So I recently bought a new dac/amp to use with both my headphones and active speakers (genelec 8020b), and even though it worked beautifully with my headphones my active speakers didn't like it very much as they started buzzing once I disconnected my headphones.
Because the buzz got significantly lower once connected to my Macbook Pro Retina, I figured it had to be due to some power/ground issue, and decided to fix it myself. My options were to buy an externally powered usb-hub, or just opening up two usb-cables and soldering them together into a new Y-cable (the power would come from an old usb-charger (5v 2A)). Because the former seemed unnecessarily expensive I went for option number two.
The first time I did it I got my wires crossed as I assumed green was the ground which of course turned out to be false. Windows of course didn't recognize the device, and the device didn't seem like it was getting enough power. So I took it apart once again, but this time I soldered everything correctly, and what do you know the buzz is gone and everything is working perfectly! Really cheap way to improve the audio quality of your dac if you have a ****** old PSU like I have with a noisy 5v rail.
Here you can see the soldered cable:
Same cable with some electrical tape:
Because the buzz got significantly lower once connected to my Macbook Pro Retina, I figured it had to be due to some power/ground issue, and decided to fix it myself. My options were to buy an externally powered usb-hub, or just opening up two usb-cables and soldering them together into a new Y-cable (the power would come from an old usb-charger (5v 2A)). Because the former seemed unnecessarily expensive I went for option number two.
The first time I did it I got my wires crossed as I assumed green was the ground which of course turned out to be false. Windows of course didn't recognize the device, and the device didn't seem like it was getting enough power. So I took it apart once again, but this time I soldered everything correctly, and what do you know the buzz is gone and everything is working perfectly! Really cheap way to improve the audio quality of your dac if you have a ****** old PSU like I have with a noisy 5v rail.
Here you can see the soldered cable:
Same cable with some electrical tape:
