exaU2I - Multi-Channel Asynchronous USB to I2S Interface

[analog_sa]

Originally Posted by rsdio

I do not see any advantage to isolating two digital sections.

And this is a serious problem as far as your understanding of high-end digital audio goes. Textbook solutions which work just fine in other types of electronics are not necessarily suitable for serious audio.

[SunRa]

Originally Posted by luxury54

Hello, what format does this device use for 16bit / 44.1 khz ?

is it the Philips I2S format or the Sony/EIAJ format available on it's outputs?

I mean if I would like to use it in NOS (non over sampling mode) together with a philips TDA1541A DAC which accepts only Phlilips format I2S stream would this be possible? or does it make internally some kind of OS (oversampling) already to the signal?

Thanks

Hi, the device has an I2S output format and is capable of 44.1khz up to 384Khz, 16 to 32 bits. So yes, it also supports NOS DACs for 44.1Khz files.

What is EIAJ? Isn't that an analogic audio-video standard?

[exa065]

Originally Posted by luxury54

Hello, what format does this device use for 16bit / 44.1 khz ?

is it the Philips I2S format or the Sony/EIAJ format available on it's outputs?

I mean if I would like to use it in NOS (non over sampling mode) together with a philips TDA1541A DAC which accepts only Phlilips format I2S stream would this be possible? or does it make internally some kind of OS (oversampling) already to the signal?

Thanks

exaU2I uses the I2S format. There is no oversampling or any other signal processing. The driver and the device are designed to be as transparent as possible. You can check the Terminal functions section of the DIY guide to verify compatibility with your DAC - www.exadevices.com > exaU2I > D.I.Y. Guide.

[luxury54]

thank you both for your answers...perhaps i wasn't that specific about my question;
as you all know there are 2 standards of the I2S stream that reaches a specific DAC depending of the various decoders used in cd players;
there are many postings on the internet forums about these 2 standars and conversions from one to the other and vice versa;
I'll give you a link where you should read the 2-nd posting, after this maybe someone who has the device may confirm which standard is on it's outputs

EIAJ to I2S converter and vice versa


PS.
as an example I give you the TDA1543 DAC which comes in 2 versions (and in some well designed applications is very impressive natural sounding in NOS mode with NO long term listening fatigue)

TDA1543 which is only working with Philips I2S standard
TDA1543A which accepts ONLY japanese input format (EIAJ), as opposed to I2S of plain TDA1543

[exa065]

Please check the newly published testimonials on the exaDevices.com website - www.exadevices.com > Blog > Testimonials. You will see emails sent to us by exaU2I users. I've also republished content that will be of use to new customers looking to find out about the real experiences of exaU2I owners. I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

[NicMac]

Originally Posted by exa065

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

What is the difference between a "Testimonial" and an "User Experience"?

[Painkiller]

I've been using the exaU2I board for about a week now. It's connected to a Twisted Pear Opus WM8741 board powered by a diy shunt regulated PSU.

I've tried this dac with both a standard PCM270x receiver and the async TAS1020 receiver. The exaU2I is far superior to both of these. With the Twisted Pear receiver I had a lot of problems with noise. This is not the case with the exaU2I. It's completely noise free at full output with my 105 dB/w/m sensitive speakers. The sound is really detailed, dynamic and natural. It is really the best transport I've heard. The jittery PCM270x made my ears bleed, but the exaU2I have none of the traits I associate with a jittery device. The asynchronous TAS1020 is also pretty good, but the exaU2I reveals more details and comes across a bit more relaxed. I've also experimented with 24/192 upsampled material with great results. This allows the WM8741 to be run in low oversampling mode, which sounds even better.

Highly recommended!

The plan is to get two more Opus boards and use the Foobar crossover plugin for a three-way active speaker system.

[SunRa]

Hi Painkiller, nice to see others are hooking their dacs to the exaU2I. Thanks for the review also, I had basically the same experience comparing the exaU2I to the PCM270x.

Could you please test your WM8741 DAC with a 352.8Khz sampling rate file? I am very curious if your DAC would play that..

[Painkiller]

The WM8741 plays sampling rates up to and including 192 kHz. I tried 352.8 and 384 kHz but all I got was silence.

I guess you'd have to run the WM8741 in 8FS mode to be able to play higher sampling frequencies, but then it's not as straigtforward anymore. I'm intrigued to read about the AK4396 accepting higher sampling frequencies. The AK4396 is a really good chip. Even better sounding than the WM8741.

[SunRa]

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated..