• Disclaimer: This Vendor's Forum is a paid-for commercial area. Unlike the rest of diyAudio, the Vendor has complete control of what may or may not be posted in this forum. If you wish to discuss technical matters outside the bounds of what is permitted by the Vendor, please use the non-commercial areas of diyAudio to do so.

exaU2I - Multi-Channel Asynchronous USB to I2S Interface

I'm having doubts that it allows the full 352khz (I think i saw a picture): what's the truth?

Can you point me to this picture? This would be a real untruth - to photoshop a screenshot...:)

The only place where we discuss the integration of Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) with the exaSound Dashboard is here: exaU2I DB - Installation and Configuration of Native Windows and ASIO Drivers.

The dashboard can be configured for all sampling rates up to 32bit/384 kHz, but VAC is limited to 24bit/192 kHz. VAC offers compatibility for players that have no ASIO suport, but the sound quality is not the same.

I explained this many times. This is how it all happened. We were DIYing our own audio systems and we felt something is not right. It was obvious to us that a turntable with a classic class A amplifier delivers better sound than the latest ultra-super surround receiver. So we questioned the last 20 years of progress in the audio world, and we started building a digital audio platform from scratch. We knew that every piece of the puzzle matters. Instead of optimizing the various complicated elements in the signal processing chain (like KS), we bypassed them. The disadvantage of this approach is that exaU2I is incompatible with the Windows sound system - we don't have WDM drivers.

If you are interested to experiment with exaU2I, you need to be open-minded and to try the configuration that we recommend - ASIO with J River of Foobar.

Regards,

exa065
 
Can you point me to this picture? This would be a real untruth - to photoshop a screenshot...:)

It was in this thread, around pg50 or so... A foobar screenshot, but probably must have been in ASIO.

If you are interested to experiment with exaU2I, you need to be open-minded and to try the configuration that we recommend - ASIO with J River of Foobar.

Neither software offers a decentupsampler. But for comparison, i'll use ASIO and a native highres file.
 
Can you use an offline upsampler for the test?

Yes, I have a friend who has Saracon. Things like sox (unless u load there a SOTA algorytm but i dont have the filter) and r8brain produce utter crap.

I just finished catching up all past posts. Do you have any update on the ETA of v2 of exa2ui? 2ch optimized version, with better oscillators and placements for external PSUs for the clocks particularly.
it'll take about 1 month for me to work on the waveIO and then i can use the same external PSUs on the exa. There i can also test isolating usb vs isolating the i2s output (which is done similarly with the same AD chip).

barrows whishlist for exa v2 also matches my ideas.
 
The audio router application that exa recommends costs 50$ and it's limited to 192khz. The biggest advantage of exa2ui for me is the higher samplerate it supports.

I can live with a limit of 192KHz for watching movies/TV with Windows Media Center and all the other non ASIO supporting applications. I've never seen/heard any movies or videos with sample rates higher than 192KHz. My apps that do play higher samplerate audio, also support ASIO.
 
I could play DSD256 and DSD512 audio sources with the combination of ExaU2I and TPA Buffalo II. It's amazing!

In addition to the usual 44.1 kHz series DSD sources; DSD64(2.8MHz), DSD128(5.6MHz), DSD256(11.2MHz) & DSD512(22.5MHz), I could play DSD sources of 48 kHz series; DSD64(3.1MHz), DSD128(6.1MHz) & DSD256(12.3MHz) with the combination of ExaU2I and Fidelix CAPRICE (a Japanese ES9018-based DAC) using "synchronous master clocking method".

The exaSound "LoTech Player" accepts and plays those 48 kHz series DSD(DFF) files without any problem and the ExaU2I switches DSD clock frequency automatically. I'd like to admire the author of the program!

Bunpei
 
Here is an idea of how exaU2I will look behind a back panel. exaU2I users, can you post pictures?
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0207.JPG
    DSC_0207.JPG
    83.5 KB · Views: 670
  • DSC_0208.JPG
    DSC_0208.JPG
    75.8 KB · Views: 620
I was hesitant to post the pictures of my way of attaching the exaU2I to back of the box since this is just a test box but here it is. And a picture of the whole setup-ackDAC plus Owen's I/V(on top of the transofrmers is a baltic birch board with an ODAC).
 

Attachments

  • Exa Mounting.jpg
    Exa Mounting.jpg
    475.6 KB · Views: 540
  • David+Goliath.jpg
    David+Goliath.jpg
    414.3 KB · Views: 523
I was hesitant to post the pictures of my way of attaching the exaU2I to back of the box since this is just a test box but here it is. And a picture of the whole setup-ackDAC plus Owen's I/V(on top of the transofrmers is a baltic birch board with an ODAC).
These are very impressive pictures, Nikola! I'm really happy to see that exaU2I is used for a very high-end project. I see that every imaginable care is taken to minimise power line noise. Great choice for the I/V stage. You've selected the best components, and you've implemented a very professional layout.

Regards,
George
 
Buffalo Reference MKIV Liberator

Pictures of a great exaU2I project. Thank you, Alvaro!

Buffalo Reference MKIV Liberator:

  • 4 Sabre Reference9018 DACs (Twisted Pear Audio)
  • EXA USB
  • I2S (HDMI) K&K Audio
  • SP/DIF
  • Two parallel outboards (op-amps) IVY III/IV (Twisted Pear Audio)
  • Big display
  • Apple remote
 

Attachments

  • Imagen 128.jpg
    Imagen 128.jpg
    188.2 KB · Views: 138
  • Imagen 138.jpg
    Imagen 138.jpg
    85.7 KB · Views: 130
  • Imagen 153.jpg
    Imagen 153.jpg
    82.8 KB · Views: 133
  • Imagen 143.jpg
    Imagen 143.jpg
    81.6 KB · Views: 182
  • Imagen 144.jpg
    Imagen 144.jpg
    82.5 KB · Views: 351
  • Imagen 121.jpg
    Imagen 121.jpg
    81 KB · Views: 163
Just a quick note that i finally connected the EXA to the Buf3 after much swearing at the mini usb connector.

To be honest i didn't expect much difference from the WaveIO. I was very wrong. Those are simply on different planets. This is by far the most spectacular addition to my system this year. Thanks EXA.
 
exaU2I vs. WaveIO

Just a quick note that i finally connected the EXA to the Buf3 after much swearing at the mini usb connector.

To be honest i didn't expect much difference from the WaveIO. I was very wrong. Those are simply on different planets. This is by far the most spectacular addition to my system this year. Thanks EXA.
Analog_sa, thank you for comparing exaU2I and WaveIO! exaU2I delivers top sound quality because of the integrity of the overall design. We are aiming to eliminate bottlenecks caused by players, drivers, the operating system and the computer-DAC interface.

I am glad that you are enjoying the results of our work!

Regards,
exa065
 
Forgot to mention the test was definitely not biased in Exa's favour: the WaveIO had a separate transformer and a Jung-type regulator and also used my favourite USB cable, whereas the Exa had to do with USB power. As for the cable, the silly mini-usb socket forced the use of a cellphone data cable :)