USB to I2S 384Khz - DSD Converter

[Bunpei]

As I am a DSDphile or a self-appointed evangelist of DSD256/DSD512, I am trying plays of DSD outputs of Amanero Combo 384.

The DACs I tried are;
1. Null DAC with easy LPF
2. ElectArt's "DSD Prinnciple Board" (8-tap FIR & Op-amp filter)
3. Heavily modified Onkyo DAC-1000 (dual mono TI BB PCM1795)
4. TPA Buffalo II with synchronous master clocking using Fujiwara's 4x MCLK multiplier

The Buffalo II case had no problems even on DSD256/DSD512. In the case 2. and 3. I encountered issues I could not solve by myself. I sent a private report to Domenico.

Anyway, I think the full DSD support is really a great admirable achievement of Domenico!

[philbyx]

Hello Amanero,

Added myself to the list, row 363
The Group Buy is still open?
I understand that the GB5 is in standby, waiting for the good quantity...

Many Thanks

Philippe

[RayCtech]

Originally Posted by Bunpei

As I am a DSDphile or a self-appointed evangelist of DSD256/DSD512, I am trying plays of DSD outputs of Amanero Combo 384.

The DACs I tried are;
1. Null DAC with easy LPF
2. ElectArt's "DSD Prinnciple Board" (8-tap FIR & Op-amp filter)
3. Heavily modified Onkyo DAC-1000 (dual mono TI BB PCM1795)
4. TPA Buffalo II with synchronous master clocking using Fujiwara's 4x MCLK multiplier

The Buffalo II case had no problems even on DSD256/DSD512. In the case 2. and 3. I encountered issues I could not solve by myself. I sent a private report to Domenico.

Anyway, I think the full DSD support is really a great admirable achievement of Domenico!

Hi Bunpei,

When I evaluated DSD vs PCM on a ES9018 based system my result was that the fidelity of PCM was just as good or better than DSD...

Use an ES9018 based DAC and use a 2L DXD master as source and reference,
and convert the reference to DSD and compare...

With standard / basic register settings I expect DSD sounds better.
But if you figure out how the ES9018 (internally) are configured when playing DSD, and you change the register settings when playing PCM to a similar configuration...
Then I would be very surprised if you can hear much difference between DSD and PCM.

Some register settings have completely different functions in DSD vs PCM mode.. If you refer to the data sheet you will never find it as the data sheet do not have the DSD mode explanations. I figured out this the hard way - a combination of trial and logic.

Due to this I need to reprogram the ES9018 registers according to the source material, and that was why I asked Domenico to add the OnDSDxxx events and the startup delay in the firmware tool. The startup delay was due to the Amanero adapter fired the initial programming (OnReset event) of the ES9018 chips to fast so the first chip was only partially programmed at power up. The OnDSDxxx events was to have an event for all PCM and DSD sample rate / mode changes to be able to reprogram the chips correctly.

However I must admit that DSD plays better at the time being....
But I do NOT believe that it is caused by the DSD format.
I am playing on my discrete DAC where only the DSD part are implemented yet.
When also the PCM part are finished I hope and expect PCM will sound just as good.

[Blazing]

Hello Amanero,

Added myself to the list, row 364 (two franch with philippe)
Many Thanks

Thomas

[themystical]

Originally Posted by RayCtech

Some register settings have completely different functions in DSD vs PCM mode.. If you refer to the data sheet you will never find it as the data sheet do not have the DSD mode explanations. I figured out this the hard way - a combination of trial and logic.

Many of us do not have your technical capabilities, equipment, experience and werewithal so I hope you will be able to share your findings Ray as this will be of great interest to many people.

[dickiegeorge]

Originally Posted by themystical

Many of us do not have your technical capabilities, equipment, experience and werewithal so I hope you will be able to share your findings Ray as this will be of great interest to many people.

+1 on this. Would really appreciate any of your findings on what the undocumented register settings do.

[dickiegeorge]

Quick question on the boards I2C connections :-

I presume the board acts as a bus master for I2C and is designed to send data to the DAC registers directly?
Therefore I can't connect it to my exisiting I2C bus which is controlling the DAC from a PIC micro (again as master)?

[Bunpei]

Hi, Raymond,

"Good music and sound" is in the ears and the audio system of beholder.
Man thinks within the range of his/her experiences.

Have you listened to enough DSD256/DSD512 sources on ES9018 of synchronous master clocking dual mono configuration environment?

[RayCtech]

Originally Posted by themystical

Many of us do not have your technical capabilities, equipment, experience and werewithal so I hope you will be able to share your findings Ray as this will be of great interest to many people.

During the next week I will rebuild a two channel (one ES9018 chip) DAC and equip it with a Amanero USB adapter (uses now a XMOS 384k/32bit - DSD USB adapter). I am only waiting for Domenico to finish and send me the required config tool before I can start the testing.

With this two channel DAC I have implemented both BUFII and DAC32 configuration mappings so I can run in both 9008 compatibility mode (BUFII) and full 9018 mode (DAC32). If I am able to set it up (the Amanero adapter) properly for BUFII and BUFIII hardware I could give the combo384.ini file or files to Domenico and he could test and distribute them. This way the Amanero USB adapter users can implement I2C control easily (remove any other firmware chips on the ES9018 board). For optimum performance the Amanero USB adapter clocks could be changed to 45/49M clocks and the ES9018 board clock removed and sourced by the Amanero clocks to enable synchronous clocking. A re-clocking of data, bit and word clocks would be the final touch.

My current dual mono ES9018 setup have physical differences / properties that are not compatible with anything else - so I have to do the job and testing with the more "standard" DAC first. I hope to also be able to implement the hardware volume control (Domenico have added this in the last firmware) (ES9018 volume control registers) so the volume can be controlled from the iPad, iPod, iPhone or other units running a remote control app. I will only check this for OSX and Linux as I do not use Windows.
If this hardware volume control works as expected it will also work when playing native DSD.
The software volume controls that exists cannot work with DSD without converting DSD to PCM first.
So the Amanero volume control will be a great addition to the features.
However the way the Amanero volume control are implemented allows for easy addition of a 8 bit I2C expander that can control a completely analog volume attenuator....

[RayCtech]

Originally Posted by Bunpei

Hi, Raymond,

"Good music and sound" is in the ears and the audio system of beholder.
Man thinks within the range of his/her experiences.

I think my AMT headphones and JFET amplifiers and AMT speakers should match your dynamic headphones... And yes I agree that "Man thinks within the range of his/her experiences" applies

Originally Posted by Bunpei

Have you listened to enough DSD256/DSD512 sources on ES9018 of synchronous master clocking dual mono configuration environment?

I would assume that.

I hope you have discovered that there is NO mono mode for DSD in the ES9018 chip and have taken the appropriate actions to rectify this