BluWave USB-to-SPDIF bridge, "a miniature beauty"

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
In fact I decided to implement all of 3 variants on one board.
This is my first step for the new BluWave board I'm planning to build. This new module will be initially tested with actual WaveIO card and is simply a USB cleaner test board. Perhaps I'll order it in lot of 10 PCBs so it will be nice if there are some of you interested in run a couple of tests in parallel with mine on different PC/MAC/Linux configurations.
Since the parts used will be expensive I cannot offer the board for free but you'll only have to pay the part's costs, Paypal and shipping charges. No VAT, no invoices, sorry!
To be clear, this board will be inserted before BluWave / WaveIO board: will have an USB-B input socket and an USB-B out socket and is meant to clean up the USB data paths, USB power will NOT be cleaned since I already took the decision to go for external supply for BW!

Going back to wiring.

Kind regards,
L

Sounds good to me. I´m surely interested in one board to test! :) (Aries Mini)
I will use it in this chain: ISO Regen>USPCB>USB cleaner>USPCB>BW board and ofcourse compare it directly to ISO Regen. However, after thinking about it it will need USB B in and USB A out in any of the configurations. Problems?

See ISO Regen´s input output here ISO REGEN – UpTone Audio

...and USPCB here USPCB A>B Adapter – UpTone Audio

Best regards,
Micael
 
Last edited:
@ Micael: cascading multiple USB cleaners could not be a good idea but I can definitely be wrong! This test board is NOT meant to compete with actual USB cleaners on the market which I'm sure are far better that what I will be capable to design!
The sole purpose here is to see if this USB cleaner board is good for something compare to .... nothing. Let's not forget that both WaveIO and BW does NOT have such a stage in front of them thus I'm solely interested if this cleaner board will make a difference. If it does then it will be taken into account!
That's all!

As for USB connector, the goal is to place this new test board as close as possible to the USB receiver (WaveIO or BW). Because of that I'm thinking to make a direct connection to WaveIO or BW by using such kind of socket (it's just an example).
This way I'll avoid using more than one USB cable for this task.
 
@ Micael: cascading multiple USB cleaners could not be a good idea but I can definitely be wrong! This test board is NOT meant to compete with actual USB cleaners on the market which I'm sure are far better that what I will be capable to design!
The sole purpose here is to see if this USB cleaner board is good for something compare to .... nothing. Let's not forget that both WaveIO and BW does NOT have such a stage in front of them thus I'm solely interested if this cleaner board will make a difference. If it does then it will be taken into account!
That's all!

As for USB connector, the goal is to place this new test board as close as possible to the USB receiver (WaveIO or BW). Because of that I'm thinking to make a direct connection to WaveIO or BW by using such kind of socket (it's just an example).
This way I'll avoid using more than one USB cable for this task.

No problem! I understand that it is not ment to be compared. I am still interested (if you are) since I am curious to see if it will make a difference on its own and in combination with other devices. I will not compare them to each other though. Promise! ;) I actually do beleive that cascading isolations are in general beneficial to SQ. This is actually the same even if it is AC or DC IME. (Meaning that no isolation is indefectible)
If the output will have a USB B male plug it will be even better. I just read that you wanted to add two USB B sockets and wanted to make sure that was´nt the case.
 
Last edited:
Hi Lucian,
though I'm satisfied with SQ of BluWave, I still have rare clicks and have not found a way to eliminate them so far.

So I'm glad to read about your new approach!

I definitely would not have a use for SPDIF in, but personally would like to see options for powering the board external or via USB 5V. This way it would be more versatile and USB Helper Boards like Regen, Recovery etc. would not have a problem delivering a bit more than 0.5A.

I'm interested in testing your USB cleaner board as well. Could test with Windows and Android.

Christoph
 
Last edited:
I actually do beleive that cascading isolations are in general beneficial to SQ
After the 'party' I got with BW cascading many devices will impose some sort of risk! here I'm especially speaking about latency and unwanted clicks or pops.

@ Christoph: the USB bus powering is slowly fading away. Most likely the new BW board will need 0.5A or more and I saw how strange many USB ports are acting when they are pushed to the upper limit. Moreover, since the part's quality constraint is history for me I would like to be like this in the case of power consumption and current available for what I need. This is the main reason why I will not adopt USB Bus powering for my close future boards.

So, to keep things in a relative order, I like to make a short list of boards I have to build besides my own one:
1. carsten.witt: 1 pc.
2. Cornan: 1 pc.
3. taggart2: 1 pc.
 
After the 'party' I got with BW cascading many devices will impose some sort of risk! here I'm especially speaking about latency and unwanted clicks or pops.

Latency and click/pops is a bummer to track down for sure. Not completely sure that the reason is due to the actual cascading of devices though. I have tracked down clicks & pops many many times in my previous computer based setups. The most common problem in my case have been due to faulty USB cables and USB hubs. The problem is that it could be hundreds of other likely reasons. Cascaded devices just makes it more complicated to track down. I have actually removed clicks & pops one time by adding a cascading device (Stello U3 with TUSB audio driver).
 
After the 'party' I got with BW cascading many devices will impose some sort of risk! here I'm especially speaking about latency and unwanted clicks or pops.

