Congrats! Sounds like you're very happy with your new DAC. How did you manage to get hold of one? It seems to be a bit "Unobtainium" at the moment.
Hi JOSI1,
Instructions are here:
Mosaic UV + RaspberryPi 3 Model-B | Support
The RPI3 image can be downloaded for free (bottom of the page).
When you follow the instructions step by step it should not be that difficult.
If everything else fails, you can connect the Mosaic UV into a suitable smartphone, laptop or computer and simply stream through USB.
The Mosaic UV runs on every USB audio source that supports UAC1 (almost all digital audio sources do). So it's simply a matter of plug and play, drivers are not required.
In order to verify playback is bit-perfect you can download required bit-perfect test tracks here (bottom of the page):
Bitperfect test | Support
Explanation of the test method can be found on this page too.
Like with all other digital audio playback systems we still get some degrading caused by the interference that is generated by the USB audio source and everything that's connected to it. The more interference we can block, the better the perceived sound quality from the DAC. EMI is also a major problem.
One effective tweak is to use clip-on ferrite like these for example:
Ferrite Clip On HEM3012 | maplin
You can place these on the USB interlinks, audio interlinks and speaker interlinks.
Mains interference can be tackled by using balanced power. It is very important to observe safety precautions here!
Balanced Power: The Next Generation
It also helps moving known interference sources like SMPS as far away from the audio set as possible.
One can also have a dedicated audio set mains connection installed that connects directly to the mains power supply entry point in the house, bypassing the existing house mains power grid and connected appliances.
Given the steady increase of mains interference it's perhaps time to start thinking about battery powered audio equipment.
Instructions are here:
Mosaic UV + RaspberryPi 3 Model-B | Support
The RPI3 image can be downloaded for free (bottom of the page).
When you follow the instructions step by step it should not be that difficult.
If everything else fails, you can connect the Mosaic UV into a suitable smartphone, laptop or computer and simply stream through USB.
The Mosaic UV runs on every USB audio source that supports UAC1 (almost all digital audio sources do). So it's simply a matter of plug and play, drivers are not required.
In order to verify playback is bit-perfect you can download required bit-perfect test tracks here (bottom of the page):
Bitperfect test | Support
Explanation of the test method can be found on this page too.
Like with all other digital audio playback systems we still get some degrading caused by the interference that is generated by the USB audio source and everything that's connected to it. The more interference we can block, the better the perceived sound quality from the DAC. EMI is also a major problem.
One effective tweak is to use clip-on ferrite like these for example:
Ferrite Clip On HEM3012 | maplin
You can place these on the USB interlinks, audio interlinks and speaker interlinks.
Mains interference can be tackled by using balanced power. It is very important to observe safety precautions here!
Balanced Power: The Next Generation
It also helps moving known interference sources like SMPS as far away from the audio set as possible.
One can also have a dedicated audio set mains connection installed that connects directly to the mains power supply entry point in the house, bypassing the existing house mains power grid and connected appliances.
Given the steady increase of mains interference it's perhaps time to start thinking about battery powered audio equipment.
Yes.
Using a RasPI as a networked renderer to USB (and also as a fallback option for non-USB-DACs with a Digi-HAT on top for Toslink or SPDIF) is very advisable. RasPI-USB has a bad name all around (one controller sharing LAN and USB), BUT ECDesigns USB-implementation on the Mosaic UV is way above all other designs i have been listening to.
So. If you ask me: dig into that little bit of Linux/command-line/NAS-config-stuff. It will make your setup sing and saves loads of bucks too...
Cheers
Dear all,
The past years I've been upgrading my "-EC-DACs" following John's instructions and recommendations and got to a point where they sound very decently. My preferred are the DI4M "scrambler-interpolator" DAC, now with 4 towers of 4 chips (soon will be 4x8 chips) plus low noise voltage reference, and my dual-mono with 2 towers of 8 chips. Apart from increasing number of chips, which allows for a lower I/V resistor (DI4M's is 27R now) and improving voltage regulators, there is no much room for improvement...the sound is involving, organic and, especially for the dual-mono, very dynamic.
