Improving digital audio signals 

Hanz, you're the best. I really do appreciate your taking the time to bridge the most technical aspects of audio with practical examples of what works at different price points. Thank you for "weaponing" me!

"...if you have mastered the art of interpreting forums..." hahahahaha. One of Mr. Beekhuyzen´s most important observations yet, oh so true. Thank you and best wishes!

Thank you for your video's, you have helped me so much. Your knowledge is amazing.

I'm allways watching your video's with great interest, aspecialy the video's about digital audio. Infact it helped me alot with the purpose of my new DAC.

I love your analogies,lol!!!!!

Great Channel

Hi Hans thx for your great magnificent Videos.. i like good / well engeniering.

Excellent lectures!

Bypass the windows mixer entirely by using the kernal or wasapi streaming addon in fubar and some other players and then something like a USB - S/PDIF Hiface to accurately clock the "pure bypassed" data out the P.C before anything else. I use 88.2 khz (X2 up-sampling mode ensures mathematical up-sampling even if a particular file is 48 khz) via sox re-sampler in fubar and a NOS dac-ah lite. Will work equally well for any file music type and CD's played using fubar.

What's often overlooked is that analogue properties still apply to DACs, since the output filter ends in being an analogue electronic circuit. Especially when noisy power supplies that feed both the DA conversion and the output filter without galvanic isolation and common mode chokes etc. And of course high frequency digital parts can inject EMI into the PCB traces going to the analogue part when both aren't decoupled well enough.

I am really thrilled because you answer the questions no matter how much time did it pass. Consequently THANK YOU for your answers. You say the chain is as strong as the weakest part. Really? Not all in the chain is equal in importance. For me first is master quality, that is the combination of recording and mastering. I know you can sometimes choose different masters for a same recording but want lo leave it aside for now. That is the most important because changes in it are the most apparent to audio quality to neophytes even with poor chains. Number 2 go for speakers or headphones, properly amplified. Properly means with good powered source. Those make up for the main steps in the chain. I should mention here the disposition of speakers. From now on the changes are more subtle. Number 3, the dac. Number four, analogue cables that is changing from common cables to ofc cables. Number five , change in power supply. Number six, format above cd quality. I mean with all these that if you do not have the money to get a properly balanced chain, put the effort in getting good recordings together with good speakers well placed with proper powered signal first

Thank you hans, its all very confusing to me.. I'm still trying to get a grip on all of this audio stuff! 👍

Hi Hans, really enjoy your channel. I have a couple of questions, I use 44.1/16b music files running via coaxial from my pc's internal spdif out. is there any benefit to using 24b depth? also would it be worth using a usb to coaxial interface (topping d10)or just use asynchronous usb instead of coax? using a klipsch heritage headphone amp/dac. Thanks for your videos.

Thanks for the comment on reclocking. I have a question about Grimm CC1. If I want to use slave mode to reclock the digital signal from USB, I need to convert the USB to AES/EBU first and send to CC1’s AES/EBU input port. Then CC1 will reshape the clock signal and send to the DAC through AES/EBU. Do you think the jitter will be eliminated this way? Thanks.

Do you have any thoughts on the Schiit Eitr? Their gen5 USB to SPDIF coax RCA converter with separate clocks for 44.1 and 48 kHz?

Goede dag Hans, I recently followed your experience and bought the cambridge dac100 together with the 12V/1.8Ah ifi-power supply being sure not to reach the full 2Ah of the DAC. Surprisingly none of the exchangable 12V-Adapters fit into the DAC. How could you manage to connect both devices?

Hans, what do you think of doubling the number of interconnects between cd/dac and a dedicated pre amplifier? Recent hot posts dated June 2018 by Douglas Schroeder raves the total benefit of doing this. I have tried with very positive effect--can you comment?

I've send you £1. Not a lot, but wanted to show support for these excellent videos.

Excellent explanation, thank you! Regarding reclockers I have a question: In studio audio production reclockers are used to sync different digital audio equipment. In HiFi, DACs and audiophile switches (e.g EthernetREGEN) offer the option to connect to an external clock. Does it make sense to connect both, theDAC and the switch to the same word clock? Not to forget, at what price point a good reclocker starts? + 1000 EUR? +2000 EUR?

