i2s soundcard

hugobors · 25th February 2006, 06:34 PM

Hello everybody

I'm looking for a soundcard that can output i2s signals... Ok hard to find (at least at good price)... And that can handle 192kHz, even difficult...

So, why not buy a good soundcard and solder some wire on the chip (or the dac) to exctract i2s signals???
But which card has an i2s bus between chip and dac??? at 192kHz?????
And is it possible to reclock it???

I've thought about M-audio revolution 5.1 or 7.1 but I don't have enough information on it.

Can someone help me on this topic???

Other sound card option???

Thanks
Hugues

hugobors · 25th February 2006, 09:35 PM

Nobody can help me???? so...

After a look to ALSA soundcard matrix, I discover that the revolution 7.1 and revolution 5.1 have the same via chipset, the ICE1724 (Envy24HT). I went to the via website and this chipset seems to output i2s bus...

I found this too : (see picture)

Seems not to be difficult to solder some wire on the dac, (difficult on the chipset)...

But don't know now if it's possible to reclock it, seems to have 2 xtal. Maybe one for the chipset, and one for audio....

Any help

Thanks
Hugues

SunRa · 24th December 2006, 05:30 PM

Hello

I am also intersted in the subject. So, did you succed in tweaking the card and reclocking it?

rossco_50 · 24th December 2006, 06:37 PM

SunRa,

MWP has done this modification on a Maudio Revo 7 card which is based on a via envy chipset. he changed the i2s to spdif output, but you would just keep 3 i2s lines rather than convert to one spdif line.

See here

You could do this to any soundcard which uses dac chips which take i2s input. Chaintech av710 is one - its $20 in the states but difficult to get in europe. Hercules Fortisimo IV (make sure its the IV and it has via envy chip) is a similar card in Europe. Maudio audiophile as well.

EC designs, in his 'ultimate tda1541' thread also mentioned a means of interfacing i2s which he measured as low jitter.

Cheers,

Ross

rossco_50 · 24th December 2006, 06:50 PM

the two crystals are used to cover the variable bit rates - if you can find the right values in low jitter versions, dont see why you couldnt change for better units. if the they are crystals and not oscillators, you could perhaps try building two kwak clocks with the crystals, although this may over complicate what could have been achieved by getting a better soundcard.

A similalry complex (maybe slightly less so) solution would be to get an maudio card which will lock its spdif output to the same clock rate as an incoming spdif signal. You would have to build a dac with a low jitter master clock in it which would generate a spdif signal carrying the clock rate which the soundcard would lock to, then the audio spdif signal from the soundcard will be reclocked by the same master clock when it reaches the dac - this, I believe, would get you as close as you can to jitterless spdif and would negate the need to butcher a soundcard for i2s output and to improve its clock.

SunRa · 24th December 2006, 07:26 PM

Hello Ross,

Thanks for the reply. I was searching for some posts about extracting i2s but couldn't find something good enough untill your link.

I am now considering using a spdif at your advice and I wonder if Andrea's Ciuffoli ASRC would be a good choise for the master clock?

ASRC

Regards,
Florin

rossco_50 · 26th December 2006, 12:29 PM

An ASRC is an asynchronous reclocking scheme where the clock in the soundcard is used and then the spdif signal is reclocked with the ASRC in the dac. The solution i mentioned previously is synchronous reclocking where only one clock is used. Some people report good results with asynchronous, but synchronous makes more sense to me. However, I am yet to try either so you'd be best reading around to decide which one you prefer, maybe you will even have to try them both.

DIY dacs, like the DDDAC, have ASRC schemes included, so if you want to go with ASRC this might be the better way to go. USB is the preferred interface for the DDDAC, at least it is for the designer. using i2s direct to your chosen dac chip, reclocking is not required as long as cables are kept short - you would replace the soundcard clock with something with lower jitter, relatively little jitter will be introduced usin i2s, especially when compared to spdif and usb. I havnt noticed anyone replacing clocks on souncards diy, although there is an article on the LC Audio site about installing one of their clocks on a motherboard integrated soundcard.

25th February 2006, 06:34 PM	#1
hugobors diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Nantes	i2s soundcard Hello everybody I'm looking for a soundcard that can output i2s signals... Ok hard to find (at least at good price)... And that can handle 192kHz, even difficult... So, why not buy a good soundcard and solder some wire on the chip (or the dac) to exctract i2s signals??? But which card has an i2s bus between chip and dac??? at 192kHz????? And is it possible to reclock it??? I've thought about M-audio revolution 5.1 or 7.1 but I don't have enough information on it. Can someone help me on this topic??? Other sound card option??? Thanks Hugues

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24th December 2006, 05:30 PM	#3
SunRa diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Romania	Hello I am also intersted in the subject. So, did you succed in tweaking the card and reclocking it?

24th December 2006, 06:37 PM	#4
rossco_50 diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Glasgow	SunRa, MWP has done this modification on a Maudio Revo 7 card which is based on a via envy chipset. he changed the i2s to spdif output, but you would just keep 3 i2s lines rather than convert to one spdif line. See here You could do this to any soundcard which uses dac chips which take i2s input. Chaintech av710 is one - its $20 in the states but difficult to get in europe. Hercules Fortisimo IV (make sure its the IV and it has via envy chip) is a similar card in Europe. Maudio audiophile as well. EC designs, in his 'ultimate tda1541' thread also mentioned a means of interfacing i2s which he measured as low jitter. Cheers, Ross

24th December 2006, 06:50 PM	#5
rossco_50 diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Glasgow	the two crystals are used to cover the variable bit rates - if you can find the right values in low jitter versions, dont see why you couldnt change for better units. if the they are crystals and not oscillators, you could perhaps try building two kwak clocks with the crystals, although this may over complicate what could have been achieved by getting a better soundcard. A similalry complex (maybe slightly less so) solution would be to get an maudio card which will lock its spdif output to the same clock rate as an incoming spdif signal. You would have to build a dac with a low jitter master clock in it which would generate a spdif signal carrying the clock rate which the soundcard would lock to, then the audio spdif signal from the soundcard will be reclocked by the same master clock when it reaches the dac - this, I believe, would get you as close as you can to jitterless spdif and would negate the need to butcher a soundcard for i2s output and to improve its clock.

24th December 2006, 07:26 PM	#6
SunRa diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Romania	Hello Ross, Thanks for the reply. I was searching for some posts about extracting i2s but couldn't find something good enough untill your link. I am now considering using a spdif at your advice and I wonder if Andrea's Ciuffoli ASRC would be a good choise for the master clock? ASRC Regards, Florin

26th December 2006, 12:29 PM	#7
rossco_50 diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Glasgow	An ASRC is an asynchronous reclocking scheme where the clock in the soundcard is used and then the spdif signal is reclocked with the ASRC in the dac. The solution i mentioned previously is synchronous reclocking where only one clock is used. Some people report good results with asynchronous, but synchronous makes more sense to me. However, I am yet to try either so you'd be best reading around to decide which one you prefer, maybe you will even have to try them both. DIY dacs, like the DDDAC, have ASRC schemes included, so if you want to go with ASRC this might be the better way to go. USB is the preferred interface for the DDDAC, at least it is for the designer. using i2s direct to your chosen dac chip, reclocking is not required as long as cables are kept short - you would replace the soundcard clock with something with lower jitter, relatively little jitter will be introduced usin i2s, especially when compared to spdif and usb. I havnt noticed anyone replacing clocks on souncards diy, although there is an article on the LC Audio site about installing one of their clocks on a motherboard integrated soundcard.