Thanks for the feedback! 
That sounds like it is something upstream of the DAC (HQ player I guess) - as we have tested that with the 1.3V reg there are no issues playing any format the chip supports up the the freq supported by the master clock. 1.2V reg can run out of steam on the ES9038 at very high sample rates with a high master clock (As noted in that chip's datasheet) - that is why we offer the 1.3V reg now.
Cheers!
Russ
That sounds like it is something upstream of the DAC (HQ player I guess) - as we have tested that with the 1.3V reg there are no issues playing any format the chip supports up the the freq supported by the master clock. 1.2V reg can run out of steam on the ES9038 at very high sample rates with a high master clock (As noted in that chip's datasheet) - that is why we offer the 1.3V reg now.
Cheers!
Russ
Here's what I have tried: Eliminated the Placid HD and used a 3amp linear supply. Eliminated the UFL cables, and used about 2" small ga hookup wire, tied all grounds together, checked voltage out on 1.3v trident, looks fine during noise issue. swapped out new cronus, for old (repaired by me) cronus thinking maybe it wasn't supplying the correct clock, or had some issue.
Only DSD is affected as far as I can tell. Played a 192/32 rip of a red book CD I made just for test purposes, played fine, as do other 96/24 and other PCM files. I tried a higher bit rate DSD256 and all I get is loud pop from the speakers, about every two seconds. Also, could not shut down Volumio after this happens, it's like the BBB is overloaded...
If I want to test with cronus MCLK, what needs to be done other than remove the XO reg and hookup a UFL or wire? I have tried to run ext clock to both the BII and BIII and neither will lock. The BIII lock will flash on at about 1hz rate, but not stay locked.
Any ideas? I know I'm throwing a lot of info at ya...
P.S. - This seems like a clock issue to me. Over a period of time, and it's not exactly repeatable, clocks are getting out of sync. DPLL setting change? Try ext clock? Sometimes it will play an entire song or two without noise, other times, I start to play a track, and it happens right away. It also seems like the DSD sound quality is not 100% even when the noise subsides. I listened to a 192/32 pcm last night, and thought it sounded great, but could have been the beer and exhaustion! ;-)
Only DSD is affected as far as I can tell. Played a 192/32 rip of a red book CD I made just for test purposes, played fine, as do other 96/24 and other PCM files. I tried a higher bit rate DSD256 and all I get is loud pop from the speakers, about every two seconds. Also, could not shut down Volumio after this happens, it's like the BBB is overloaded...
If I want to test with cronus MCLK, what needs to be done other than remove the XO reg and hookup a UFL or wire? I have tried to run ext clock to both the BII and BIII and neither will lock. The BIII lock will flash on at about 1hz rate, but not stay locked.
Any ideas? I know I'm throwing a lot of info at ya...
P.S. - This seems like a clock issue to me. Over a period of time, and it's not exactly repeatable, clocks are getting out of sync. DPLL setting change? Try ext clock? Sometimes it will play an entire song or two without noise, other times, I start to play a track, and it happens right away. It also seems like the DSD sound quality is not 100% even when the noise subsides. I listened to a 192/32 pcm last night, and thought it sounded great, but could have been the beer and exhaustion! ;-)
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Sure - on SW2 set positions 5 - 8 to off (1). Gradually decrease until you can't keep a good lock on your toughest source - then go back up one.
GitHub - twistedpearaudio/Buffalo-III-SE-Pro-On-Board-Firmware
Cheers!
Russ
GitHub - twistedpearaudio/Buffalo-III-SE-Pro-On-Board-Firmware
Cheers!
Russ
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Thanks! I went ahead and tried it live. Need more test time, but I am now playing a DSD128, DSD256 failed with pop and intermittent momentary lock attempts, this also causes loss of Volumio web interface with the BBB using ethernet cable. The browser interface did finaly come back long enough for me to pause the track, and stop the noise! But was not very cooperative.
Here's perhaps a rather general question related to power supply to the BIII SE Pro. The recommendation in the past was to use a Placid HD to supply the BIII boards, with the 9028 and 9038 the recommended board is the LCDPS HO. The LCDPS has a relatively primitive regulator setup compared to the Placid. Do the new Tridents on the BIII SE Pro boards negate any difference in the upstream regulator performance?
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I finished integrating the Pro38 and the Merqury and rewriting a new firmware for the DAC this weekend. The Buffalo 38Pro is a big upgrade in SQ over the Buffalo II with IVY it is replacing. The sound is warmer with more details and bigger soundstage.
My Frankenstein DAC:
The Dac consists of one Buffalo III dac with 6 channels and one Buffalo III 38pro with 2 channels. The USB card is a Exau2i 8 channel i2s card. The DAC can be controlled by remote, rotary knob or PC. The dac truns of and on 3 power amps and also turns on/off a projector. I also use a relay to use the dac and amp (2 channels) on different speakers in another room. I use eventghost on the PC to control the DAC. I made some hydrid cables for i2s on the new Pro38 to connect to the Exa U2i.
My Frankenstein DAC:
The Dac consists of one Buffalo III dac with 6 channels and one Buffalo III 38pro with 2 channels. The USB card is a Exau2i 8 channel i2s card. The DAC can be controlled by remote, rotary knob or PC. The dac truns of and on 3 power amps and also turns on/off a projector. I also use a relay to use the dac and amp (2 channels) on different speakers in another room. I use eventghost on the PC to control the DAC. I made some hydrid cables for i2s on the new Pro38 to connect to the Exa U2i.
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Just a question. Does the ES9038rpo support MQA decoding?
I have tried to play some MQA files (with passtrough MQA checked) from Tidal at 24bit/48kHz and they seems to work fine. I think the MQA files are backward compatible to normal PCM files. Therefore I do not know. The Mytek Manhatten II I think uses the ES9038/28pro and supports MQA decoding.
I have been listening to some tracks and I must admit I have difficulties hearing the difference between software decoding MQA and passthrough MQA.
I have tried to play some MQA files (with passtrough MQA checked) from Tidal at 24bit/48kHz and they seems to work fine. I think the MQA files are backward compatible to normal PCM files. Therefore I do not know. The Mytek Manhatten II I think uses the ES9038/28pro and supports MQA decoding.
I have been listening to some tracks and I must admit I have difficulties hearing the difference between software decoding MQA and passthrough MQA.
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