USB Nervosa Thread Decrapifiers, pro interfaces, and bears oh my

How do you clean the contacts? Isopropyl alcohol?

 

Useless noise. It's been established that people hear differences, that bits aren't, and that measurements only capture a fraction of what can be heard simply by listening. Sitting around and doing nothing but measure measure measure is just validating a flawed nwavguy philosophy.

 

MOAR DETAILS!!

 

That is one chemical you could use.
I use Caig Labs DeOxit Gold and spray it on one of their lint free cloth pads and a dental pick to swab the contacts.
You'd be amazed at the crud that winds up on the pad.

JJ

 

Just wait all will be revealed in due time. Even I am excited to hear it myself!

 

@brencho curious to hear your thoughts on Regen + mutec 1.2 with Gungnir Multibit / bw. Great choice on the mc1.2 btw!

 

The best USB cable can be down to preference, but for me, valuing resolution down to nuance level, I found Wireworld Platinum Starlight USB the best. I have compared to quite a few cables that claim to be better. They were not better. By comparison the Lightspeed 10G is drier and lacking nuance, but that was quick comparison at freind house, and also using series 6 Wireworld. Series 7 is even better at nuancey stuffs.

It is a lot of money, but I figure it will be a while till manufacturers get their act together and move on from USB. Other alternative might be SD card straight to I2S which is something I have been researching heavily but still not solid options...

 

Use Caig Labs Deoxti Gold at your own peril, as it can gum up connectors. Use the Deoxit D5 instead (which I think is cheaper, also), and let it settle for a few days. Why? I don't know, but I've been doing this for years, and my process for power plugs is Flit or Brasso, followed by distilled water, followed by technical grade isoprophyl alcohol. For interconnects, I do use Deoxit D5 on a clean applicator (sparilngly), let them settle for a few hours then i plug them in.

And frigging wait for a week for the sound to settle down. Crap, I know. But it is what it is.....

 

Interesting. Do you have this posted anywhere? I firmly know it does make a difference, as well, but just curious as to the disappearance of any reasonable priced Furutech GT2. The GT2 Pro runs in the hundreds locally, now, and old stock GT2 sellers are from the Russian Federation, or China. I use an LH Labs 10G that can get reedy if mismatched, but lets through a ton of detail. Matching is still necessary, I find.

 

Pretty cool that you picked up on that. I use. 5 meter run of the Furutech GT2 and have no sound quality hang ups. In fact all the other cables were just a meter or so in length which is supposedly "ideal". The GT2 kicked butt. And it was the cheapest of the bunch. Here is the weird thing...I was the one who initiated the shoot out as I wanted to upgrade to a high quality cable. Turned out, mine was already higher than the high quality cables in the shoot out.

I have not posted it anywhere. That said, I would get the new GT2 pro as it is a bit better than my older version. Confirmed again with listening. I just didn't bother to upgrade as its good enough for me. If someone was now buying a USB cable, I would suggest u take a look at the GT2 Pro. And yes, t takes some time for a new one to settle down. Slightly constrained sounding when brand new.

 

I too have been using cramolin and deoxit since at least as far back as the late 70's as well.

I would never use cramolin nor deoxit red on computer nor audio gear, it is WAY to anti-corrosive, and hard to make sure it is completely removed, that stuff spreads out and will cover everything.
In fact the only use I have for those products is on commercial/industrial/naval switch gear.
Indeed it is a marvel for cleaning those switch contacts because it will 'dissolve' the metal oxides due to arcing and extend the life of the switch contacts, especially after using cramolin blue (a light coating only) to help reduce the build up of metal oxides.

And I have never seen DeOxit gold (ProGold) gum anything up on anything I have ever used it upon, from Simms. Dimms, DB-xx connectors, USB, RCA, XLR, etc., since the late 70's when I first started using it.
And if you are seeing "gum(ed) up connectors" you are using WAY to much of it.
And I have seen red and blue cramolin get gummy, mostly due to it never being thoroughly cleaned off and more just added on top.

