XMOS-based Asynchronous USB to I2S interface

[giulio]

Originally Posted by Lorien

Well yes, are "genuine" WaveIOs but without SPDIF outputs and related logic as Doede doesn't need it in his DAC (and frankly I understand ).

Is the board w/out spdif available? If so how for how much less than the standard one?

TA
giulio

[Lorien]

Originally Posted by carsten.witt

@Lorien,
can we reach hundred of daughter boards? ;-)
Some news about your development?

GB list was enlarged in case that's need it though I don't think so as long as the daughter is near close to its end Anyway, since Christmas is near I want to spend most of this time accordingly... that means less electronics.

Originally Posted by qusp

not audionote, audioprecision =) [...]

Thank you for correction! I mean the same as you but get something else

Originally Posted by giulio

Is the board w/out spdif available? If so how for how much less than the standard one?
TA
giulio

Unfortunately no as I like to send WaveIOs with SPDIF circuitry soldered on it as it was designed to be this way Doede's request is my single exception but were other reasons to choose this path.
Kind regards,
L

[staki]

Lucian, did you see my mail on ekits"at"luckit.biz ?

Just in case you would have missed it.....

Cheers,
staki/Pierre

[carsten.witt]

Originally Posted by Lorien

... that means less electronics.

[Lorien]

@ staki: I got it Pierre, please see PM!
@ carsten.witt: same to all of us
Thank you,
L

[sinski]

I received waveio few days ago (thanks L) and yesterday connected it to my Buffalo II. After some problems at the begining (no asio on my notebook and on my SBT was TT 3.0) now my notebook and SBT can play using waveio with Buffalo II. Sound is MUCH better than with spdif and all possible SBT tweaks (TT 3.0, pririties etc), but ...
Sometimes there is digital noise and some kind of digital distortion. Any idea ?

[rondadon]

Hi there. Some months ago I was really interested in this XMOS Based USB-to-I2S Board. I want to use it mainly with a ARMEL (ARMv5/ARMv6) based Board (Seagate Dockstar/ Pogoplug/ Goflex Net/ Raspberry Pi) where Linux (Debian or Arch) will be installed being able to deliver High quality bit-perf Audio through the WaveIO.

1.) My first question is if this would be possible? DO I need to install special proprietary drivers or is this Plug and Play in Linux (Kernel 3.2 Debian main line)

2.) I do not know much about Audio Sampling but as I read on the WaveIO Homepage it supports up to 192kHz. SO if I have Audio Files which use this range of Sampling Rate from 44.1KHz to 192KHz the ARM Board/Processor do not need to convert it in any way. But if I would start to play a Audio File which uses lower Sampling Rate then 44.1kHz and higher sampling rate then 192kHz then the ARM Board needs to increase or lower the sampling rate of the Audio stream so it can be pushed to the WaveIO and therefore would need much processing Power!? This of cource would not be bit-perf anymore?!

3.) I decided to get this DAC "es9023 wm8804 s-pdif subbu dac v3.
Will it be possible to use the WaveIO with this DAC?

4.) This DAC has I2S Pins and also uses SPDIF. THe XMOS based WaveIO also uses I2S and SPDIF?! Did I see it right?! If so, which connection would you prefer to use for best sound quality?

5.) Do I need to run the WaveIO and the mentioned SUBBU DAC v3 with an external Power Supply or will it run through the USB Ports power? Is there eventually any PSU which you can recommend to use with the WaveIO and SUBBU DAC v3 and even with a Seagate Dockstar so I will not need 2 or more PSUs?

6.) A last question would be if there is some estimated time when the WaveIO Boards with included DaughterBoard and other improvements would be available?


Thank you very much for clarifying in advance!

Regards Ron from Germany!

[Ben Mah]

Hi there. Some months ago I was really interested in this XMOS Based USB-to-I2S Board. I want to use it mainly with a ARMEL (ARMv5/ARMv6) based Board (Seagate Dockstar/ Pogoplug/ Goflex Net/ Raspberry Pi) where Linux (Debian or Arch) will be installed being able to deliver High quality bit-perf Audio through the WaveIO.

