Inside the Onkyo ND-S1 Ipod Transport

FAA · 30th December 2009, 02:06 PM

Hi Guys,

Just got this today and thought you might be interested to see whats inside this little transport..

See more photos here: ND-S1 - Photobucket Groups

agithegreat · 30th December 2009, 03:31 PM

Very nice, all you need to do now is give us the schematics :P.

kevinkr · 30th December 2009, 04:52 PM

What does this thing cost? The Wadia iTransport is too expensive IMHO.. I assume it has spdif output..

agithegreat · 30th December 2009, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevinkr

What does this thing cost? The Wadia iTransport is too expensive IMHO.. I assume it has spdif output..

$180, yes it does have both spdif optical and co-ax.

stephensank · 30th December 2009, 08:12 PM

Just been doing some tweaks on a Wadia ipod deck for a client, and I can tell you that the Onkyo actually looks a LOT better inside than the Wadia, which has less than half a dozen chips, most of which have the numbers GROUND off of them, and has a crap dc-dc converter circuit(a form of switchmode power supply), which itself is fed from a crappy laptop-type SMPS 12v/1a external power unit. Although I was able to clean it up substantially, the SPDIF waveform is about the WORST I've ever seen, with several harmonics riding the signal & a nasty overshoot ringing on the leading edge of each wave. In my view, a COMPLETE PIECE OF CRAP. Further, it only provides coax spdif out, only component & s-video out(no composite), audio outs are simply direct from the ipod(no better dac of it's own on board), and there's no usb.

dhaen · 30th December 2009, 08:18 PM

Is there a further PCB? I can see that the control/dock PCB is a snap-off from the main PCB, but that still leaves a big triangle wasted.

FAA · 30th December 2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhaen

Is there a further PCB? .

heres the whole board:

FAA · 30th December 2009, 09:55 PM

hi stephensank, do you have photo of the wadia 170i board?

stephensank · 30th December 2009, 11:02 PM

Sorry, no, I didn't take any overview photos of the Wadia board. Only a close up of the upgrade work I did on it.
Back to the Onkyo, strangely, the Onkyo has a PCM2704 and a DIT4096 on board. The PCM2704 is a USB input DAC and a USB-SPDIF converter/driver. The DIT4096 is an SPDIF driver. So, considering the lack of any analog audo outputs, it seems that the PCM2704 is strictly being used as a USB-SPDIF converter, only used to take a computer-fed USB audio data signal out to SPDIF for an external dac, through the same output that the DIT4096 is feeding from the IPOD, switched by the buttons on the top of the unit, and the dac in the PCM2704 is not used at all. Very strange. In any case, I would be willing to bet, not just because of the DIT4096, but also by the lack of any evidence of internal DC-DC conversion(at least of the SMPS type, like the Wadia has), that the Onkyo will have a hell of a lot cleaner digital output signal than the Wadia.

wwenze · 30th December 2009, 11:56 PM

Seems like the same trick used in Wadia - data sent from iPod in USB format to PCM2704.

PCM270x or 290x are often used as USB -> SPDIF/I2S interfaces to other better DAC chips because they're cheap and simple to implement.

30th December 2009, 02:06 PM	#1
FAA diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2009	Inside the Onkyo ND-S1 Ipod Transport Hi Guys, Just got this today and thought you might be interested to see whats inside this little transport.. See more photos here: ND-S1 - Photobucket Groups

30th December 2009, 04:52 PM	#3
kevinkr diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Blog Entries: 6	What does this thing cost? The Wadia iTransport is too expensive IMHO.. I assume it has spdif output.. __________________ "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

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30th December 2009, 03:31 PM	#2
agithegreat diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2008	Very nice, all you need to do now is give us the schematics :P.

30th December 2009, 08:12 PM	#5
stephensank diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2006	Just been doing some tweaks on a Wadia ipod deck for a client, and I can tell you that the Onkyo actually looks a LOT better inside than the Wadia, which has less than half a dozen chips, most of which have the numbers GROUND off of them, and has a crap dc-dc converter circuit(a form of switchmode power supply), which itself is fed from a crappy laptop-type SMPS 12v/1a external power unit. Although I was able to clean it up substantially, the SPDIF waveform is about the WORST I've ever seen, with several harmonics riding the signal & a nasty overshoot ringing on the leading edge of each wave. In my view, a COMPLETE PIECE OF CRAP. Further, it only provides coax spdif out, only component & s-video out(no composite), audio outs are simply direct from the ipod(no better dac of it's own on board), and there's no usb.

30th December 2009, 08:18 PM	#6
dhaen diyAudio Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: U.K.	Is there a further PCB? I can see that the control/dock PCB is a snap-off from the main PCB, but that still leaves a big triangle wasted.

30th December 2009, 09:55 PM	#8
FAA diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2009	hi stephensank, do you have photo of the wadia 170i board?

30th December 2009, 11:02 PM	#9
stephensank diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2006	Sorry, no, I didn't take any overview photos of the Wadia board. Only a close up of the upgrade work I did on it. Back to the Onkyo, strangely, the Onkyo has a PCM2704 and a DIT4096 on board. The PCM2704 is a USB input DAC and a USB-SPDIF converter/driver. The DIT4096 is an SPDIF driver. So, considering the lack of any analog audo outputs, it seems that the PCM2704 is strictly being used as a USB-SPDIF converter, only used to take a computer-fed USB audio data signal out to SPDIF for an external dac, through the same output that the DIT4096 is feeding from the IPOD, switched by the buttons on the top of the unit, and the dac in the PCM2704 is not used at all. Very strange. In any case, I would be willing to bet, not just because of the DIT4096, but also by the lack of any evidence of internal DC-DC conversion(at least of the SMPS type, like the Wadia has), that the Onkyo will have a hell of a lot cleaner digital output signal than the Wadia.

30th December 2009, 11:56 PM	#10
wwenze diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2008	Seems like the same trick used in Wadia - data sent from iPod in USB format to PCM2704. PCM270x or 290x are often used as USB -> SPDIF/I2S interfaces to other better DAC chips because they're cheap and simple to implement.