Eduard
Use the flat cables from waveio to motherboard.
My waveio is feeded by a clclc choke input design without any regulatores at all. The chokes are from Hammond (1.5 A), this design ends up at 5.3 vdc input on waveio. Important!!! Never go under 5vdc on input waveio, if you do, the pc will not find waveio.
The same design also for 12vdc on dac mainboard, Lundahl's (1.5A). The only difference between 5vdc waveio and 12vdc dac, is a bleeder after the last cap before mainboard.
On the old dac stack this clclc design measured 11.7vdc on input to motherboard. With the new Tent dac boards, it drops down to 10.5vdc on input dac.
Maybe this is not an optimal voltage, but it plays very good now, in fact the best sound ever from my dddac. Every hifi parameters are improved. Definition,separation, clarity and dynamics, oh la la...
To all of you guys out there with the old dac boards; replace them with the new Tent boards. You won't regret, period.
Use the flat cables from waveio to motherboard.
My waveio is feeded by a clclc choke input design without any regulatores at all. The chokes are from Hammond (1.5 A), this design ends up at 5.3 vdc input on waveio. Important!!! Never go under 5vdc on input waveio, if you do, the pc will not find waveio.
The same design also for 12vdc on dac mainboard, Lundahl's (1.5A). The only difference between 5vdc waveio and 12vdc dac, is a bleeder after the last cap before mainboard.
On the old dac stack this clclc design measured 11.7vdc on input to motherboard. With the new Tent dac boards, it drops down to 10.5vdc on input dac.
Maybe this is not an optimal voltage, but it plays very good now, in fact the best sound ever from my dddac. Every hifi parameters are improved. Definition,separation, clarity and dynamics, oh la la...
To all of you guys out there with the old dac boards; replace them with the new Tent boards. You won't regret, period.
Hello Smoothdancer,
I know i have to use the flatcable to connect the wave io but i still have to make some metal part that will support the wave io so that the usb entrance will positioned just after one of the rectangular holes on the side of my chassis.
Maybe will have to get a new flatcable because thje short one will be to short in my situation.
I use LCLC for the 12 volt supply but i did not skip the 7810 regulators. Input voltage i just checked is 12,33 volt but it varies during the day. AND when i use the switch it drops to 11,9 that is why i asked the question about the missing wave io. I can connect it without its external power supply just use the two flat cable. One of them will supply 5 volt for the opto coupler on the wave io.
So you did skip the 7810 in your new set up too??? Maybe for lower current the 7810 can work with 10,5 volts but i have my doubts!
I wanted to use LCLC for the wave IO too but DOEDE did warn me not to do it because the wave IO will need 5 volts +- 100 mv so i dediced to look for solution and i will probably go for the Belleson SPJ 5 volt which can deliver 2A maximum.
Did send email to Belleson if i can use a choke input for the SPJ
By the way i think the Lundahl are much better than the Hammonds i especially like them connected in what they common mode.
Greetings, Eduard
Ooh ooh, you did not listen to Doede he told you to use the 7810 lol
Yes, i think i did read somewhere it must not be to long.
But if not longer than 10 cm i will probably not be able to have the usb input at a spot where it can be reached from the outside. I will have to take a closer look at that.
Maybe i can diy a connection between the wave io and a neutrik connector similar to the one in the attachment.
Because i will not use the usb cable to deliver 5 volts to the usb only the two data cables have to be connected from the neutrik to the wave IO. If that is a piece of cake no problem to make a 10 cm connection.
The cables provided with the kit do they need a special crimping tool or can they be openened and crimped again to shorten cable length?
Greetings, Eduard
P.s If i am right i should go for the B type usb looks more sturdy
Attachments
Yes, i know i was hoping to use this kind of connector on the side of my dddac chassis and open the connector on the inside and just solder 4 wires between the usb entrance and the neutrik. seems a bit old to me to look for a 20 cm usb cable.
Did allready contacted Belleson . They have all the regulators that i want in stock. Now just waiting for the invoice so i can make a payment.
Greetings, Eduard
The flat i2s wire from WaveIO to dddac is important to keep as short as possible. Just use the neutrik usb connector you posted, then a short usb cable inside the case. Then you can mount the WaveIO nice and close to the DDDAC mainboard, where you will get the best sound quality.
Hello James,
I allready find the right spot for the wave io. So it would be benificial to reduce the already short cable provided with the kit by 50 %?
