Basically you have three options:
1st: run each DAC from the DSPs MCLK. In this case you have to check the drive capability of the MCLK line of the DSP board since you will parallel several DACs (maybe a clock buffer is a good idea if not already implemented). You have to disable the local XO on the DACs (remove a ferrite bead in the corresponding local LDO reg) and add a 0603 jumper to enable external clocking.
2nd: run each DAC asynchronous from the DSP off of it's local MCLK (ESS DACs feature an asynchronous reclocking).
3rd: run the DACs synchronous from one clock but asynchronous from the DSP. This seems only feasible if using two stereo DACs and would require a bit more rework if using more than two DACs.
With the miniSHARC I am using option 2 with good results.
@all: just want to mention that the GB for curryman DACs has just been started
cheers, Daniel
We are all back
What would be pros and cons of the 3 options, specifically vs SQ ?
BR
Hi Daniel, many thanks! Have two boards, so I will be able to compare both variants. However it will take some time to finish this. So a report will follow not too soon. But it will follow.
Cheers Ernst
So, meanwhile I have got my DAC up and running.
First setup was JLsounds USB2I2S, Ians Fifo tutti completti with good resonators, Curryman DAC synchronous clocked, with supplied PSU. To be honest, I was not really pleased by the sound. My Monica/Mojo DAC (TDA1545) sounded much more musical and much much better in any way. The Curryman DAC sounded precise, but clinical. Not what I am out for.
So I changed the PSU to a +/- 15V Superregulator and a +5V UL noise regulator, changed analogue capacitors from Panasonic FMs vs. Elna Silmic and, e voila, a total different DAC I heard. Still not as musical as the Monic DAC, but good stage, very neutrol, analog sounding. Much better now! Lets see where it leads to
Cheers Ernst
First setup was JLsounds USB2I2S, Ians Fifo tutti completti with good resonators, Curryman DAC synchronous clocked, with supplied PSU. To be honest, I was not really pleased by the sound. My Monica/Mojo DAC (TDA1545) sounded much more musical and much much better in any way. The Curryman DAC sounded precise, but clinical. Not what I am out for.
So I changed the PSU to a +/- 15V Superregulator and a +5V UL noise regulator, changed analogue capacitors from Panasonic FMs vs. Elna Silmic and, e voila, a total different DAC I heard. Still not as musical as the Monic DAC, but good stage, very neutrol, analog sounding. Much better now! Lets see where it leads to
Cheers Ernst
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Hi Ernst,
thanks for your feedback.
Mhh, quite different from my impression and what others reported
Indeed analog PSU helps a lot and your latest report sounds more familiar to me
kind regards, Daniel
thanks for your feedback.
Mhh, quite different from my impression and what others reported
Indeed analog PSU helps a lot and your latest report sounds more familiar to me
kind regards, Daniel
I2S cable
After purchasing a Curryman Dac to go with my Amanero, I was wondering what is the best type of cable to use for short i2s connection.
Is Cat 5E that some use acceptable, or a thin coax cable which I also have might be better? I know short lenghts matter, but cable quality / type?
Thank you and regards,
Ronnie
After purchasing a Curryman Dac to go with my Amanero, I was wondering what is the best type of cable to use for short i2s connection.
Is Cat 5E that some use acceptable, or a thin coax cable which I also have might be better? I know short lenghts matter, but cable quality / type?
Thank you and regards,
Ronnie
With HF better not to break the impedance between boards : you need more 50 ohms... than 100 ohms for instance. UF-L wires likes its plugs are 50 ohms.
Also you need a gnd return for each I2S signal. Belden or Mogami e.g. sell excellent tiny 50 ohms coax cables. Here the Gnd return is also a sort of shielding. But as you writted : the shorter the better. I2S protocol was made for short interconnections between on board chips.
With some dac chips (TDA1541A) John from EC-DESIGN noticed a reduction of jitter when putting a resistor in serie on the I2S Signal but the Bck one. You can certainly for a first try use your twisted cat5: one pair for one I2S link (one for the signal, the other twisted for the gnd... From then, when you can, try real 50 ohms if you notice a difference !
Also you need a gnd return for each I2S signal. Belden or Mogami e.g. sell excellent tiny 50 ohms coax cables. Here the Gnd return is also a sort of shielding. But as you writted : the shorter the better. I2S protocol was made for short interconnections between on board chips.