@ Christoph: the USB bus powering is slowly fading away. Most likely the new BW board will need 0.5A or more and I saw how strange many USB ports are acting when they are pushed to the upper limit. Moreover, since the part's quality constraint is history for me I would like to be like this in the case of power consumption and current available for what I need. This is the main reason why I will not adopt USB Bus powering for my close future boards.

So, to keep things in a relative order, I like to make a short list of boards I have to build besides my own one:
1. carsten.witt: 1 pc.
2. Cornan: 1 pc.
3. taggart2: 1 pc.



Hi Lucian

Put me down for one.

Thanks!
 
@ Patrick: list updated, thank you:
1. carsten.witt: 1 pc.
2. Cornan: 1 pc.
3. taggart2: 1 pc.
4. TirNaOg: 1pc.

* As for BW external clock, you have to use JP2 and JP3 as in the picture below:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


* Next you need to cut the small copper traces on both JP2 and JP3 to remove the connections to the onboard NDK clocks:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


* The last step is to make a solder bridge between the remaining connections of JP2 and JP3, as are shown in this pic:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


Clock signals are: J7 = 22.5792 MHz while J6 = 24.576 Mhz.
Do not forget to start your external clocks prior plugging in your BW to USB port or start using your BW card.

Signals accepted are 3.3V LVCMOS.
Be careful with your BW as it seems it's "one of a kind" :p
Kind regards,
L
 
Edit: Now, you may wonder why I'm saying JP2 and JP3 while in the pictures are JP1 and JP2. That's because when I wrote earlier post I had in my hand a BW board with newer revision while the above pictures are from a slight different PCB variant.
So, instead of JP2 and JP3 you should read JP1 and JP2.



Thanks Lucian!
I’ll be very careful with my BW. I don’t have another clock yet but given how important they are I may invest in one and wanted to do some research first.
 
As I wasn't active for a while now perhaps some of you may thing that I gave up on my beliefs and passion for what I do. No, far from it! This USB cleaner project (as I didn't found a name for it yet) is alive and kicking. From time to time, after spending many hours on searching for best parts I could find and buy, I thought at those of you how are backing up my passion and want to thank you very much for that!

I must say that I have a huge pleasure in designing this new small project knowing that all what I do is to spread and share my believe in what it's worth doing rather than simply chasing from money.


As for now, I have no clear cost for now but we all know that good parts comes with a high price and, like you, I'm fully aware of it! We'll see what's come out of it.
So far I'm struggling to remove all the X7R, X5R and alike parts from my board due to piezo effect. C0G will stay. I kinda found some replacements which looks way better on paper but have to be physically tested at some point.

As for Vregs, I always considered LT as the best "analog" manufacturer on the marked and I kinda like the idea of making a part of AD now. With TI would be another story. So, LT Vregs all over the place, no exceptions!


I'll be back with news from time to time in case you're interested,
L
 
As I wasn't active for a while now perhaps some of you may thing that I gave up on my beliefs and passion for what I do. No, far from it! This USB cleaner project (as I didn't found a name for it yet) is alive and kicking. From time to time, after spending many hours on searching for best parts I could find and buy, I thought at those of you how are backing up my passion and want to thank you very much for that!

I must say that I have a huge pleasure in designing this new small project knowing that all what I do is to spread and share my believe in what it's worth doing rather than simply chasing from money.


As for now, I have no clear cost for now but we all know that good parts comes with a high price and, like you, I'm fully aware of it! We'll see what's come out of it.
So far I'm struggling to remove all the X7R, X5R and alike parts from my board due to piezo effect. C0G will stay. I kinda found some replacements which looks way better on paper but have to be physically tested at some point.

As for Vregs, I always considered LT as the best "analog" manufacturer on the marked and I kinda like the idea of making a part of AD now. With TI would be another story. So, LT Vregs all over the place, no exceptions!


I'll be back with news from time to time in case you're interested,
L



Fab news Lucian !
Thanks for the update.
 
As I wasn't active for a while now perhaps some of you may thing that I gave up on my beliefs and passion for what I do. No, far from it! This USB cleaner project (as I didn't found a name for it yet) is alive and kicking. From time to time, after spending many hours on searching for best parts I could find and buy, I thought at those of you how are backing up my passion and want to thank you very much for that!

I must say that I have a huge pleasure in designing this new small project knowing that all what I do is to spread and share my believe in what it's worth doing rather than simply chasing from money.


As for now, I have no clear cost for now but we all know that good parts comes with a high price and, like you, I'm fully aware of it! We'll see what's come out of it.
So far I'm struggling to remove all the X7R, X5R and alike parts from my board due to piezo effect. C0G will stay. I kinda found some replacements which looks way better on paper but have to be physically tested at some point.

As for Vregs, I always considered LT as the best "analog" manufacturer on the marked and I kinda like the idea of making a part of AD now. With TI would be another story. So, LT Vregs all over the place, no exceptions!


I'll be back with news from time to time in case you're interested,
L

Thanks for the update Lucian! Looking forward to try it out. :)
 
Yesterday I had a thought to get here and announce my new intentions but I didn't do it because reasons... And today I'm asked what are my plans with BluWave. Well, I decided to keep going with it meaning that there will be a FUNCTIONAL revision (this time). I'm going to finish my actual (new) project which will be posted here and then I'll get back to BluWave PCB and fix that damn thing! :eek:

Kind regards,
Lucian
 
Last edited:
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.