My other digital source is CD-PRO--> Monarchy Audio upsampler--> M-Audio SuperDAC heavily tweaked, and now using John's Diffamp as differential amplifier for unbalanced outputs. That made a lot of improvement, in a way that I am now revisiting my whole CD collection. Very satisfactory...until now.
The Mosaic UV arrived
and let me tell you again that John's statements are always precise and never exaggerated. Even fed by a noisy PC the superlative sound quality is evident. First, you will notice how relaxed you become listening, then you notice the increased natural quality of instruments textures and timbres. I listen mainly to classical music, especially strings, and as you may know, violin is perhaps the most difficult instrument to reproduce, given the richness of harmonic content. Well, the Mosaic has not a problem at all to reproduce it in all its glory. For example, "Szeryng plays Kreisler" (Mercury Living Presence) sounds exiting in all its intensely powerful and colorful rendition.
You will notice precision in tempi, increased detail retrieving, extended extremes, extended soundstage...etc. All that audiophile descriptions. But most importantly for music lovers is that after a while, after the novelty, you will enjoy the best analog sound you can dream of and as I said you will relax on the music, as no "digital artifact" will come to distract or perturb your attention. You will perceive that the conductor/player/singer is better than you thought, capable of subtleties, nuances, rubati, dynamic contrasts, changes in color...etc you didn't notice before. That means that your attention was displaced from the performance of the electronic system to the art of the players...isn't that we are looking for?
I am very cheap but I already forgot what I payed for it, hehe.
The Mosaic is no magical though. With ADD or AAD material where the recording and mastering engineers were competent, you will get closest to the Master tape than ever, IMHO. But it won't make a bad DDD sound great. You will easily tell the difference between an analog or a digital recording: even with the best digital recordings I feel something is missing. Something about that technique deprives the music from its soul, as in the old films from the "far west" where redskins forbid taking pictures of them for fear of soul taking...
As for the different bit depths and sampling rates, though I have few "Hires" files, music is just as involving and rich in content with plain 16/44.1 as with higher numbers, so -EC- gave Nyquist the reason. My Autograph clones have never been so happy!
Now I will try to build the Raspberry chain.
Thanks so much to John and Gordon for this feat of musical prodigy.
Your truly,
M.
PS: one adverse effect is that now I detect all the imperfections of my other sources!
The past years I've been upgrading my "-EC-DACs" following John's instructions and recommendations and got to a point where they sound very decently. My preferred are the DI4M "scrambler-interpolator" DAC, now with 4 towers of 4 chips (soon will be 4x8 chips) plus low noise voltage reference, and my dual-mono with 2 towers of 8 chips. Apart from increasing number of chips, which allows for a lower I/V resistor (DI4M's is 27R now) and improving voltage regulators, there is no much room for improvement...the sound is involving, organic and, especially for the dual-mono, very dynamic.
My other digital source is CD-PRO--> Monarchy Audio upsampler--> M-Audio SuperDAC heavily tweaked, and now using John's Diffamp as differential amplifier for unbalanced outputs. That made a lot of improvement, in a way that I am now revisiting my whole CD collection. Very satisfactory...until now.
The Mosaic UV arrived
and let me tell you again that John's statements are always precise and never exaggerated. Even fed by a noisy PC the superlative sound quality is evident. First, you will notice how relaxed you become listening, then you notice the increased natural quality of instruments textures and timbres. I listen mainly to classical music, especially strings, and as you may know, violin is perhaps the most difficult instrument to reproduce, given the richness of harmonic content. Well, the Mosaic has not a problem at all to reproduce it in all its glory. For example, "Szeryng plays Kreisler" (Mercury Living Presence) sounds exiting in all its intensely powerful and colorful rendition. You will notice precision in tempi, increased detail retrieving, extended extremes, extended soundstage...etc. All that audiophile descriptions. But most importantly for music lovers is that after a while, after the novelty, you will enjoy the best analog sound you can dream of and as I said you will relax on the music, as no "digital artifact" will come to distract or perturb your attention. You will perceive that the conductor/player/singer is better than you thought, capable of subtleties, nuances, rubati, dynamic contrasts, changes in color...etc you didn't notice before. That means that your attention was displaced from the performance of the electronic system to the art of the players...isn't that we are looking for?
