Best Audiophile USB Card ?

I despise that sort of over the top packaging, it always makes me feel I'm being had....white gloves and a suitcase for a computer component, seriously?

 

The trouble is chosing between certainly recovering the development cost at only a few hundred pieces at  high price point, versus expecting/hoping to draw in the market by sheer sound quality alone at a lower price.   Difficult choice IMHO...

I'm interested in an I2S upgrade/update but it has to be seriously incredibly good before I even start thinking about spending >3K on it.

Pink Faun Ultra Card / Bridge review

 

It’s been a very long time since I first found out about this remarkable new bridge by Pink Faun. In early 2023 Jord Groen, the proprietor of Pink Faun, informed me that they had been working on a new super bridge for their acclaimed 2.16 Ultra streamer for sometime already, one that encapsulated all they knew of what matters in sound reproduction. And it would be an all out assault on the state of the art, audiophile pinnacle without restriction by cost. Being a long time fan of Pink Faun products, what could one possibly do but to visit them and see it!

 

This I did in mid-2023 when I visited Rhenen, the home base of Pink Faun, where I had a chance to hear the Ultra USB bridge. The first few prototypes were freshly completed, not burned in fully and recently plugged into their demo system alongside their older V1 USB and i2S bridges. At that time, I preferred the sound of their existing i2S bridge and wrote about it here. Nevertheless we had a good session listening to music and for me to understand the Pink Faun ethos “no sound, just music”. They are all about generating a connection to the music through a natural portrayal of the sound captured.

 

At that time, I was very happy they decided on building the USB Ultra bridge first rather than another data format since my existing connection between my 2.16x unit and Vinnie Rossi L2iSE DAC2 was via USB. Jord said it was mostly a business decision; the choice was an easy one USB being the most preferred connection standard between streamers and DACs. When I asked if the USB connection type would still be a valid one or whether the standard had past it’s expiry date, he mentioned that there was still a fair way to go to exhaust what can be improved with USB connections.

 

 

Jord just completed his first batch of 10 units and, due to my exuberance for all things Pink Faun and the trade in of my old v1 card and Ultra OCXO clock, I was luckily enough to be in this first batch. The Ultra card arrived in a solid metal case with a short power extension Molex cable and a pair of gloves. Nice marketing touch I thought, not that I would be using either the gloves nor the molex cable as my 2.16x already had inside it spare power connection wires soldered to the distribution board. The extension is actually very well made - their tinned copper in teflon PCX wiring found throughout their streamers with good Molex connections for only the 5V leg. On visual inspection, the Ultra card is also built with a similar attention to detail. As the card is thicker than a single PCIe slot, they build the card with 2 connectors to ‘book’ the space of the second slot. Interesting strategy that would serve to make the connection more sturdy and the card wobble less once the streamer cover is screwed back on. The Ultra card was designed initially to be used only in the 2.16 Ultra streamer but it seems to fit into my 2.16x (well, the connectors technically sit on top of the back panel but with some washers, this can be overcome) after Jord tweaked the case design. Initially I couldn’t get it to fit into my 2.16x but after a little adjustment to the back panel screws it fits fine now.

 

 

I see that in the recently updated website of Pink Faun, the technical details of the Ultra USB card is described clearly  https://www.pinkfaun.com/shop/content/43-ultra-usb-bridge and so there is no need to repeat on this matter. Only that the technology inside the card is hidden totally from the user - it’s basically plug and play. Even the charging up of the super capacitors inside happens so quickly and smoothly, it’s not noticeable during use. Once plugged in, it just works like any other bridge. Worth mentioning also is the 2.5mm DC barrel socket for external power they used in the card. Unlike the older v1 (or even v2) USB bridges, this socket fits both 2.5mm barrel plugs but also my Oyaide 2.1mm plugs as well so that comes in handy if one wants to swap external DC power cables with different plug sizes. Whether the power is supplied using an internal molex connector or through an external power cable, the power goes through the super capacitors banks. More on internal power later.

 

 

The Sound

 

After a settling in period of 5 days with power constantly on but with the DAC only connected a few hours per day, I feel the sound has mostly settled into it’s final sound. Not much changed after the first 3 days. And wow, what an improvement it offers! Sometime ago, I compared my old V1 (with ultra OCXO clock) USB card with their current v2 card which I now use. There were pros and cons of each card and I liked them both depending on what kind of music it was. Later when a firmware update for the v2 came out, I switched over to the v2 card permanently as it sounded consistently better. Well, with this new Ultra USB card, it’s nothing like the difference between the v1 and v2 cards. It’s so clearly a step up from the v2 card. Right off the bat, three standout characters of this new USB Ultra card is naturalness, cleaned up lower-mids/ upper bass and focus.

