Intona USB 3.0 Isolator Review

[Lambda]

user Gouwa posted this link:
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=630434596933&sourceType=item&ttid=1568860058617@taobao_android_9.17.0&ut_sk=1.WH3uIPg6g5QDAH/oQiUjWUjC_21646297_1609768411111.GoodsTitleURL.1&un=5ad31c4168b02864bbeeeafdb2768e28&share_crt_v=1&spm=a2159r.13376460.0.0&sp_tk=M0ZpamNzb2FKSjA=&cpp=1&shareurl=true&short_name=h.475yvQ7&bxsign=scdozhxt9Hty_FlYFsXb6JzZbEjPIm9BPCQxV50qZSSAm-PFgQbzRtGEc5Wx0ovVzjpz7kerP5imPp9qTCUJXR_ryHlN1zpOsmzJ1bOmIQCc8I&sm=fe99f4&app=chrome&qq-pf-to=pcqq.c2c

don't know if its real but 480mbit for this price would be nice to have

or maybe get USB over SFP fiber
https://www.ad-net.com.tw/product-category/video-transmission-equipment/usb-over-fiber-extenders/

 

[Bcquinn]

I have been using the Atom DAC with it and it has been flawless. I also used the D70B for a few weeks with it, and there were no glitches. However, it was only 1-2 weeks that used it with the Intona before I sold it and downsized to the Atom DAC.

I have to echo this. I bought one a few months ago, plugged it in and literally forgot it exists. No fiddling with it, no dropouts, no need to plug and unplug it. It works an USB cable with ground isolation, not an USB hub. I have tried other solutions and they all had glitches and quirks that required a lot of fiddling to get them to work and even then they would only work until the PC was restarted.

I hope I have the same experience. Long-time ASR lurker, first-time poster, but am struggling with a new issue and am pretty sure it’s USB noise—and I’m not using a cheap DAC, but rather one recommended around these parts ; ).

I just got a Gustard X26Pro. I have a NUC 8 ROCK in a Turing case. Had been running that via USB to an Oppo BD105 and using that as my DAC, using the balanced XLR outs, and had no issues. I excitedly swapped in my Gustard yesterday, same connections as before with the Oppo, and I’m now getting low-level—but clearly there—beeping / data-type noises in the background (not a steady hum). They’re worse when I interact with Roon. I tried unplugging multiple items, switching outlets etc. and am fairly sure it’s the USB on my NUC creating the issue for these reasons:
- when I turn the PC off, or unplug the USB from the PC, but leave everything else on (e.g., rest of the chain primed to receive) the noise stops
- interestingly, with the PC on and USB plugged in, but the Gustard turned off (and even unplugged), and rest of the chain on, I still get the noise

Would welcome any thoughts on what the issue might be / am I diagnosing it correctly. I have an Intona on the way; I’m hoping this will fix it.

 

[Veri]

I hope I have the same experience. Long-time ASR lurker, first-time poster, but am struggling with a new issue and am pretty sure it’s USB noise—and I’m not using a cheap DAC, but rather one recommended around these parts ; ).

I just got a Gustard X26Pro. I have a NUC 8 ROCK in a Turing case. Had been running that via USB to an Oppo BD105 and using that as my DAC, using the balanced XLR outs, and had no issues. I excitedly swapped in my Gustard yesterday, same connections as before with the Oppo, and I’m now getting low-level—but clearly there—beeping / data-type noises in the background (not a steady hum). They’re worse when I interact with Roon. I tried unplugging multiple items, switching outlets etc. and am fairly sure it’s the USB on my NUC creating the issue for these reasons:
- when I turn the PC off, or unplug the USB from the PC, but leave everything else on (e.g., rest of the chain primed to receive) the noise stops
- interestingly, with the PC on and USB plugged in, but the Gustard turned off (and even unplugged), and rest of the chain on, I still get the noise

Would welcome any thoughts on what the issue might be / am I diagnosing it correctly. I have an Intona on the way; I’m hoping this will fix it.

Couldn't you use optical (through a D10s or so if needed) and feed that to the Gustard? Or do you need the high USB bandwidth?
If you're set on an Intona a (used) USB2.0 isolator is a much better deal than the USB 3.0 by the way. For audio, you really don't need 3.0 whatsoever.

 

[Final]

I hope I have the same experience. Long-time ASR lurker, first-time poster, but am struggling with a new issue and am pretty sure it’s USB noise—and I’m not using a cheap DAC, but rather one recommended around these parts ; ).