I am very cheap but I already forgot what I payed for it, hehe.
The Mosaic is no magical though. With ADD or AAD material where the recording and mastering engineers were competent, you will get closest to the Master tape than ever, IMHO. But it won't make a bad DDD sound great. You will easily tell the difference between an analog or a digital recording: even with the best digital recordings I feel something is missing. Something about that technique deprives the music from its soul, as in the old films from the "far west" where redskins forbid taking pictures of them for fear of soul taking...
As for the different bit depths and sampling rates, though I have few "Hires" files, music is just as involving and rich in content with plain 16/44.1 as with higher numbers, so -EC- gave Nyquist the reason. My Autograph clones have never been so happy!
Now I will try to build the Raspberry chain.
Thanks so much to John and Gordon for this feat of musical prodigy.
Your truly,
M.
PS: one adverse effect is that now I detect all the imperfections of my other sources!
Attachments
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Please keep us posted on your work on the Raspberry.
I would like to build such a music server myself, but have absolutely no clue whatsoever of how I go about doing it. In my weakest hours I've been thinking of just buying the Windows based Fidelizer Nimitra and be done with it, but maybe the performance ceiling is higher with a Raspberry.
PS: One Mosaic is on it's way to Norway.
I would like to build such a music server myself, but have absolutely no clue whatsoever of how I go about doing it. In my weakest hours I've been thinking of just buying the Windows based Fidelizer Nimitra and be done with it, but maybe the performance ceiling is higher with a Raspberry.
PS: One Mosaic is on it's way to Norway.
Bernie, I thought that was related to earlier versions of the RP, not the RPi3, but I just confirmed the RPi3 also has this issue. It would be good to know if there is a chance of running the renderer on an Odroid C1+ to hook up the Mosaic UV, which never had this issue to start with. Any plans of this John? Do you think this issue on the RPi3 does not compromise quality?
Are you using a standard switched PSU with your RP3? I built the σ11 linear PSU form amb.org and i believe it made a different with my older setup (Rune on OdroidC1+).
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-EC- wrote:
I forgot to mention. Glad that you recommend it.
I've been praising its benefits for years. I run my two main systems with DIY balanced power. In fact, I run also a smaller balanced power TX in series with the bigger one to isolate the main digital source. That made also a big improvement.
Not only mains or SMPS interference but it also nulls reactive currents, says the inventor.
Regards,
M.
I forgot to mention. Glad that you recommend it.
I've been praising its benefits for years. I run my two main systems with DIY balanced power. In fact, I run also a smaller balanced power TX in series with the bigger one to isolate the main digital source. That made also a big improvement.
Not only mains or SMPS interference but it also nulls reactive currents, says the inventor.
Regards,
M.
5 x 220 nF RCL orange drops
470 nF tantalum
2,2 uF PPS
Not seen PIOs used at all - must be a reason for it? surely others have tried?
This article is why I've even thought about using PIO for decoupling on the TDA1541:
The "Sound" of Capacitors
The "Sound" of Capacitors
I think this guy is talking about coupling caps though. But it might matter in the case of the TDA1541 that decoupling caps are also important. As I've read.
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"New World" Symphony
Unquestionable the Odroid-platform should be taken into consideration for our audio related purposes. Looking at benchmarks and technical specs (2GB RAM, pace of CPU, Gigabit-LAN on dedicated controller etc) it could be a winner. To be honest, i have never tried one or took one into consideration. I simply grew up some years ago with the first iteration of the Berry. A matter of habit it seems. So it would be great if you could augment at least my narrowed view of the world with your findings and share them with us.