With some dac chips (TDA1541A) John from EC-DESIGN noticed a reduction of jitter when putting a resistor in serie on the I2S Signal but the Bck one. You can certainly for a first try use your twisted cat5: one pair for one I2S link (one for the signal, the other twisted for the gnd... From then, when you can, try real 50 ohms if you notice a difference !
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So, meanwhile I have got my DAC up and running.
First setup was JLsounds USB2I2S, Ians Fifo tutti completti with good resonators, Curryman DAC synchronous clocked, with supplied PSU. To be honest, I was not really pleased by the sound. My Monica/Mojo DAC (TDA1545) sounded much more musical and much much better in any way. The Curryman DAC sounded precise, but clinical. Not what I am out for.
So I changed the PSU to a +/- 15V Superregulator and a +5V UL noise regulator, changed analogue capacitors from Panasonic FMs vs. Elna Silmic and, e voila, a total different DAC I heard. Still not as musical as the Monic DAC, but good stage, very neutrol, analog sounding. Much better now! Lets see where it leads to
Cheers Ernst
Hi, you can always add a 1 uF Black Gate Std (or N if you have one) on the pin 11 and Gnd of the pcb !
(Achtung bicyclette! : neg side of the cap on pin 11 iirc)Jean-Paul or Curryman will correct me if this is the wrong pin, but on the equivalent DAC Jean-Paul made 'es9023 chip with spidf input), it gaves me a great improvement ! Worth to try only if you have this cap at hands. Jean-P used to populate it with a 2.5 mm pitch WIma mks, but if you find the dac too clinical you rather try the BG std 1 uF.
Wima MKS 2.5 mm pitch can be chalenged with a blue PET 5 mm pitch from Cornell Dublier ! But I believe as your main is a TDA1541A dac, you may find the BG std better than the polyester caps !
The goal is to putt Something between the pin 11 and the X7r smd cap which feed the pin 11 (or swap the smd cap) ! max capacitance on pin 11 is 4 uF if I remember what J-Paul said ("Modyfing the Subbu" dac thread by Gary)
Just two cents & basic tweak
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After listening the past few days to my Curryman - Amanero setup, I am satisfied.
Here are my findings. I find it hard to describe sound, but here I go:
I find it is a relatively neutral sound with the soundstage a little laid back to my taste. It is not in your face but at the same time doesn't sound tired or boring. In fact is has that natural midband quality that makes you listen more to your record collection, and not so much judge the recording quality itself, but simply enjoy the music. Hard to describe. Less skipping (which is so easy with computer playback), and more listening pleasure.
At the moment I am running it from a simple symmetrical Power supply which I will improve. It also needs a nice case. Probably custom aluminium, with faceted glass front. No problem as CNC milling is my daily job.
A big thank you to Daniel (Curryman) and Mr. Gerhard for making this available to the DIY community.
Regards,
Ronnie
Here are my findings. I find it hard to describe sound, but here I go:
I find it is a relatively neutral sound with the soundstage a little laid back to my taste. It is not in your face but at the same time doesn't sound tired or boring. In fact is has that natural midband quality that makes you listen more to your record collection, and not so much judge the recording quality itself, but simply enjoy the music. Hard to describe. Less skipping (which is so easy with computer playback), and more listening pleasure.
At the moment I am running it from a simple symmetrical Power supply which I will improve. It also needs a nice case. Probably custom aluminium, with faceted glass front. No problem as CNC milling is my daily job.
A big thank you to Daniel (Curryman) and Mr. Gerhard for making this available to the DIY community.
Regards,
Ronnie
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Am I correct in thinking that I would need 2 dac boards to handle 4 output channels from a miniDSP 2x4? Also volume changes for all four channels from the software volume would work as it does now with 2x4? What about common volume through the analog pot on the 2x4? Addition of the Curryman would solve the low output version of the 2x4 I'm assuming.
Curryman,
I have been wanting to move from Mindsp 2*4 to Minisharc for sometimes now but still hesitant about it. Now, there 2 ways to go about using Minisharc in my situation,
a. Using your 9023 based DACs with minsharc
OR
b. MINidsp's new DAC(can't remember the model no. but costs $99) that can be interfaced to the minisharc.
the latter is easier to interface, e.g less wiring and save space. Are there any particular reasons why your approach would be better, please explain. Based on my info the latter approach seems less complicated unless your DAC proves to produce better quality sound.
