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USB to I2S 384Khz - DSD Converter

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C

charly chile

Member
Joined 2011
charly chile said:
Hi,
Amanero board arrived yesterday. My plan is to feed Buffalo III DAC with Legato 3.1.

Yesterday I had no issues playing DSD in Foobar2000 in my Dell Lattitude x64bit with Windows 7. I just installed the Windows driver from the Amanero website and the foobar components KS and SACD . KS worked very well as far as I could test (with no DAC connected).

Seems kind of hard to find information about how to hook Amanero with Buffalo III to support PCM and DSD seamlessly. I've found information about it in a few places. But all the useful information is here:
DIY HiFi H i F i D U I N O
I will try this this afternoon, please let me know your thoughts.

Another interesting thing is that nobody really made an statement about Sound Quality. Everybody seems to busy doing DIY and having lots of fun. I am expecting to have better SQ switching from Toslink to thes Amanero I2C module. At least if the people couldn't tell if SQ was improved, people should state that and not being concern about that.

Well, I will let you know how it goes, probably tomorow.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Hi there,
It's late here, just a quick note to report that I was able to play PCM and DSD :sax::D

First, it was making lot of noise. After reviewing treads and documents I realized I had swaped DSD1 with DSD2 pins. After correcting this I was able to play PCM but DSD was not working.

Finally I followed this guide:
Amanero – Buffalo II DSD with Foobar H i F i D U I N O
Installing asio and several components (Asio support, dsd_asio) was the only way I could make it. but it works and I am very happy with the overal result in my sound system.

Specialy because I am not using HiFiDuino, so i can keep it simple.
I am also removing a small Toslink module from TwistedPearAudio, since this USB interface seems far superior and I don't have space for a bunch of modules.

Probably a next update would be using RF miniconectores and adaptors to comunicate both modules, that makes lot of sence to me at this point.

Thank you everybody for the help!
 
S

simonvan

Member
Joined 2012
Hi,
I connected the USB board to a DIY DAC with ES9018, the playback both DSD and PCM is OK. However, the volume of sound is so small comparing with the COAX input, and it seems that the dynamic is lost.

Why? Please help.

My config is:
J.River 18 on XP, KS, Bitstreaming DoP.
 
Last edited:
qusp

qusp

Member
Joined 2009
simonvan said:
Hi,
I connected the USB board to a DIY DAC with ES9018, the playback both DSD and PCM is OK. However, the volume of sound is so small comparing with the COAX input, and it seems that the dynamic is lost.

Why? Please help.

My config is:
J.River 18 on XP, KS, Bitstreaming DoP.
Click to expand...

which ess dac? are you comparing to other i2s sources, or is this your first i2s source? its possible that your dac does not copy the i2s and dsd inputs to all the dacs correctly.

i'll explain.

ESS dacs are as you know made up of 8 dacs internally, this means there is 8 x PCM/DSD inputs, or rather 4 x 2 channel ones. when you use COAX/SPDIF the 2 channel input is copied to all the dacs internally, when you use PCM/DSD you either have the option of multichannel input, or if you want to match the volume of SPDIF and you only have a stereo PCM signal, you need to copy the same 2 channel PCM stream to all of the dac inputs. if this hasnt been done on the dac you are using, that will explain your lower volume with PCM
 
qusp

qusp

Member
Joined 2009
no problem, good luck. one catch, not all sources have enough current in their PCM output to drive all the dac cells properly, but I suspect given this unit was designed partially with an ESS dac in mind, it may be OK. ideally it would have the multiple outputs on the output header.
 
T

themystical

Member
Joined 2006
themystical said:
I appreciate your confirmation....many thanks.
I have just realised that my Joggler is powering the Amanero board through a USB 1.1 Hub and you need a USB2 connection for UAC2 devices right? Will try and get a USB2.0 Hub tomorrow and report. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something as simple that as there are reports of the Amanero working just fine with the Squeezebox Touch with EDO which is effectively what the Joggler is configured as.
Click to expand...

My USB2 Hub arrived today, connected it up and the result? It got recognised immediately and plays excellent music. :)
 
merlin el mago

merlin el mago

Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
qusp said:
which ess dac? are you comparing to other i2s sources, or is this your first i2s source? its possible that your dac does not copy the i2s and dsd inputs to all the dacs correctly.

i'll explain.

ESS dacs are as you know made up of 8 dacs internally, this means there is 8 x PCM/DSD inputs, or rather 4 x 2 channel ones. when you use COAX/SPDIF the 2 channel input is copied to all the dacs internally, when you use PCM/DSD you either have the option of multichannel input, or if you want to match the volume of SPDIF and you only have a stereo PCM signal, you need to copy the same 2 channel PCM stream to all of the dac inputs. if this hasnt been done on the dac you are using, that will explain your lower volume with PCM
Click to expand...

I have the same issue using BIII, can be jumpers bad contact?
 
J

Jackal29a

Member
Joined 2011
Good news for those intending to use the Amanero with an ES9023 based DAC, this inexpensive chip plays both 352.8 and 384KHz even if the data sheet states max accepted sample rate is 192.
We have tested this on three identical DACs, two in sync mode running on the Combo384's XOs and one running in async mode with a local 50KHz XO. All 3 DACs played 384 fine and 2 played 352.8 fine, the third (using a different firmware/driver) had noise when playing this sample rate.
Given the scarcity of such material is not that relevant but may be interesting for testing purposes.
 
S

simonvan

Member
Joined 2012
I did a test on a WM8741 DAC. PCM is very fine and i like that sound.
The experiment of DSD playback has also succeeded. But the gain of DSD is so low comparing to PCM decoding. Why? i don't understand.
The L/R channel is not correct and seems to be inverse, Combo384 just updated to latest version 1.056.
 
J

Jackal29a

Member
Joined 2011
I'd suggest you try the Amanero with a HQ external PS, A Salas BiB definitely improved SQ of my Amanero. This way you can get closer noise performance to the ExaU2I's isolated USB input.

If your problem happens with both sampling rates then is not the same as mine, I can play 384 perfectly, I only get noise with 352.8.
 
S

supra

Member
Joined 2004
supratek.com.au
Jackal29a said:
I'd suggest you try the Amanero with a HQ external PS, A Salas BiB definitely improved SQ of my Amanero. This way you can get closer noise performance to the ExaU2I's isolated USB input.

If your problem happens with both sampling rates then is not the same as mine, I can play 384 perfectly, I only get noise with 352.8.
Click to expand...

I suspected the exa had better isolation, thanks for the advice, I will look into that.
 
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