Why wouldn't I believe you?
As I said above, the only way to know is to critically listen and evaluate each change in dampening / resonance management and only you can know how it worked for you.And regarding the Sorbothane, I just stated that:
a) mixing different dampening materials for the same unit/part will likely yield suboptimal results
b) optimal loading factor for Sorbothane is relatively high
For example, Sorb. sheet with Duro 70 for one clock with your used thickness should be loaded between 30 - 70 lbs and I guess in your case it's realistically below that at least in order of magnitude (source: https://www.sorbothane.com/technical-data/design-guide-calculators/load-rating-calculator/ ).
That's the reason why I chose to stick with the Moongels for clocks, as I find at extremely close to Sorbothane absolutely speaking.
Otherwise yes, given if Sorbothane is optimally loaded, it has slightly cleaner bass and dismissively blacker background, but the real difference is in my opinion/experience so small that it's worth pursuing just in a highly-tweaked / ultra-fi setup.
Thank you.
The cabling : OCC silver plated solid core 0.5mm diameter, between UcPure and DAC stack. High density PTFE banded to avoid skin effect and twisted very tight too avoid noise. As short as possible too. My setup has 8 UcPure, so the platform is pretty big 45cm X 43cm. The longer cables for dirty sides, shorter for 3.3V cards.
The improvement I heard :
Deeper and wider soundstage. With Ian's stack, it is king of huge.
Notes are much longer : piano on London Grammar Shyer (on If You Wait Lp) shows that so well.
Big cables with OCC provides good and tighten bass as they provide big current when it is needed.
Silver combined with copper make feel sound so rich too.
@WladimirMXP Ok, I'll bite. What needs to happen to reclaim that 35-45% of the lost potential? If almost half of the potential is being left on the table, I'm genuinely curious to know how to unlock it.
For digital / clocking equipment (which is IME most sensitive/responsive to resonances) and also for their power supplies, I'm fond of three stage treatment:
1. Firstly to unbind / detach from the underlying materials and their resonances or vibrations. For this purpose there are many pads or accessories, from viscoelastic and rubbery to gel or Sorbothane, particle filled pads and so on. Tried around a dozen of these, but only few are truly (close to) neutral and fit for the job.
2. Then putting some heavy and resonance neutral (stable) desk. I use granite or marble, but even a good wooden might do the job such as Hickory. There are also "audiophile" super expensive desks, which I haven't tried. Just don't use black granite (with high content of magnetite) around linear power supplies, because it would absorb and partially "reflect" its own magnetism back, which in turn will give you weird sounding "mish-mash".
3. Now the most important part - resonance inducing base for the equipment (pads/spikes or combination of these). Each equipment resonates with frequency of the material it stands on and this is translated to the final sound. For this stage it's imperative to give your equipment a) precision and b) pleasant sounding resonances.
Precision is acquired by combination of a smallest possible standing surface/pressure point (think of spikes and pads with balls) and hardest materials.
Pleasant sound is obtained by choice of materials, their combination and synergy. Apart from this, I upped the game with using natural crystalline resonators, which are overwriting any overwhelming metallic resonances with natural sounding ones.
Don't ask me the "how exactly this could work", as this is outside of my complete understanding, but after everything I've experienced I'm coming to conclusion that every type of signal (whether digital, analog or just pure electricity) has its own resonance characteristics, which is modulable to our favor, so I don't spend time on resolving the "how", but experimenting with different materials to get different sound to my liking. Effects are huge in all kind of usual merits and best when all devices are treated, starting from the power filter and ISP modem.
Who wants some concrete tips, hit me a PM and I'll try to give you some guidance later.
1. Firstly to unbind / detach from the underlying materials and their resonances or vibrations. For this purpose there are many pads or accessories, from viscoelastic and rubbery to gel or Sorbothane, particle filled pads and so on. Tried around a dozen of these, but only few are truly (close to) neutral and fit for the job.
2. Then putting some heavy and resonance neutral (stable) desk. I use granite or marble, but even a good wooden might do the job such as Hickory. There are also "audiophile" super expensive desks, which I haven't tried. Just don't use black granite (with high content of magnetite) around linear power supplies, because it would absorb and partially "reflect" its own magnetism back, which in turn will give you weird sounding "mish-mash".
3. Now the most important part - resonance inducing base for the equipment (pads/spikes or combination of these). Each equipment resonates with frequency of the material it stands on and this is translated to the final sound. For this stage it's imperative to give your equipment a) precision and b) pleasant sounding resonances.
Precision is acquired by combination of a smallest possible standing surface/pressure point (think of spikes and pads with balls) and hardest materials.
Pleasant sound is obtained by choice of materials, their combination and synergy. Apart from this, I upped the game with using natural crystalline resonators, which are overwriting any overwhelming metallic resonances with natural sounding ones.
Don't ask me the "how exactly this could work", as this is outside of my complete understanding, but after everything I've experienced I'm coming to conclusion that every type of signal (whether digital, analog or just pure electricity) has its own resonance characteristics, which is modulable to our favor, so I don't spend time on resolving the "how", but experimenting with different materials to get different sound to my liking. Effects are huge in all kind of usual merits and best when all devices are treated, starting from the power filter and ISP modem.
Who wants some concrete tips, hit me a PM and I'll try to give you some guidance later.
If it's not already set properly, you'll need to change the roon-bridge overlay to the Audiophonics I Sabre - in either Ropiee, or roon-bridge (DietPi) whatever one you are using with the RPi.
