Thanks, Barrows. I have followed your posts on various forums for several years. Good stuff.
How would the board work with my BIII/Sidecar/S/PDIF-4 setup?
- I am now running the older version (1 year ago) of the DiyInHK UBS to I2S board through the Sidecar, and I am planning that the Sonore board would replace this.
- I only use one S/PDIF input of the four available on the S/PDIF input board.
- No plan for DSD input in the near future.
Connections would be:
BCLK, WCLK, DATA from Sonore board straight to the Sidecar inputs.
Master clock from Sonore board to the BIII clock input.
Disable the on-board BIII clock by pulling the little regulator card.
Will this give me the maximum potential of the Sonore card for USB input?
What happens when I switch to S/PDIF input on the BIII? Will the timing from the Sonore clock work OK in this situation?
Are there alternate setups I should consider?
Many thanks,
Steve
How would the board work with my BIII/Sidecar/S/PDIF-4 setup?
- I am now running the older version (1 year ago) of the DiyInHK UBS to I2S board through the Sidecar, and I am planning that the Sonore board would replace this.
- I only use one S/PDIF input of the four available on the S/PDIF input board.
- No plan for DSD input in the near future.
Connections would be:
BCLK, WCLK, DATA from Sonore board straight to the Sidecar inputs.
Master clock from Sonore board to the BIII clock input.
Disable the on-board BIII clock by pulling the little regulator card.
Will this give me the maximum potential of the Sonore card for USB input?
What happens when I switch to S/PDIF input on the BIII? Will the timing from the Sonore clock work OK in this situation?
Are there alternate setups I should consider?
Many thanks,
Steve
options
If you need to have SPDIF input to the B-III then you will need to run the onboard clock and not use the masterclock feed from the Sonore interface.
Personally, I prefer the sound of the ESS chip when it is run synchronously, that is when the bit clock and master clock are synchronous and the ESS chip is not re-sampling the data, but you cannot run this mode and have SPDIF input.
I2S is somewhat sensitive to connections, and length, so running through the sidecar may not offer the absolute best performance, but if using the masterclock onboard the B-III it should not matter much.
Basically, IMO, one has a choice: run the DAC as USB/I2S input only connecting the Sonore USB interface directly to the B-III with short u.fl cables and using the masterclock from the Sonore: this approach gives absolutely no possible compromise in performance, or run with the Sonore interface connected through the sidecar to allow for SPDIF and USB inputs, using the masterclock onboard the B-III (and not connecting the masterclock feed from the Sonore USB interface).
If you need to have SPDIF input to the B-III then you will need to run the onboard clock and not use the masterclock feed from the Sonore interface.
Personally, I prefer the sound of the ESS chip when it is run synchronously, that is when the bit clock and master clock are synchronous and the ESS chip is not re-sampling the data, but you cannot run this mode and have SPDIF input.
I2S is somewhat sensitive to connections, and length, so running through the sidecar may not offer the absolute best performance, but if using the masterclock onboard the B-III it should not matter much.
Basically, IMO, one has a choice: run the DAC as USB/I2S input only connecting the Sonore USB interface directly to the B-III with short u.fl cables and using the masterclock from the Sonore: this approach gives absolutely no possible compromise in performance, or run with the Sonore interface connected through the sidecar to allow for SPDIF and USB inputs, using the masterclock onboard the B-III (and not connecting the masterclock feed from the Sonore USB interface).
Yes...
Yes. You could run the OSF on the Sonore interface and turn the OSF on the B-III off. Then, when you switch to the SPDIF input you would probably want to turn the B-III OSF on. If you are not running a controller board (like Arduino, etc) you could run wires to simple switch on the chassis to turn the B-III OSF on/off.
Yes. You could run the OSF on the Sonore interface and turn the OSF on the B-III off. Then, when you switch to the SPDIF input you would probably want to turn the B-III OSF on. If you are not running a controller board (like Arduino, etc) you could run wires to simple switch on the chassis to turn the B-III OSF on/off.
Full on dummy mode
Hi Barrows:
I am going into full on dummy mode here, just to minimize the chances of any mistakes. This would be used to connect to a TPA BIII board. Do you have a photograph or drawing showing all of the necessary connection points on both boards?
You have micro BNC connectors, but it is assumed that solder pads are preferred. Short wires, no shielding on wire, all wires should be close to the same length. Any errors here?
