The software is equally optimized for DSD and PCM.
This firmware is for the ones that have no display, but it can be used with the preamp as well.
I will post a new firmware for the preamp and the DAC that has the interface to switch PCM filters.
But right now i have some documents for the preamp i have to finish. I expect this to last to monday before i can concentrate on the firmware.
BR
Sonny
Thanks Sonny, no rush for me personally I can deal with some pops..
I arrived home after 3 nights away travelling exhausted but still managed to sit in front of my hi-if for 5 hours! Your DAC creates musical bliss.
If you install the firmware i have attached in post http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendors-bazaar/274456-ak4490-usb-dac-dsd-support-49.html#post4510939
It should remove it the pops.
It should remove it the pops.
Vive le Québec 🙂
hello Sonny, I understand, continue your very good work.
Charon
Hi Sonnya,
Just recieved a package from Denmark 😀
Everything seems to have survived the journey in good condition.
Waouwww.... the DAC is a piece of art and hat SMPS is tiny 🙂
Shame I have to go on a weekend trip, guess moment suprême has to wait 😡
Thanks and regards.
Just recieved a package from Denmark 😀
Everything seems to have survived the journey in good condition.
Waouwww.... the DAC is a piece of art and hat SMPS is tiny 🙂
Shame I have to go on a weekend trip, guess moment suprême has to wait 😡
Thanks and regards.
Hi guys,
I'd like to update my impressions of this DAC with discrete output stage now that I've been listening to it for 10 days. So far I've only been listening to the filter that Sonny had the DAC preset to when he sent it. Once Sonny shares all the different firmware's so that all the different filter configurations can be changed via flashing the XMOS chip, I'll share impressions once again.
So far the best sound I'm getting from this DAC is via Hqplayer SRC/SDM media player software. This software has a pile of different filter settings for both PCM and DSD. It also has a powerful SDM engine.
I have the discrete output stage running direct into a pair of Hypex NC500 amps without an input buffer stage. This is a workout for the output stage because of the very low input impedance of the amp. This amp is designed to have a robust buffer input stage in front of it. I also have no analog volume control. So I'm using the HQplayer digital volume control. This output stage doesn't have enough power to drive the amps very loud. And when I turn the volume over 70%, the sound does start to harden a bit. So I've been doing all of my critical listening at lower levels. HQ player does have the ability to control the volume digitally, however it involves redirecting the DSD through the internal SDM engine to do so. This causes significant CPU load. My computer simply isn't powerful enough to handle this. Also I've found the sound to be slightly degraded when this feature is enabled. So my only option is to enable SDMdirect. This sends a pure feed of DSD straight to the DAC. Since the DAC is setup to bypass the SDM stage internally in the chip when it receives a DSD signal, the audio goes straight to the lowpass filter in the chip. This is the purest way possible to listen to this DAC.
So the problem for me has been in order to experience DSD in the purest way possible, I have to listen to all audio full blast, since I have no analog volume control. Since the gain is so low from the output stage, it's not so bad because full blast isn't that loud anyways. however like I mentioned before, once the volume gets over 70% or more it begins to strain.
So what I did was find a few great sounding albums in my collection that were mastered at a lower level. This was a great solution as the volume in the end was about 70% some of my other albums. I tried out the DSD 128 copy of "live at the pawnshop" By Benny Waters.
DSD File | Benny Waters – Live at the Pawnshop
Compared to my Resonessence Mirus playing that same album, it was just a more natural experience. Music just floats in the presence like there's no system at all. The sound is very soft and delicate, but at the same time not lacking details. The soundstage is also very good. Maybe not as much depth as with the Mirus, but it's really hard to say what the actual depth should be anyways. The bottom line is this DAC produces a more enjoyable listening experience, and doesn't do so by adding distortion, or clouding details like tube gear does.
One problem I've found with this DAC is the XMOS driver he's using for it, only does DoP with Windows, instead of native DSD. This requires much more bandwidth, as well as a higher load on the CPU. I'm hoping Sonny takes the plunge with the Theyscon drivers, as they are better and allow native DSD via ASIO on Windows. As a result of this, I can't play DSD 256 files via HQplayer. This is a major downer as I have a few DSD 256 albums, as well as the best sound via HQ player can be had by resampling PCM to DSD 256.
