We both have different recipe to tuning & tweaking Greg, when your gonna seperately feed the board pls let me know, will share my findings with you. What I’ve discovered is up stream is far more important then down stream. We all tend to think that wow we’ve got super low noise regs & we’ve sustain holy grail. Well it’s far from the truth as I’ve discovered. Those FM ps caps on my regs have all been discarded. Can you connect via I2S directly to your dac ? If so pls do it, there’s no turning back when you do so.
Cheers
Cheers
The 12s connection is definitely a good thing I have found as well on my 4495 setup. I am using a different sd card player however; DC/AC12V SD lossless digitale draaitafel II2S coaxiale uitgang, originele STM32F407ZET6 AK4118 in DC/AC12V SD lossless digitale draaitafel II2S coaxiale uitgang, originele STM32F407ZET6 AK4118 van Versterker op AliExpress.com | Alibaba Groep
Comes with a remote even, and I think there was a thread on that tirnahifi site showing it as well. I had played around with an lt3042 supply for it, but I had my dropout voltage all wrong so put it back to the way it came basically.
Comes with a remote even, and I think there was a thread on that tirnahifi site showing it as well. I had played around with an lt3042 supply for it, but I had my dropout voltage all wrong so put it back to the way it came basically.
I would start by verifying that there is actually something to measure - by seeing if there actually still is an audible difference when using only ears instead of eyes and preconceived notions, expectations and beliefs.
Thanks for your help, that will fix everything right up, have a good one there!
I have seen that the Panasonic FM, while having a low esr, and supporting decent frequency, also have poor noise characteristics compared to many others.
Have been exploring different parts after the regulation on my sd card player here lately...
I have seen that the Panasonic FM, while having a low esr, and supporting decent frequency, also have poor noise characteristics compared to many others.
Have been exploring different parts after the regulation on my sd card player here lately...
Oh, my, JULF has re-awakened.
Hold on to your seats!
Greg, who at TIR NA has a working SDTrans? Randy broke his, last I heard. I am not aware of anyone else who owns/owned one.
I do not doubt they will come up something that will be better than any computer setup but I have my doubts about beating the SDTrans. I have nothing to go on and have no intention of playing with that thing mainly because I know the card reader part will fail before the rest of it does and who needs to do all of that AGAIN!
Glad to see YOU back, Mr. Stewart!
Hold on to your seats!
Greg, who at TIR NA has a working SDTrans? Randy broke his, last I heard. I am not aware of anyone else who owns/owned one.
I do not doubt they will come up something that will be better than any computer setup but I have my doubts about beating the SDTrans. I have nothing to go on and have no intention of playing with that thing mainly because I know the card reader part will fail before the rest of it does and who needs to do all of that AGAIN!
Glad to see YOU back, Mr. Stewart!
Forgot to mention: SDTrans comes with a good clock but replacing it with a realy good clock makes as much difference as the power supply mods.
My SDTrans is not working since I have been in extended analogue mode. Thinking about returning to digital. Don't want to deal with the SOEKRIS set up - thinking about getting something ready to use like the HOLO or AUDIO G-D ...
My SDTrans is not working since I have been in extended analogue mode. Thinking about returning to digital. Don't want to deal with the SOEKRIS set up - thinking about getting something ready to use like the HOLO or AUDIO G-D ...
@sumotan & @phase, I've been using I2S-connected DACs exclusively since 2008 and have never had a USB-connected one. I totally agree, I2S is the way to go IF one can deal with its limitations (the shorter the connection, the better... and you almost HAVE to DIY your DAC or modify one to use it with I2S).
@sumotan, will connect with you via PM so we can continue our discussions.
@rickmcinnis, GREAT to hear from you. Over on TirNaHiFi, microzyma (who doesn't post a lot AFAIK) has an SDTrans384 and will likely be the first to compare the Chinese one to it. I saw that Randy had broken his and tried to get the carcass from him as I thought it could have been revived... come to find out that he'd thrown it away AND that it almost surely could have been revived. Bummer.
Curious, what clock did you use on your SDTrans?
AND on Soekris versus commercial (and the Holo & Audio G-D are top of my list too, along with the Denafrips), I agree the Soekris is a pain. IF I can keep mine competitive, I'll keep working with it. BUT I just got a couple of the latest ESS DAC setups running and they do some things very nicely... not sure if ultimately they'll lure me away from R2R, but it is in the realm of possibility.
Finally, on SD-card player versus computer playback... I am VERY interested in what the guys at TirNaHiFi are working on to make the SD-Card players less user-hostile. Most of what they are working on should be applicable to the SDTrans... I am running mine with a low-end remote relay board and find that a great add-on (with no sonic impact). BUT I also reached a watershed recently... I modified an RPi with linear regs replacing the onboard DC-DC converters and with that as the base of an RPi -> IsolatorPi -> Kali Reclocker stack, the SQ was in the same realm as my SDTrans with one of the lower-end power setups. At least good enough to live with all the time now. So while I'm definitely keeping my SDTrans, I'm also definitely working to get that computer playback setup as close as possible as it offers a LOT more convenience in terms of music selection.
Later!
Greg in Mississippi
@sumotan, will connect with you via PM so we can continue our discussions.
@rickmcinnis, GREAT to hear from you. Over on TirNaHiFi, microzyma (who doesn't post a lot AFAIK) has an SDTrans384 and will likely be the first to compare the Chinese one to it. I saw that Randy had broken his and tried to get the carcass from him as I thought it could have been revived... come to find out that he'd thrown it away AND that it almost surely could have been revived. Bummer.
Curious, what clock did you use on your SDTrans?