BUT the RPi-platform shows some major advantages regarding the eco-system surrounding it IMHO: A huge vital community of developers and very kind and helpful people/users, tons of OS-images, software and utilities all together gaining momentum now in the mature digital audiophile community...
BTW: The RPi is the child of an education project. So part of the revenues of sales are flowing back into projects for kids all around the planet learning to code and will become knowledgeable coevals in the digital age. Sounds great not only in context od audio
What should be explored by us to really bring out what Mosaic UV is capable of:
How benficial is ultra-clean power for the renderer and what to use? (I have experienced massive refinement using Apple-chargers for iPads as suggested by "The Browns" and also with iFis "iPower")
How and why does sonic outcome change using different flavours of the booted OS? (stripped down DietPI sounding different than RooPiee as i have learned for instance)
Does the game-changing USB-implementation of ECDesigns wipe out the effects of "mediocre USB" of our renderers and other devices? (Making really sing whatever i connected to the Mosaic UV)
How can we improve the user experience for the "non technical" audiophile without losing the gains we have realised with our treasured silent renderers. Besides getting rid of some complexity in the setup? (Embedding streaming services like Tidal or Qobuz could be the way to go. I´m a part-time roonie i have to confess )
How to bring DSP (room-correction and EQ) into the equation gracefully ?
So lots of things to discuss and explore...
Cheers
Bernie
Unquestionable the Odroid-platform should be taken into consideration for our audio related purposes. Looking at benchmarks and technical specs (2GB RAM, pace of CPU, Gigabit-LAN on dedicated controller etc) it could be a winner. To be honest, i have never tried one or took one into consideration. I simply grew up some years ago with the first iteration of the Berry. A matter of habit it seems. So it would be great if you could augment at least my narrowed view of the world with your findings and share them with us.
BUT the RPi-platform shows some major advantages regarding the eco-system surrounding it IMHO: A huge vital community of developers and very kind and helpful people/users, tons of OS-images, software and utilities all together gaining momentum now in the mature digital audiophile community...
BTW: The RPi is the child of an education project. So part of the revenues of sales are flowing back into projects for kids all around the planet learning to code and will become knowledgeable coevals in the digital age. Sounds great not only in context od audio
What should be explored by us to really bring out what Mosaic UV is capable of:
How benficial is ultra-clean power for the renderer and what to use? (I have experienced massive refinement using Apple-chargers for iPads as suggested by "The Browns" and also with iFis "iPower")
How and why does sonic outcome change using different flavours of the booted OS? (stripped down DietPI sounding different than RooPiee as i have learned for instance)
Does the game-changing USB-implementation of ECDesigns wipe out the effects of "mediocre USB" of our renderers and other devices? (Making really sing whatever i connected to the Mosaic UV)
How can we improve the user experience for the "non technical" audiophile without losing the gains we have realised with our treasured silent renderers. Besides getting rid of some complexity in the setup? (Embedding streaming services like Tidal or Qobuz could be the way to go. I´m a part-time roonie i have to confess
)How to bring DSP (room-correction and EQ) into the equation gracefully
?So lots of things to discuss and explore...
Cheers
Bernie
Bernie,
I fully agree with your points. There is also an quite active Odroid crowd, but the RPI is ahead on developments for sure. I have a couple of Odroids, no faults, rock solid. People in the Volumio/Rune projects are supporting them actively and have images for them to try. I believe they are based on Archphile (Based on archlinux):
Archphile - A Linux Audiophile Distribution - FAQ
Another distro to check is Audiolinux at AudioLinux - The audiophile realtime plug & play operative system (used as renderer for HQplayer, for example)
On the PSU side, I've only read about improvements with a linear PSU over the small switched PSU's. My one experience was of clear improvement, specially with bass (I would describe the improvement as more impact and more definition). I did not, however, went back and forth comparing the two. I hear that load regulation is the key here, and if someone here can comment on how the AMB sigma 11 does in that department I'll be happy to hear that.
