Hello Greg ,
its been a while
.
1. Agreed .
2. We really had no choice, its a very complex board.
4. Its is more and more my understanding that DAC Ic is just one element. As you know very well , power is also very important . Of course the last element is analog stage. Our analog stage was designed by Andrew (SparkosLabs.com) a great guy , that spits and shakes your hand when he does a deal. Keep an eye on him he is designing some great stuff..
We used his vast knowledge and he has designed the Katana analog output better than we could.
5. I agree that some older R2R sound great (or discreete) but Delta Sigma are being developed much faster since the market is bigger (billions). Have they reached parity or surpassed the older R2R.. thats the question Katana might have to answer .
6. This is one element from the 3 I spoke earlier. My findings indicate that while LDOs are very important ...whats before them is more important . With the right PI filter (before LDO) you get less noise then using a LT3042..
Last element..electrons .. This time we used 4 super caps placed in very strategic places . 2 of them are on LR of analog , one on the main power. Decoupling ? 6 film capacitors for analog , hundreds in the rest of the design
DC/DC convertors..I dont like them at all. EMI (radiated and conducted) how to tame it ? Of course we have LDOs and filters , then we designed an RC snubber right on the DC convertor + we used copper shield around the whole convertor to remove radiation...I think we tamed it.
Yes more people run the ess9xxx in voltage mode lowering drastically the thd+n. Some use opamps with single rail , we used current mode with opamps dual rails 14V..
We are now , in version 1.9 of the PCB. Hopefully this is the last version. If it passes our meeting this week , i will be sample time.
Frankly I cannot wait to listen to it (and yes it has XLR pads) and I have no doubt that will be better than Kali + whatever codec.
its been a while
. 1. Agreed .
2. We really had no choice, its a very complex board.
4. Its is more and more my understanding that DAC Ic is just one element. As you know very well , power is also very important . Of course the last element is analog stage. Our analog stage was designed by Andrew (SparkosLabs.com) a great guy , that spits and shakes your hand when he does a deal. Keep an eye on him he is designing some great stuff..
We used his vast knowledge and he has designed the Katana analog output better than we could.
5. I agree that some older R2R sound great (or discreete) but Delta Sigma are being developed much faster since the market is bigger (billions). Have they reached parity or surpassed the older R2R.. thats the question Katana might have to answer .
6. This is one element from the 3 I spoke earlier. My findings indicate that while LDOs are very important ...whats before them is more important . With the right PI filter (before LDO) you get less noise then using a LT3042..
Last element..electrons .. This time we used 4 super caps placed in very strategic places . 2 of them are on LR of analog , one on the main power. Decoupling ? 6 film capacitors for analog , hundreds in the rest of the design
DC/DC convertors..I dont like them at all. EMI (radiated and conducted) how to tame it ? Of course we have LDOs and filters , then we designed an RC snubber right on the DC convertor + we used copper shield around the whole convertor to remove radiation...I think we tamed it.
Yes more people run the ess9xxx in voltage mode lowering drastically the thd+n. Some use opamps with single rail , we used current mode with opamps dual rails 14V..
We are now , in version 1.9 of the PCB. Hopefully this is the last version
. If it passes our meeting this week , i will be sample time.Frankly I cannot wait to listen to it (and yes it has XLR pads) and I have no doubt that will be better than Kali + whatever codec.
Samples?
Is there a signup for samples/beta testers? I already own a Boss and a MiniBoss - would love to try the new one!
Cheers
Hello Greg ,
its been a while
1. Agreed .
2. We really had no choice, its a very complex board.
4. Its is more and more my understanding that DAC Ic is just one element. As you know very well , power is also very important . Of course the last element is analog stage. Our analog stage was designed by Andrew (SparkosLabs.com) a great guy , that spits and shakes your hand when he does a deal. Keep an eye on him he is designing some great stuff..
We used his vast knowledge and he has designed the Katana analog output better than we could.
5. I agree that some older R2R sound great (or discreete) but Delta Sigma are being developed much faster since the market is bigger (billions). Have they reached parity or surpassed the older R2R.. thats the question Katana might have to answer .
6. This is one element from the 3 I spoke earlier. My findings indicate that while LDOs are very important ...whats before them is more important . With the right PI filter (before LDO) you get less noise then using a LT3042..
Last element..electrons .. This time we used 4 super caps placed in very strategic places . 2 of them are on LR of analog , one on the main power. Decoupling ? 6 film capacitors for analog , hundreds in the rest of the design
DC/DC convertors..I dont like them at all. EMI (radiated and conducted) how to tame it ? Of course we have LDOs and filters , then we designed an RC snubber right on the DC convertor + we used copper shield around the whole convertor to remove radiation...I think we tamed it.
