Thank you. I will try these setting when I'll receive the card.
Do you achieved to play DSD using DoP or native DSD mode?
LME49990, LME49720 (metal can), OPA627 (dual brown dog), OPA1612, LME49860, AD727AR and BR, OPA2604 and the stock 5532
Next best from THS4032 was LME49720. PRAT was missing. OPA1612 was on par with LME49720
THS4032 is distinctive.
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I am also satisfied with LME49720, but only tried AD823, OPA2132 and will try OPA627 and maybe MUSES01 in future...there will not be big differences only nuances in SQ...
Sorry I cant help you with this matter, I only use simple MPD playing PCM flac up to 192khz from my local NAS storage...
Madds. I see a lot of opamps were in action at your tests.
Some questions.
What power supply for opamps did you use? What kind of decoupling did you use?
You use mixed opamps from bipolar to fet... Every one need different configuration than other..
My top candidates in optimal design were lme49990 and Ada4898 in resistor range around 1kohm in filter position. Opa627 is to dull for my taste. Better in 7-10ma class A design but in premp buffer positions. Never put it in complex filter designes into class A. I have not try it with es9038q2m dac but ak4490/95. Tested also a lot of opamps. Lme xx710, 720,860 is for me to dry and sharp. All sound is washed out from harmonics. Also it depends on whole system and taste what is best sounded combination. I look for experimental dac to connect it directlly to rpi without kali or ian reclocker. Ak family has no clock so Es9038 is fine. I tried soekris with nurmundus input board but original design is not for my taste. Too relax undynamic like i am in wintersleep. On other side far away from digital sharp sound that i heard from almost al es9018 designes.
Anybody can compare es9038q2m with AK family and older es9018 and soekris. Ok maybe is not fair but... Maybe i will buy this one and put fet or tube stage on output. Thank you for any informations.
Some questions.
What power supply for opamps did you use? What kind of decoupling did you use?
You use mixed opamps from bipolar to fet... Every one need different configuration than other..
My top candidates in optimal design were lme49990 and Ada4898 in resistor range around 1kohm in filter position. Opa627 is to dull for my taste. Better in 7-10ma class A design but in premp buffer positions. Never put it in complex filter designes into class A. I have not try it with es9038q2m dac but ak4490/95. Tested also a lot of opamps. Lme xx710, 720,860 is for me to dry and sharp. All sound is washed out from harmonics. Also it depends on whole system and taste what is best sounded combination. I look for experimental dac to connect it directlly to rpi without kali or ian reclocker. Ak family has no clock so Es9038 is fine. I tried soekris with nurmundus input board but original design is not for my taste. Too relax undynamic like i am in wintersleep. On other side far away from digital sharp sound that i heard from almost al es9018 designes.
Anybody can compare es9038q2m with AK family and older es9018 and soekris. Ok maybe is not fair but... Maybe i will buy this one and put fet or tube stage on output. Thank you for any informations.
This thread references a number of different boards.... post a link to the one you are enquiring about for a targeted reply.
I use this xmos u8..
NEW XMOS U8 USB 384K 32B module I2S SPDIF output,support DSD for es9018 DAC | eBay
With this dac..
ES9038 Q2M DAC DSD Decoder Support IIS DSD 384KHz Coaxial Fiber DOP | eBay
Thanks! What driver are you using with that USB-IIS card?
Regards,
Hi, I just received my 9038q2m card(new model).
There is no +15v/0/-15v markers on the card
Same for 0/9v
How may I know how to connect the toroidal transformers?
unnamed — imgbb.com
unnamed0 — imgbb.com
There is no +15v/0/-15v markers on the card
Same for 0/9v
How may I know how to connect the toroidal transformers?
unnamed — imgbb.com
unnamed0 — imgbb.com
THank you very much for the tip. it is my first try with diyaudio
So , if I understand it right, I have to connect like this?
unnamed — imgbb.com
I have to agree that any and most opamps flatten the soundstage and it appears that harmonics are washed out and complex passages tend to grate. My observations match yours. The PRAT also suffers with opamps
Whether it be as a preamp or a dac filter/buffer - it creates a hard sound. Although with phono or tape as a source - they don't affect the sound as much.
I don't have opamps at all in my chain and I have a sound scape that you don't have to "lean into. The sound envelopes me.
So when I got this board - I pulled my opamps out just to experiment again after years. THS4032 had stood out before in my preamp and dac stages but I couldn't live with it because of the sharpness.
This time however - it was a perfect fit in this circuit. Nearly perfect.
I have had some more time to listen since I posted last time and although it bested my es9018 with Lundahls in details - it made me lean into the sound again. It took several listening session to realize that my "attention" needed to lean forward rather than relax
Switching back to my old reference (ES9018/Lundahl) - I realized that the "very slight" loss of details was preferable to the opamp. But my xfmrs cost me nearly $200
Regarding DACs. I have tried AK4396, 4399, AD1862, CS4328, ES9023, PCM5102, WM8741 with tube, opamp, passive and xmfr stages.
I have come to prefer sabre dacs with a silver mica (or any colorless cap) as a shunt across the balanced outputs. Trying to put it too much into current mode makes the sound sleeply. Ideal was a passive I/V with a value of R that matched the internal impedance (e.g. 390 ohm across the legs for ES9018 in 2 ch). Don't ask me why. Without the shunt cap - sabres were hard. I then use an amorphous (you can use mu-metal too if your system is bright to begin with) xfmr to convert from balanced to unbalanced
AK and all other dacs with voltage output could also be made to sound good but not as involving as current dacs.
In short - I think this board with THS4032 is "nearly perfect" for a budget system.
Sorry for the long post
Some more specifics. PS was a very low noise +-15V regulated.
I didn't modify any resistors. I only touch resistors if the sound interests me in the first place. i.e. if I feel that opamp has potential. In all my experiments over years - modifying the circuit around the opamp has never changed its signature sound - it has only modified the filter and noise characteristics.
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I am running Linux which has Uac2 kernel support so does not need any other drivers. (same for 10.6.4 and above on Mac's)
For Raspberry Pi using MoOde Audio turn on the Uac2 fix in System settings.
For Android no drivers needed when using... USB Audio Player PRO - Android Apps on Google Play
For Windows the card vendor should provide a driver...but most don't...
Windows 10 includes a UAC 2 driver since deployment of the Creator's Update (in April of 2017) so vendor drivers are needed only for older versions of Windows.
Thank you for the info. I did not realize that. Finally MS decided to put a driver in their OS. Hope it will work as well as those provided by Xmos.
Regards,
Ok the new 9038q2m dac card is working well.
PCM are playing fine with Moode 4.0b4 RT Kernel and kali reclocker.
DSD files are converted to PCM but produces a lot of noise in the background(50% noise, 50% music)
Does anyone Know why?
thanks