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

First check this out. Here you could see my speakers and amps, and some early version of my electronics that has much changed since:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/186848-babelfishing-mighty-ar2.html#post2534929

Qusp, please stop... you make me thinking... really. I have to admit - digital crossover will definitely sound better because I will have much less of a buffers in the way of signal and absolutely not a single cap. Here I have polystyrene caps and two or three buffers after each other forming filter. I just cannot do it again, start from scratch, or thinker with computer while I am playing music.
On another note, after some listening of the system, I have to say, it will be hard to improve much. I like what I am hearing so much, it is insanely great. I really do not know how much is possible to improve at this point.
 
soz, no more, I did mean what I said though, it sounds like you are getting excellent sound, best chill on that. i'm sure there are other areas of the system worth tinkering than the line level =) actually no on second thoughts, Passlabs quad mono power amps and the speakers are insane, so not much fun to be had modding there...cables? vibrational damping mods?, floating floor for the lounge? faraday cage? lol
 
soz, no more, I did mean what I said though, it sounds like you are getting excellent sound, best chill on that. i'm sure there are other areas of the system worth tinkering than the line level =) actually no on second thoughts, Passlabs quad mono power amps and the speakers are insane, so not much fun to be had modding there...cables? vibrational damping mods?, floating floor for the lounge? faraday cage? lol

For someone that did not had a chance to experience converting to asynchronous clocking at digital source line and eliminating or lowering jitter... that is one of the best improvement one could make. The difference in some cases is day and night. I experienced it first in Behringer digital crossover DCX2496. I did the mod there that replaced clock and turned the whole set up to asynchronous one. It improved the sound in such a way that is hard to explain. With Ian's FIFO board I cannot say how much it improved, since I did not listen without it much, but the sounds is so good I will have a hard time explaining. What is the most noticeable in my system is separation between instrument and the black cold dark noise floor. it is unbelievable experience. I have a friend from LA visiting and we spent majority of Sunday listening. His jaw was dropped most of the time. In his words, he just did not experience the sound like that in his whole life.
 
Phew! Loads of info in the two threads, this and the gb, still reading and trying to comprehend.....

Did anybody manage to implement a dac+fifo+info output on a LCD or any display?

and which dac boards are you people using?

I'm leaning towards AD1955 but I haven't found an implementation I like yet.
 
Phew! Loads of info in the two threads, this and the gb, still reading and trying to comprehend.....

Did anybody manage to implement a dac+fifo+info output on a LCD or any display?

and which dac boards are you people using?

I'm leaning towards AD1955 but I haven't found an implementation I like yet.

A few have it working. None with info on LCD yet AFAIK. The spdif board is the only one with outputs at the moment, I have no spdif sources that I plan on using so ..... For my implementation I'm planning on doing something with LCD /display when the Si570 clocks arrive as it will provide isolated serial comms for feedback/control.
 
For someone that did not had a chance to experience converting to asynchronous clocking at digital source line and eliminating or lowering jitter... that is one of the best improvement one could make. The difference in some cases is day and night. I experienced it first in Behringer digital crossover DCX2496. I did the mod there that replaced clock and turned the whole set up to asynchronous one. It improved the sound in such a way that is hard to explain. With Ian's FIFO board I cannot say how much it improved, since I did not listen without it much, but the sounds is so good I will have a hard time explaining. What is the most noticeable in my system is separation between instrument and the black cold dark noise floor. it is unbelievable experience. I have a friend from LA visiting and we spent majority of Sunday listening. His jaw was dropped most of the time. In his words, he just did not experience the sound like that in his whole life.

well I can tell you at least from my experience the fifo makes for quite an improvement over all but perfectly implimented dacs otherwise. though I must say Titan does a damn good job by itself
 
Si570 interest list:

1. bigpandahk
2. tagheuer
3. hochopeper
4. qusp (of course)
5. AR2 - definitely!
6. wktk_smile
7. hirez69
8. CeeVee - you bet!
9. number9
10. analog_sa - GB maniac
11. edbk
12. atom6422
13. misterrogers - Of Course!
14. NicMac - as usual!
15. Zoran 16. PET-240
17. Coolhead
18. Slartibartfasst
19. SYklab
20. Regland
21. Neb001
22. SPWONG
23. Greg Stewart (also of course!)
24. Vitalica
25. spm
26. Fridrik
27. ccliu
28. makumba1966
29. lindamar
 
!