 

I went through around a hundred of my usual favourite tracks, the sound of which I am familiar with and I’m shocked how different so many of them sound. My system to date is already pretty decent. Tweaking can bring about small incremental steps forward but to achieve this amount of step forward is an unusual experience for me. It’s not in your face different - prior to adding the Ultra card, my imaging was already spot on, details, ambience, shape of the room all very clear already. Invisible speakers, soundstage 50m deep into the room and wide outside the room boundaries already present long ago. But yet the Ultra card’s contribution has made the sound take yet another step forward.

 

Kristian Bezuidenhout plays a mean Beethoven Piano Concerto 4 in G. The recording on Harmonia Mundi with Pablo Heras-Casado is outstanding. The dynamics in the second and third movements is a good test for any system. Whether a system can populate the size of that space while maintaining control during these dynamic swings is a good test. With the v2 USB card, I get the fullness of the strings and tympanis but in comparison with the Ultra card, the lower mids and bass are not as clearly resolved. It’s clearly the same family of sound with good details and texture, just less focused. The bass looser with the v2 but I think ultimately it’s still enjoyable in classical music. The double bass sounds fill up the room. Piano is less punchy more sweet. An acceptable outcome and pleasing but overall not as natural as with the Ultra card.

 

 

In this recording, Bezuidenhout plays a Conrad Graf piano. This is a period piano, around the time of and familiar to Beethoven, with a sound that is “heavier, less tinkling, and shifted in the direction of the modern piano” (Wikipedia) compared to period pianos which sounded more like harpsichords. I like the sound of this and when played through the v2 and Ultra card, both presents differently. Sweeter and fatter sounding action with the v2, tighter and sharper with the Ultra like the hammer felt pads have changed. I feel the Ultra is more natural and true to the sound but both are valid interpretations of the piece.

 

My next finding is with a Horowitz piece, the Schubert Impromptu No.3, Op90.  I watched his Vienna performance in 1987 on Youtube which I cannot find on CD nor streaming. So I downloaded the clip  https://youtu.be/8-Mvp2M1C5I?si=LOGEeEK1Epp4iLqV of his performance and extracted the MP3 from it. The strange thing for this is half way through the piece, a church bell starts ringing. Probably it’s the St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Pummerin Bell which is around 800m away from the Musikverein Golden Hall where the piece was recorded. With the Ultra, the bells are clear, even the decay and echos are laid out clearly, almost as loud as the piano playing in some parts. This piano piece has low bass notes that, along with Horowitz’s pedal actions, is easy to sound muddled up. Not so with the Ultra card, those notes are clear and the texture of the piano bass strings are clear to hear. With the v2 card the piece still sounded excellent, but the bell is less defined, piano bass trills are slightly muddled.

 

 

One Snowy White track I like is the Blues is the Road (Remastered) on Tidal. On the v2 card the track sound great. Images are tight and focused. Bass taut, electric guitar exciting and energetic without being harsh. Switching to the Ultra card and suddenly, the cymbals at the beginning are that much more natural and real sounding. The already tight images are a clearer in space and Terence’s vocals are uncannily real. A great recording becomes just that much better. An example of a pop/rock track sounding natural, yup it can be so.

 

 

The same 3 character points I mentioned above are true for all tracks I listen to during my comparisons. For some just a little different but for others the changes are pretty obvious. Natural, tighter lower-mid/bass and tighter imaging.

 

The Ultra USB card has a Molex connector at the back. And since it comes with a well made Molex cable, I suppose Pink Faun wanted one to try using the internal power as well. For the longest time, I had (and still have) the belief that the quality of power to the last device prior to the DAC is critical. So for many years I have been working hard to prepare the very best DC supply I could muster for my chosen bridge USB or any other bridge, as an external supply. It’s always a good idea to have a quality DC supply handy as so many audiophile devices need them eventually. for me, it’s a keeper device in hifi.

 

So I have collected a few Paul Hynes, double regulated DR7t DC rails. One of them is made of teflon, with z-foil resistors and is regarded as the best ever made by Paul especially the latest incarnation with the teflon daughter boards incorporated into the main teflon board. All the tests above were made with this 5V/10A DR7tTef power supply.

 

When I compared this external supply with the internal Molex supply to the Ultra USB Card, I was expecting a significant difference in sound quality. Not so! The Ultra USB bridge powered internally sounded sweet, detailed and controlled. I would be happy to use this. For the ultimate nit picking, it its still a small step lower than the sound with the DR7tTef which provides more bass control and real sounds of minor details. Like in the Horowitz Schubert track mentioned above, the church bells are audibly more real and clear with the DR7tTef. But the molex internal power is smoother and a touch sweeter to listen to. Perhaps I need to add more output capacitors to my Paul Hynes rail to up it’s game.