Finally, regarding the experience and ease of use, last night I was able to install everything on my NAS (including BubbleUnpn server). I don't have I RPi3 (it's on the way) or the Moisaic UV (on the way too), so I only used the BubbleUnpn to stream music on the NAS to a chromecast as renderer. What I found is that the DS112j (Synology) is too slow. I think an Odroid or similar would make a much better (and inexpensive) platform for an alternative NAS (music library/server/streamer). I'll report on how the DS112j behaves in the final config, but I don't expect much. On the control point side, I've still to find a really great app. Practicality and stability of the server/control point/renderer is of utmost importance.
Are you aware of a solution to stream Spotify to the rederer? I don't have any loseless services (Tiday or Qobuz), but I do have Spotify and it has become invaluable for me, as I have regained great interest in music with it (I discover new music on a daily basis that I would have probably never heard, all suggested by Spotify). Even if the quality is a 320 Kbit MP3 it is great and the user interface is the best I know. I've read Spotify has plans to offer lossless services, I am crossing my fingers.
I fully agree with your points. There is also an quite active Odroid crowd, but the RPI is ahead on developments for sure. I have a couple of Odroids, no faults, rock solid. People in the Volumio/Rune projects are supporting them actively and have images for them to try. I believe they are based on Archphile (Based on archlinux):
Archphile - A Linux Audiophile Distribution - FAQ
Another distro to check is Audiolinux at AudioLinux - The audiophile realtime plug & play operative system (used as renderer for HQplayer, for example)
On the PSU side, I've only read about improvements with a linear PSU over the small switched PSU's. My one experience was of clear improvement, specially with bass (I would describe the improvement as more impact and more definition). I did not, however, went back and forth comparing the two. I hear that load regulation is the key here, and if someone here can comment on how the AMB sigma 11 does in that department I'll be happy to hear that.
Finally, regarding the experience and ease of use, last night I was able to install everything on my NAS (including BubbleUnpn server). I don't have I RPi3 (it's on the way) or the Moisaic UV (on the way too), so I only used the BubbleUnpn to stream music on the NAS to a chromecast as renderer. What I found is that the DS112j (Synology) is too slow. I think an Odroid or similar would make a much better (and inexpensive) platform for an alternative NAS (music library/server/streamer). I'll report on how the DS112j behaves in the final config, but I don't expect much. On the control point side, I've still to find a really great app. Practicality and stability of the server/control point/renderer is of utmost importance.
Are you aware of a solution to stream Spotify to the rederer? I don't have any loseless services (Tiday or Qobuz), but I do have Spotify and it has become invaluable for me, as I have regained great interest in music with it (I discover new music on a daily basis that I would have probably never heard, all suggested by Spotify). Even if the quality is a 320 Kbit MP3 it is great and the user interface is the best I know. I've read Spotify has plans to offer lossless services, I am crossing my fingers.
That is exactly the kind of change that I heard when I went from R-core transformers back to E-Core type transformers. This test was done with a TDA1543 though.
More louder bass.
The effect is more than likely as a result of better voltage regulation, the e-core transformer that I used was massive but was only rated for 1 amp at 12vAC.
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I wouldn't mind trying a zener diode capacitor multiplier voltage regulator circuit:
Simple circuits reduce regulator noise floor | EDN
Simple circuits reduce regulator noise floor | EDN
Everyone have different taste buds Venusfky
Very difficult to suggest any definate. You
just have to delve into it & tweak step by
step. I took the easy way out by purchasing
a kit which is design by the handful of Gurus
who whose the 1541 inside out. From there
I started with my slow tweaking process &
had not to worry if the pcb, regulators etc
are poorly designed.
Cheers
Very difficult to suggest any definate. You
just have to delve into it & tweak step by
step. I took the easy way out by purchasing
a kit which is design by the handful of Gurus
who whose the 1541 inside out. From there
I started with my slow tweaking process &
had not to worry if the pcb, regulators etc
are poorly designed.
Cheers