I have to go through around 50 pages to reach the previous two from this one!!!
hmm, so you posted from the first page? I normally read the first page and the last few pages if I cant read the whole thing.
and if I need something specfic, I use the 'search this thread' feature (something I wish more people used, its not bad)

search for 'LCD display arduino' in 'search this thread' and there is a single result, which takes you to that page and several relevant posts and links.

all good :D but the above is more efficient than asking, see how long I rambled on without giving you a specific answer?:p
 
Ian,

thank you for suggestions. Yes, I got Crystek 957s 45.xxx and 49.xxx. I did not want to pollute your thread with unrelated discussion, but since you ask I will try to explain my system that has been ever evolving and changing... First check this out. Here you could see my speakers and amps, and some early version of my electronics that has much changed since:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/186848-babelfishing-mighty-ar2.html#post2534929

The whole system is housed in three cases. Here is the shoot of original buffer board that in the most recent implementation I modified to serve as a crossover. There are actually now two of those, one above each other, where on the first one I have Lundahls with buffers - two channels balanced, and on the one above I have buffers with filters that is crossover. Crossover is two way balanced, complete discrete with jfets. The original board was developed by Choky - Zen Mode, Cviller and myself based on Nelson's B1. But instead of single ended solution we did it balanced for 6 channel without any caps in the way of signal with implemented caps multipliers in every stage. We did it as a output for voltage out DACs, at the time AK4396, for 6 channels.

Than I decided to change my DACs and selected Acko's DAC to make 4 channel digital crossover. After much research I realized that for Mac there is really only one digital crossover implemented through Pure Music player. That one is working really well, but only if you are plying files off your drive or server. If I would like simply to pop CD or play internet radio, that becomes problem and so far very unreliable. Since I would like to simply play music, and not to constantly change something on my computer, I gave up on computer based Xover. During my tests I realized that I was mostly frustrated and hated when things did not work properly when I simply wanted to listen internet radio, that Pure Music has hard time doing. Music is for listening and enjoyment and I decided to move to active analog Xover for that reason and simplify my life.

I think to have properly done digital Xover DSP solution is needed, and I still did not see one that gives me all I want. I have a Mac mini that fits my system set up, without monitor, that I access through Remote Access software, and I do not want to use PC, for that.

Anyways, I did not like that I needed to distroy that beautiful buffer board and to do some hot wiring, but that was the simplest way of making Crosover, since all the discrete buffers are there. The final configuration after ESS9012 DAC is Legato I/O board in the digital case, than balanced signal to Xover case first through Lundahl to eliminate DC and to double voltage as a means of amplification, than through first set of buffers and than through filters with buffers. I am using digital, passive relayed controlled volume control, just to adjust volume for bass portion of the signal, and the whole volume is controlled by Hifidunio.

Next to answer your question on DAC reguators, please see included pictures of DAC, regulator and Legato housing, that works really well, and saves a lots of space and at the same time keeps very short distance for wiring ether between regs and DAC or for I2S wiring. The material is Derlin - plastic made for machining.

Bellow FIFO board there is exceptional Lightharmonics USB to I2S board shown here, but at the moment of taking last pictures, not mounted yet:

Hifiduino with VFD Display H i F i D U I N O

And lastly, in the third case I have Shunty mighty boards that are supplying power to Legato and to buffer and crossover boards. See picture of board and heatsink implementation. They are in separate case, and they are exceptional power supplies. As for the digital PS I used transformer with several secondary windings and also separate transformer for Arduino. After that I have all double regulations with LDO regs from Linear Systems and TI, all before last regulators, so I have mostly triple regulation for almost all voltages that are in that case. In that manner I provide separate 5V for Fifo, 5V and 7.5V for USB to I2S Lightharmonics board, 10V digital for DAC, + and - 10V analog for DAC board.

And yes, I will be adding your battery control board for clock, isolator board, and Si570 clock board since I would like to have 384K capability.

Huh, this was long write up, but than could you imagine how much pleasure and suffering I endured during this process, hahaha. Thank you Ian for really great product and for sharing it with us all!

Hi AR2,

Although I tried to imagine what your system would be, I was still shocked when I saw those pictures. How could I say, have no word too :eek:.

I’m just wondering how did you integrate those much top audio gears into one system? What kinds of background knowledge you get to have? Each section of your system would be a big project for a guy which needs him spending years for the research. It's my honour to be part of your article, what you are doing is the conclusion :).

It seems I have to speed up the multi-channel/DSD FIFO project so that you could include the digital Xcove with high quality clock into your system, otherwise I’ll not catch up with your integration speed.

Is that black box your preamp? The Power Amps are Pass X600? I’m afraid I still need some time to get more understand to your system, too much info :D

Congratulations!

