OK, so I'm having a conversation with myself here, but for anybody interested in the future, I managed to solve my i2s problem with the Red baron v.5.0. I got really lucky!
Originally I had figured that although the new diode array i2s attenuator asked for 3.3vDC, I would probably get it to work with 5v, using my existing regulator. FAIL
I got lucky because I disconnected the power from the regulator, and as the capacitor let out it's reservoir of power, I got a split second of music, demonstrating that I needed a lower voltage, probably 3.3v.
So, I did all of the modifications to the regulator this evening to get it to run at 3.3vDC. All good, and fired up at 3.3v, but still no music. Aaaargh!!!
I had the idea to check if it worked at a different voltage, as I had demonstrated that it would work for a split second if unplugged completely.
As I went down from 3.3vDC, I eventually got distorted music at about 3v, and clean music at about 2.54vDC, the lowest my regulator would output.
So I'm happily listening to some great music again, at 1.45 in the morning with the attenuator at 2.53v!!!
Originally I had figured that although the new diode array i2s attenuator asked for 3.3vDC, I would probably get it to work with 5v, using my existing regulator. FAIL
I got lucky because I disconnected the power from the regulator, and as the capacitor let out it's reservoir of power, I got a split second of music, demonstrating that I needed a lower voltage, probably 3.3v.
So, I did all of the modifications to the regulator this evening to get it to run at 3.3vDC. All good, and fired up at 3.3v, but still no music. Aaaargh!!!
I had the idea to check if it worked at a different voltage, as I had demonstrated that it would work for a split second if unplugged completely.
As I went down from 3.3vDC, I eventually got distorted music at about 3v, and clean music at about 2.54vDC, the lowest my regulator would output.
So I'm happily listening to some great music again, at 1.45 in the morning with the attenuator at 2.53v!!!
I had two parallelled v2.3 boards, and replaced it with this one Red Baron, so not much difference, apart from the 2.5v i2s attenuator. How does this compare? It's much the same really.
I do agree about the TDA1541A. It's the best I've heard. Even cheap CD players with this chip, even with the oversampling still in place and opamp output devices, cheap caps and tawdry shunt regs, I like it more than the vast majority of modern chips I've heard. (I've never heard a Sabre dac, any flavour - must change that soon!!!) It's such an engaging DAC, with so much warmth and passion. I even like the much criticised "fuzzy" bass. I find the bass acceptable, and I find the mids and treble fabulous.
I went back to a single chip, because I reassessed the concept, and decided that I prefered the single chip concept. It's been my first foray into SMD cap soldering, which has been a challenge. A Youtube video on how to do it right helped a lot. 1uF acrylic SMD caps around the DAC chip. Nice!
I do agree about the TDA1541A. It's the best I've heard. Even cheap CD players with this chip, even with the oversampling still in place and opamp output devices, cheap caps and tawdry shunt regs, I like it more than the vast majority of modern chips I've heard. (I've never heard a Sabre dac, any flavour - must change that soon!!!) It's such an engaging DAC, with so much warmth and passion. I even like the much criticised "fuzzy" bass. I find the bass acceptable, and I find the mids and treble fabulous.
I went back to a single chip, because I reassessed the concept, and decided that I prefered the single chip concept. It's been my first foray into SMD cap soldering, which has been a challenge. A Youtube video on how to do it right helped a lot. 1uF acrylic SMD caps around the DAC chip. Nice!
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Lucas
I share your affection for the 1541a. One area that continues to amaze me is that once you get the basic 1541a and the output to your chosen level of perfection, the quality of I2S signal it receives can be improved and the 1541a just continues to give more. Fuzzy bass left my room a while ago. A low note now resonates your rib cage.
I share your affection for the 1541a. One area that continues to amaze me is that once you get the basic 1541a and the output to your chosen level of perfection, the quality of I2S signal it receives can be improved and the 1541a just continues to give more. Fuzzy bass left my room a while ago. A low note now resonates your rib cage.
Yes I don't find the chip's bass fuzzy at all, but it does seem that since I was a boy, the Hi-fi world's idea of what constitutes good bass has changed to become all about how "tight" and "fast" it is, qualities I understand, but somehow seem to dislike, considering how having those design goals seems to make speakers, for example, very anaemic to my ears. Every couple of years or so, I find myself wandering into a top class hifi shop and listening to their £2000 speaker options, which are invariably small, plastic coned and with a characteristic "tight" "fast" bass, but no soul. I have always prefered the sound of a paper 12" or 15" cone in a solid cast basket, like on my Celestion Ditton 44s, or the Tannoy Golds etc. Some may describe it as fuzzy, but it's also very natural, deep and full, which is more important to me. It's similar to how studio monitors always sound so horrible. The same goes for the 1541A. Its qualities outshine its pitfalls.