For PCM, Upsampling to 24/384 results in stunning sound. My favorite filter and SDM profiles for all around use with PCM upsampling are:
Poly-sinc-short-mp, and TPDF.
The bonus with upsampling to 24/384 PCM is very low CPU load compared with resampling to DSD. So this can be done with low powered PC's no problem. And it results in much better sound than you'll ever get from Jriver.
Now on to PCM-DSD resampling with HQplayer. The max I can do with this driver is DSD 128, so that's what I used for my listening. for the filters and modulation I used:
Poly-sinc-short-mp and ASDM7.
As mentioned earlier, doing this allows bypassing of all the filtering and SDM in the AK4490 chip. HQplayer does all this work instead using superior algorithim's that require far more processing power than is available on a small chip.
After I found some albums that weren't too loud, I did some critical listening. All I can say is WOW! Everyone must try Jack Johnson's remaster of "Brushfire Fairytales"!! It was remastered in only 16/48 PCM, but the sound is amazing. It's a must buy to try with HQplayer and this DAC.
https://brushfirefairytales.bandcamp.com/
Resampling this album to DSD 128 resulted in the best sound I've heard from it. It sounds simply stunning. Compared to upsampling to 24/384 PCM, a huge veil is lifted. I won't go into details, just try it yourself. But just a warning, you might have a hard time picking your jaw off the floor!
However with some PCM albums, I preferred that veil of the SDM filters in the AK4490. As it helped to take off a bit of edge. But until I can play around with different filter settings in the AK4490, I'm just using the different filters in HQplayer, and switching from PCM to DSD up/resampling.
Sonny's gonna send me his preamp board with analog volume control soon. So I'll finally get to drive my amps properly with this DAC, and have full volume control capabilities. By then maybe I'll have played around with more filter settings etc.
So all I can say is excellent job Sonny. This may be the best DIY DAC this forum has seen yet. And the value can't be beat!
The only problem I can see is Sonny is only 1 man. We may need 5 more of him to keep up with all the emails, and feature requests 🙂
PS: Let's get the Theyscon driver so we can utilize this DAC to it's full potential! 🙂
I'd like to update my impressions of this DAC with discrete output stage now that I've been listening to it for 10 days. So far I've only been listening to the filter that Sonny had the DAC preset to when he sent it. Once Sonny shares all the different firmware's so that all the different filter configurations can be changed via flashing the XMOS chip, I'll share impressions once again.
So far the best sound I'm getting from this DAC is via Hqplayer SRC/SDM media player software. This software has a pile of different filter settings for both PCM and DSD. It also has a powerful SDM engine.
I have the discrete output stage running direct into a pair of Hypex NC500 amps without an input buffer stage. This is a workout for the output stage because of the very low input impedance of the amp. This amp is designed to have a robust buffer input stage in front of it. I also have no analog volume control. So I'm using the HQplayer digital volume control. This output stage doesn't have enough power to drive the amps very loud. And when I turn the volume over 70%, the sound does start to harden a bit. So I've been doing all of my critical listening at lower levels. HQ player does have the ability to control the volume digitally, however it involves redirecting the DSD through the internal SDM engine to do so. This causes significant CPU load. My computer simply isn't powerful enough to handle this. Also I've found the sound to be slightly degraded when this feature is enabled. So my only option is to enable SDMdirect. This sends a pure feed of DSD straight to the DAC. Since the DAC is setup to bypass the SDM stage internally in the chip when it receives a DSD signal, the audio goes straight to the lowpass filter in the chip. This is the purest way possible to listen to this DAC.
So the problem for me has been in order to experience DSD in the purest way possible, I have to listen to all audio full blast, since I have no analog volume control. Since the gain is so low from the output stage, it's not so bad because full blast isn't that loud anyways. however like I mentioned before, once the volume gets over 70% or more it begins to strain.
So what I did was find a few great sounding albums in my collection that were mastered at a lower level. This was a great solution as the volume in the end was about 70% some of my other albums. I tried out the DSD 128 copy of "live at the pawnshop" By Benny Waters.
