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Buffalo III - flexibility without compromise.

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Hi Russ,

Could you comment on the DSD format that the BIII will accept? Will it accept Wordclock and SDIF2, and if so, how many channels. I would like to do two channels per BIII, but would be OK if it only could accept a single channel.

Thanks
 
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Otto module available again in the future?

Hi Brian,
Will the i2s switching hardware (Otto) be available in the future again. Like, since the i2s input of the buff2 is already used by the Mux, an extra I2s input for a USB-I2S device.
Is your new USB/I2S still in the "works"?
And what about an Arduino-like device?
Lot of questions, sorry....
Ed
 
Hi Brian,
Will the i2s switching hardware (Otto) be available in the future again. Like, since the i2s input of the buff2 is already used by the Mux, an extra I2s input for a USB-I2S device.
Is your new USB/I2S still in the "works"?
And what about an Arduino-like device?
Lot of questions, sorry....
Ed

The USB module is very much still in the works. I actually started working on it again this weekend.

Also in addition to the 4-input SPDIF module there will be another sort of man-in-the-middle module that will allow you to switch between the SPDIF sources and some other (PCM or DSD) source.

Cheers!
Russ
 
Hi Russ,

Could you comment on the DSD format that the BIII will accept? Will it accept Wordclock and SDIF2, and if so, how many channels. I would like to do two channels per BIII, but would be OK if it only could accept a single channel.

Thanks

True DSD does not use a word clock. Only a bit clock.

DSD data is always one channel per data signal, and yes you could quite easily do a single channel per DAC. In 9 bit mode it would be very easy. Just connect D1 and D2 to the same channel and enjoy the music. Bit clock is always required.

The ES9018 can work in "normal" and "phase" mode. Phase mode is not nearly as common as normal mode. We may dedicate a switch to choose between the two with the on-board firmware. We have not decided yet.
 
Using the loadable filter capabilities of the Sabre32 chip
For arbitrary volume control, say control BII in stereo and BII in Dual Stereo (making 6 channels) will require custom firmware. It is not so much about "connecting" the boards but working with the address limitations for I2C (BII and BIII can only support two addresses) and register programming.

Hi GLT,

Are you telling here that by going your Arduino way, I can switch between TWO I2S inputs on the buff.? So in a way that I don't need thinking about h.w. switching?
Compliments with your very educating arduino blogs btw,
Greet

Ed
 
Nope :)

You still need external h/w (e.g. relay) to switch I2S or DSD because the chip can only support one bit clock at a time. SPDIF is "special" in that there is an internal 8-channel MUX inside the chip and you can switch any one of those 8 spdif inputs, but BII was designed for ease of use and it is wired to support 1 SPDIF input.

BIII still requires external h/w to do I2S or DSD switching...
 
The ES9018 can work in "normal" and "phase" mode. Phase mode is not nearly as common as normal mode. We may dedicate a switch to choose between the two with the on-board firmware. We have not decided yet.

Thanks Russ. My understanding is that phase mode is used with DSD data to operate at 128fs. This will become more important as DSD Disk, and DSD downloads become more available. My vote would be to include a switch, or some way to access the phase mode.

Tom
 
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