Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the USB Disruptor:
http://usbdisruptor.com/
First I read their website, then I looked at the products, and I finally gave my name and email address to get their whitepaper. Then, after I realized this wasn't a joke, I laughed for about ten minutes and am now writing this post.
The Disruptor is a device which plugs into the input of a USB DAC and then the USB cable from the computer plugs into the Disruptor. The device bypasses the 5V power connections on the computer output and then provides the required 5V power needed to drive the DAC. The Disruptor has a 5V AC power brick to generate the necessary 5V.
So, what does this do?
The makers don't know. Their whitepaper clearly states that they cannot explain it, but people can have described hearing a difference. They also claim that the position of sounds in a stereo recording seem to move in the room after connecting the disruptor. Thus, they theorize that somehow the 5V wires are somehow generating some magnetic field which is interfering with the twisted pair signal wires and causing the some sort of delays between left and right channels.
They had a audio-gram of two 5KHz signals, one using a regularly connected USB DAC and another using the Disruptor and the while I cannot see anything in the image to show a plausible difference, they claim it was proof something was happening.
So, I looked into some of the other statements in the whitepaper:
Throughout the whitepaper they state several reasons the Disrupter "might" make a difference without claiming it does. In fact, the definitive statement that it works at all is:
They conclude the paper with the following paragraph:
"USB Disruptor is a new approach to computer audio and may take your system to new heights. While we can't yet explain the underlying causes, what we can say with confidence is that USB Disruptor has made a lot of audiophiles even happier with their digital audio system performance."
I very strongly recommend everyone check out this scam and read the whitepaper. For a mere, $159 you can get less than $5 worth of electronics comprised of the following parts:
http://usbdisruptor.com/
First I read their website, then I looked at the products, and I finally gave my name and email address to get their whitepaper. Then, after I realized this wasn't a joke, I laughed for about ten minutes and am now writing this post.
The Disruptor is a device which plugs into the input of a USB DAC and then the USB cable from the computer plugs into the Disruptor. The device bypasses the 5V power connections on the computer output and then provides the required 5V power needed to drive the DAC. The Disruptor has a 5V AC power brick to generate the necessary 5V.
So, what does this do?
The makers don't know. Their whitepaper clearly states that they cannot explain it, but people can have described hearing a difference. They also claim that the position of sounds in a stereo recording seem to move in the room after connecting the disruptor. Thus, they theorize that somehow the 5V wires are somehow generating some magnetic field which is interfering with the twisted pair signal wires and causing the some sort of delays between left and right channels.
They had a audio-gram of two 5KHz signals, one using a regularly connected USB DAC and another using the Disruptor and the while I cannot see anything in the image to show a plausible difference, they claim it was proof something was happening.
So, I looked into some of the other statements in the whitepaper:
- The original USB interface and cable designers didn't take high resolution audio into account when they designed the spec. That's a lie. I know three storied and respected engineers who were involved in those standards and all three often talk about how one of the main use cases was high end digital audio and they worked VERY hard to ensure the spec would support current and future high resolution audio formats.
- High resolution audio wasn't even around when USB was invented. That was a lie as well. While the first consumer formats offering hi-res audio arrived a few years after USB was invented, there were at least three well known formats being used in a desperate attempt to archive old magnetic recordings which were failing in the vaults and research was going into which high resolution formats would be ideal for consumers. DSD was the most well known at the time, but NASA had one and I believe Dolby had another.
Throughout the whitepaper they state several reasons the Disrupter "might" make a difference without claiming it does. In fact, the definitive statement that it works at all is:
"With USB Disruptor, the differences can often be very evident and haven described by mean, many people. Something is indeed happening."
They conclude the paper with the following paragraph:
"USB Disruptor is a new approach to computer audio and may take your system to new heights. While we can't yet explain the underlying causes, what we can say with confidence is that USB Disruptor has made a lot of audiophiles even happier with their digital audio system performance."
- 1ea USB Type B plug
- 1ea USB Tape B socket
- 1ea Chinese wall-wart with a 5V output
- A few feet of 5V power wires
- A few inches of twisted pair data wires
- Shrink Tubing
(these parts probably cost well less than $5 in bulk)
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