There is a lot of writing about the quality of usb cable so i was thinking why not get rid of some connectors and use 4 solid wire to connect the wave io to the inside part of the neutrik connector. I think it will not be that difficult to open it.
My chassis being at great height in my rack and being heavy as well i dont wanna just connect the usb cable with a plug to the wave io and let it just hang out somewhere. I am afraid it will get stuck somewhere if i am taking the chassis out of my rack and make me drop the dddac on my feet which will put me in a wheelchair for sure.
Greetings, Eduard
p.s happy to see some long time dddac users returning here
I allready find the right spot for the wave io. So it would be benificial to reduce the already short cable provided with the kit by 50 %?
There is a lot of writing about the quality of usb cable so i was thinking why not get rid of some connectors and use 4 solid wire to connect the wave io to the inside part of the neutrik connector. I think it will not be that difficult to open it.
My chassis being at great height in my rack and being heavy as well i dont wanna just connect the usb cable with a plug to the wave io and let it just hang out somewhere. I am afraid it will get stuck somewhere if i am taking the chassis out of my rack and make me drop the dddac on my feet which will put me in a wheelchair for sure.
Greetings, Eduard
p.s happy to see some long time dddac users returning here
I agree with dwjames here.
Preforably cut down the ribbon cable so that it is as short as possible (with the boards right next to each other). Just make sure that the cut is even and terminated at equal length. If you dont want to cut down and modify the cable, then make sure that there are no other cables close to it or at least make sure they are crossing and not running along each other. Quite a lot of lock / bad sound is caused by messy wiring looms.
A Neutrik nausb-w-b with a short angled (or normal) USB cable have no negative impact on the sound. This one f.inst is awailable in 4inch, 12inch etc Right Angled USB Cables - Angled A Connector - UP ANGLE
The neutrik connector can be configured for chassis gnd connection or isolated with the plastic shield that come with it.
Preforably cut down the ribbon cable so that it is as short as possible (with the boards right next to each other). Just make sure that the cut is even and terminated at equal length. If you dont want to cut down and modify the cable, then make sure that there are no other cables close to it or at least make sure they are crossing and not running along each other. Quite a lot of lock / bad sound is caused by messy wiring looms.
A Neutrik nausb-w-b with a short angled (or normal) USB cable have no negative impact on the sound. This one f.inst is awailable in 4inch, 12inch etc Right Angled USB Cables - Angled A Connector - UP ANGLE
The neutrik connector can be configured for chassis gnd connection or isolated with the plastic shield that come with it.
usb protocol has built in error checking and retransmission, but i2s does not. People talk a lot about cables in audio, but for digital transmission where there is error checking like on usb and hdmi, as long as the cable is of a decent quality (something like belkin for example) I don't believe you can tell any difference. For I2s lines, the advice is to keep them as short as possible.
Another point to note about mounting the WaveIO: one of its mounting holes is connected to the circuit Gnd (you can see a little earth symbol by it) , so it's advisable to either miss this out totally or use an insulated standoff to mount it. Some people have had problems with ground loops otherwise.
Another point to note about mounting the WaveIO: one of its mounting holes is connected to the circuit Gnd (you can see a little earth symbol by it) , so it's advisable to either miss this out totally or use an insulated standoff to mount it. Some people have had problems with ground loops otherwise.
WRONG! The USB bulk and interrupt transfer methods do have error checking and retransmission but USB Audio uses the isochronous method, which doesn't do any retransmission. Specifically, the receiver does not acknowledge the receipt of a packet. The sender does not know if the packet was received correctly or not and therefor does not know if a retransmission is needed.
The goal of the isochronous method is to insure timely data delivery even if the data is damaged.
Has anyone using the old boards replaced them with the new ones yet? I'm wondering what sonic difference there is, if any, between old board with shunts/CCS mod and the new board with integrated mods. I like the form factor of the new board which makes building a stacked set of boards much easier than soldering external shunts.
Well, I have been using the new boards (4) and there is clearly a another type of sound from the new ones.
Dynamics, micro and macro, is better.
Resolution, clarity and separation, is better.
BUT, I feel that the analog signatur dddac is known for, is lost on the new boards, compared to the old boards.
In my revealing setup with jbl horn speakers, the new boards is a bit over the top for my taste. Vocal is very clear, but after a while I have to turn the volume down. I can't explain why, maybe I'm to sensitive for this kind of sound and prefer it more organic, like the sound from the old boards.