1.) My first question is if this would be possible? DO I need to install special proprietary drivers or is this Plug and Play in Linux (Kernel 3.2 Debian main line)

2.) I do not know much about Audio Sampling but as I read on the WaveIO Homepage it supports up to 192kHz. SO if I have Audio Files which use this range of Sampling Rate from 44.1KHz to 192KHz the ARM Board/Processor do not need to convert it in any way. But if I would start to play a Audio File which uses lower Sampling Rate then 44.1kHz and higher sampling rate then 192kHz then the ARM Board needs to increase or lower the sampling rate of the Audio stream so it can be pushed to the WaveIO and therefore would need much processing Power!? This of cource would not be bit-perf anymore?!


I recently added a WaveIO to my system that is driven by a Debian Pogoplug, and no special drivers were required. I use MPD to play my music files.

The WaveIO is I2S connected to my recently completed veroboard tda1541a dac that is based on Thorsten Loesch's many suggestions, hints, and recommendations. Since the tda1541a is limited to 96 kHz, I did not try 192 kHz material. 96 kHz material was easily handled by the Pogoplug and WaveIO, with the music going straight through to the dac without any change of sampling rate. I did try to upsample 44.1 kHz material using upsampling in MPD but the Pogoplug did not have enough computing power to do it.

By the way, the WaveIO in combination with my veroboard dac and MPD in my Debian Pogoplug puts out great sound. Thank you, Lucian for the WaveIO.

[Stixx]

3.) I decided to get this DAC "es9023 wm8804 s-pdif subbu dac v3.
Will it be possible to use the WaveIO with this DAC?

4.) This DAC has I2S Pins and also uses SPDIF. THe XMOS based WaveIO also uses I2S and SPDIF?! Did I see it right?! If so, which connection would you prefer to use for best sound quality?

5.) Do I need to run the WaveIO and the mentioned SUBBU DAC v3 with an external Power Supply or will it run through the USB Ports power? Is there eventually any PSU which you can recommend to use with the WaveIO and SUBBU DAC v3 and even with a Seagate Dockstar so I will not need 2 or more PSUs?

Yes and yes (with I2S preferred)...
The Subbu DAC needs an external power supply of good quality (and this is why there is both a dedicated thread for the powersupply and a Group Buy thread... it has been said many times )

The WaveIO can be run from the USB port but an external powersupply is recommended (again this has been said many times).

[sinski]

Hi,

I have a serious problem with my new (few days) waveio.

When playing music (sound quality is phantastic) from time to time the DAC Buffalo II is probaly loosing lock (lock led it turning off sometimes for a moment) and some digital noise, something like a noise wave and digital distortion appears for 1 or 2 seconds, than there is a music again, sometimes the noise wave is followed by silence (BII is muting ?) Sometimes it is every 5-20 seconds. It is similar to fm noise, not very loud.

1. It is not a power supply issue - i tried three different power supplies for waveio. The Twisted Pear Placid ps is set for 5.1V/420mA/80mA shunt. I tried also voltage between 4.9 and 5.3, higher current until 600mA, no change. Measured voltage and current when playing music, voltage is absolutely stable, current is changing a little depending on file format. Used two different multimeters. Waveio is consuming around ~380mA.

2. It is not a problem of the source - the behaviour is absolutely the same with Windows XP and W7 notebooks and Squeezebox Touch with Triode plugins.

3. It is not depending on the file format - it happens when playing internet radio, 16/44.1, 24/88, 24/96 or mp3 files.

4. I checked all connections many times, checked uFl cables, tried different earthing arrangements.

5. i2s connection is OK, checked many times for some broken cable, bad connection, moved cables while playing music, etc. The fourth ufl cable on the picture is just used for the ground connection, only the screen of the cable is connected to gnd on the BII digital input. I also tried separate ground cable from H4 on waveio to gnd on BII digital input, no change.

6. I have impression, that when waveio is cold, than the problems are not so present, later when it becomes warmer, than this waves of digital noise are appearing more frequently.

7. Tried different usb cables - shorter, longer, with&without ferrit clamps, tried three different usb hubs (not necessary) powered and unpowered. All USB 2.0.

8. When i am connecting Buffalo DAC just to one spdif source - SBT or cd drive, than DAC it is working perfect (since nearly two years) without any issues.

On the picture you can see my setup :





I will be very thankfull for any help, i really have no idea what is wrong