Building with the Soekris dam1121

Jump to Latest
B

bootsla

Member
Joined 2015
Soekris dam1121 Motherbard

Attached the motherboard pictures for 2 x DAM1121 from soekris, designed as a reference DAC.
- Analog Power Supplies with low noise shunts
- Digital Power Supply (TRACO) only for the ATMEGA32 controller and Display
- Galvanic Isolation
- RS232 Interface with self designed interface boards
- Amanero Interface for USB

In total 10 add on boards

- 2 soekis dam1121
- 2 USB serial concverter
- 1 Amanero Board
- 4 Shunt's for the Analog dam1121 power supply
- 1 Shunt for the Master Clock Osc

In total 7 Power supply, 6 are designed Analog, keep the right and left channel separated

This is a SMD Board, not easy for DIY, Schottky Rectifier on the back of the board.
Soekris dam1121 not shown, but you see the Samtec connectors

Board is 99% working, known bugs:

- Master Slave RS232 communication /wired on the bottom
- Silab570 Master Clock missing, will be added if slab is delivered
- ISO 7220 Isolator are to slow for the Amanero serial stream, will be upgraded as soon as delivered new faster ISO's, pin compatible)
- Low noise board are from a friend in Saudi Arabia
Board will be updated to version 1.1 in about 4 weeks after final testing

Attached the big resolution pictures

image1.JPG

image2.JPG

image3.JPG

image4.JPG
 
L

Lbud4

Member
Joined 2013
Looks awesome. Happy to be a beta tester. SMD does not bother me at all. Almost all the stuff that I design / layout now is SMD. 0402 and smaller is a challenge but the rest I find easier.

Have you thought about supporting the DIYINHK boards instead of / in addition to the Amanero USB to I2S. I haven't looked at the pinout difference. Also, could build a PCB converter board. Always options.
 
R

RollE2k

Member
Joined 2007
Looks nice... but board seems unnecessary large for whats on it?
should be easy to make the board quite a bit smaller i would think?.. that would primary save alot in production cost.... otherwise the idea is great i have to say.

By the way what is the size right now?
 
Last edited:
B

bootsla

Member
Joined 2015
RollE2k said:
Looks nice... but board seems unnecessary large for whats on it?
should be easy to make the board quite a bit smaller i would think?.. that would primary save alot in production cost.... otherwise the idea is great i have to say.

By the way what is the size right now?
Click to expand...


Thanks for the feedback, size is really large 402 mm x 271 mm, was never planned for "mass production", for a single unique piece size is OK, but fits to the hifi 2000 alloy encloures with only 40mm height, will give a nice reference dac
 
B

bootsla

Member
Joined 2015
Lbud4 said:
Looks awesome. Happy to be a beta tester. SMD does not bother me at all. Almost all the stuff that I design / layout now is SMD. 0402 and smaller is a challenge but the rest I find easier.

Have you thought about supporting the DIYINHK boards instead of / in addition to the Amanero USB to I2S. I haven't looked at the pinout difference. Also, could build a PCB converter board. Always options.
Click to expand...

Great idea, the board is large enough to hold a addition DIY community USB interface, nice option for the future, need to get firstthis one working.
 
nautibuoy

nautibuoy

Member
Joined 2010
I have been planning on a Soekris DAM project for a while but I need to decide whether to go for the 1021 or the 1121.

My understanding is that the 1121 has isolation and reclocking after the FPGA whereas with the 1021 it is on the inputs before the FPGA. If my understanding is correct I will likely go with the 1121 as it seems a more optimised solution.

On the assumption that my understanding is correct, I see no benefit from additional isolation/reclocking before the FPGA and plan to hook up an Amanero Combo board directly to the 1121 inputs.

That said, I am also contemplating the use of a Beaglebone Black (BBB), with the Botic distro, instead of an Amanero, however, the BBB needs to be fed the correct clock rates to work optimally with both 44.1 and 48KHz data family rates - I believe the Soekris 1121 clock signal is exposed but only via a LVDS output rather than the normal 3.3V line (that could be hooked directly into the relevant BBB header).

Apologies if I'm covering old ground; I have done some research and just want to confirm my understanding before making a decision about how to proceed. Many thanks.
 
G

Goto

Member
Joined 2006
nautibuoy said:
I have been planning on a Soekris DAM project for a while but I need to decide whether to go for the 1021 or the 1121.

My understanding is that the 1121 has isolation and reclocking after the FPGA whereas with the 1021 it is on the inputs before the FPGA. If my understanding is correct I will likely go with the 1121 as it seems a more optimised solution.

On the assumption that my understanding is correct, I see no benefit from additional isolation/reclocking before the FPGA and plan to hook up an Amanero Combo board directly to the 1121 inputs.

That said, I am also contemplating the use of a Beaglebone Black (BBB), with the Botic distro, instead of an Amanero, however, the BBB needs to be fed the correct clock rates to work optimally with both 44.1 and 48KHz data family rates - I believe the Soekris 1121 clock signal is exposed but only via a LVDS output rather than the normal 3.3V line (that could be hooked directly into the relevant BBB header).

