@Russ White and @barrows, thank you both for your assistance and comments. I have resolved the issue. For anyone else with similar problems, my issue was that I was not supplying enough current to the clock board in Ian's FIFO set up. This was causing the lock to drop out when I was pushing it too hard - in my case anything above 96k.
I now have an updated firmware chip on the control BIIIse - thanks for prompt postage on that Russ and Brian. I believe this update resolves the problem where the clocks have to be present before powering the DAC boards. Wonderful! my other half will be v happy with this ;-)
Barrows, I realise that I am now re-clocking the signal twice and it took me a while to decide to run this experiment which, on the surface, should have no SQ benefit - you may remember that you and I discussed the same thing a couple of years ago when the Sonore card first came out. Recently, I discovered a couple of commercial DACs (can't remember which ones off the top of my head) that re-clock twice and that prompted me to revisit this. Clearly I cannot say for sure whether it is the double-reclocking, or perhaps another aspect of the Sonore card’s design, that is causing the change here, but there is certainly a change and IMO (yes, even with the spectre of 'confirmation bias' looking over my shoulder) I am very happy with the results!
Thanks guys,
Crom
I now have an updated firmware chip on the control BIIIse - thanks for prompt postage on that Russ and Brian. I believe this update resolves the problem where the clocks have to be present before powering the DAC boards. Wonderful! my other half will be v happy with this ;-)
Barrows, I realise that I am now re-clocking the signal twice and it took me a while to decide to run this experiment which, on the surface, should have no SQ benefit - you may remember that you and I discussed the same thing a couple of years ago when the Sonore card first came out. Recently, I discovered a couple of commercial DACs (can't remember which ones off the top of my head) that re-clock twice and that prompted me to revisit this. Clearly I cannot say for sure whether it is the double-reclocking, or perhaps another aspect of the Sonore card’s design, that is causing the change here, but there is certainly a change and IMO (yes, even with the spectre of 'confirmation bias' looking over my shoulder) I am very happy with the results!
Thanks guys,
Crom
cool.
Glad you got it sorted out. As to re-clocking, without comparing jitter measurements it is impossible to know for sure if things are technically better or not. In any case, the best way to do a final re-clocking would be to have flip flops right at the inputs to the ESS chip for a final re-clock. I wonder if Russ is considering this for the forthcoming B-IV...
Glad you got it sorted out. As to re-clocking, without comparing jitter measurements it is impossible to know for sure if things are technically better or not. In any case, the best way to do a final re-clocking would be to have flip flops right at the inputs to the ESS chip for a final re-clock. I wonder if Russ is considering this for the forthcoming B-IV...
be able to deliver it ? 
BIII-SE down!? Help!
Turned the BIIISE and no mute or lock LEDs light up.
DAC was fine the night before.
All Trident LEDs are lit.
I hope something can be replaced on the board and the DAC chip itself is not shot. This gets expensive fast.
Measured Trident voltage outs ...
VDD should be 1v2, measures 0v255
DVCC (3v3), measures 0v525
Tested each with 5v0 supply, standalone, i.e. not mounted on DAC and the voltage outputs are spot on.
Tried an older set of Tridents in BIIISE just to see if it made a difference, no.
Re-installed newest Tri's one at a time and measured current draw at input to DAC board.
All Tridents mounted 437 mA, within specs as per installation manual.
Pulled the AVCC out, with all Tridents in and measures 293 mA.
Mounted only DVCC measures 86 mA.
Mounted only XO measures 85 mA.
Mounted only VDD(1v2) measures 150 mA.
I was expecting the VDD and the DVCC to be drawing much more current to explain the problem voltage drops.
Turned the BIIISE and no mute or lock LEDs light up.
DAC was fine the night before.
All Trident LEDs are lit.
I hope something can be replaced on the board and the DAC chip itself is not shot. This gets expensive fast.
Measured Trident voltage outs ...
VDD should be 1v2, measures 0v255
DVCC (3v3), measures 0v525
Tested each with 5v0 supply, standalone, i.e. not mounted on DAC and the voltage outputs are spot on.
Tried an older set of Tridents in BIIISE just to see if it made a difference, no.
Re-installed newest Tri's one at a time and measured current draw at input to DAC board.
All Tridents mounted 437 mA, within specs as per installation manual.
Pulled the AVCC out, with all Tridents in and measures 293 mA.
Mounted only DVCC measures 86 mA.
Mounted only XO measures 85 mA.
Mounted only VDD(1v2) measures 150 mA.
I was expecting the VDD and the DVCC to be drawing much more current to explain the problem voltage drops.
Arduino? No, my setup is BBB>Hermes>Cronus>TP-BIIISE
Yes, I fear the chip is gone.