I have a question about the Sync cable between the PurePi sync port J10 and the MUTE output J14 on the FiFoPiQ7.
I see both have the same kind of connector but the cable supplied with FifoPi has the correct connector (white color) on one end of the supplied cable but the other end (black connector) will not fit.
Does anybody know the exact model or type number of this white connector ?
This way i can hopefully find an assembled cable (approx. 20 cm) or build it myself.
P.S. talking about the connections to be made; if I understand the manuals correct:
On the FiFoPiQ7 I only need to connect one wire (be sure to use the MUTE pin, the other pin is the DSD pin) and the other wire at the cable should be connected to signal ground at FiFoPiQ7 ?
On the PurePi the polarity for the SYNC port is not relevant.
Can somebody also confirm if I have the connections correct ?
Thanks in advance.
I see both have the same kind of connector but the cable supplied with FifoPi has the correct connector (white color) on one end of the supplied cable but the other end (black connector) will not fit.
Does anybody know the exact model or type number of this white connector ?
This way i can hopefully find an assembled cable (approx. 20 cm) or build it myself.
P.S. talking about the connections to be made; if I understand the manuals correct:
On the FiFoPiQ7 I only need to connect one wire (be sure to use the MUTE pin, the other pin is the DSD pin) and the other wire at the cable should be connected to signal ground at FiFoPiQ7 ?
On the PurePi the polarity for the SYNC port is not relevant.
Can somebody also confirm if I have the connections correct ?
Thanks in advance.
I had the same thing happen to me while testing the MPP for a new streamer I'm building. I was pulling my hair out as to why it wasn't working. Then, as usual, I go to Ian's user guide and found the answer. IMHO, the point of using the Audiophonics I Sabre overlay, should be better emphasized in the user guide. It's easy to overlook and miss. Especially, if you're like me and never use that particular overlay.
These connectors are known as PH 2.0. You can make a cable by yourself using a kit like this PH 2.0 kit You’ll need the correct crimping tool.
Ian also sells them on his webpage. Didn’t you receive a cable with the PurePi you can use?
@miklau
Thank you very much for the type of connector.
PH2.0 is from JST and can easily bought locally.
I bought the first version as shown on my picture with the PH 2.0 connector only at one end of the included cable.
The FiFiPiQ7 MKII has a cable with this PH 2.0 connector on both ends.
To order only one cable via IAN and ship to the EU will be costly but I found this cable of 15cm for only 0,45 Euro each :
Thank you very much for the type of connector.
PH2.0 is from JST and can easily bought locally.
I bought the first version as shown on my picture with the PH 2.0 connector only at one end of the included cable.
The FiFiPiQ7 MKII has a cable with this PH 2.0 connector on both ends.
To order only one cable via IAN and ship to the EU will be costly but I found this cable of 15cm for only 0,45 Euro each :
Hi,
I have bought the following and installed on my Pi4 ….
IAN CANADA FIFOPI Q7 II FIFO Reclocker Module I2S DSD DoP Syncrhonous
IAN CANADA HDMIPI PRO II Ultra Low Jitter I2S LVDS HDMI Interface 32bit 1536kHz DSD1024
I am using Ropieee software, for USB connection to my dac Ferrum Wandla and not issue at all, however, for i2S it can’t find my dac.
I am sure my Ferrum Wandla is fine as it is working with my PS Audio Airlens.
Did I do anything wrong on connection, and do I need to connect the DSD and Mute signals from FifoPi to J6 of the HdmiPi Pro ?
Thank you
I have bought the following and installed on my Pi4 ….
IAN CANADA FIFOPI Q7 II FIFO Reclocker Module I2S DSD DoP Syncrhonous
IAN CANADA HDMIPI PRO II Ultra Low Jitter I2S LVDS HDMI Interface 32bit 1536kHz DSD1024
I am using Ropieee software, for USB connection to my dac Ferrum Wandla and not issue at all, however, for i2S it can’t find my dac.
I am sure my Ferrum Wandla is fine as it is working with my PS Audio Airlens.
Did I do anything wrong on connection, and do I need to connect the DSD and Mute signals from FifoPi to J6 of the HdmiPi Pro ?
Thank you
Attachments
For 2-Pin JST connectors, you can grab them off of Mouser which distributes most Adafruit products:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4422
Just plug-in "Adafruit Product ID" in the Mouser search engine. Therefore, you can bundle shipping along with other Mouser Products.
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Adafruit/4422?qs=xZ/P%2Ba9zWqZvoe0zmC3hpg==
This JST Kit can be justifiable just for the 2-pin. You will need your own Crimper.
<< Or search Adafruit for a pre-built JST if you don't want to customise your own JST >>
https://www.adafruit.com/search?q=jst
<< Then plug in the Product ID in the Mouser Search Engine >>
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4422
Just plug-in "Adafruit Product ID" in the Mouser search engine. Therefore, you can bundle shipping along with other Mouser Products.
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Adafruit/4422?qs=xZ/P%2Ba9zWqZvoe0zmC3hpg==
This JST Kit can be justifiable just for the 2-pin. You will need your own Crimper.
<< Or search Adafruit for a pre-built JST if you don't want to customise your own JST >>
https://www.adafruit.com/search?q=jst
<< Then plug in the Product ID in the Mouser Search Engine >>
Thank you and I have changed to 3.3v .. the red led power light up on HDMIPI PRO , badly Roon and HQP NAA still can't be dectected ...
