Notice to Buffalo 3 users:
The Buffalo 3 requires 8 channel input, so you need to provide either 4x I2S, or 8x DSD lines.
The BBB is capable to generate data on 4 lines, thus for DSD channel remapping has to be used. Otherwise some internal DACs of ES9018 will generate just silence.
So in general BBB needs to play 8 channel PCM audio to have same volume as stereo SPDIF data input.
With ES9018 channel remaping you can decrease number of needed channels to 4.
The data channels resistor area on Cronus can help with that too. Omiting some resistors and using wires on the side close to the DAC, there is possible to interconnect some channels of BBB together and not tie outputs of IC4 at the same time.
The Buffalo 3 requires 8 channel input, so you need to provide either 4x I2S, or 8x DSD lines.
The BBB is capable to generate data on 4 lines, thus for DSD channel remapping has to be used. Otherwise some internal DACs of ES9018 will generate just silence.
So in general BBB needs to play 8 channel PCM audio to have same volume as stereo SPDIF data input.
With ES9018 channel remaping you can decrease number of needed channels to 4.
The data channels resistor area on Cronus can help with that too. Omiting some resistors and using wires on the side close to the DAC, there is possible to interconnect some channels of BBB together and not tie outputs of IC4 at the same time.
u.fl is not the best cable for I2s ,from the discussions before I remember vaguely. Miero ,Russ correct me if I am wrong?
uFL is just not all that DIY friendly (the low number of mating cycles and the fragility of contacts) - and not as good as directly stacking. But uFL is just fine provided you are able to use it as intended.
Yes great point! This is precisely why we don't mount resistors - because if you parallel channels on the B3 for (to make it run in stereo remapped mode - B3SE style) you will only want to mount the output resistors that go to BCK, D1, and D2
And if someone has already installed jumper resistors on B3, then some of these resistors on Cronus shall be omitted, ttherwise IC4 outputs would be tied on B3 board!
Yes there is a 2.54mm (2 x 20 + 2 x 4) header. And terminals for B3SE style (GND, BCK,D1,D2) wiring. Wiring that will work work very well too as long as the wires are nice and short.
Yes it is important if you are shorting signals the B3 to omit the resistors that are not actually driving the net. So for typical stereo B3 usage - only install the resistors R5 - R7 on the Cronus. Then use the jumpers on the B3 to enable stereo remapped usage.
Opus DAC does not have U.Fl connectors or option to solder them I believe ?
What is a B3SE style terminal?
Opus does not have uFL pads. By B3SE style - mean with signals in the same order as the B3SE terminals.
No it is not. B2 does not have 8 digital inputs - only 3. It is essentially the same as B3SE inputs.
Hi Russ,
First of all, I'd like to thank you and your team for this great work.
The boards were delivered last night. