Asynchronous I2S FIFO project, an ultimate weapon to fight the jitter

Good news as well if you need I/V passive conversion with a pcm dac : Rhopoint seems to answer via their web shop for 4 pounds one wirewound resistor of the famous green serie and 9 pounds for the shipping : reported elswhere by a diyer :) , so Farnell with its few choices of Rhopoint 516 G is not the only avaliable choice today ! Cool !
 
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Here's to hoping Ian includes the little R-Pi adapter in his next GB... I need at least one more.

The attached picture shows my R-Pi -> Soekris DAM DAC setup using Ian's adapter for the I2S outputs.

The DAM is stock, but I feed it with a good +- 13v supply using 47,000uf Jensen 4-pole caps as the output filter caps. The setup sounds quite good and the SQ rivals another setup I have with a SDTrans384 SD Card reader feeding a DAM. The two setups are my best at this time!

Greg in Mississippi
 

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Really my last question, haha.

I've received my last batch of materials today. There is one question remaining.

I've gotten 2x Crystek 957 series crystals, and i can solder them to the kit from Ian. Would these crystals need any kind of reistors are can they just as well be soldered durectly on the adapter and just used straight away without otger components?

Cheers!
 
Correct Pinning

Hi All,
I need some help.

I want to solder the Crystek Crystals directly on the Clock II Board, but I'm not sure about the Pin Position.. before i heat up the soldering iron ... Could someone take a look on the attached Picture please to confirm the position :)

Many thanks in advance
Best Reagards
Marcus
 

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Yes,this is the right position.

Are you sure, because I now study the UniversalXO Board Document / Pictures and it seems Pin 1 of Crystal goes thru adaptor to bottom right pin on the clock board which is not connect to that pin I have placed as Pin 1... after looking in detail into the UniversalXO Board Pictures I would place the crystal as show attached ..

Thanks for clarification,
regards
Marcus
 

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Correct,

You should try for a time without it, then try it !

Man, did you feed your RaspB by the USB or by the Ian's adaptator ?

Cheers :)


One other problem. I'm doing now a test run.. but Volumio can't see the sound card. Was there a setting? I'm digging trough the whole bunch of 400+ pages at the moment .. I'm trying the hifiberry DAC, but when selecting the output, it shows nothing in volumio.
The buffer also stays empty
 

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Last edited:
Are you sure, because I now study the UniversalXO Board Document / Pictures and it seems Pin 1 of Crystal goes thru adaptor to bottom right pin on the clock board which is not connect to that pin I have placed as Pin 1... after looking in detail into the UniversalXO Board Pictures I would place the crystal as show attached ..

Thanks for clarification,
regards
Marcus


Marcus, my set up;)

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

XO partagé sur ZimageZ
 
Marcus, my set up;)

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

XO partagé sur ZimageZ

Hi,
thank you for your fast answer and support.

I guess my setup are littel different from yours. (if i point it out correct from the picture).

I plan to solder the Crystek 'direct' on the clock board without adapter PCB.

Regards
Marcus
 
Thanks Ian, the ability to play stereo DSD as well as stereo PCM is my prime motivator here.

I definitely would like to retain the dual MCLCK outputs from the current board.

I would also like dual mono outputs as per the current clock board.

It would be useful to be able to off-board the LEDs so that the could be mounted on a front fascia and used to identify DSD/PCM and the rate.

The SMA connectors used for the MCLCK connectors are much better than the u.fl (in terms of reliability after a few insertions, ease of deployment and the ability to use better cable) so I would like to see more use of the larger connectors - potentially as a replacement for all the u.fl?

Many thanks and my name is on the order list as soon as it's available!
All the best
Crom

Hi Ian,
One final question about the new board. Would it be possible, if used in a stereo-only configuration, to be able to 'bond' or combine various channels to increase Dynamic range, accuracy of any dither calculations (I'm stretching the bounds of my knowledge here so apols for any crazy suggestions!)

The reason I ask is that in the back of my mind is the Sabre DAC chips. In stereo mode the same chip is used to L&R channels but in a mono configuration one chip enables a small increase in DNR. I wondered if the same may be possible here?
 
I think I could really use some help. The FiFo doesn't seem to take any i2s signals.


- updated the RPI
- used i2s settings on both volumio 1.50 and 1.55
- used i2s Hifiberry DAC settings
- used i2s Hifiberry DAC+ settings
- used i2s Hifiberry Digi settings
- used i2s Hifiberry DAC settings on Moode
- used i2s Ian fifo settings on Moode
- I've measured my pi-hat, and all is soldered well.
- changed fifo input from 1 to 2
- Used CMedia CM6631A USB -> i2s receiver and attached following pins
CM~ GND -> Fifo GND (1)
CM~ BCK -> Fifo SCK/BCK (2)
CM~ LRCK -> Fifo WS/LR (4)
CM~ DATA -> Fifo SD/DATA (6)
- Have seen Volumio & Moode playing and not playing, but no LOCK led on fifo

I'm kinda out of options as far as I know what to do.

I've attached big image of the setup, and some screens of volumio.
 

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Joined 2007
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I think I could really use some help. The FiFo doesn't seem to take any i2s signals.


- updated the RPI
- used i2s settings on both volumio 1.50 and 1.55
- used i2s Hifiberry DAC settings
- used i2s Hifiberry DAC+ settings
- used i2s Hifiberry Digi settings
- used i2s Hifiberry DAC settings on Moode
- used i2s Ian fifo settings on Moode
- I've measured my pi-hat, and all is soldered well.
- changed fifo input from 1 to 2
- Used CMedia CM6631A USB -> i2s receiver and attached following pins
CM~ GND -> Fifo GND (1)
CM~ BCK -> Fifo SCK/BCK (2)
CM~ LRCK -> Fifo WS/LR (4)
CM~ DATA -> Fifo SD/DATA (6)
- Have seen Volumio & Moode playing and not playing, but no LOCK led on fifo

I'm kinda out of options as far as I know what to do.

I've attached big image of the setup, and some screens of volumio.
I always use other I2S input on fifo board.
 
I think I could really use some help. The FiFo doesn't seem to take any i2s signals.


- updated the RPI
- used i2s settings on both volumio 1.50 and 1.55
- used i2s Hifiberry DAC settings
- used i2s Hifiberry DAC+ settings
- used i2s Hifiberry Digi settings
- used i2s Hifiberry DAC settings on Moode
- used i2s Ian fifo settings on Moode
- I've measured my pi-hat, and all is soldered well.
- changed fifo input from 1 to 2
- Used CMedia CM6631A USB -> i2s receiver and attached following pins
CM~ GND -> Fifo GND (1)
CM~ BCK -> Fifo SCK/BCK (2)
CM~ LRCK -> Fifo WS/LR (4)
CM~ DATA -> Fifo SD/DATA (6)
- Have seen Volumio & Moode playing and not playing, but no LOCK led on fifo

I'm kinda out of options as far as I know what to do.

I've attached big image of the setup, and some screens of volumio.

I think your problem is in how you're trying to use the S/PDIF board. Since that board is not supplying input to the FIFO, you should probably remove the ribbon cable between the FIFO and the S/PDIF board and supply power to the S/PDIF bard externally. Not sure if that will solve your problem, but it's worth a try.

You might also try removing the S/PDIF board entirely and send the I2S output from the clock board to a DAC that supports I2S.
 
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I think your problem is in how you're trying to use the S/PDIF board. Since that board is not supplying input to the FIFO, you should probably remove the ribbon cable between the FIFO and the S/PDIF board and supply power to the S/PDIF bard externally. Not sure if that will solve your problem, but it's worth a try.

You might also try removing the S/PDIF board entirely and send the I2S output from the clock board to a DAC that supports I2S.
Input comes from berry. Output is over spdif board. This is OK. I think you should take other I2S input or switch manually to other input. Do you see yellow tape?

Cheers Ernst