Ian
 
hmm, so you posted from the first page? I normally read the first page and the last few pages if I cant read the whole thing.
and if I need something specfic, I use the 'search this thread' feature (something I wish more people used, its not bad)

search for 'LCD display arduino' in 'search this thread' and there is a single result, which takes you to that page and several relevant posts and links.

all good :D but the above is more efficient than asking, see how long I rambled on without giving you a specific answer?:p


hehehe! What I usually do is read first page, if I like it go to last and then read random in between.

The thing is I'm interested in this topic (and fpga's in general). Also, I'm about to start building my own dac, and I'm looking for the best solution for my money.
With projects like this, it's also pleasing to read the "history" of it.

It seems to me that I'll reach 1000e....How do I tell the Mrs......
 
Hi AR2,

Although I tried to imagine what your system would be, I was still shocked when I saw those pictures. How could I say, have no word too :eek:.

I’m just wondering how did you integrate those much top audio gears into one system? What kinds of background knowledge you get to have? Each section of your system would be a big project for a guy which needs him spending years for the research. It's my honour to be part of your article, what you are doing is the conclusion :).

It seems I have to speed up the multi-channel/DSD FIFO project so that you could include the digital Xcove with high quality clock into your system, otherwise I’ll not catch up with your integration speed.

Is that black box your preamp? The Power Amps are Pass X600? I’m afraid I still need some time to get more understand to your system, too much info :D

Congratulations!

Ian

black box is transformer coupled multichannel jfet buffer and analogue active crossover.

its very cool to see another way of achieving top shelf multichannel performance, i'm confident with the direction I took, but if I was going for analogue active, I cannot think of a better way that it could be done.

in this aspect DIY has the ability to far exceed what is possible with commercial gear, being that it is completely tuned for best performance for a certain objective, rather than limited by the wider, less focused agenda needed to make a commercial system both profitable and applicable to a wider market.

now is time to get my *** into gear to get everything in cases...
 
hehehe! What I usually do is read first page, if I like it go to last and then read random in between.

The thing is I'm interested in this topic (and fpga's in general). Also, I'm about to start building my own dac, and I'm looking for the best solution for my money.
With projects like this, it's also pleasing to read the "history" of it.

It seems to me that I'll reach 1000e....How do I tell the Mrs......

it seems to me that your 1000e is probably not enough. I will have spent roughly 4000AUD on my 4 channel dac by the time i'm done. not counting the parts that I deemed a dead end and havent made it into the build, with which I could probably make an entire DAC or 2

but I suppose it depends on how much you spend on chassis and the dac itself, also how many inputs you need, power supply options, USB, clocks, IV stage etc. the fifo does tend to lessen the demand on some of this, so actually I take that back, its achievable, but its a bit tight IMO
 
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Si570 interest list:

1. bigpandahk
2. tagheuer
3. hochopeper
4. qusp (of course)
5. AR2 - definitely!
6. wktk_smile
7. hirez69
8. CeeVee - you bet!
9. number9
10. analog_sa - GB maniac
11. edbk
12. atom6422
13. misterrogers - Of Course!
14. NicMac - as usual!
15. Zoran 16. PET-240
17. Coolhead
18. Slartibartfasst
19. SYklab
20. Regland
21. Neb001
22. SPWONG
23. Greg Stewart (also of course!)
24. Vitalica
25. spm
26. Fridrik
27. ccliu
28. makumba1966
29. lindamar
30. Finaxe
 
Si570 interest list:

1. bigpandahk
2. tagheuer
3. hochopeper
4. qusp (of course)
5. AR2 - definitely!
6. wktk_smile
7. hirez69
8. CeeVee - you bet!
9. number9
10. analog_sa - GB maniac
11. edbk
12. atom6422
13. misterrogers - Of Course!
14. NicMac - as usual!
15. Zoran 16. PET-240
17. Coolhead
18. Slartibartfasst
19. SYklab
20. Regland
21. Neb001
22. SPWONG
23. Greg Stewart (also of course!)
24. Vitalica
25. spm
26. Fridrik
27. ccliu
28. makumba1966
29. lindamar
30. Finaxe
31. Odysseas
 
Si570 interest list:

1. bigpandahk
2. tagheuer
3. hochopeper
4. qusp (of course)
5. AR2 - definitely!
6. wktk_smile
7. hirez69
8. CeeVee - you bet!
9. number9
10. analog_sa - GB maniac
11. edbk
12. atom6422
13. misterrogers - Of Course!
14. NicMac - as usual!
15. Zoran 16. PET-240
17. Coolhead
18. Slartibartfasst
19. SYklab
20. Regland
21. Neb001
22. SPWONG
23. Greg Stewart (also of course!)
24. Vitalica
25. spm
26. Fridrik
27. ccliu
28. makumba1966
29. lindamar
30. Finaxe
31. Odysseas
32. palmito