What are the power requirements, and does incoming power need to be tightly regulated or is there on-board regulation?
There is noted to be issues with the BIII syncing on I2S connections with other boards. What, if anything, is necessary to alleviate those problems with your board?
What is J35, and why would I want to use it?
There is a 14 pin connector at the top. What is this used for?
That should pretty well cover the need for a manual.
Best,
Jon
Hi Barrows:
I am going into full on dummy mode here, just to minimize the chances of any mistakes. This would be used to connect to a TPA BIII board. Do you have a photograph or drawing showing all of the necessary connection points on both boards?
You have micro BNC connectors, but it is assumed that solder pads are preferred. Short wires, no shielding on wire, all wires should be close to the same length. Any errors here?
What are the power requirements, and does incoming power need to be tightly regulated or is there on-board regulation?
There is noted to be issues with the BIII syncing on I2S connections with other boards. What, if anything, is necessary to alleviate those problems with your board?
What is J35, and why would I want to use it?
There is a 14 pin connector at the top. What is this used for?
That should pretty well cover the need for a manual.
Best,
Jon
No pic handy, but this stuff is pretty simple.
If you are using a Buffalo, use the u.fl cables, they are shielded, and will give the best results. You need three short u.fl cables, and one slightly longer one if you want to synchronous clock (using masterclock from the Sonore USB).
There are two options for powering the board:
1. Place a jumper at J35 (this bypasses an onboard pre-regulator) and then apply ultra low noise 3.6-3.7 VDC at the power input. The board also has onboard regulators for different sections, but getting the pre-regulator right is advantageous. I use a Salas Reflektor. Using this method of powering will give the best performance if the supply is really, really good.
Or:
2. Supply 5-6 VDC at the power input.
There are no issues with the Buffalo synching to I2S sources, I have extensive experience with this. The DPLL of the ESS chip must be set with a wide enough "window" to accept the incoming jitter from any I2S source. The DPLL settings one can use will depend on how much jitter is coming in, and will be different for every sample rate.
Note, that if you synchronous clock (providing masterclock from the Sonore USB and disabling the clock on the Buffalo) the DPLL (and ASRC) drops out, and there is no need to adjust the DPLL anymore, as the bit clock and masterclock are synchronous and there is no need for the DPLL to adjust things into sync. My feeling is that with a really good interface (like the Sonore) the sound is better (more natural) with synchronous clocking.
From memory (not looking at a board right now) you need not be concerned with the pin header you speak of, this is for programming of the FPGA.
Very Sorry...
Mikhail: I am very sorry that Jesus has not responsded to you yet, and I think there should be boards available either now or soon. I will bring this inquiry to Jesus' attention immediately. If you do not hear from him in another week please feel free to send me a PM here.
Mikhail: I am very sorry that Jesus has not responsded to you yet, and I think there should be boards available either now or soon. I will bring this inquiry to Jesus' attention immediately. If you do not hear from him in another week please feel free to send me a PM here.
SPDIF
I am not aware of any such solution, nor woudl I recommend it. In my opinion, SPDIF is a poorly designed interface and is to be avoided for best sound quality.
I am not aware of any such solution, nor woudl I recommend it. In my opinion, SPDIF is a poorly designed interface and is to be avoided for best sound quality.
Sorry...
I use mine with Linux all the time. My server runs a stripped down version of vortexbox with alsa.
before making such suggestions I think you should contact Jesus through the sonore.us website and ask for some support, he is very, very experienced with linux.
the card has problems with Linux.
~$ aplay ?
ALSA lib pcm.c:2109snd_pcm_open_conf) type is not defined
aplay: main:722: audio open error: No such file or directory
I use mine with Linux all the time. My server runs a stripped down version of vortexbox with alsa.
before making such suggestions I think you should contact Jesus through the sonore.us website and ask for some support, he is very, very experienced with linux.
No worries! Let's concentrate on getting you up and running. If the problem is in configurating linux/alsa, then Jesus is who you need to talk to. For tech support on the interface itself, I am happy to help.
If you have problems which are not linux/alsa related, please feel free to PM me (things like how to power the interface, setting the onboard OSF on/off, etc)
If you have problems which are not linux/alsa related, please feel free to PM me (things like how to power the interface, setting the onboard OSF on/off, etc)
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