USB isolators are not the same as mains filters. As far as I understand it, isolators remove the electrical connection (grounds) which exists otherwise, and prevent the introduction of noise into the DAC and its digital and analog circuitry (some of which can be quite sensitive to such pollution). I think that PSU noise is more a factor here than Mains noise.
One could achieve the same results with a USB->optical->USB connection, but this costs more than the £20-30 of an isolator. Isolators should not alter the signal and don't have any negative effect (besides cost and throughput limits which are above what is needed for USB 1.0 Audio)... as can easly be demonstrated with the MDAC and its bit perfect test. They do provide some added protection to the DAC (and are commonly used with USB experimentation boards and other testing equipment, for this reason). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ eiffel's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=46208 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=94822
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