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Twisted Pear Audio - Buffalo32S (ES9018 DAC)

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Nielsio said:
Seems like my package is 'stuck' in customs.



I read elsewhere on the web that I might expect a letter to send them the original invoice so they can determine the tax rate; but this depends on the kind of documentation that came along with it.

Have other packages been sent to Holland, or maybe shipments of other kits?

Same here; have not received my package yet.


Detailed Results:

Attempted Delivery Abroad, May 21, 2009, 4:28 pm, NETHERLANDS
Into Foreign Customs, May 20, 2009, 4:28 pm, NETHERLANDS
Arrived Abroad, May 20, 2009, 4:28 pm, NETHERLANDS
International Dispatch, May 19, 2009, 9:40 am, ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
Arrival
Missent, May 18, 2009, 10:25 am
Processed through Sort Facility, May 15, 2009, 6:05 pm, NASHUA, NH 03062
Electronic Shipping Info Received, May 14, 2009

I do not understand the "attempted delivery abroad may 21" line(unless us postal service is able to look in the future). The website mentioned this line already on the may the 20th.

Nielsio: have you received your package in the meantime?

Scanspeakman
 
The Evolving Buffalo

A Buffalo32 running off of batteries.

Oneplustwo: When you have a chance, I'm interested in your opinion of driving headphones directly from the Buffalo32 compared to a dedicated headphone amp. Are you using a balanced B22?
 

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Re: The Evolving Buffalo

I'm in the process of adding a board to my active ground B22 to make it balanced. Thus, why I'm building the Buffalo. It's currently being fed by my Gamma1. I'm certainly curious about how the Buffalo will sound directly as well. I can't believe that it will sound as good as the B22, but I'll let you know what happens. Might be a while depending on how successful I am at the pre-orders.

slartibartfasst said:
A Buffalo32 running off of batteries.

Oneplustwo: When you have a chance, I'm interested in your opinion of driving headphones directly from the Buffalo32 compared to a dedicated headphone amp. Are you using a balanced B22?
 
Re: The Evolving Buffalo

slartibartfasst said:
A Buffalo32 running off of batteries.

I have seen you are interested in batteries, probably you are interested in my report.
Go to pg.67 nr. 1668 of the Sabre Buffalo DAC thread. There are also posts in the Art of Sound Forum.
Now I have removed all the regulators, even those on the receiver. For the 1.2 Volt supply I had to switch to a NiMh. I have chosen a Sanyo Eneloop, because normal NiMh have a high self discharging rate and the Eneloops have a nice flat curve.
I have asked ESS about the safe limit of the 1.2V supplies, no answer yet, until now I have charged it to not more than 1.32 Volt.
I was certain that there would be no difference between the 1.2V reg and the battery. Unfortunately I was wrong. Now with the new dac there will be 9 batteries.
At the same time the biggest surprise came with the naked Texas TX2575 resistors, which had replaced the Vishay bulk metal I/V resistors (also made by Texas Components). Somebody in the net said they were 10 times better than the older ones. Blabla?, NO! He is right! Now I think about using these for volume control (instead of TVC or LDR) or in amplifiers.

regards Andre
 
Rolls,
Did you ever try a Silonex LDR as I/V resistor - I'm wondering how it might sound compared to the TX2575 Rs - and also wondered if it could be used in this I/V position as a volume (gain) control - I think I even suggested it on AOS but heard no comments - maybe it wouldn't be stable enough or accurate enough to give good tracking between channels - maybe it's just harebrained?
 
jkeny said:
Rolls,
Did you ever try a Silonex LDR as I/V resistor - I'm wondering how it might sound compared to the TX2575 Rs - and also wondered if it could be used in this I/V position as a volume (gain) control - I think I even suggested it on AOS but heard no comments - maybe it wouldn't be stable enough or accurate enough to give good tracking between channels - maybe it's just harebrained?

I haven't tried them yet, even if i have 50 of them in stock and even if there is EVA from DIY paradise waiting to be played. I have always been busy with my Dacs.
Since my experience with the 2575, what they do to my CD's is so unbelievable, that I wonder if this could be topped, but the whole is a match. There are the 7 or 9 batteries directly supplying the chips, there are the transformers and I/V resistors.
I have tried a pot as I/V resistor, It did not work very well. At low volume the reflected impedance would be lower than the primary dc resistance, a nonsense in transformer engineering i was told years ago by a local winder.

regards Andre
 
Ah, so DIYParadise have done a uC controlled preamp using unmatched LDRs - wow you're a mine of information - I hadn't known that they had completed this!

Hmm, low volume/gain a problem - how low could it go without problem - depends on the transformer used, I guess?
 
Ordered a 32S

After a lot of discussion with my wife :cannotbe: finally got her so far that she agreed. It took a lot to convince her that the guy's at Twisted Pear had something better than my (vintage) Buffalo 1.0

Russ and Brian please help me save my marriage and don't come in a few months with the new Buffalo XXXXXX please
:D

I am so curious about the sound because my 1.0 is so good I cannot imagine an even better sound coming out off the 32S.


Regards Rene.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Roaming Buffalo now at home

Russ White said:



No, I don't have an LSA to measure, but I know do know how LDRs work. And I can read the distortion charts :). LDRs add a pretty hefty amount of distortion especially once you get over 1VRMS. I for one would not be willing to take a -50db THD+N distortion figure over a -117db THD+N. :no: Even if were all 2nd order...

The DNR of the Buf32S at -60dbfs is 127db. If you run that clean signal through a set of interconnects and then some more passives (even the best quality) it will be less. :) Add to that the output impedance will be higher. So the best approach in my book, is to put nothing at all between the source and the amp. :) Then you will have the purest possibly signal and good line driving capability.

Russ

Interesting perspective. Do you have any sense of how much of the -117dnTHD+N you lose if you run the signal through a balanced JT2 with the volume at about half open.

Cheers

Thomas
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Roaming Buffalo now at home

thomaspf said:


Interesting perspective. Do you have any sense of how much of the -117dnTHD+N you lose if you run the signal through a balanced JT2 with the volume at about half open.

Cheers

Thomas

Hi Thomas,

Honestly I do not, but what I can say is that I purposefully kept the series resistance low to reduce noise/distortion on the JT2 especially from 25% volume on. But I don't have gear to accurately measure it.

The nice thing is, as volume(voltage) goes up, distortion actually goes down with the JT2. This is the opposite of the LDR.

For a DAC like the Buffalo32S I personally would not use either the JT2 or the LDR. I would only use the Volumite.

Now for some DACs the JT2 is a perfect fit. One example is the COD.

Cheers!
Russ
 
Russ,

If my understanding is correct, the input quality for Buffalo should be I2S > AES > SPDIF, am I right?

I am wondering if there is a way that I can connect AES(XLR) input direct to new Buffalo32 without MUX-CS8416? I checked all documents which I can found, but didn't get a clear answer.

Thanks in advance.
Roland
 
I was thinking buying the buffalo but it seems very expensive for what it is.500 usd for a small board with parts is a lot even if the chip is an "expensive" 29 usd .
With all respect to Russ and Brian ,who seem very nice, I remember twistedpearaudio were a bit more diy friendly in terms of price when they started out.
I imagine some small chinese company selling this in a couple of months for 100 usd.
 
protos said:
but it seems very expensive. I imagine some small chinese company selling this in a couple of months for 100 usd.

Hi Protos thanks for the encouragement. :)

With all respect, your estimation of the costs involved is not even close and very simplistic. This topic has been covered before, so I won't do it again.

If its not a good value to you, then by all means look elsewhere.

Cheers!
Russ
 
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