With the Snowy White track, the internal Molex power sounds so good. Without PH side by side to compare, the Ultra with molex power is already clearly a step forward from v2. I’m going to leave the internal molex cable connected even when I will be using the DR7tTef and switch between them for further trials. This is easy to do since the Ultra USB bridge switches power automatically when an external supply is plugged in or taken out. The super capacitors continue to work normally despite the disruption of power.

 

The internal molex connected supply sounding good is a significant point as the preparation of a quality external DC supply is not trivial in effort nor cost. My Paul Hynes rails and it’s wired connections cost far more than the Ultra USB Card - so if the sound is already that good with just the internal molex supply, perhaps for many this will already be good enough. The last time I used the internal molex supply was with the v1/OCXO card before my DR7tTef was completed. When I eventually switched, there was a clear step up in sound quality going to external power as I had expected. Given that this time the jump in sound quality isn’t nearly as large, it seems to suggest the new power system in the Ultra USB card is doing a good job even when powered internally.

 

As for value, the Ultra USB card is not cheap at €3250. It clearly offers better sound but at many times the price of the v2 card, is it worth it? For me it's a yes! Until recently my v2 is already performing at such a high level and I was very happy with its sound. However, having heard the Ultra and experienced the added emotional connection to the music through the card, I won’t be going back to the v2 anytime soon. With the added advantage of using internal molex power supply without the need to an expensive external supply, I wonder if the high sound quality can be achieved using the Ultra card with a lower cost DIY PC? Difficult to know as Pink Faun is initially selling Ultra USB cards to users of Pink Faun streamers initially. Who knows, things change over time.

 

Recently alongside many new USB offerings on the market and new esoteric connection formats, with this new Ultra USB bridge I think that Pink Faun has proven that the USB standard can offer, not a baby step but quite a leap of next level performance and this surely makes it the King of USB bridges today. I will continue to try other USB cards as they come my way but for now, I look forward to spending time with it and rediscovering my entire collection of music for new insights.

 

Regards to all, Kin

I received an email this morning for the new XE EVO card and am very excited. However, after comparing the spec between the EVO and non-EVO (original XE) model, I am trying to find out what changed, apart from adding the SMA connector and ability to switch between master clock and on-board. They seem to be using the same ASMedia chip and Emerald OCXO.

 

@Marcin_gps could you please shred some light on the differences and how much improvements are you noticing ?

 

On the separate note, while you designed the card to be able to switch between the internal SMA connector and on-board clock, it would also nice to see a BNC master clock input on the faceplate to be able to use with other external master clock generator, like Mutec and such.

 

 

On 7/11/2024 at 2:56 PM, Marcin_gps said:

 

 

 

 

Key Upgrades in the USB Card XE EVO:

1. SMA Connector for Master OCXO Clock:

   • Allows seamless integration with our Master OCXO Clock.
   • A switch to toggle between the built-in OCXO and an external clock for enhanced precision.

2. State-of-the-Art Linear Voltage Regulators:

   • Features new regulators with an ultra-low noise level of 0.46 µV RMS, nearly half the noise level of the LT3045 regulators used in the USB Card XE.

3. Built-In EMI Noise Reduction Filter:

   • Includes an advanced EMI noise reduction filter, significantly reducing electromagnetic interference for clearer, more accurate audio signals.

4. Optimized Firmware for Superior Sound Quality:

   • The latest firmware is optimized specifically for superior sound quality, with power management features switched off to maximize audio performance.

The improvements are clearly audible right away. 

 

You can use any other extetrnal clock via SMA connector, not just JCAT Master OCXO Clock. It has to be 20MHz. 

 

Best regards,

Marcin

Hi Guys,

 

I’m excited to share some great news with you all – the USB Card XE EVO is finally available and shipping! 

 

For those of you who’ve been using the USB Card XE, you’re going to love the EVO model’s upgrades. 

 

Best regards,

Marcin

On 8/21/2024 at 7:31 AM, Marcin_gps said:

 

Hi Guys,

 

I’m excited to share some great news with you all – the USB Card XE EVO is finally available and shipping! 

 

For those of you who’ve been using the USB Card XE, you’re going to love the EVO model’s upgrades. 

 

Best regards,

Marcin

Speaking of the USB Card XE Evo, I have spent several days with it and it is a very nice improvement for me.

 

My USB card journey extends back to a startech USB card, utilizing the same chipset as the USB XE cards. A kind member of the forum let me borrow their USB XE and from that moment onward I knew I needed to have one of my own. Fast forward, I ended up with a system that could re-clock USB cards so I swapped to the SOTM TX-USBX10G card, which worked best in my system at the time.

 

Now, I have the USB Card Evo (with the Master OCXO) and I find this card to be an across the board improvement in my system. Pleasantly surprised with improved spatial resolution and overall refinement. More to come.