Pulled the firmware chip & disconnected I2C, Oops, I2C I read I2S... I don't use I2C.
anyway, this I did on the test bench and I swear I saw the Mute LED
on. Brought the unit to the main sys connected the I2S and no LED
lights. By the way the voltages were still bad on the outputs of those
two Tridents. i.e. 0.250v and 0.500v.
Yes, I fear the chip is gone.
Pulled the firmware chip & disconnected I2C, Oops, I2C I read I2S... I don't use I2C.
anyway, this I did on the test bench and I swear I saw the Mute LED
on. Brought the unit to the main sys connected the I2S and no LED
lights. By the way the voltages were still bad on the outputs of those
two Tridents. i.e. 0.250v and 0.500v.
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It sounds like there is something shorted for sure It could be anything from a solder hair to chip death by ESD etc. Even a dead/shorted capacitor could cause this.
If neither the 3.3V or 1.2V supply are holding their voltage then I would look closely for any sign of anything external shorting them.
It could be anything from a solder hair to chip death by ESD etc. Even a dead/shorted capacitor could cause this.If neither the 3.3V or 1.2V supply are holding their voltage then I would look closely for any sign of anything external shorting them.
I finnished my build with the 9018SE and the unballancer,and it plays just fine.
The trouble is when I press pause on my squeezebox Duet,and when I press play again the duet starts palying but theres no sound....(it works with other Dac´s)
I have to start from the beginning of the song again to get sound and I can´t FF then the sound dissapears,could it be something with the dipswitches?
I havent touched them.And I use Spdif in.
Hmm it seems this is an issue when playing Tidal not when I´m playing my own Aiff files,strange anyway..
I finnished my build with the 9018SE and the unballancer,and it plays just fine.
The trouble is when I press pause on my squeezebox Duet,and when I press play again the duet starts palying but theres no sound....(it works with other Dac´s)
I have to start from the beginning of the song again to get sound and I can´t FF then the sound dissapears,could it be something with the dipswitches?
I havent touched them.And I use Spdif in.
The mute led only comes on half a second when is start the DAC,is this how it should be?
ESD re:Battery powered Legato
... the one thing I left out of this problem is that the night before I was trying out battery power for the Legato I/V. When the evening listening was over, I shut the AC supplies off, then pulled the clips off the batteries.
Next day hooked up the batteries and turned on the AC. No, MUTE or LOCK.
By the way, with the Legato battery powered, a veil or two was removed, suprising unheard details emerged.
I would like to use battery power but, killing another Buffalo is my fear. How can this be done without incident?
Russ you said the dac may have been killed by ESD. I don't know how the dac would be affected if it was the Legato being battery powered. Would a shock travel back up through the Legato to the dac? A shock from the battery disconnect.
So, how can battery power be safely used for the Legato.
It sounds like there is something shorted for sure
If neither the 3.3V or 1.2V supply are holding their voltage then I would look closely for any sign of anything external shorting them.
... the one thing I left out of this problem is that the night before I was trying out battery power for the Legato I/V. When the evening listening was over, I shut the AC supplies off, then pulled the clips off the batteries.
Next day hooked up the batteries and turned on the AC. No, MUTE or LOCK.
By the way, with the Legato battery powered, a veil or two was removed, suprising unheard details emerged.
I would like to use battery power but, killing another Buffalo is my fear. How can this be done without incident?
Russ you said the dac may have been killed by ESD. I don't know how the dac would be affected if it was the Legato being battery powered. Would a shock travel back up through the Legato to the dac? A shock from the battery disconnect.
So, how can battery power be safely used for the Legato.
We are working (actually have been for quite a while) on the Buffalo 4.0 but we won't be releasing any details until we are closer to real production, but I can confirm that the same board will work in any combination of channels supported by the chip from 1 to 8. The board is a completely new design to get the most out of the new chip - but will be stacking compatible with IVY-III and Legato.
The new chips are not in production from ESS yet (good thing because the prototype chips have some errors) - but we are prototyping which is the best we can do right now.
Cheers!
Russ
Upgrading to 9038PRO is a bit of an exciting prospect- any news here? Having built both a complete Buffalo II and Buffalo III (still my current DAC, a friend uses the 'II ), you can expect an order from me when the 4.0 comes to fruition.
I may open up a thread soon to share some of the final design details for some feedback.
The DAC itself is nearly done (pending final size and hole adjustments) - it is the analog stage that is undergoing a serious overhaul.
I would like to get some community feedback on the design process soon.
Cheers!
Russ
The DAC itself is nearly done (pending final size and hole adjustments) - it is the analog stage that is undergoing a serious overhaul.
I would like to get some community feedback on the design process soon.
Cheers!
Russ
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