Yes more people run the ess9xxx in voltage mode lowering drastically the thd+n. Some use opamps with single rail , we used current mode with opamps dual rails 14V..
We are now , in version 1.9 of the PCB. Hopefully this is the last version
Frankly I cannot wait to listen to it (and yes it has XLR pads) and I have no doubt that will be better than Kali + whatever codec.
Is there a signup for samples/beta testers? I already own a Boss and a MiniBoss - would love to try the new one!
Cheers
Hi
There is a problem with my kali. I`m using it with volumio on an rpi2 and piano 2.1. I can`t play Flac files with 44.1khz - the kali switches in short sequences to empty and interrupt the sound. It only woks if I configure resampling in volumio to 48khz and even then interruptions happen. Is that a hardware problem of the kali or does anyone know what it could be?
Thanks for help!
There is a problem with my kali. I`m using it with volumio on an rpi2 and piano 2.1. I can`t play Flac files with 44.1khz - the kali switches in short sequences to empty and interrupt the sound. It only woks if I configure resampling in volumio to 48khz and even then interruptions happen. Is that a hardware problem of the kali or does anyone know what it could be?
Thanks for help!
Hello, thanks for detail info...so your new dac will have its own clock system ? So there will not be needed to pair it with Kali Reclocker ? It seems that ES9038q2m is now popular, there is very good DAC from Project Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 digital DAC (Westlake + Dohnalik) with 2xES9038q2m, and also Westlake will have his own FDAC which also will have 2xES9038q2m and should be able to connect with Rpi I2s...Price of your new DAC will be under 200 Eur ? and is it for Rpi HAT or separate DAC ? (I apologize If I have overlooked something..) If no problem during testa, when we could expect free sale ? ThanksHello Greg ,
its been a while
1. Agreed .
2. We really had no choice, its a very complex board.
4. Its is more and more my understanding that DAC Ic is just one element. As you know very well , power is also very important . Of course the last element is analog stage. Our analog stage was designed by Andrew (SparkosLabs.com) a great guy , that spits and shakes your hand when he does a deal. Keep an eye on him he is designing some great stuff..
We used his vast knowledge and he has designed the Katana analog output better than we could.
5. I agree that some older R2R sound great (or discreete) but Delta Sigma are being developed much faster since the market is bigger (billions). Have they reached parity or surpassed the older R2R.. thats the question Katana might have to answer .
6. This is one element from the 3 I spoke earlier. My findings indicate that while LDOs are very important ...whats before them is more important . With the right PI filter (before LDO) you get less noise then using a LT3042..
Last element..electrons .. This time we used 4 super caps placed in very strategic places . 2 of them are on LR of analog , one on the main power. Decoupling ? 6 film capacitors for analog , hundreds in the rest of the design
DC/DC convertors..I dont like them at all. EMI (radiated and conducted) how to tame it ? Of course we have LDOs and filters , then we designed an RC snubber right on the DC convertor + we used copper shield around the whole convertor to remove radiation...I think we tamed it.
Yes more people run the ess9xxx in voltage mode lowering drastically the thd+n. Some use opamps with single rail , we used current mode with opamps dual rails 14V..
We are now , in version 1.9 of the PCB. Hopefully this is the last version
Frankly I cannot wait to listen to it (and yes it has XLR pads) and I have no doubt that will be better than Kali + whatever codec.
Thanks, Vita
Thats not normal. Contact us through the website and someone will assist you
Yes there is a reason...we have this DAC working as a Master (so it has clocks/mclk on board)
I did a few more tests related to the noise/hiss issue with my RPi+Kali:
I am still wondering if there's something wrong with my Kali. Could it be broken? cdsgames?
- I added the shielding of the oscillators as described by cdsgames. Didn't change a thing.
- I replaced the I2S connection wires with shielded wires. I stripped some UFL wires and soldered them to the connectors (that was a PITA!). All shields were connected to GND. Didn't change a thing.
- I disabled the WLAN and Bluetooth on the RPi as described here. Didn't change a thing.
- I tried a lab/bench power supply for the RPi+Kali instead of the linear supply I used before. I also tried running the RPi off it's own power supply. Didn't change a thing.
- I removed the Kali and connected the I2S directly from the RPi pins to the DDDAC. Hiss and noise is gone! Silence!
I am still wondering if there's something wrong with my Kali. Could it be broken? cdsgames?
Uhm, I don't know. What's the difference, how do I tell?
No, the DDDAC does not use MCLK input. I didn't attach anything to the Kali MCLK output.
The numbers on the crystals will show it. Only the early Kalis are 22/24 though; now they are all 45/49.
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My oscillators are hidden under the copper shield recommended by cdsgames, so I can't read the numbers. But the Kali board is rather new, so I guess it the 45/49 version. What's the issue with this version? Could this explain why my earlier build using an older Kali didn't have these issues?