Galvanic Ground Isolation

This product is discontinued. This is an archived page.

After every effort is made to ensure that the power supply is as free from high frequency interference as possible, it is important to draw our attention to the inner workings of the schematics themselves. Here, too, because of the potential interaction of the digital and analogue schematics, care must be taken to ensure that we encounter no loss of quality.

Because LessLoss strives to achieve only the best possible solution, care is taken to separate the digital ground from the analogue ground. This is necessary because the digital input portion of a DAC acts as a mini transmitter of high frequency electromagnetic radiation. Not due to design, but due to the inherent properties of the high frequencies themselves.

DAC 2004 MkII


Electrically and Galvanically Isolated Grounds

Although many DAC designers are most likely aware of the issues involved in ground contamination by high frequency devices, often times these aspects are deemed too costly to overcome, and, hence, they are either ignored or dealt with in insufficient ways.

As in the concept of battery power, LessLoss seeks the solution deeming the highest quality performance. This solution is found in electrically and galvanically isolating the digital and analogue grounds from each other. Only the rarest DAC design of high cost and commitment incorporate such a solution. Perhaps only two such manufacturers exist.

High Frequency Radio vs. Low Frequency Audio

The digital input section contains a lowest jitter high frequency oscillator running at several MHz. This high frequency behaves differently than a low frequency audio signal. Every milimeter of distance that such high frequencies travel, and every component or voltage that these frequencies pass by locally on their way around the circuit influence them. In turn, they also influence their surroundings, in effect acting as radio transmitters propagating this signal.

Because this frequency is desired at one, and only one location within the analogue schematics, care must be taken to isolate it at every twist and turn it takes. In the DAC 2004, you can see the transitional section between the digital and analogue schematics clearly.

Please do not confuse our solution with the typical solution of simply putting the digital schematics on their own circuit board and connecting the various circuit boards with a bus-type cable. This is one of the worst Jitter-inducing methods since the bus is an antenna. That's why one sees various player upgrades with aluminum foil or copper foil covering the bus connections. The best method is not to incorporate this lossey distance into the design in the first place. In the LessLoss solution, both the digital and analogue circuits are on the same circuit board. There is no electrical or galvanic connection between the two, deeming the least ground contamination in the analogue circuitry.