Often galvanic isolation is recommended
Shield your computer from the noise generated by the PC
Lots of claims about improvement when using some kind of isolator but very few measurements.
Exasound measured the noise level with and without galvanic isolation of the USB
According to Exasound
Obvious the pic above show a substantial increase in the noise floor if you don’t isolate the DAC from the computer.
On the other hand even without galvanic isolation the noise is below -120, a very low value.
Makes me wonder if the difference is audible at all.
Shield your computer from the noise generated by the PC
Lots of claims about improvement when using some kind of isolator but very few measurements.
Exasound measured the noise level with and without galvanic isolation of the USB
According to Exasound
![exaSound-e12-DAC-Noise-Floor.jpg exaSound-e12-DAC-Noise-Floor.jpg](https://www.whatsbestforum.com/data/attachments/14/14123-2ddad718a65ad11de200deaed1805036.jpg)
FFT spectrum (1024K points averaged 8 times) showing the noise floor measured on the e12 DAC RCA line outputs. The e12 DAC is connected with a standard USB cable to a low-cost desktop PC. The noise floor is extremely clean. There are no visible traces from the computer high-frequency noise usually transmitted via the USB connection. The power line related noise (60Hz and its harmonics) is below -157 dB (0.0000014%).
![exaSound-e12-DAC-No-Galvanic-Isolation.jpg exaSound-e12-DAC-No-Galvanic-Isolation.jpg](https://www.whatsbestforum.com/data/attachments/14/14124-093dd35c8448e90eed880ee1fc402053.jpg)
For comparison, the same measurement is taken without Galvanic ground isolation. The noise level is increased by 30dB. This experiment clearly shows the benefits of using Galvanic isolation.
Source: Exasound http://www.exasound.com/e12/e12Measurements.aspx
Obvious the pic above show a substantial increase in the noise floor if you don’t isolate the DAC from the computer.
On the other hand even without galvanic isolation the noise is below -120, a very low value.
Makes me wonder if the difference is audible at all.
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