DeOxit gold should be a surface coating ONLY as in wipe it on and leave so little you can't even tell it's there.
In fact I still have my original pump can of Progold and it is only ≈ 50 used, for all of these many years of use.

And using DeOxit Gold leaves WAY less residue than Stabilant 22 or any of the other contact enhancers I have tried.

Just my 2¢ based upon my experiences with these chemicals.

And I completely agree about having to wait for the SQ to stabilize and reach its peak again.
This seems to be true for ANY change in my system, from simply unplugging and plugging any cable back into my system to adding gear etc.

And this 'trend' can sometimes stretch beyond a single week, depending upon the degree of change introduced by a 'new' component into the system.
And as the whole system increases in resolution and inner detail (better focus), the longer it seems to take to settle back down and reach its 'new' peak in SQ.

JJ

 

Oh, I have to try that, then. I had a WW Platinum Starlight USB that I loved, but I broke the male side of it by accident, as it was too short. Totally agree on the dryness, I run it off speakers which are bit too full, so it compliments it. For the money, a Slinger and a Furutech might be better, Thanks for the heads up on the Series 7. Now to find one to compare.

 

@johnjen You had me smiling with your comment. i thought i was the only one that was bugged out by how long recleaned systems took to stabilized. I redid it lately, and it took almost two weeks and still it wasnt quite there. I was beside myself. The problems with speaker systems, lol. And new pieces, forget it! I am always mystified by people that pass judgment on gear they just plugged in, leading to bashing products and odd impressions.

 

Such a tease.

 

I have been keeping a journal and tracking the hours as the system changes in SQ for several years now.
Currently it can take 500 hrs to fully settle in after making any change.
For instance I'm at 335hrs since I last fussed with the setup and the SQ is still morphing, by coming into and then out of focus.
And the number of hours to fully settle in has increased from ≈ 150hrs to now taking 500hrs.

This seems to be related to how much overall improvement in SQ has been achieved.
The thing is, I've noticed that within the 1st 12hrs of use (after 1-2 hrs of being turned on) the SQ will reflect where it will wind up, after stabilizing (500 hrs later).
AND, as the overall SQ continues to become more and more refined, even the times when the SQ is 'less' focused and not as captivating, it still is quite enjoyable and compelling to listen to.
There are a few exceptions of course, even so after getting fully warmed up (1-2hrs) the SQ can be quite telling, but it doesn't last as the SQ starts swinging up and down and then stabilizing 20 days later (500hrs) all the while continually being left on and running.

JJ

 

I've been tracking the changes to the SQ of my system as new gear and other improvements are made for several years now.
And during the 1st 10-12 hrs or so (after the 1st 1-2 hrs as thermal stability is reached), I can get a decent idea if the changes are 'Better' or not.
But then the SQ starts morphing and swings 'Better' then worse then better again until upwards of 500 hrs have passed, where it stabilizes.

And the number of hrs of morphing has increased since I first started tracking this, up from ≈ 150 to the present 500±.
I figure this is due to the added resolution that these tweaks reveal, thus my ability to hear increased inner and micro details as the SQ becomes more refined and focused.

So it is possible to tell if a piece of gear is 'Better' or not, but not really how much better it will become after fully settling in until (in my system) 500hrs (20+ days) of continual 24/7 playing music.

I figure most folks don't have the where with all to perform this degree of evaluation over time and in such a manner, otherwise others would be experiencing this and posting about it as well.

JJ

 

I have tubes though, so this makes it a little less feasible to run them all the time. The good thing, like you said, is I am lucky enough to have stuff to swap, and a little time to listen, so the road to 'better' is somewhat informed, and easier. It took me a long time though.

 

Alldaq ADQ professional USB isolator review:

 

Anyone heard of this USB BOOSTER? . The price is really interesting

 

HI all,
Can people with the intona do a simple experiment and see if it makes a difference. The intona's plastic body and cover it with with 3 - 4 wraps of ordinary Aluminium kitchen foil. Just make sure there are no gaps and rough wrap around the coming / out going cables....
Less than a minute to do.. Keep it where you normally would let us know if you hear any difference or nothing..

Cheers

Dave