I have been wanting to move from Mindsp 2*4 to Minisharc for sometimes now but still hesitant about it. Now, there 2 ways to go about using Minisharc in my situation,
a. Using your 9023 based DACs with minsharc
OR
b. MINidsp's new DAC(can't remember the model no. but costs $99) that can be interfaced to the minisharc.
the latter is easier to interface, e.g less wiring and save space. Are there any particular reasons why your approach would be better, please explain. Based on my info the latter approach seems less complicated unless your DAC proves to produce better quality sound.
Dear ttan98,
I did not yet compare miniDAC8 to the curryman DAC, still setting up my miniDAC8 system. However I am probably the wrong person to tell you if its worth the effort
A complete system with 4 Curryman DAC indeed is much more complicated, thinking alone about proper I2S wiring (buffering?) or power supply. On the other hand the output filter (switched capacitor filter) and buffer build into the AK4440 plus external circuitry (I guess the nichicon electrolytic capacitors on board of the miniDAC8 are for AC coupling since DC offset of the AK4440 may be up to +/- 60mV) surely is more simple compared to the discrete LCR Filter and JFET Buffer on the Curryman DAC.
kind regards, Daniel
I did not yet compare miniDAC8 to the curryman DAC, still setting up my miniDAC8 system. However I am probably the wrong person to tell you if its worth the effort
A complete system with 4 Curryman DAC indeed is much more complicated, thinking alone about proper I2S wiring (buffering?) or power supply. On the other hand the output filter (switched capacitor filter) and buffer build into the AK4440 plus external circuitry (I guess the nichicon electrolytic capacitors on board of the miniDAC8 are for AC coupling since DC offset of the AK4440 may be up to +/- 60mV) surely is more simple compared to the discrete LCR Filter and JFET Buffer on the Curryman DAC.
kind regards, Daniel
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Hi Daniel,
I am trying to use the Curryman DAC with my CD transport which has a I2S output. After setting up everything, I measured correct voltages on the digital and buffer output supplies, however I have no sound. The connection from the CD to the DAC is a shielded cable about 20cm long. I checked the wiring and could not find anything. At this stage, I am not sure what to do. Do you have any advices? Thank you.
I am trying to use the Curryman DAC with my CD transport which has a I2S output. After setting up everything, I measured correct voltages on the digital and buffer output supplies, however I have no sound. The connection from the CD to the DAC is a shielded cable about 20cm long. I checked the wiring and could not find anything. At this stage, I am not sure what to do. Do you have any advices? Thank you.
I'm building a USB-input / Curryman DAC into a Beta 22 headphone amp, just for fun.
I am now come to the part of the build where I want to lash up the DAC stuff, see if I can get it to work. I have an Amanero USB=> I2S board and one of the Curryman DAC boards from MiniDSP. I have spent the evening reading about isolating the USB side from the DAC side, which implies an isolator between the Amanero board and the Curryman DAC on the I2S lines.
Many agree that IN THEORY isolation here is a good thing, but the only measurements I've been able to find are ambiguous as to the value of this isolation. ( https://hifiduino.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/experiments-with-nve-il715-isolator/)
In addition, I can't find a simple little I2S isolator board out there for sale... I'm too old and feeble to try hand- SMD soldering some tiny little chip into some kind of homebrew perfboard, so really I NEED something to buy...
OR - just do without isolation.
Anyone have any experience using the I2S outputs from the Amanero board directly into the Curryman DAC? Daniel... your thoughts would be welcome.
I read through this whole thread and found some people using the ACKO LABS isolator / clock board which isn't available any more, but no real answer to the question "do you need an isolator between Amanero USB and I2S of Curryman DAC" etc....
I am now come to the part of the build where I want to lash up the DAC stuff, see if I can get it to work. I have an Amanero USB=> I2S board and one of the Curryman DAC boards from MiniDSP. I have spent the evening reading about isolating the USB side from the DAC side, which implies an isolator between the Amanero board and the Curryman DAC on the I2S lines.
Many agree that IN THEORY isolation here is a good thing, but the only measurements I've been able to find are ambiguous as to the value of this isolation. ( https://hifiduino.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/experiments-with-nve-il715-isolator/)
In addition, I can't find a simple little I2S isolator board out there for sale... I'm too old and feeble to try hand- SMD soldering some tiny little chip into some kind of homebrew perfboard, so really I NEED something to buy...
OR - just do without isolation.
Anyone have any experience using the I2S outputs from the Amanero board directly into the Curryman DAC? Daniel... your thoughts would be welcome.
I read through this whole thread and found some people using the ACKO LABS isolator / clock board which isn't available any more, but no real answer to the question "do you need an isolator between Amanero USB and I2S of Curryman DAC" etc....
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