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Twisted Pear Audio - Buffalo32S (ES9018 DAC)

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Hi Russ, I have a buffalo 32S and I just bought a Wavio usb reciever for it. I have no problem configuring it for spdif, but whn I connect the i2s interface and switch off the spdif switch, it doesnt work. The green led goes out and there is no sound.

The 3 connections I use between the devices is:

source bit clock to DCK , source word clock to D1, Source data to D2. There is no ground output connection required between the two devices I take it, just the 3 connections?

thanks.
 
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Thanks Brian I wondered about ground, but there is no ground out from the Wavio i2S outputs. I may try the spdif out ground.

I would guess you're using the Isolated I2S outputs.
If you look at J6 pin outs the row numbered 1 are all
isolated grounds.
If you're using the J2 through J5 outputs, each connector
has a center pin outputting the data and ground connector
surrounding them.:)
 

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Hi Brian, actually I was using ground, I am not sure if the ground I was using is the same as isolated ground, continuity test should tell me, and I can just take a feed from isolated ground anyway. Ichiban, yes I'm using isolated I2S with no separate voltage. I better build another reg and try again. It is in the instructions, I just didnt realise I was using isolated i2s, Lucian has just informed me. I Should have this resolved soon. Thanks all.
 
Got it going, its quite an impressive dac, at first I liked the opus more so never really did much with it. The Opus is a very smooth and easy to listen to, I like it. But this buffalo is actually very good. My setup is different now, and it is a better performer. I noticed improvement with the I2S over the spdif in.
Would there be any advantage in the newer Buffalos Brian, or do you think this is as good? I quite like the idea of tweaking i/v and output stages.
 
And a pic of the unfinished product. Maybe I try a couple of shunts for analog stage, and try a lower voltage, the chips seem very hot. I might even try a discreet borbely buffer. I need to figure out the final config before I get a case. Brian and Russ, thankyou both again, I love your products:)
 

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I ordered a box from alibaba to put the dac in. Took a few hours to get everything in and I started listening to it. All is well. A friend was going to buy this from me but had no time to get it going. He bought a volumite, so we did a little trade and I thought the next step is to get it hooked up. I used the 3.3V on the buffalo, and hooked the i2c up correctly. I removed the buffalo firmware chip and cranked it up. The Mute light came up and then after a few seconds turned off. There is no lock light. I wanted to carry on listening and not that bothered by volumite. I reinserted the chip into the dac and disconnected the volumite. I now get the same behavior, mute then no leds, no sound.
I was very careful to power down and earth myself to chassis. I don't understand what could have happened. This is a pretty upsetting so if any one can help I would appreciate it. It may be dead:-(
 
Strange. I turned this all off overnight, got a little depressed thinking about all the hard work gone into this and how I was over DIY. I spoke to my volumite buddy from above post and he said that doesn't make sense. Go home and try it again, it will probably work. So after work I did. I booted the pc, turned the unit on and almost instantly got a lock:) I thought this cant be right, so I turned it all off and on and it still works. I am soak testing it, but after an hour it's ok. I am so relieved:)
Next step is do I leave operation shoe horn as it is, put the finishing touches on and forget the Volumite? Any advice guys, I still don't understand what I did wrong and I am a little worried about loosing it for good. Is there any thing that I missed, or gotchas not in the manual that I may have missed?
Here's a pic of the almost finished unit. Very tight, bit like my Opus. One day I am going to build a big dac:D
 

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Two, possibly dumb questions...

1. When you removed the stock firmware chip and connected the Volumite, did you also install a Volumite firmware chip?

2. When you were swapping firmware chips back and forth and connecting/disconnecting the Volumite, the power was off whenever you swapped/plugged/unplugged, right?

Sorry if these are obviously dumb questions and that you did all the swaps exactly right, but one can't tell from your descriptions...

Greg in Mississippi
 
Two, possibly dumb questions...

1. When you removed the stock firmware chip and connected the Volumite, did you also install a Volumite firmware chip?

2. When you were swapping firmware chips back and forth and connecting/disconnecting the Volumite, the power was off whenever you swapped/plugged/unplugged, right?

Sorry if these are obviously dumb questions and that you did all the swaps exactly right, but one can't tell from your descriptions...

Greg in Mississippi

Hi Greg, thanks for taking the time, no questions are dumb ona forum as we don't know what level/experience people are at and I didn't talk about steps I took.

1./ I did install the firmware for Volumite prior to testing.
2./ Yes, it's instinctive behaviour for me. There was no power applied while I was touching anything.
 
Another question:

You are powering the Volumite from the Buffalo's 3.3V, so you have not installed the voltage regulator on the Volumite (instead using a jumper wire). Correct?

Hi Brian, I did make a wee mistake. In my excitement to get this all together in the weekend, I forgot to jumper the regulator as it was fed of the Buffalo. I disconnected and inserted the jumper before going back to on-board firmware.
I disconnected the cable while it was switched off, added the jumper and then rewired it. While it was disconnected I checked the 3.3V on the Buffalo which measured correctly. I then rewired turned on and had the same behaviour, Mute LED locked on and then the LED went off. I tested by touching the rca connector which causes a horrible sound on my test cans, there was silence, so relays were locked I think.
When I went back to the Buffalo onboard firmware, I simply disconnected the unbilicle cord and taped it with insulation tape so as not to short anything.
At this stage I had the Mute LED again.
The whole thing doesn't seem to make sense, yes I made a mistake, but no voltage typically doesn't kill things.
I am enjoying the dac for now, and I'm going to leave it be till the weekend when I hope to finish it off. I'm tempted to install the regulator and try a 5V supply line. Only cos doing the same thing and getting the same result my be considered by some as Dumb:)
 
Hi All, I spent some time with tidying up a few loose ends, ie drilling vents for shunt heat, arranging a Zener for the on off led. used a 130 ohm resistor and a cap across the zener and tapped off the psu. Its a bit butch but I couldn't tell the difference in sound with or without zener on plus 15v rail. My math was about right and there is 11.8V across the LED. I also found that if I wiggle the i2s on the wavio, the signal lock turns off and on. But I could not recreate my problem when I hooked up the volumite the first time. Volumite now works fine, maybe not so linear, but hey its the only minor flaw I could critique:)
 

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