DSD File | Benny Waters – Live at the Pawnshop
Compared to my Resonessence Mirus playing that same album, it was just a more natural experience. Music just floats in the presence like there's no system at all. The sound is very soft and delicate, but at the same time not lacking details. The soundstage is also very good. Maybe not as much depth as with the Mirus, but it's really hard to say what the actual depth should be anyways. The bottom line is this DAC produces a more enjoyable listening experience, and doesn't do so by adding distortion, or clouding details like tube gear does.
One problem I've found with this DAC is the XMOS driver he's using for it, only does DoP with Windows, instead of native DSD. This requires much more bandwidth, as well as a higher load on the CPU. I'm hoping Sonny takes the plunge with the Theyscon drivers, as they are better and allow native DSD via ASIO on Windows. As a result of this, I can't play DSD 256 files via HQplayer. This is a major downer as I have a few DSD 256 albums, as well as the best sound via HQ player can be had by resampling PCM to DSD 256.
For PCM, Upsampling to 24/384 results in stunning sound. My favorite filter and SDM profiles for all around use with PCM upsampling are:
Poly-sinc-short-mp, and TPDF.
The bonus with upsampling to 24/384 PCM is very low CPU load compared with resampling to DSD. So this can be done with low powered PC's no problem. And it results in much better sound than you'll ever get from Jriver.
Now on to PCM-DSD resampling with HQplayer. The max I can do with this driver is DSD 128, so that's what I used for my listening. for the filters and modulation I used:
Poly-sinc-short-mp and ASDM7.
As mentioned earlier, doing this allows bypassing of all the filtering and SDM in the AK4490 chip. HQplayer does all this work instead using superior algorithim's that require far more processing power than is available on a small chip.
After I found some albums that weren't too loud, I did some critical listening. All I can say is WOW! Everyone must try Jack Johnson's remaster of "Brushfire Fairytales"!! It was remastered in only 16/48 PCM, but the sound is amazing. It's a must buy to try with HQplayer and this DAC.
https://brushfirefairytales.bandcamp.com/
Resampling this album to DSD 128 resulted in the best sound I've heard from it. It sounds simply stunning. Compared to upsampling to 24/384 PCM, a huge veil is lifted. I won't go into details, just try it yourself. But just a warning, you might have a hard time picking your jaw off the floor!
However with some PCM albums, I preferred that veil of the SDM filters in the AK4490. As it helped to take off a bit of edge. But until I can play around with different filter settings in the AK4490, I'm just using the different filters in HQplayer, and switching from PCM to DSD up/resampling.
Sonny's gonna send me his preamp board with analog volume control soon. So I'll finally get to drive my amps properly with this DAC, and have full volume control capabilities. By then maybe I'll have played around with more filter settings etc.
So all I can say is excellent job Sonny. This may be the best DIY DAC this forum has seen yet. And the value can't be beat!
The only problem I can see is Sonny is only 1 man. We may need 5 more of him to keep up with all the emails, and feature requests 🙂
PS: Let's get the Theyscon driver so we can utilize this DAC to it's full potential! 🙂
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Fine review bavmike....
This Theyscon driver,,can it be used in Sonnys dac ?
I think it is a sort off this driver ,who used in the Waveio usb card ,,this Waveio sound great,,and if Sonnys Dac ,can compare to this ,with a Theyscon driver,,it will be a true winner
Best Bjarne
This Theyscon driver,,can it be used in Sonnys dac ?
I think it is a sort off this driver ,who used in the Waveio usb card ,,this Waveio sound great,,and if Sonnys Dac ,can compare to this ,with a Theyscon driver,,it will be a true winner
Best Bjarne
Thanks! Not too detailed, but hopefully painted a clear picture of what to expect from this DAC.
Yes it can. But requires licencing fee. All details can be found here:
https://download.xmos.com/XM-003139...sMTQ0NzQ4NjMyNywiWE0tMDAzMTM5LVBDLTE3LnBkZiJd
Perhaps with enough interest, Sonny will consider licencing it. Having compared using it with the standard Xmos driver on other DAC's, there's a noticeable increase in the sound quality. It will also enable DSD 256 on HQplayer so everyone can take advantage of the best sound possible from the DAC.