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Sequence with ongoing improvements:
1. old usb source to WaveIO
2. lots of attention to PC and player
3. good power to WaveIO - isolator particularly impactful
4. BG cap on clock.. vibration dampening of clocks
5. Add Ian I2S - PCM
6. More improvements to all PS prior to Salas shunts. lots of clc filters
5. switch to BBB direct to acko S03 for isolation and master clock (current ) (finally the pc player less of a factor)
6. Next adding BG NX HiQ caps to all digital consumers and separate low noise regs to each power consumer on S03 and Ian brd. (planned)
each step getting a notch better to what seemed great from the start.
That's a lot of effort, squeezing the last bit of potential out. It's a bit much for me. At a certain point I say, "Enough! I love it already!" and move on...(usually to another area of hifi I'll warrant - my speakers, or phono stage, or linear tracking air bearing tonearm, the Lenco, the Pass F5, tapping i2s from the the Airport Express. The list goes on.)
Hi guys and sorry for the absence to the thread.
In the last months i had some private trouble and need a longer holiday to get over these things.
I am still thinking about the "last" batch of the Red Baron and of retiring my TDA1541A project.
Anyway... Great to here that Lucas solved his problem.
Cheers,
Oliver
In the last months i had some private trouble and need a longer holiday to get over these things.
I am still thinking about the "last" batch of the Red Baron and of retiring my TDA1541A project.
Anyway... Great to here that Lucas solved his problem.
Cheers,
Oliver
After sometime I've finally got near to completing my DAC. I've got dual Red Baron boards. A problem I can't figure out is that if I have both boards connected I'm getting terrible distortion in both channels. If I use either Red Baron alone it's fine. I've swapped boards and TDA1541A chips around and individually they work. Wire them together and I get the distortion. I've played around with different grounding arrangements and that seems to make no difference. I'm feeding them from the Twisted Pear spdif.
Any suggestions welcomed.
Rick
Any suggestions welcomed.
Rick
Thanks Oliver,
I have 30R I/V resistors, the closest I had on hand.
I'm using your V4 Red Baron boards with the 3.3 volt modification and the free running DEM modification. On the Tube-I-zator v2.0 I've made the modifications you suggested with grid stoppers, output pull down resistors and the TDA bias resistors.
I briefly tested the Amanero USB board and was getting similar distortion so I've being trying to troubleshoot with just the Twisted Pear.
I've checked many times the wiring and just can't see anything amiss.
Rick
I have 30R I/V resistors, the closest I had on hand.
I'm using your V4 Red Baron boards with the 3.3 volt modification and the free running DEM modification. On the Tube-I-zator v2.0 I've made the modifications you suggested with grid stoppers, output pull down resistors and the TDA bias resistors.
I briefly tested the Amanero USB board and was getting similar distortion so I've being trying to troubleshoot with just the Twisted Pear.
I've checked many times the wiring and just can't see anything amiss.
Rick
Thanks Oliver,
Sorry for the late reply, work...
I've attached a few images showing the modifications to the Lamp-i-zator, the dac board (both are identical) and the modules wired up. It looks a bit of a mess as I try different solutions. In the image just the top dac is wired in. Again, if just one DAC is hooked, either one, up all is fine. Parallel them and it is very distorted with the music in the background. Voltages are fine. I was thinking that maybe the parallel DACs were over driving the tubes so I clipped, in parallel, resistors to the I/V resisters and brought that down to about 20 ohms. All that did was lower the gain. Same distortion.
Any thoughts?
Rick
Sorry for the late reply, work...
I've attached a few images showing the modifications to the Lamp-i-zator, the dac board (both are identical) and the modules wired up. It looks a bit of a mess as I try different solutions. In the image just the top dac is wired in. Again, if just one DAC is hooked, either one, up all is fine. Parallel them and it is very distorted with the music in the background. Voltages are fine. I was thinking that maybe the parallel DACs were over driving the tubes so I clipped, in parallel, resistors to the I/V resisters and brought that down to about 20 ohms. All that did was lower the gain. Same distortion.
Any thoughts?
Rick
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