DIY ES9018 Hi-end USB DAC

The old board's USB module port has 7 pins. The new one's USB module port has 10 pins. Weiliang's AK4399 board (Dac9) which accepts IS2 also has 10 pins.
If they share the same connection, it means this board can accept I2S.
It is pity that the designer does not reply our questions.

Skyfighter - You are correct.

First I contacted the vendor of this XMOS to I2S converter board, requesting the pin out diagram for the 10 pin version.
Asynchronous XMOS USB module compatible for AK4399 / DAC7 / ES9018 by Weiliang | eBay
Pinout is now added to the listing.

I spent some time looking at the pictures of the PCB of the "New" Weiliang 9018 DAC board.
Remove LCD+ES9018 High-end USB DAC CPU Coaxial fiber 192K-24BIT KIT WLX | eBay

I was convinced that the PCB layout suggested I2S support.
I contacted the vendor five times over the last six days !, each time re phrasing my question about the board supporting I2S input,
each time "no it does not" was the reply.

Two hours ago the "penny dropped" at the vendors end - a new reply -
YES is does support I2S input.

I know the tracks are long, its only a 2 layer board, no idea on termination resistors etc,etc,etc.
But is is is there and there are also some tantalising vias a couple of cm from the 9018.
 
The problem with home theatre usage is the Movie Industry Media Barrons have decided that DIY audio should not be allowed in the digital domain. You must sign many NDAs and pay about 100k upfront and 30k per year to design anything in that space.

Thats assuming you are using HDMI.

You can diy Home Theatre using USB, I2S or AES/SPDIF and other types of connection.
 
Correct, the rules say that 5.1 only for 44khz, 16 bit

The limit for a SINGLE SPDIF connector is 8 channels of 48kHz.

For multi channel consumer AV, HDMI now been pretty much replaced
SPDIF providing at least 8 channels of 24/192kHz.

However, it is possible to have a source (usually a computer) that has MULTIPLE SPDIF/AES/TOSLINK connectors.
EACH connector carries 2 channels of 24/192kHz.

For example -
Software -Jriver Media Centre running on PC (MAC soon)
Hardware - RME AES cards. Lynx AES Cards.

The problem with this is each 9108 chip has only one SPDIF receiver, so you need 4 for of them for 7.1.

The 9018 can however process 8 channels for I2S or DSD.
 
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Thanks for link.I saw Oppo players earlier too and was wondering if there is DIY kit for Home theater.So I can used 8 ch LPCM feeding 9018DAC to get surround in Home theater.
So 9018 can serve as Stereo & Home theater solution.
This is similar kit, but supports I2S-
The Buffalo III Digital-to-Analog Converter
I also found another solution to get 5.1PCM-
Cypress CLUX-11SA

Boxes like the CLUX 11SA are called HDMI de embedders (google this term,plenty of info).

There are a few around but they have limitations.
Some are limited to outputting only 16/44.1 or 16/48 and may only use the (lossy) core from DTS MA and Dolby HD.

If you want 8 of full fat 24/192 on I2S (plus 2 optical channels) -

USBStreamer | MiniDSP

This will do the trick, connecting directly to a BuffaloIII (not the SE model).

There has been some concern over the jitter on the outputs of the Minidsp USB Steamer, but it sounds pretty good for $105.

You will also need an 8 channel I/V.
 
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Thanks for link.Its good that it has asynchronous USB.Also Windows driver supported.
So all I need to do is connect USB streamer to PC,then I2S out to BuffaloIII input and rest is done automatically.That is channels will be input to corresponding DAC channel(F/C/Surr) and get 5.1 analog out.Any more to consider?