I just got a Gustard X26Pro. I have a NUC 8 ROCK in a Turing case. Had been running that via USB to an Oppo BD105 and using that as my DAC, using the balanced XLR outs, and had no issues. I excitedly swapped in my Gustard yesterday, same connections as before with the Oppo, and I’m now getting low-level—but clearly there—beeping / data-type noises in the background (not a steady hum). They’re worse when I interact with Roon. I tried unplugging multiple items, switching outlets etc. and am fairly sure it’s the USB on my NUC creating the issue for these reasons:
- when I turn the PC off, or unplug the USB from the PC, but leave everything else on (e.g., rest of the chain primed to receive) the noise stops
- interestingly, with the PC on and USB plugged in, but the Gustard turned off (and even unplugged), and rest of the chain on, I still get the noise

Would welcome any thoughts on what the issue might be / am I diagnosing it correctly. I have an Intona on the way; I’m hoping this will fix it.

Sounds like USB noise. I had the same issue. When running PC on battery it disappeared. Lack of proper galvanic isolation in the DAC combined with a faulty power supplt was the case. Intona made the issue go away 100%. No need for battery opation. Tried other cheaper isolaters from Ifi first and that did not work. You can rest assured your problem will be solved.

 

[Bcquinn]

Sounds like USB noise. I had the same issue. When running PC on battery it disappeared. Lack of proper galvanic isolation in the DAC combined with a faulty power supplt was the case. Intona made the issue go away 100%. No need for battery opation. Tried other cheaper isolaters from Ifi first and that did not work. You can rest assured your problem will be solved.

Fingers crossed—thanks for the encouragement! It’s frustrating—I thought the Gustard would have better isolation but apparently not.

 

[Bcquinn]

Couldn't you use optical (through a D10s or so if needed) and feed that to the Gustard? Or do you need the high USB bandwidth?
If you're set on an Intona a (used) USB2.0 isolator is a much better deal than the USB 3.0 by the way. For audio, you really don't need 3.0 whatsoever.

I’d like to use the USB input to the Gustard if I can for a few reasons, including to see how MQA sounds to my ears.

 

[Veri]

I’d like to use the USB input to the Gustard if I can for a few reasons, including to see how MQA sounds to my ears.

Right. Got it I have a 2.0 Intona btw, bought it mint from another audio forum. Works perfect when you got trouble. It's one of the pricier solutions, but should work just like a cable, your PC can't even tell there's anything in between.

 

[Bcquinn]

Right. Got it I have a 2.0 Intona btw, bought it mint from another audio forum. Works perfect when you got trouble. Just one of the pricier solutions, but works just like a cable, your PC can't even tell there's anything in between.

Awesome, thanks for the reassurance. Will report back.

 

[godmax]

Sounds like USB noise. I had the same issue. When running PC on battery it disappeared. Lack of proper galvanic isolation in the DAC combined with a faulty power supplt was the case. Intona made the issue go away 100%. No need for battery opation. Tried other cheaper isolaters from Ifi first and that did not work. You can rest assured your problem will be solved.

Would welcome any thoughts on what the issue might be / am I diagnosing it correctly. I have an Intona on the way; I’m hoping this will fix it.

Right. Got it I have a 2.0 Intona btw, bought it mint from another audio forum. Works perfect when you got trouble. Just one of the pricier solutions, but works just like a cable, your PC can't even tell there's anything in between.

I also use an Intona 7055-C for ground loop induced USB/CPU noise I had, but since than everything is fine.

Works transparent (no simulated HUB etc.), but some DACs might get some pops/click sounds, when tracks are changed or playback stopped (only Schiit Hel had this very bad).

 

[AdamG]

I hope I have the same experience. Long-time ASR lurker, first-time poster, but am struggling with a new issue and am pretty sure it’s USB noise—and I’m not using a cheap DAC, but rather one recommended around these parts ; ).

I just got a Gustard X26Pro. I have a NUC 8 ROCK in a Turing case. Had been running that via USB to an Oppo BD105 and using that as my DAC, using the balanced XLR outs, and had no issues. I excitedly swapped in my Gustard yesterday, same connections as before with the Oppo, and I’m now getting low-level—but clearly there—beeping / data-type noises in the background (not a steady hum). They’re worse when I interact with Roon. I tried unplugging multiple items, switching outlets etc. and am fairly sure it’s the USB on my NUC creating the issue for these reasons:
- when I turn the PC off, or unplug the USB from the PC, but leave everything else on (e.g., rest of the chain primed to receive) the noise stops
- interestingly, with the PC on and USB plugged in, but the Gustard turned off (and even unplugged), and rest of the chain on, I still get the noise

Would welcome any thoughts on what the issue might be / am I diagnosing it correctly. I have an Intona on the way; I’m hoping this will fix it.

Welcome Aboard @Bcquinn.

 

[Bcquinn]

Aargh. So an Intona 7055-C arrived today. I connected my NUC to it (using an A to B cord--A cord from NUC port to B port on Intona), and then to the Gustard X26 Pro (from its A port to the B input on the DAC). I'm stumped. When I try to play tracks, there's a lot of crackling, and then the tracks themselves play at roughly double speed.

Any idea what's going on or what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Atanasi]

Aargh. So an Intona 7055-C arrived today. I connected my NUC to it (using an A to B cord--A cord from NUC port to B port on Intona), and then to the Gustard X26 Pro (from its A port to the B input on the DAC). I'm stumped. When I try to play tracks, there's a lot of crackling, and then the tracks themselves play at roughly double speed.

Any idea what's going on or what I'm doing wrong?

XMOS controllers as used in Gustard often have issues with Intona. You should try adding a simple bus-powered hub, and connect X26 Pro to it first on the isolated side. Firmware updates could also help, if they are provided.

 

[godmax]

XMOS controllers as used in Gustard often have issues with Intona. You should try adding a simple bus-powered hub, and connect X26 Pro to it first on the isolated side. Firmware updates could also help, if they are provided.

Yes, using a bus-powered USB hub on isolated side, is a good advice! @Bcquinn: I do the same (see my post before), even I dont have an XMOS XU216 DAC (yet) to test for you.

 

[Bcquinn]

Thanks guys. And just to double-check: is it important that this is a bus-powered hub vs. independently powered? (I’ve read elsewhere that injecting a separate power supply into USB could help). Thank you for your advice!

 

[godmax]

Thanks guys. And just to double-check: is it important that this is a bus-powered hub vs. independently powered? (I’ve read elsewhere that injecting a separate power supply into USB could help). Thank you for your advice!

You might have to try yourself, I use both (the Intona 7055-C and the connected USB 3.0 hub) only bus-powered, so no extra power supply needed at all for stable operation (but I also only use DACs on that hub/chain, that don't draw power themself from USB for operation)

 

[Atanasi]

Thanks guys. And just to double-check: is it important that this is a bus-powered hub vs. independently powered? (I’ve read elsewhere that injecting a separate power supply into USB could help). Thank you for your advice!

Bus-powered is mainly for avoiding an additional power supply on the isolated side. Self-powered hubs should work alright.

Power provided by 7055-C is specified as low noise, so when this matters, maybe for lab instruments, adding power supplies should be avoided.

 

[Bcquinn]

OK thanks guys. Will try a bus-powered hub. I’m still kind of stumped as to why / how the Intona is creating the ”doubling” issue on track playback.

FWIW, to double-check, I also tried plugging the PC, the DAC, my AVR (which is just passing through the signal FWIW) and my amplifier into one power strip, plugged into one outlet. That didn’t resolve the PC noise issue that’s leaking through the chain unfortunately.

 

[Bcquinn]

Success!! Adding a bus-powered 3.0 USB hub after the Intona and before the DAC did the trick! HUGE THANK YOU to everyone (especially Godmax, Atanasi and Veri) for your help!!

 

[Music1969]

- the Intona 5 KV version uses (really) expensive optical coupling, no way to achieve this with capacitors.

How is USB ground isolated by optical?

I can understand USB data lines being optically isolated.

 

[Music1969]

- as noted above I have no problems to quickly connect a few units and get heavy artefacts in my measurements. When I got my first Intona I was so happy that I sent them a measurement that they had put on their home page:

https://intona.eu/en/support/answer/1233

As you can see the effects are not just a few spikes at 50 Hz and multiples. Totally wrong harmonics and a raised noise floor. Not that this was audible (it wasn't), but who wants to spend hundreds of dollars on modern top DACs, and then get such mediocre quality to the speakers? So I can understand that people who can't measure buy this stuff just to have peace of mind.

Hi @MC_RME

If the USB source computer was a laptop running on battery (with AC/DC power adapter electrically disconnected of course) would you expect to see same measurement as your PC+Intona measurement here?