Loaner: Intona USB Isolator (much better Eitr)

Loaner: Intona USB Isolator
Loaner courtesy of Kitsune Hifi

more info and you can purchase one for $389 here (you want the USB 3 model)





Tim at Kitsune Hifi is very knowledgable about USB audio, his Holo DACs are said to sound better with USB input than any other input from a Pi2AES (with exception of HQplayer which I don't know much about). He recommends using USB with his Holo DAC's. And he really loves and raves about this unit.

It would likely be a great device for people who want to use USB into their DAC's for whatever reason, convenience or your specific preferred gear chain, but don't like the quality. You just plug in the "dirty" USB Into one socket and "clean" USB comes out of the other and to your DAC. Tim at Kitsune said this unit brings ripple down to 0.9uv. Which is apparently very low.

We need enough people to sign up for it to be worth it for Kitsune, but it would be great to have people compare this going USB into their DACs vs the Pi2AES or other DDC. And it would be awesome if @atomicbob could take measurements.

Sign up below.

Standard rules.

• Open to ALL friends and contributors on case by case basis but do not be shy to ask
• 1 week per person (or more if you want just post an update here)
• Insure for 195$
• FedEx UPS only
• Impressions required in thread that the first person on the list creates
• Post with your location if interested

**If you are the last person on the list send rhythmdevils a pm when your time is up for shipping instructions. Do not just tag me or hold onto the gear.**

 

I own one of these and it's a great addition to any USB chain.

If you want to go overkill, add a LPS-1.2 to the Aux power for total isolation and clean power.
It was yet another big improvement, but it is hard to recommend buying an LPS-1.2 given they can't fix them and - from experience - they're not reliable...

 

I'd be willing to give it a try to compare pi2aes on yiggy LIM. New Richmond, WI.

 

put me at the end of the list as usual.

 

I'd be very curious about everyone's impressions and @atomicbob 's measurements. When I switched to HQPlayer as the source for my Holo DACs, I got Intona isolators from Kitsune to sit between the USB sources (small Up Gateway fanless PCs) and the DACs. Do I really need them? Not sure, but at the very least they protect the DACs from bad electrical stuff (PG&E is not your friend) happening upstream.

 

I’d be interested in trying this for my Spring 3 KTE. I run a 30 Ft. USB extension cable direct from my server and it gives me massive nervosa (tons of PWM fans, HDDs, GPU). I put a USB pcie card in recently which makes me feel better, but I wonder if this compromised setup would benefit from the Intona.