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Buffalo DAC (ESS Sabre 9008)

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Just finished the wiring for my b24, all the wires are correct, yet sound doesnt come from right channel, I measured no voltage output from the right se on the IVY. and there're constant 'pop' sound on the left.
Could anyone guide me where to check first? I'm using it with the hiface as transport.
Many thanks!
 
Hi

Could someone explain the regulator mods Leo has done to the original V1 Buffalo in post #7 on this thread:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/172388-buffalo-dac-original-vs-buffalo-ii.html

It looks like both on board regs have been replaced with external PH regs (3.3V?) and two extra 3.3V regs near the DAC chip. What are the two extra regs for? It looks like they are connected to C11 and C12 with 0V taken from C14.

It also seems that there is a supply to VA which confuses me slightly as there are supplies to each removed reg position.

I want to try something similar using ALWSR's and Flea regulators.

Are the two holes by the crystal oscillator for an external supply, should this be 1.6V?

Thanks in advance
 
Clock syncing issue?

I've had my Buffalo finished for some time, and on multiple computers using multiple programs, I get these hick-ups when playing. They usually occur once or twice per song, and an episode can last 4-5 of these hick-ups back to back. I'm currently using the Twisted Pear USB module to output I2S to the Buffalo.

Any ideas are much appreciated!Here is a recording of the behavior.
 
Here's a couple of messages getting moved here from the Buf II forum:

JonPike
diyAudio Member

Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Irvine

Off the wall question...

I and a friend of mine, both have the first Buffalo kits. Mine has been happily running since I finished the build. My friend built his, and it did not work.

He brought it over, I checked voltages, looked for soldering mistakes, etc... nothing. Then, I pulled my firmware/processor chip out and put it in his. TADA!! It Lives... Put his chip in my Buffalo, nothing.

So, looks like he either got a unprogrammed PIC, or it got spiked with ESD while he was handling it, etc. He emailed once or twice, didnt' get a response, (think it was around Brian's move) and hasn't bugged you guys further.

Rather than wait for him to get over his own problem in not bugging you further, I was thinking of using a PIC programming kit and buying the $1-2 part, and copying mine onto a new blank. Only thing I'm worrying about, is there a copy protect on those particular PIC's, and did you use it?

There, now do I know how to take a long time to get around to a question, or what?

Thanks...
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Old 8th December 2010, 11:39 AM #1004
Russ White is offline Russ White
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Nashville, TN, USA
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No we did not use any copy protection on the PIC.

You should be able to copy it. If you like I can even send you the old hex files.

Not that I mind, but this thread is about the Buffalo II, any further conversation about this really should go in the old buffalo thread (just scroll down a bit from our forum index). Actually we can probably handle the rest over email.

Cheers!
Russ
__________________

Anyway, wanted to put it here, where it might help others later on.

Final resolution on this, is that after a few tries, my co-worker with the PIC programmer was able to successfully make a copy of the PIC 12F675 chip. It did take two tries, because we ran afoul of a weird problem that seems to happen a lot with this chip. You burn a copy of the code on a new chip, it seems to checksum fine.... and the thing doesn't work. Try another one, and everything's the same... it works.

I don't know if it's bad chips, some kind of config problem or what. My buddy has experienced this a lot. Hey, they're only a dollar or so, and we got one the second time. But strange. Russ, have you or Brian seen this? Is there something in the Flash memory location? (first try we saw no data there) Either of you figure out how to prevent it?

Bottom line, if someone needs to do this, and has access to one of the little programmer kits, it will work. It just might take a chip or two to get there.

My buddy with the other (now playing) Buffalo is overjoyed... :D
 
Brian, the analog outputs on the USB module are not experiencing the hickups, any ideas?

The I2S is not good enough for the picky DPLL! :)

Switch to spdif.

I experienced the exact type of dropouts on I2S (but not on the spdif line) but for a different device (Musiland MINI). For me, I had to increase the bandwidth of the dpll (but you need to program the chip to do that).
 
The I2S is not good enough for the picky DPLL! :)

Switch to spdif.

I experienced the exact type of dropouts on I2S (but not on the spdif line) but for a different device (Musiland MINI). For me, I had to increase the bandwidth of the dpll (but you need to program the chip to do that).

I would have never known, thanks for the heads up! I switched it over to SPDIF and all is good :cool:
 
Guys, count me in on the hiccups issue with Buff II and I2S. I'm using Teradak USB-SPDIF-I2S converter with Tenor 7022 chip. The hiccups are exactly the same.

Glt, thanks for the tip about switching to the SPDIF. Or maybe it is possible for you to upload firmware with increased DPLL? If it is allowed by NDA. :)

Thanks,
Fedor
 
Guys, count me in on the hiccups issue with Buff II and I2S. I'm using Teradak USB-SPDIF-I2S converter with Tenor 7022 chip. The hiccups are exactly the same.

Glt, thanks for the tip about switching to the SPDIF. Or maybe it is possible for you to upload firmware with increased DPLL? If it is allowed by NDA. :)

Thanks,
Fedor
 
This SPDIF is fundamentally easier to lock just because of the way the chip decodes it.

Unfortunately the PC2707 has quite a lot of phase noise on the bit clock, especially for 44.1khz playback. It is because of the PCM2707 pretty crude analog PLL. The clock is actually derived, and not really well. That is why for Opus we generally recommend people use it SPDIF out(so that it would be reclocked be a receiver) or with Metronome for best results. For Buffalo I would definitely suggest SPDIF out.
 
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