Hi Hanz, Just started watching your channel and am learning a lot! Wanted to ask you if you have heard of the Synchro Mesh Relocker from Empirical Audio? Larr

Hello, I have a Presonus Studio 192 mobile and 2 Behringer ADA8200, but can not make them work properly, I hooked them up first Behringer unit Out- first in on the presonus, and Behringer second unit out- second Presonus in. The same with the Presonus OUTs to the In of each Behringer Unit. I am able to record audio with the first Behringer and the Presonus, but no audio out from the Behringer, just jitter or cracks. Can't make the presonus sync as slave and Behringer as master. On my presonus Universal Control page it only lets me setup as Presonus internal sync. But the only way it works is when I change my Behringer to Master 48k, and it will record from all 8 ADAT channels, but won't playback audio, just jitter. Doesn't make sense, but thats the only way it's working or getting signal to my DAW. I am using REAPER 5, set to 48k also. Can someone help me to configure the 2 Behringer ADA8200 and the Presonus 192 mobile to make it work in REAPER 5? I don't see why it is not working right, What am I missing. I have 4 lightpipe ADAT cables ( 2 outs and 2 Ins ) and 2 BNC cables, 16 XLR cables for the Behringer outputs to outboard gear + 16 Cables for Ins. In theory I should have the Presonus as master and the 2 Behringer as slaves at 48k. Presonus Internal Sync, 2 Behringer ADAT slave switch selected, maybe BNC cable somewhere? Tried different ways, but can't make it work? Can't sync Presonus as Slave, Maybe missing something in Reaper, any suggestions on how it could be connected , witch one should be Master and slave to get audio IN ans Out from the ADATs,Thanks a lot Guys.

Hans - this questions is really important to me when it comes to improving the digital audio signal. I am seriously considering buying the SOTM sMS-200 Ultra, many including you recommend this product highly. BUT in my case, I will need to stream from a computer to the sMS-200 over WiFi. The only way to connect an sMS-200 over WiFi is to connect a wireless bridge into its Ethernet port. The big question is, if I am streaming from a PC over WiFi to the sMS-200 will I need to take care in making the PC electrically quiet? Or will it not matter because the PC is physically separated from the sMS-200 by way of the WiFi connection?

Hi Hans, I am contemplating on S/PDIF cable between my CD Transport and DAC. There are many articles advocating digital 75ohms cable and some that claim it is pretty harmless to use one of a pair of interconnects. I have a an extra pair of Studio Connections interconnect and someone recommends that I use them as S/PDIF. I checked with the the manufacturer and they claim that the interconnects are actually great as S/PDIF. So now I am confused as I have always thought that interconnects are designed to have an impedance of 50ohms. So my question is: “Am I getting the right advice?” Is it possible that a very good interconnect can be a a very good S/PDIF cable as well?

Cheers🙏🙏 my next job is DAC and then streamer. I’m learning

Digital coax "RCA" is not a 75 ohm component... Yikes. The output on my Luxman Di03X CD player comes equipped only with a digital coax and Toslink output; my ARC DAC 9 input is the same I understand Toslink is inferior to digital coax from what I've read. Thank you for clarifying that a BNC is a 50 ohm conductor. Some BNC digital cables come with RCA adaptors, so it may be used in the digital coax position, but from what you stated, 75 ohm, and nott 50 ohm is the correct conductor resistance This is a great video.

My internet provider does not let their customers use their own modems. I must use what they provide: an Arris cable modem. I have two of those, one for my office, which is in the second floor far from the music room, and one in the music room near the equipment. The music streamer/server (aWyred 4 Sound with th i7 package and a 2tb SSD) us roughly 5 feet from the cable modem. I have been following your reviews and recommendations and saw your review of the SOtM switches. Do you think that installing one of those switches may improve the quality of the streaming and the sound of the music being streamed? Being so near I do not know if it could help, but I would like to hear your suggestion.

Please make a comparative to raspberry pi i2s reclockers (i.e. Allo Kali and Ian FiFO II) . A lot of people are using raspberry pi for music server (which actually makes sense ) but agonise to improve the poor quality audio capabilities .

Hi Mr. Hans, can I use Optical cable for improve the sound quality over HDMI in DOLBY ATMOS or DTS X ?? THANK YOU.

my main issue has been power supplies causing interference, and USB noise

Looking at this in 2021. As a digital transport from say the Node to the DAC, would optical be superior to Coaxial or otherwise? Thanks

Will a 110 Aes to 75 spidif be fine? Or will I be better off getting a converter to keep it at 110 all the way through?

dear sir, why on earth there are not dacs that have direct Ethernet connection? for example, even the famous dcs network bridge can only be connected to a dac via analogue cable. am i missing something? also, how about hdmi connection?

How important is isolation between analog and digital components sharing the same case (preamp/dac)?

How high up in the sky can an audio direct communication on land go up before it is lost and without triangulation?

Ive been set on purchasing a Brooklyn DAC but after viewing this video the question arises, should I just save more money for a better DAC? I feel like that dog chasing his tail. Money is a factor as Im on a budget like so many others.

will usb3.0 be better for audio interconnects cause it has a higher bandwidth than usb 2.0

What about HDMI?

I just have one question about everything said in this video.....what!? o.O