AND on Soekris versus commercial (and the Holo & Audio G-D are top of my list too, along with the Denafrips), I agree the Soekris is a pain. IF I can keep mine competitive, I'll keep working with it. BUT I just got a couple of the latest ESS DAC setups running and they do some things very nicely... not sure if ultimately they'll lure me away from R2R, but it is in the realm of possibility.
Finally, on SD-card player versus computer playback... I am VERY interested in what the guys at TirNaHiFi are working on to make the SD-Card players less user-hostile. Most of what they are working on should be applicable to the SDTrans... I am running mine with a low-end remote relay board and find that a great add-on (with no sonic impact). BUT I also reached a watershed recently... I modified an RPi with linear regs replacing the onboard DC-DC converters and with that as the base of an RPi -> IsolatorPi -> Kali Reclocker stack, the SQ was in the same realm as my SDTrans with one of the lower-end power setups. At least good enough to live with all the time now. So while I'm definitely keeping my SDTrans, I'm also definitely working to get that computer playback setup as close as possible as it offers a LOT more convenience in terms of music selection.
Later!
Greg in Mississippi
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I appreciate your suggestion. Looked at it but see it is USB only.
I think USB is the biggest problem with computer audio!
I would give that DAC a try but the only digital source I have is SDTrans which will accept I2S both raw and DVDT, I prefer the former, and SPDIF which I would not use these days.
Did I miss something and this DAC can accept I2S?
I think USB is the biggest problem with computer audio!
I would give that DAC a try but the only digital source I have is SDTrans which will accept I2S both raw and DVDT, I prefer the former, and SPDIF which I would not use these days.
Did I miss something and this DAC can accept I2S?
The biggest problem with USB is the lack of galvanic isolation. I2S suffers from the same issue (and is actually worse, as it doesn't use differential/balanced signaling, unless you go non-standard DVDT).
I have used USB with various isolators and it always sounds, at its core, like USB. Believe me I would love to have the simple convenience of a computer transport.
Raw I2S with 8 cms coax cable was as good as I have ever heard from digital but I gave up the chase a few years ago so I am sure things could have changed.
But my fear is USB is a problem that cannot be properly fixed. One may learn to live with it but never to love it.
Raw I2S with 8 cms coax cable was as good as I have ever heard from digital but I gave up the chase a few years ago so I am sure things could have changed.
But my fear is USB is a problem that cannot be properly fixed. One may learn to live with it but never to love it.
With multiple DACs? Controlled, level-matched double blind listening?
Do you have any theory of what physical property of USB might be causing this effect?
I might be mistaken, but isn't the sound of a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) always analog, by definition?
Oh, my, our dear Julf.
First off one could say there is a gulf of difference between ANALOGUE and CONVERTED ANALOGUE.
One is mostly unadulterated and the other is like a milk shake from MCDONALD'S where the component parts of milk are first taken apart and then recombined for a less than satisfactory result. You can get close but you will never put them together exactly as they were. Of course, analogue has its own set of problems, mainly noise. Most of us have learned to listen past analogue noise. Digital noise is something most find pernicious and annoying.
Remember the wisdom of van Recklinhausen: if a component sounds bad but measures well, or the converse, you haven't measured the right thing. With the disclaimer that we likely do not have the ability to measure what is the arbiter off good musical reproduction.
How you can have so much faith in measuring schemes that only measure static behaviour can only be a form of religion. Belief in these tools is not the way forward. Sure they can tell us of gross errors but have nothing much to tell us about the subtleties involved in the reproduction of music.
How we wish it was that easy! If it was there would not be such a thing as a poor sounding amplifier and everything available in the market would sound the same.
The Chinese would rule the world of audio if that was the case. Cheapness would be the only difference in audio gear.
First off one could say there is a gulf of difference between ANALOGUE and CONVERTED ANALOGUE.
One is mostly unadulterated and the other is like a milk shake from MCDONALD'S where the component parts of milk are first taken apart and then recombined for a less than satisfactory result. You can get close but you will never put them together exactly as they were. Of course, analogue has its own set of problems, mainly noise. Most of us have learned to listen past analogue noise. Digital noise is something most find pernicious and annoying.
Remember the wisdom of van Recklinhausen: if a component sounds bad but measures well, or the converse, you haven't measured the right thing. With the disclaimer that we likely do not have the ability to measure what is the arbiter off good musical reproduction.
How you can have so much faith in measuring schemes that only measure static behaviour can only be a form of religion. Belief in these tools is not the way forward. Sure they can tell us of gross errors but have nothing much to tell us about the subtleties involved in the reproduction of music.
How we wish it was that easy! If it was there would not be such a thing as a poor sounding amplifier and everything available in the market would sound the same.
The Chinese would rule the world of audio if that was the case. Cheapness would be the only difference in audio gear.
Oh, my dear Rick! Such strange and inappropriate analogies (pun intended).
"Analog" means representing data (in this case an audio waveform) by approximating it with another physical variable (such as a voltage, mechanical groove or magnetic field). It is therefore inexact, and subject to non-linearity and noise - just like digital, but with digital, the precision can be increased to arbitrary levels by increasing the number of bits, so that by using 16 bits or so, the digital representation is a truer representation of the original audio signal than the same signal recorded using an analog method.
By the way, I don't really know why you would think I only use measuring schemes that measure "static behavior".
"Analog" means representing data (in this case an audio waveform) by approximating it with another physical variable (such as a voltage, mechanical groove or magnetic field). It is therefore inexact, and subject to non-linearity and noise - just like digital, but with digital, the precision can be increased to arbitrary levels by increasing the number of bits, so that by using 16 bits or so, the digital representation is a truer representation of the original audio signal than the same signal recorded using an analog method.
By the way, I don't really know why you would think I only use measuring schemes that measure "static behavior".