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The StarTech dongle I use has no DAC-out so it's going through two amps in my test configuration. PC -> USB StarTech dongle -> 3.5mm headphone jack -> 3.5mm-to-RCA combiner -> Schiit RCA-in

Got everything hooked up for a quick test, no hum as far as I can tell... there is a moderate hiss on medium-gain and a loud hiss on high-gain, but the StarTech dongle has a slight hiss anyways so I figure that's just being amplified. Actually, the wall wart doesn't have a ground pin at all, so...

I think I may have worded it poorly, I went back and added a preamble to try and clear it up. I've never been good with words. Your statement is true but for me "a certain level of performance for such little money" is stuff like the Schiit Magni or Rekkr for example, or the Midgard on a good...

None - I haven't had any ground loop issues (yet). According to the fella who advised me, antcollinet, they can be had on Amazon and look like the attached pic. I'd guess you'll find them with a few different brands on them and all coming out of the same factory. Not expensive. I suppose in...

Do you still get noise with the speakers and everything powered on, but with the speaker input disconnected? If yes, I don't think I can help any, but if not, my extremely wacky idea is to try changing the slot the sound card is installed in. Maybe several different slots. Since balanced cables...

Ah, I stopped watching when he said "people aren't stupid"... kidding, kidding :) But, broadly speaking, I can't say I agree. If any of you remember Men in Black, I think Agent K said it best: "a person is smart, people are stupid". Interesting video. I suppose I do see some shades of the...

There is a difference between being poor and not wanting to waste money. You're not the only one, and respectfully, I don't appreciate the insinuation. I could spend hundreds, maybe even thousands on audio gear if really I wanted, sure, but to me it doesn't make sense. I guess I'd rather spend...

At the same time, an Amplifier does one thing - it powers speakers. A smartphone is a miniaturised computer. Though, I don't buy smartphones, either. £190 in '77 is over £1,000 today... that's crazy - both how much it cost, and how much money has inflated!

To be fair, I can't eat my headphones, and I can't drive an amplifier to work... though, new car prices are pretty ridiculous to me too, given how long they (don't) last these days. But, comparing an entire new CAR to a pair of headphones, or a pair of speakers, or an amplifier is a bit silly in...

About the cheapest for "proper" hi-fi headphones, yeah, and about the most I could be persuaded to spend... and I did, that's almost what my Sennheisers cost me. HD 579, $180 CAD. In hindsight, I kind of regret it, not because they don't sound good, or even because I think the good sound wasn't...

Edit preamble - yes, I know, there is actually, genuinely cheap entry-level gear, and it is good, very very good even, as low as ~$200 and under per piece. Yes, that is a good price, that makes sense to me. The disconnect for me, explained further below, is when more expensive things get called...

$1,500 for a steel shoebox... seriously? Do people actually buy these things? And do they realise the same can be achieved with a $200 (or less) PC case?

More than just high credence, I think. The Earth has a lot of inertia and is not given to stop spinning overnight. For me personally the UFO smoking gun was that footage released I think a couple years ago now of the fast mover those U.S. Navy fighter pilots saw, and got their IR systems to...

I've not too worried about that, I've already got some old standard-length RCA cables laying around (somewhere around here, at least) from back when that's how you hooked your TV up. I just wanna get shorter cables to keep things tidy - I got enough cable clutter as it is! My PC hasn't got...

I suppose it's not that bad in the grand scheme of things, no, especially not when there's sub-foot interconnects selling for $50 or $70 or $130 USD and those are the "budget" "premium-grade" ones! With pixie dust coating the copper wiring and unicorn farts infused into the shielding, and...

Pulled the trigger on that hot Schiit, should be some good Schiit... etc, etc, wordplay ahoy, I'm sure everyone's heard it a million times :) Wasn't expecting to buy anything so soon when I made this thread, but the price really is too good to pass up, it's true. The hardest part will be waiting...

The cheapest I could find was a 0.3m pair for $12.68 CAD on AliExpress... oughta be half that in my opinion. Especially considering a 2m cable doesn't cost much more! Short RCA pairs less than $20 CAD - that I can get with free or cheap shipping (in-store they are non-existent in my area) -...

I think I know what to do. I won't have the DAC for a while since I'm waiting for it to go on sale. But, I can get the amp, and get a cheap RCA to 3.5mm splitter since I want to experiment with preamp out to my mini soundbar anyways, and use it to connect the amp to the headphone jack of my...

Most of the technical information goes over my head unfortunately, but I think I get the gist - whether a ground loop will form or not depends on the hardware, right? How it's been built and configured internally, whether it's grounded or not, etc. So I guess you have to trust it was designed by...

Hi everyone, I'm planning out my first "proper" desktop system, i.e. separate USB DAC and amp (of presumably good quality), and something I keep seeing mentioned is ground loops, or ground noise. I don't think I have any of this going on in any of my very pedestrian equipment at the moment so...