• 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.

Buffalo II

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Jump to Latest
Russ White

Russ White

Member
Joined 2005
twistedpearaudio.com
zkdaz said:
1) Any chance of spilling the beans? I'd rather not order something that is about to be rendered obsolete before the postie delivers it.

2) I too would be happy to stump up money in advance for a more structured ordering process. I'm eagerly awaiting the B3, hopefully some tridents and the new USB module too, to join the bits I have already ordered.

3) Many Thanks, your products allow people like me who haven't looked at a circuit since university a chance of decent audio without having to spend a fortune on commercial products who's quality is hard to verify before purchasing.

4) Out of curiosity, Russ and Brian, what do you play your DACs through when developing and testing? Which amps, headphones or speaker drivers?

Cheers

Dan
Click to expand...

1) Oh nothing very earth shattering. :) We have a few little support modules targeted to support the B3. For instance, a 4 input SPDIF module along with a separate panel mount rotary switch board with indicator LEDs for manual source selection. there is also a new board called "sidecar" that s designed to allow for switching between PCM/DSD sources and the SPDIF module.

2) Noted. :)

3) Well you are welcome. It certainly brings us joy to pursue these projects too.

4) I listen to both headphones (I own at least 2 dozen pair) and a wide array of speakers, most of them I built myself. :) I almost exclusively use the Sympatico as a power amp now, but I have owned many. I love listening to both speakers and headphone, but I prefer headphones because they produce fidelity that is hard to match.
 
Horio

Horio

Member
Joined 2010
Russ White said:
1) Oh nothing very earth shattering. :) We have a few little support modules targeted to support the B3. For instance, a 4 input SPDIF module along with a separate panel mount rotary switch board with indicator LEDs for manual source selection. there is also a new board called "sidecar" that s designed to allow for switching between PCM/DSD sources and the SPDIF module.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update Russ.

Regarding the 4 input SPDIF module, I'm guessing this the replacement for the old 4:1 MUX and you will not be offering the older unit any longer? Will the new 4 input module be compatible with the B2 or is it setup specifically for the new B3?

Thanks sir, and keep up the great work!
 
francolargo

francolargo

Member
Joined 2007
Paid Member
daniloreyes said:
What would be a good USB DAC for the Buffalo?

wouldn't a usb dac of lower quality than the buffalo affect the performance of it?
Click to expand...

The best reason to modify some existing DAC would be to improve its sound without losing features or functions that you find really useful. For example, I have my Buffalo in a combination DAC - preamp/ADC (for computer input). The downside is that modification can be significantly more work than starting from compatible modules because few existing cases will have space for the sweet power supplies that you want to use. ...though that may be more a matter of aesthetics... ;) (edit :) ...plus managing the well-justified heat output from the various components.)

USB interfaces are available, though nothing very exciting - yet. Fortunately for many, Buffalo works great using S/PDIF!

Cheers,

Frank
 
Last edited:
D

daniloreyes

Member
Joined 2010
francolargo said:
The best reason to modify some existing DAC would be to improve its sound without losing features or functions that you find really useful. For example, I have my Buffalo in a combination DAC - preamp/ADC (for computer input). The downside is that modification can be significantly more work than starting from compatible modules because few existing cases will have space for the sweet power supplies that you want to use. ...though that may be more a matter of aesthetics... ;) (edit :) ...plus managing the well-justified heat output from the various components.)

USB interfaces are available, though nothing very exciting - yet. Fortunately for many, Buffalo works great using S/PDIF!

Cheers,

Frank
Click to expand...
my plan was to use it for computer files at 24bit, but like you say, there is nothing exiting.

Even the original Sabre demo board used a different dac for usb input.

I heard there is a new uab interface comming? what are the specs?
 
Last edited:
BrianDonegan

BrianDonegan

Member
Joined 2004
twistedpearaudio.com
daniloreyes said:
ymy real question is that to be able to go from usb to spdif another module with dac will be needed, while the Sabre is one of the best dacs why use a different dac to interface it to usb?
Click to expand...

A module to convert USB to I2S or S/PDIF does not need to (and often will not) include a DAC, so that is not a problem. If it does include a DAC, you would want to bypass it by tapping the digital signal before the DAC chip.

There are several 24-bit compatible modules for converting USB to something the Buffalo can use. We have our own that we will be releasing at some point, but it is not a small project, and we have limited time, so it will be a littlw while yet (longer than we would want).
 
BrianDonegan

BrianDonegan

Member
Joined 2004
twistedpearaudio.com
Horio said:
Thanks for the update Russ.

Regarding the 4 input SPDIF module, I'm guessing this the replacement for the old 4:1 MUX and you will not be offering the older unit any longer? Will the new 4 input module be compatible with the B2 or is it setup specifically for the new B3?

Thanks sir, and keep up the great work!
Click to expand...

No, this is a seperate module meant just for the B-III. It will accept up to 4 consumer or TTL S/PDIF inputs (transformer isolated) and convert them to TTL-level for the B-III inputs.

We are redesigning the existing MUX module and will be releasing it soon. Like the old MUX, it will have up to 4 S/PDIF inputs, and output S/PDIF and I2S to feed our various DACs (including the B-III if you want).
 
G

glt

Member
Joined 2004
diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=140669
daniloreyes said:
my plan was to use it for computer files at 24bit, but like you say, there is nothing exiting.

Even the original Sabre demo board used a different dac for usb input.

I heard there is a new uab interface comming? what are the specs?
Click to expand...

True, this is a time of transition in "audio usb interfaces". This is why I recommend going the cheapest (but still supporting hi-res, so it is a good match to BII) route until there is a real good solution to "invest" in.

I have been using the Musiland USB devices for some time while waiting (with no rush) for something that will truly be an upgrade...
 
B

barrows

Member
Joined 2010
Well...

If you want performance that can get the best out of the B-II you will need a really good USB interface. I went ahead and purchased a Wavelength Audio Wavelink, as I suspected that the new TPA USB interface will take awhile in development. The Wavelink is expensive, but it does provide superb performance for all sample rates up to 24/192.
I am hoping that TPA's forthcoming solution will (at least) equal the Wavelink in performance (and it may have an advantage by going direct to I2S), but one will have to be patient for Russ to finish his work on this. We should not rush him, as getting a USB-I2S interface right is not easy, and I would prefer that he perfects his solution, rather than bring a compromised solution out sooner (which is not his style anyway!)
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Top Bottom