Hi everyone
Good evening / good morning everyone
Today’s topic is a bit complicated and goes deep into the audio world
About four months ago
I moved from Riyadh to a governorate close to it
After the move I was surprised that none of the houses here have an earth line for the electricity
(Earth)
I started looking for possible solutions
and my search was slow because I didn’t notice any problem with my system
but then, out of nowhere, I got a headphone
Hifiman Edition XV
from one of my customers to mod it and upgrade its internal cables
As you know, this headphone has a veeeeery low impedance =
only 12ohm
And that’s when my system got exposed 😐
I’m sitting there hearing a suuuuper annoying humming
and the moment I touch the body of any of my devices it disappears
That’s when the serious searching started
and I wasn’t convinced by any of the solutions
The best solution was to put an earth in the house I’m renting
and run a cable to the room with the gear
but that’s hard to do and expensive, and the workers here have no clue what I’m talking about 🙂
One of the solutions I came across was
Star Ground
I dug deeper and deeper and there wasn’t much out there, and a lot of it was just talk with no actual practice
a bit of info from here and there until I had the full picture of how to do it
I applied it and what a surprise
the problem disappeared and my system’s performance changed for the better
which means the problem was there all along, just hard to notice
especially in the background ,, now it’s blacker (meaning there was noise in the background I wasn’t paying attention to)
and the quieter the background gets, the more almost everything improves with it
and by the way it’s also a fix for the Ground Loop problem
The improvements I’ve noticed so far (they were all there already, but the background noise was hiding them):
– Background blackness went up biiiig time (better).
– Better holographic presentation.
– Better separation between sounds.
– Better imaging (it’s laser sharp now, mashallah).
– Clearer detail and air.
– I can hear the bass now no matter how faint it is, it has more air and its weight is clear.
– Better clarity in the layering.
So I said let me share my experience with you, maybe someone will benefit from it
What is Star Ground?
It’s a grounding system where all the ground paths
(Ground)
are connected to one single point only
(Single Point).
Every device has its own separate ground wire that goes straight to that point, without sharing the path with another device
OK:
Why does this system matter in audio?
When you have a lot of devices, a ground path forms between them
so this system solves the following problems for you:
First: Ground Loop
If the devices share the same ground path: meaning the current comes back through more than one path
then you get a loop
and it turns into an antenna that picks up noise (hum / buzz)
That’s why Star Ground
gives every device only one ground path
and so it stops loops from forming.
Second: Signal interference (Noise Coupling)
In any system with multiple devices:
The DAC = very weak signals
The AMP = high currents
If they share the same ground: the amp’s current “pollutes” the DAC’s ground
The Star Ground system:
makes every device return on its own: meaning there’s no sharing, and the result: less interference
Third: A stable electrical reference
Star Ground
makes all the devices:
have the same reference
(Same potential)
And this is very important for sound:
because any small difference =
distortion / hum
Now that we know what this system is and what it does, let’s get to the practical part:
But before that you’d ask, OK, which device do I pick to be the main ground reference?
The answer: it’s the device where the digital signal gets converted to analog = the DAC
In my case these are my devices:
Streamer
Lumin U2 Mini
⬇️
Then the DDC
DENAFRIPS GAIA 15th
⬇️
Then the DAC
Gustard R26
⬇️
Then the Pre-Amp
Burson Soloist 3X Performance
Then the Amp
HiFiMAN x Goldenwave PRELUDE
So for me the Gustard R26
is where all the devices come together.
Now we start getting the stuff we need ready
You need an electrical cable made of bare copper, not plated, and not insulated
meaning it only has a PVC layer
on it
You’ll find it at any electrical shop
I went with this one: Riyadh Cables
because I did some renovations and I have a small amount of it left that’s enough for me
The important thing is the cable size: it has to be 2 and a half mm, don’t go bigger / if you go smaller, don’t go under 2 mm
Cut it to match the number of devices you have
I cut 6 cables
Each piece shouldn’t be longer than 70 cm or shorter than 35 cm
I chose to play it safe and made it 65 cm
Then you strip the copper at both ends of the cable, any way you like
Have the terminals you need ready
This one worked for me:
Put it on the end of the cable
and crimp it so it holds tight and makes contact , whatever way you think works
Here it is after crimping, with the insulation on the terminal only
Finish all the cables you need
And now bring the DAC
and look for the screws close to the power inlet
and start with the first cable
Undo the screw, put it back and tighten it properly
and fit the rest
and the closer they are to the power inlet the better
And now it’s time to make sure they’re all connected to the DAC chassis
Take any continuity tester and check it
That’s it, all good
Now we start connecting the cables to the rest of the devices
Most important thing, before connecting, unplug the power from all the devices
Then check again with the continuity tester, put one end on the DAC chassis and move the other between the chassis of the other devices and make sure there’s continuity between them
Now we’re done with the first part
All that’s left is to buy something called:
Grounding Earth Box
I got this one: you only need one piece
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3egGM1X
I picked the version without a cable because I made one for it
It’s a wooden box
with copper, charcoal, salt, soil and a number of metals inside
so it imitates the earth
and the extra charge drains into it
And this is what it looks like inside
and you connect it to one of the screws on the DAC chassis
And with that we’re completely done with the wiring
and it’s time to power up, plug the power back into the devices but don’t turn them on
and start powering on from the first point the sound reaches
in my case I start with the streamer
and if the DAC is the first device in your chain, just turn it on
then the pre-amp and then the amp
say you only have a DAC and an amp
simple, turn on the DAC first and then the amp
and when you turn them off, turn off the amp first and then the DAC
And here we’re done with the project
Star Ground
I hope I managed to explain it to you
and save you the trouble of all the searching and trial and error
Good luck everyone
Your brother,
Naif
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