Apologies if I'm covering old ground; I have done some research and just want to confirm my understanding before making a decision about how to proceed. Many thanks.
Click to expand...

Hi Nautiboy

I currently have 1121 and 1021 and despite the differences in the way their are implemented, I hear no real difference between the two when fed from the same source. Obviously the 1121 requires 3 good regs, the 1021 in stock form at least is simpler to power.

Not sure where in Somerset you hail from, but I am probably a few junctions up the M5 if you're interested in sampling the Soekris in action.

Regards
Mark
 
G

Goto

Member
Joined 2006
RollE2k said:
Mark: out of interest - how are you powering both boards? What regs, transformers and such? And what revision of the 1021 do you have? And is there any mods done?
Click to expand...

Hi

Both units are currently stock. I bought the 1121 to listen to when I decided to look at modding the heck out of the 1021 (Rev4). The thing is, I'm not sure there is so much to gain in hacking about the 1021, which sounds sweeet! I know the early rev boards responded well to surgery, but Soren seems to have evolved the design well.

1021 - DIYINHK XMOS USB i/f - Placid HD regs set at +/-9v. Raw output. Std filters

1121 - same USB i/f - Placid HD regs on 5v analogue rails, DIYinHK LT3042 5v reg on digital rail for DAC.

USB card is powered by LT3042 reg at 3.3v.

USB path is uRendu/Ultracap LPS-1, running HQPlayer NAA. i7 PC doing the HQPlayer heavy lifting.

HD800 or Hifiman HE-6 cans from SPL Phonitor Mini.

I am half inclined to sell on the 1021 unmodded, given that I am very pleased with both dacs in the above set up.

I am currently assessing Pink Faun I2S Bridge for directly injecting I2S from PC into Soekris. Only had the Bridge for a couple of days, but it's promising.

Regards
Mark
 
nautibuoy

nautibuoy

Member
Joined 2010
Goto said:
Hi Nautiboy

I currently have 1121 and 1021 and despite the differences in the way their are implemented, I hear no real difference between the two when fed from the same source. Obviously the 1121 requires 3 good regs, the 1021 in stock form at least is simpler to power.

Not sure where in Somerset you hail from, but I am probably a few junctions up the M5 if you're interested in sampling the Soekris in action.

Regards
Mark
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark, that's interesting and useful information.

I'm in Taunton and would be interested in taking up your offer.

Ray
 
G

Goto

Member
Joined 2006
nautibuoy said:
Mark, if we do arrange something I can bring along for comparison my Buffalo IIISE DAC, which get's it's input from a Beaglebone Black with the Botic distro configured as an HQPlayer NAA.

Oh, and if you do decide to part with the 1021 maybe I could have first dibs?

Ray
Click to expand...

Hi Ray

I'll pm you tomorrow, see if we can arrange something soonish.

I actually parted out my dual mono Buffalo when I got the 1021 bedded in. But my Buffalo lacked output stage, so maybe not optimum. So would definitely be interested to compare.

Regards
Mark
 
B

bootsla

Member
Joined 2015
soekris said:
The dam1121 check if external Si570 oscillator is present, if so it will use it and disable the internal oscillators.

The dam1121 is picky on the Si570, it need to be 3.3V LVDS, I2C address 0x55, startup clock 10 Mhz, OE Polarity active high, and it can't be the 20 ppm stability version....

You can look up p/n at Clock and Oscillator Design Services | Select Base Part

570BAA000112DG is fine.
Click to expand...

Update: Finally the Master Clock arrived, installed over the weekend and the 570BAA000112DG just worked fine. The balanced DAM1121 in Master / Slave Mode is a incrediable audiophile DAC, just a few minutes of listing gave really a new level in experience. Do hope that some of you got the chance to visit soekris engineering at the Munich High End 2017 and listen to the DAC 1541 all in one DAC, very very nice audiophile DAC for a excellent price tag.
 
S

Studley

Member
Joined 2005
Soekris
You posted: "If clocking synchronous then I2S and SPDIF source only goes to input on master module, with input on slave coming from master output, like in example schematics."

I want to use 2 x 1121 boards and feed each one a separate SPDIF signal, but I want the clocks of the 2 boards to be synchronised, master/slave. Does your statement mean that in master/ slave set up you can only have one SPDIF input i.e. to the master module?
 
S

soekris

Member
Joined 2009
soekris.dk
Paid Member
Studley said:
Soekris
You posted: "If clocking synchronous then I2S and SPDIF source only goes to input on master module, with input on slave coming from master output, like in example schematics."

I want to use 2 x 1121 boards and feed each one a separate SPDIF signal, but I want the clocks of the 2 boards to be synchronised, master/slave. Does your statement mean that in master/ slave set up you can only have one SPDIF input i.e. to the master module?
Click to expand...

Can't see why you would want that ??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom