How do I safely share the USB A output of the Node n130 between two external SMSL MQA DACs?

Answered

mbijok

• March 04, 2023 17:29

My wife and I have separate SMSL DACs that both support MQA unfolding on their USB B inputs. There are lots of 2 to 1 or 1 to 2 USB switches, but I want to make sure that any switch I consider is both safe to use and does not compromise the communication path between the Node and either DAC.

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• Official comment

  

  Seppi Evans

  Hi-Res

  • March 04, 2023 18:56

  I am not a Bluesound representative but I am seasoned IT guy with an electrical background and personally I would not switch USB output between external devices using a switch box. There is just so much that could go wrong and could be an expensive experiment and if you went ahead with this I would power off  (physically remove power) from the NODE before switching to a different DAC. I am confident Bluesound will not recommend this.
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  mbijok

  • March 04, 2023 19:30

  Thanks! I’m also a retired IT admin and electronics tech, which is why I wanted to get a second opinion on this. I saw a response from Kal (Stereophile) who I think is doing something similar, but better safe than sorry! I guess my wife gets the USB connection and I’ll have to live with the coax output of the Node. Fortunately, I have a newer SMSL DAC with the ESS 9039 pro chip that supports full hardware MQA decoding over spdif. Thanks for your input.

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  Seppi Evans

  Hi-Res

  • March 04, 2023 19:45

  Good call, just use the alternative outputs.

  With voltage, static and unknown grounding and not knowing if the switch brakes before makes would worry me.

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