Yes it was the next question on the listHow did you know that
In fact I just don't know what Soekris meaned with "plastic" ? is it carbon leads plot ?
Plugs, pin pitch ? Hummm coul wait the dac to measure myself....
There is a standard pitch header on the DAC board. You don't mount the pot directly to the board - you panel mount the pot and run wires between the pot and the header.
Pots will come with either a pins for PCB mounting or solder tabs with a slot to allow you to solder wires to them. If you have any skills with a soldering iron I'd suggest using a pot with solder tabs.
Improvisers need to have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of music - without that they are making random squawking.
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I just looked at the Amanero schematic, and it looks like only 3.3V is used. I thought I had checked before, and had found somewhere other than the voltage converter that used 5V USB power, but I guess not.
So you're right, it doesn't need 5V usb if you provide 3.3V power.
I am actually providing the 5V power to my PCI to USB card, and there might be some reason that this card won't operate unless it sees 5V USB power. I'll play with it tonight.
Randy
afaik all the usb card that requires power is the oscillator and the usb chip which is 3.3v the 5v is usually fed from the molex 5v
That sounds right, that's about all there is on the Silverstone USB card I am using.
I thought it didn't work unless I had 5V going to the molex connector, I'll try again tonight and confirm. Right now, I run a molex connector to plug into the USB card just to provide 5V, so it will be easy to disconnect and see what happens.
Randy
Let's not forget that Søren has recommended running USB -> I2S boards from the USB power.
Because the DAM1021 has isolation on the I2S lines and a very effective reclocking scheme, the benefits of a separate supply - isolation from PC power, and quieter power for the clock - don't bring the same advantages to the DAM1021 they do in other DIY DAC designs.
Søren has put together an extremely well integrated system that doesn't rely on a plethora of add-on boards to achieve good performance. You should rejoice in the fact that it doesn't need 2, 3 or 4 times the price of the basic DAC in add-ons and tweaks to achieve good performance - or a even workable system for that matter - rather than tying to add unnecessary complexity where it isn't needed.
Because the DAM1021 has isolation on the I2S lines and a very effective reclocking scheme, the benefits of a separate supply - isolation from PC power, and quieter power for the clock - don't bring the same advantages to the DAM1021 they do in other DIY DAC designs.
Søren has put together an extremely well integrated system that doesn't rely on a plethora of add-on boards to achieve good performance. You should rejoice in the fact that it doesn't need 2, 3 or 4 times the price of the basic DAC in add-ons and tweaks to achieve good performance - or a even workable system for that matter - rather than tying to add unnecessary complexity where it isn't needed.
That's a very nice (and now very sought after discontinued) USB>I2S board. Don't skimp on a power supply for it. Give it really clean power and it will reward your ears.
Despite the isolation and reclocking that Soren's R2R board does, the USB input and the quality of power you provide to it will still make a sonic difference. I would not be caught dead using computer USB VBUS power for a DAC input board!
Is this based on John Swenson's posts over at Computer Audiophile on USB packet noise?
Mac Mini version of a CAPS music server - Step by Step - Page 9
Mac Mini version of a CAPS music server - Step by Step - Page 10
Mac Mini version of a CAPS music server - Step by Step - Page 10
I know you and John work together - so the link is a reference to the conceptual basis, rather than where you "found" the idea.
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Based more on direct experience with integrating USB>I2S boards into my old Hovland/Swenson PCM1704K DAC.
Good PS for the input board won't mitigate packet noise though.
And yes, we have been working together on a number of projects for several years. John is the guru though--I just try to play Jobs to his Woz and keep up.
I got the impression from John's posts (linked) that keeping the USB board's PSU completely isolated from the DAC PSU was a "good thing"™, and the USB board needed a PSU with low impedance across a very wide bandwidth to effectively address packet noise? If that's the case are we better off looking at an external usb power supply?
cheers
Paul
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Yes, but supplying the USB>I2S board from the computer's USB VBUS really sucks! My personal DAC has multiple, choke-filtered power supplies in it (though they are perhaps not as isolated from one another as I would now like).
So I don't care whether the USB board gets its power from a discrete PS inside the DAC box (can still be galvanically isolated), or from a power "injector" USB cable device--just don't feed it the crap from your computer.
I can vouch for that
clean power to the usb to i2s converter makes a huge improvement even if your pc is cleanly powered (which helps) the motherboard still manages to dirty it significantly
