upon the analogue design a super DAC can sound crap. A DAC has one purpose other than converting a digital input to an analogue equivalent nothing else, but the analog circuitry in the audio path beyond the output of the actual DAC chip will be affected by all kinds of noises being introduced on the power rails.

@@nicoras8803 Ive just stated it removed the offending noise

@@BoredSilly666 I’d love to know what DAC you’re using, because there is nothing inside the jitterbug that “filters” anything in frequencies within the range of human hearing. The only explanation for what you’re describing would be electrical interference that resulted from a poorly-designed input receiver in your DAC, that has improper shielding between the power and data circuits. Does your DAC run on USB power? Does it use the same USB port for power that it does for data transmission? If so and you experienced static, you bought a bum DAC and put a bandaid on it. This is hardly an enthusiastic reason to justify the Jitterbug for the vast majority of folks who don’t have your problem, sorry.

@@srkbear1 It was a cheap Ifi Zen Dac that has now been sold, Ive now moved on to a Chord Qutest and Network bridge but Thanks for your Concern. Next time I need someone to teach me how to suck eggs I will give you a shout.

@@BoredSilly666 That was really unnecessary. I wasn’t intending condescension in my post. If it came across that way, then I offer my apologies. I was simply saying that the focus of this video is to disprove the claims that Audioquest is making about this device transforming the quality of their music, not to address whether it can solve ground loops or static in applications that are not functioning to expectations. Peace.

Thank you so much. Will do.

He does. His dynamic range when barking is way beyond 16-bit CD format. My stomach literally rumbles from the power of his bark when it is dinner time! As to schiit, I did test their latest DAC, the Modi 3+ with that input: www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/schiit-modi-3-review-stereo-dac.18480/

i had this problem, and the cause was a bad mobo cap, new board cpu and ram sorted it and now i use a usb dac no noise and no filter

Yeah same here. Killed off the ground loop buzz. No other difference but that is a clear benefit for this specific situation

Sure, if you have a poorly-designed DAC that is noisy due to an improperly shielded ground then having a device to break a ground loop is a reasonable bandaid. Problem is that Audioquest is marketing it for everyone, with claims that it magically makes your music sound superior. If it was only marketed to break ground loops they wouldn’t be pocketing the fortunes they’re making from it based on snake oil claims.

@@srkbear1 this is a common problem with focusrite scarlett interfaces and and my friend's presonus AudioBoxUSB, which are some of the most popular hobbiest/home-studio devices.

But where you using balanced or unbalanced output on these audio interfaces ? 😂 if you use the unbalanced output youre gonna get noise.

I don't have a P50 to test. I have tested the D50 though with different supplies and while you can measure a bit of difference, for all practical purposes they don't do anything for it.

Compared to my good Aqvox linear power supply unit (not manufactured anymore), the Topping P50 has a more open and deep soundstage. This is done by increasing the treble level. However, the bass and slam are lacking. Instruments sound thin and not natural.

Did you find a solution? I have a synthesizer and it uses separate USB data and power inputs because of this issue. And even then, you have to use an external USB battery power pack because most usb power supplies (like phone chargers) are noisy

I have tested a number of mastering/pro DACs from RME to Universal Audio.

@@AudioScienceReview Many thanks. RME and UAudio doesn't do "mastering" DACs, although high quality interfaces, with a premium price tag. Did you post any results you had?

The dog is a mind reader. He knew I was too weak to open it and so did it for me! :)

That’s not what they’re marketed for-they’re promoted as magical devices that improve the audio for all implementations. Certainly there are isolated circumstances where DACs are poorly designed without proper filtering (Topping is not one of them), or when folks have weak links in their system that lead to ground loops or other electrical problems, where something like this expensive gizmo can put a bandaid on that problem. That’s beyond the scope of this review-he’s demonstrating that the Jitterbug is not capable of the claims Audioquest is promoting it for.

I have this problem with the motherboard’s built-in DAC/amp. I’ve seen some motherboards with usb slots meant for external DACs (gigabyte aorus z390)

i think that's a fair point

You literally just saw that it wouldn't. Go waste your money though.

Thanks. While I can show some to have different measurements than the others, I can't make a case of it mattering to the output of the DAC.

@@AudioScienceReview thanks Amir, I get what you mean. My suggestion was to measure for example, the noise (jitter) from the RP4 USB port and compare it to the one coming out from the USBridge “clean” side. I would guess they´ll differ. Then, and most importantly, hook the RP4 and USBridge to a competent DAC and measure the DAC output. My guess is that both will measure the same, making the use of a “clean” transport redundant. For taking it a bit further, you can also measure the effect on a non-competent DAC, e.g., Schiit Modi 2. Cheers!

@@joserafaelhernandezcarucci1324 USB jitter???

I have indeed. I will see if I can collect them and do a video on them.

You can get eye candy by using food,looking usb cables and that can make you feel good. But unles those usb cables Are not broken, there is no difference in the sound. I have nice looking usb cables in topping d90 because They can be seen so nice looking cable is nice to have but I can not hear the sound difference... just like I did Expect :)

In 2005? You can hear that shit on my high end computer from 2021 (powersupply is a bit older though)! So I just bought the iDefender+ to see if it will help, I have more faith in a decrapifier with an external power supply than a simple filter like the ones tested here. I tried a usb extension cable with a power adapter and that did reduce the noise. Was thinking of trying a USB hub with an external power supply, but the only one I had was in use and it was too much trouble to test it. So I ended up buying the ifi iDefender+, if it doesn't work I'm not sure what to try next.

This is really the best argument for having an external DAC. My motherboard dac picks up my GPU

Thanks for the kind words. I actually received an Element H from the company but took so long to test it, that they asked for it back! I hate opening my PC to put things in it. I don't think it would have made much difference anyway.

@@AudioScienceReview ah, yea.. i actually read your comment on this in the forum too. :) I am building a new computer, thinking about buying that USB card, but 250 € isn't cheap for a USB port.. Is there any benefits for having this hardware USB audio dedicated port as they claimed to have an audio dedicated PCI-E connection and not sharing data with other things?

Hello Amirm, would you please check this review of Element H? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iPTxhwNqiNs.html however, i have more questions to this topic. As you can see on Matrix Audio website, "external power source support" comes in as only the THIRD USP for this card, as they themselves as manufacturer would market it. The first and for most selling point is: "element H uses Crystek CCHD-575 super-low noise femtosecond clock coordinate with USB 3.0 bridge chip from Texas Instruments, open up independent data channel for USB audio stream. It helps signal bypass the USB controller integrated in the motherboard, avoid sharing data channels with other USB devices." My question to this is, does this card open an independent data channel, so all the devices using this card in Windows as a playback device, would work in ASIO exclusive mode, rather than needing to go through windows audio mixer in shared mode? This matters because the sample rate and bit depth of the original material should not be messed with windows audio mixer in shared mode. Furthermore, a better TI chip for the timing, means better jitter performance through any DAC?