FS: $15 Possibly better sounding USB port for your computer-PCIE USB Card

2 Port PCI Express PCIe SuperSpeed (5Gbps) USB 3.0 Controller Card w/ SATA Power - Startech #PEXUSB3S23

Used and in very good condition- Works great in my setup, only reason for sale is I moved to a small PC with no PCIE slots.

$15 and $4.85 for shipping. Paypal Only, Conus Only, no trades.

I used this in my Windows PC and got better audibly better sound with my Prism Dac than when using the other USB ports that were built in. I used it without connecting a Sata cable to the card, so no power. (See Edit below) My Prism Dac does not require power to do the handshake and this is probably one reason why the sound was better. The other reason my be that the dac was not on a shared internal USB hub. I never tried it with power applied but it may be an improvement over built in hubs.

In any case, if you want to try a cheap tweak with your PC based setup then this might be your ticket. If you wish to forgo using one of your SATA cables in the computer, do a test by using a regular USB cable and taping off the power pin to see if your Dac works without the 5 volts. Standard USB A cable pinout info is on the web.

Includes: Card, instructions, CD, full & low profile brackets, original box. PM with any questions.

EDIT: Updated info from @fastfwd

It's not that there's NO power without the SATA cable. Without the SATA cable, your USB card still provides 5V on the power pin, it's just at a low current (the USB spec says it has to be 100mA on each port). The SATA cable allows higher current (probably 900mA) to be drawn.

Whatever it is, this card does sounds better than the other hub supplied ports in my PC.

 

Sometimes I don't think things through enough. I use the same model machine I retired from the main music setup as my daily desktop. Even though I use a modest Zen dac with it, I have installed this card into it to give the dac a helping hand. Now all the USB devices are not competing. Sounds more relaxed and a tad quieter.

@jexby @shotgunshane Please archive, thank you.