dbastin2605
I sure am on SNA, not keen on touching U.S. plugs I’m afraid.
I have a range of Power leads I’ve been trying out in the chain, Nordost red dawn/ blue, Isotek premier, Voodoo,Aust premium brands etc.
I’m hoping l can solve without spending several $k , but who knows!,
Update - l borrowed a high end DAC and noticed there was zero noise or static plugged via the K50.
Now appears the Ayon tube DAC was the culprit, new DAC appears to be the remedy! 
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Glad you sorted it out.
Take a look at the Merason DAC 1, its non upsampling and so natural.
Brian
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So what I am surmising by trying to fill in a lot of blank holes, is that a signal ground (USB, RCA, etc) might help - if connected to the appropriate grounding system.
Still no idea how to connect to a chassis ground system such as Shinyata’s CGS. With the Everest, it would be the only device connected to the CGS lug.
Is there a BEST chassis screw to use???
All Antipodes music server chassis are already grounded to electrical earth, you dont really want to do this twice.
If you do, any screw will do.
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Thank you Mark.
Any thoughts on employing a signal grounding system? Eg using an ‘open’ output on the digital board?
My understanding is that you don’t want to have 2 physically seperated grounds, everything should be done over a single ground reference on the PCB.
I have to say I’m stretching my knowledge here, but we can’t treat a computer based system in the same manner in which say for example an analogue amplifier is treated.
Exactly right. But… there are signal grounding devices that avoid this problem by not themselves connecting to the earth ground. They aim to remove noise that gets dumped on the ground plane so they aren’t really providing a separate ground. Digital gear could potentially benefit from these given all the noise these components generate internally.
So I think signal grounding is worth trying as long as it’s kept separate from the earth and chassis grounds.
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That’s my take away. I intend to demo a new Shunyata Altaira Signal Ground System later this summer. At that time, I will try it with one of the unused digital outputs of the K50.
Right on. Let us know what you hear.
I use a CAD GC 3 to signal ground both my K50 and Aqua Formula xHD via USB output and BNC input, respectively. It does reduce high res noise with blacker background and ability to hear deeper into the music.
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Hmm, the Shunyata is still a bit of a mystery. For their website:
Shunyata Research Grounding systems are designed to eliminate chassis and signal related ground noise through the use of vanishingly low-impedance ground cables and two separate and discrete ground filtering stations. The Altaira Chassis ground station forms the baseline of this system by draining chassis borne noise, while the separate and distinct Altaira Signal Ground station reduces internally generated component borne noise riding on signal grounds. The results after installing the complete system is a stunning, immediate reduction in overall noise, uncovering a wealth of hidden detail and performance hidden beneath all system’s noise floor.
I’d guess they use a compound to absorb noise, and that signal ground makes different noise (frequency) to chassis ground so they have different compounds. Or at least it cod be worthwhile in many cases not connecting signal ground to chassis ground.
I have an EX with a signal ground wire from a spare RCA. I use Synergistic Research HD ground cable and Active Ground Block SE which is plugged into the outlet and via this the ‘Earth’. It makes a considerable difference, especially when all audio gear is grounded in this way.
The EX’s powercord also plugs into Synergistic Research Powercell 12 SE which has an EM cell that conditions the earth ground of the AC (ie. to reduce noise from earth cabling in the building getting into the audio gear) which is also the ‘Earth’.
The important thing is to achieve the same ground potential to draw noise away from audio gear rather than polluting one another via ground.
I also have all the unused ports on the EX capped with AQ or Telos to reduce noise pollution. I was also using Akiko USB stick on the Audio 5V On USB which made a minor but worthwhile improvement, until I tried the Telos USB Macro Q which is in another league.
It seems to me sound quality benefits from attention to each of the different ‘ground’ sources of noise. It may be possible to use say Akiko or Entreq for signal grounds and Shunyata for chassis grounds. As good as Synergistic Research is, it uses tiny banana plugs rather than universal spades, which kinda commits to their ecosystem.
I am yet to ground my rack!
I hope this helps understand the subject.
Shunyata’s power conditioners have been using a technology they call a Noise Isolation Chamber (NIC). These are tubes stuffed with a ferroelectric material that removes noise without the harm that traditional filters cause. This technology can just as easily be redeployed to remove noise from a ground circuit.
I’m not sure where you got that they are using different grounds. The reason they have two different boxes is so that one doesn’t pollute the other. Their signal ground box doesn’t connect to earth. It aims to be a ground filtering box.
I had a Triton v2 and used the CGS for signal ground successfully. Actually, I had a Synergistic Research passive Ground Block to which all my grounds were connected, and that was connected to CGS, which was much better than the wall. All ground wires were from unused outlets or cable shields.
I am speculating hence I said “I guess”. Shunyata seems to have been working on these for some time, so I imagine there has been testing, tuning, and voicing, which might mean the 2 different ground boxes use different methods, as well as not pollute one another.
Testing, tuning, voicing is part of their normal process. What’s unusual is that word of these leaked a while ago. I imagine the delay is related more to supply chain issues as these items have been on dealers price lists all year.
The news wasn’t really leaked since they allowed Suncoast Audio, their Sarasota Florida dealer, to display them last January at the Florida Audio Expo.
I took pictures of them which seem to be making their way around the ‘intersphere’.
The demo I heard was a slam dunk on their collective very positive improvement in sound quality. Everyone on the room was impressed.
I was referring to this, which seemed like a leak to me as I didn’t think price lists were supposed to be shared publicly. I believe the Florida Audio Expo you are referring to came after this was posted.
Nice photos!!
Ah. I see. I know they had Altaira prototype products in the field with beta testers in early 2021.
No idea why they are so delayed in bringing them market. I had heard at FLAX they were holding the introduction until they could develop and deploy training for all of their distributors.
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It looks like some really good advice is being offered in the table at the bottom of this document.
Update: I measured continuity of my K50 today using a Klein MM300 multimeter. I found the chassis screws on the top of the unit and the rear of the unit have continuity with the IEC ground. I connected a wire from the top plate screw to my Shunyata Everest CGS lug and now have my entire system on a common ground. It is awesome and well worth the effort.
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