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BuffaloPRO build thread

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Let's see your BuffaloPRO builds here! Here is mine in preliminary form:
BuufPRO.prelim.JPG
BuffaloPRO (9038)/Mercury/Hermes-Amanero-Cronus (with a single 45.1584 XO)/DIY supply for digital/old Placid HD(temporary) for analog.
I plan to extend the aluminum angle stock acting as a heatsink here such that it can shield the AC input from the DAC section, and I will build some new supply for the analog section-I used the old Placid 'cause it was around for initial testing.
 
Here's my attempt;



P1200423.jpg by MartinC7, on Flickr


P1200426.jpg by MartinC7, on Flickr


P1200425.jpg by MartinC7, on Flickr

P1200424.jpg by MartinC7, on Flickr




Finally completed the new DAC based largely on boards from TPA. Specs are:

Input: SPDIF (Coax, BNC and optical) and USB
Main DAC: ESS9038PRO (TPA BIISSEPRO)
Power: 2x100VA torroids for digital and analogue sections, one 20VA torroid for the Arduino Due.
Current to Voltage Conversion: TPA Mercury
USB Conversion: Amanero + Isolation + Reclocking
Analogue Out: SE and balanced
Control: Arduino Due (inputs, dac options, display dimming), controlled via Apple remote
Display: LCD
Case: HiFi2000 with custom front and rear panels from Front Panel Express


Control switches options on the DAC and the input switch board. I originally was planning to address the DAC directly but opted to instead switch via the switching available on the DAC board. The only real disadvantage I see is that I can't display the sample frequency. Update: changing firmware settings on the Amanero I can now get USB signal type and frequency and is now displayed on the LCD

Code for the Arduino was written from scratch (having never written C++ code and only having coded eons ago in Basic it was a challenge!)

How does it sound? Very nice, a definite step up from the older ES9018 that it replaced.

Looking at replacing the LCD with an OLED display in the future.
 
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Martin, nice!

Barrows, I use two wire output on all my BIB regs, and 47uF caps on Mercury.
I have no oscilloscope so borrowed a good mulimeter from friend and measure AC at outputs:
* Mulimeter probes together (reference): 18uV
* bib on DAC: 21 uV
* bib on Mercury I/V + series 1.5 ohm: 25 uV
So seems OK.
Read about your experience before I start my build, so not tried without series resistor on Mercury. Will try that later and see what I measure then.

I have listen for just a few hours now. Compared to my previous ess 9018 with Lundahl IV, Buffalo PRO/Mercury has much more details and spatial information. For example acoustics of the recording venue at Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions are more easy to hear, Q-sound on Roger Walters Amused to death more exact defined in space.
/ Micke

How do you keep the BiB regs from oscillating powering the Mercury? Did you add a series resistor to the output?
I tried mine, but they where oscillating, even without the Mercury's electrolytic caps in place.
 
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Thanks Micke, so indeed it does seem that with a series 1.5 ohm resistor you are experiencing good performance forms he BiBs, this is good to know. What multimeter is that, pretty good resolution there if it can measure 10s of µV AC in the presence of 15VDC!
 
BTW, quick question for BuffPRO builders out there:
Has anyone compared the TPA Trident SR for AVCC with LT 3045 based regulators? The 3045 is specs at even lower noise, but I wonder if at these levels if there could really be a difference... I know small difference at the AVCC pins seem to be audible though from some prior experiences...
 
I have listen for a week now, solved a problem with my r-core transformers and tried some different amanero firmwares. For the moment I'm using a Microrendu to Amanero without Cronos. Amanero firmware 2003be_71A works okay for me. Some high frecuency distortion, perhaps once or twice in a evening listening. But only have to restart track to get it OK again. Hopefully Amanero will fix that. Anyway, now listening to DSD 256 and 512 without problem through Microrendu.

Could not edit my previous post, but wipe away the last two sentences. No complains from me now, great DAC :)

Thanks Russ and Brian!

regards Micke

I have listen for just a few hours now. Compared to my previous ess 9018 with Lundahl IV, Buffalo PRO/Mercury has much more details and spatial information. For example acoustics of the recording venue at Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions are more easy to hear, Q-sound on Roger Walters Amused to death more exact defined in space. But I miss some musicality or warmth, diffcult to define, but the thing that keeps you up all night just want listen to one more track. Hoppfully that comes after some more hours playing or other filter selections.
/ Micke
 
BTW, quick question for BuffPRO builders out there:
Has anyone compared the TPA Trident SR for AVCC with LT 3045 based regulators? The 3045 is specs at even lower noise, but I wonder if at these levels if there could really be a difference... I know small difference at the AVCC pins seem to be audible though from some prior experiences...

I have only used LT3045 regs for AVCC on my build, and very happy with them. Based on Russ' input here I will definitely try the latest Trident soon. The comparison will be interesting. I have a few months and many hours of listening to this dac now so any change on swapping should be readily apparent.

Such a great dac, running directly from Mercury into my Utopia headphones.
 
Here's my stuff. Sorry about the mess, the boards are not even secured to the case, as I've been constantly upgrading from BIIISE to Soekris, to BIIISEPro now, and too lazy to drill the new holes.

Inside are:
- Buffalo-IIIsePro38 with Mercury
- Placid HDs and LCDPS upgraded with new caps
- Cronus (in sync mode)/Hermes/BBB
- Selectronic trafos (I was lucky enough to grab some of them before the company closed down)
- the little boards before the Placids are discrete diodes (well, double diodes in one case) along with trafo snubber, which is measured for the trafo that it connected to
- I've also connected the HDD directly to the BBB (providing the power from LCDPS, as BBB is not powerful enough), and I'm hoping it wasn't a placebo effect :), but I've heard a small improvement as opposed to the HDD being connected to NAS
 

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Thanks Russ! I've been using your products since when the BII came out (don't even remember what year it was :)). So this is the first time I've shared my build :)

As for direct to headphones - I'll have to try it, as now I'm listening through the Beta22 without volume control.
 
I am sure that 30VA is fine, the only reason I used 100VA torroids was that I'm from the old school when the philosophy was that hugely over specified transformers provided big advantages in analog circuits, so that carried over to the digital side. Plus the 100VA torroids had an electrostatic shield and a MU metal outer shield.
 
My R-Cores are 80VA, and I've used them just because bigger trafos provide some small improvement in bass, at least that's what I heard.
I think this have the same amount of influence on sound as changing the reservoir caps for bigger ones on the power supply (which I've done too :)).
But yes, 30VA and 10000uF (on Placids) are fine of course, I think Russ and Brian have thoroughly tested this. Anything bigger is just wanting to try something new :)
 
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