Gigabyte launch a range of 'audiophile' grade motherboards.

[Tim]

Bet the word 'audiophile' grabbed your attention! - well maybe the file based audio crew anyway



Gigabyte GA-H81N

This looks interesting and a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned . . . dedicated boards with audio in mind. During my years of testing I did discover that some motherboards can influence the quality of the end product believe it or not, especially the cheaper ASROCK and MSI ones. Anyway these new Intel H81 chipset boards have stripped back feature sets with audio rather than gaming in mind, one board allows you to change op-amps but the feature that has caught my attention is a gold plated, isolated USB port which claims to supply clean, stable power to the port, which is separate to other USB ports. Additionally, you can isolate the 5V power from this dedicated 'audio' USB port, by turning it off in the BIOS, so all you get is the data stream, no power. In theory then all you need is a simple power injector like the Item Audio one, get yourself a small 5V linear PSU and voilà, a clean regulated and isolated 5V power line to your USB DAC and no need for an expensive iFi USB power brick or similar (in theory?). You could buy a motherboard, 1150 Haswell CPU, 5V linear PSU, RAM and power injector all for less than the price of the iFi-Audio iUSBPower

Going to buy myself this one, with one of the new 'T' rated low power i3 Intel Haswell CPU's and build another server, hopefully the last for awhile. I have found my 32bit Atom board (DM2800T) lacking on some fronts, so want a new build. It may well all be marketing BS, but we shall see? Certainly being able to isolate the 5V line on the board and having a dedicated audio USB port is going to be a good thing if you use a USB DAC, which I do.

This is the op-amp board;

GA-H81.Amp-UP

And the full range of new H81 boards.

Bring it on ASUS, what are you going to do to match this?

[realysm42]

[John]

Looks interesting Tim keep us updated
If I felt confident I give this a go myself

[MartinT]

It's interesting how the all-in-one file based systems are diverging from the streamer solutions. I don't know enough about both to know which will yield ultimately better results, all I know is that my Logitech Touch has come a long way from when I first acquired it (with all the mods being with the Touch or its power supply), whereas I've done little to my file server except to run Fidelizer on it.

Keep us informed, Tim, audiophile motherboards are an interesting development.

[Krisbee]

Tim,

I guess we'd all like to know just how noiseless the gigabyte "Noise-less USB DAC-UP port" proves to be.

PS Same power injector for £1.80

http://linitx.com/product/5v-power-i...d-rb493g/12849

[Tim]

I guess we'd all like to know just how noiseless the gigabyte "Noise-less USB DAC-UP port" proves to be.

Indeed, I like the idea but the proof will be in the pudding I guess? Not sure why they didn't just isolate the power and USB port, then put a dedicated 5V through an LM78xx series linear regulator with some smoothing caps directly on the board itself and be done with it . . . . or is that too simplistic? I have an ADuM4160 USB isolator board at the mo, fed by its own 9V linear PSU, but its not very elegant - this would be a much better option.

Thanks for the link too

[NRG]

Tim,

I guess we'd all like to know just how noiseless the gigabyte "Noise-less USB DAC-UP port" proves to be.

PS Same power injector for £1.80

http://linitx.com/product/5v-power-i...d-rb493g/12849

If it does as it says on the tin then its a good step forward plus the ability to isolate the power via the BIOS has to be good.

[Tim]

If it does as it says on the tin then its a good step forward plus the ability to isolate the power via the BIOS has to be good.

I will report back when I have the board, not found one yet for sale over here, but have not looked that hard yet. It certainly should tick the box re power for USB if its turned off in the BIOS. I was reading a thread about their products on CA and they apparently confirm exactly what the iUSB Power does (iFi-Audio themselves), so this motherboard with power turned off, an injector cable and a linear PSU should give you the same result or possibly better, as I understand the iUSB Power only comes with an SMPS walwart? All steps in the right direction for file based audio. No doubt a lot of the manufacturers R&D departments are reading the forums

Quote from iFi-Audio

Thank you for your kind enquiry and thank you for purchasing the iUSB Power.

The iUSB Power does nothing to the audio. It stops the PC power and injects a new clean power supply.

The Gemini cable separates audio + power because one does not lay ICs and Power Cables together (obviously!) yet in the USB cable because of its original design, it does that.

The iPurifier is best placed just prior to the DAC. Ie: Computer > Usb cable > iUSB > USB cable > iPurifier > DAC.

The Purifier in a nutshell filters audio + power.

Any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Website will be updated! Hold your horses!

[Krisbee]

Bit of show shopper if you can't buy a Gigabyte GA-H81N in the UK at the moment. It is shown on the Gigabyte's UK website, may be a call to them will clarify if any UK retail outlet will ever stock it.

[tonerei]

That looks promising especially for people who have not already done a build. My is build with an intel board so will have to wait for the serial testers to give their verdict.
AudioPC with Linear power and batteries with windows 2012 on usb stick also running off anker battery pack sounds really good to me.

As per most hifi solutions the sky is the limit as you can indulge your funds on PPang USB cards and cables or Jplay's versions and lighten your wallet even further.

Not sure if it was on this forum but someone pointed out that the mobo manufacturers must be keeping a close eye on what people are talking about and doing on forums.