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bavmike.
specially one thing in the review sounds good to me,(,it is the soft and detailed sound in the dac)
The usb driver is important..so maybe Sonny,you must licencing it from Theyscon
specially one thing in the review sounds good to me,(,it is the soft and detailed sound in the dac)
The usb driver is important..so maybe Sonny,you must licencing it from Theyscon
Yes listening fatigue with this DAC is non existent. Smooth as silk, just like tubes, but with solid state dynamics and detail.
We have packed them all. So we are printing DHL shipping labels today.
We have 3 complete ekstra preamp kits ready to ship. If anybody want a kit to the weekend
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hi Sonnya
What is in the kit and what is the price?
Hello Paul.
The package for the preamp only cost 389€ + shipping.
Extras:
The SMPS powersupply costs 73€
The DAC with discrete output purchased with the Preamp cost 306€
Preamp package contains:
If you choose to purchase the SMPS as well, the following items will be added:
If the DAC is purchased as well we add the following item as well.
I hope this clarifies a bit.
The package for the preamp only cost 389€ + shipping.
Extras:
The SMPS powersupply costs 73€
The DAC with discrete output purchased with the Preamp cost 306€
Preamp package contains:
- Preamp board
- Frontpanel with OLED display
- Encoder
- Ribbon cables needed
- Powercable needed
- Molex KK grid housing and crimpterminals for all the connectors
If you choose to purchase the SMPS as well, the following items will be added:
- Power input (Mains) and and output cable (+5V,+15V,-15V)
- ECL30UT03-S
If the DAC is purchased as well we add the following item as well.
- Combo DAC + discrete
- powercable to connect DAC to the preamp
- Signal cables for balanced connection to the preamp.
I hope this clarifies a bit.
Hi Sonny,
Today I installed the new firmware on the dac that you had posted on the forum. I must say I am more than pleased with it. Most if not all pops/clicks when switching sample rate or dsd all disappeared!!! Nice!
Thanks
Do
Today I installed the new firmware on the dac that you had posted on the forum. I must say I am more than pleased with it. Most if not all pops/clicks when switching sample rate or dsd all disappeared!!! Nice!
Thanks
Do
Yes much better. Those clicks are very loud with no analog volume control. The digital software volume control in HQPLAYER doesn't attenuate the clicks. Would be nice to completely eliminate them.
New Firmware release.
Volumio triggered an fault in the XMOS firmware. A part of the fimrware relating to the DSD which i thought was tested through by XMOS.
It is now fixed.
I have attached the firmware.
BR
Sonny
Volumio triggered an fault in the XMOS firmware. A part of the fimrware relating to the DSD which i thought was tested through by XMOS.
It is now fixed.
I have attached the firmware.
BR
Sonny
Okay guys new update. Sonny's new Linux fix worked wonderful. I'm now listening to native streamed DSD 256 on Audiolinux. It's the best sound I've heard yet from the DAC. I'm resampling all PCM to DSD 256 and using SDMdirect.
Only problem is DSD64 isn't working with native DSD only DoP. So it must be switched to DoP for DSD 64 albums. This is a real pain as my plan is to set this up headless so the settings don't need to be changed. Hopefully we can sort out this issue.
Only problem is DSD64 isn't working with native DSD only DoP. So it must be switched to DoP for DSD 64 albums. This is a real pain as my plan is to set this up headless so the settings don't need to be changed. Hopefully we can sort out this issue.
Hi bavmike,
I love your sharing about sound quality. I have similar experience with sonny's dac. From my understanding, both native DSD and DoP send same "DSD files" into ak4490 chip through USB(XMOS) without switching process. Maybe native DSD is a much professional way to achieve the goal, but DoP is relatively simple way without driver support.
I love your sharing about sound quality. I have similar experience with sonny's dac. From my understanding, both native DSD and DoP send same "DSD files" into ak4490 chip through USB(XMOS) without switching process. Maybe native DSD is a much professional way to achieve the goal, but DoP is relatively simple way without driver support.
Hi Roger,
What's better about native DSD vs DoP is the conversion to PCM, and conversion back to DSD is avoided. This takes extra processing power on both ends, and well as much more bandwidth in the transmission. On top of that you must have native DSD for DSD 256.
With Linux you don't need any driver support. It works driver free for native and DoP. I'm listening to both right now.
Well the problem i fixed shown a new fault in the firmware as you point out mike.
There was a wrong definition from the beginning. I will fix the issue with DSD64 tomorrow for native playback.