Since I am so lucky to have the old boards, I decided to put them on the top of the new boards. For the moment I'm playing with an 8 board dddac, where the new boards are at the bottom of the stack.
The outcome ? Oh la la...this give me the best sound ever. Everything I was hoping for seems to be achived. The strong side from the new boards match perfectly the strong side from the old boards. Details, dynamics, sparation, resolution and the most important, the warm and analog signatur from the old boards. A match made in heaven ( for me in my setup).
I must strongly point out that the new dac boards with Tents are very good, and for the many builders out there they may be a perfect choice. It all comes down to personal taste.
Dynamics, micro and macro, is better.
Resolution, clarity and separation, is better.
BUT, I feel that the analog signatur dddac is known for, is lost on the new boards, compared to the old boards.
In my revealing setup with jbl horn speakers, the new boards is a bit over the top for my taste. Vocal is very clear, but after a while I have to turn the volume down. I can't explain why, maybe I'm to sensitive for this kind of sound and prefer it more organic, like the sound from the old boards.
Since I am so lucky to have the old boards, I decided to put them on the top of the new boards. For the moment I'm playing with an 8 board dddac, where the new boards are at the bottom of the stack.
The outcome ? Oh la la...this give me the best sound ever. Everything I was hoping for seems to be achived. The strong side from the new boards match perfectly the strong side from the old boards. Details, dynamics, sparation, resolution and the most important, the warm and analog signatur from the old boards. A match made in heaven ( for me in my setup).
I must strongly point out that the new dac boards with Tents are very good, and for the many builders out there they may be a perfect choice. It all comes down to personal taste.
I have ordered 2 tent boards to try on my dual 15 dac so I should have an idea if it makes any difference ... in a couple of weeks
Like smooth dancer I have the same experience agbout the old and new.
I used a one deck with CCS on the blue motherbo, and pos/neg out with no resistor nore capacitor and it sounded very organic.
Then I changed to the new board: much more detail, bass and layering and more 3D which is nice to me, but also much more fatiqueness and sharpness. The first two weeks were disappointing, but after that periode it became better. Adding 4nF on top (AposBposAnegBneg) was contributing a lot.
Still my wifte gets a bit to much information when tired and hears sharp s--s sounds.
I really welcome the experience of Smooth Dancer to merge the old/ccs and the new tentboarddeck and I will try it when having enough time.
I used a one deck with CCS on the blue motherbo, and pos/neg out with no resistor nore capacitor and it sounded very organic.
Then I changed to the new board: much more detail, bass and layering and more 3D which is nice to me, but also much more fatiqueness and sharpness. The first two weeks were disappointing, but after that periode it became better. Adding 4nF on top (AposBposAnegBneg) was contributing a lot.
Still my wifte gets a bit to much information when tired and hears sharp s--s sounds.
I really welcome the experience of Smooth Dancer to merge the old/ccs and the new tentboarddeck and I will try it when having enough time.
This makes me wonder 2 things:smooth dancer said:
1) is this just a sign of new kit which needs running in and maybe it will be much improved after you can run it for some more hours.
2) what is the setup with your digital source for i2s or spdif data? I associate a non-relaxing sound and fatigue at higher volumes with some error or inaccuracy in the digital music data. Is it possible that the new deck is allowing you to render the data with greater clarity, but that this data stream contains some small glitches? I know a lot of people with shunt regs and ccs mods on their old decks are also running fancy reclocked data streams which may be more 'true' and less prone to errors.
Not sure if that helps, I'm just thinking out loud.... I guess it's simple enough to test #1, you just need time.
Hi James
You are probably right about the new boards and more time to 'burn' in.
But as I can remember, the old boards had an different sound when they where new.
My digital source have been the same for the beginning of this dddac adventure.
Pc-waveio-i2s. Sounds great to my ears.
About higher listening levels; dddac as it is now with an mix of boards, just make me want to turn up the volume. The tight bass and overall sound is very good.
You are probably right about the new boards and more time to 'burn' in.
But as I can remember, the old boards had an different sound when they where new.
My digital source have been the same for the beginning of this dddac adventure.
Pc-waveio-i2s. Sounds great to my ears.
About higher listening levels; dddac as it is now with an mix of boards, just make me want to turn up the volume. The tight bass and overall sound is very good.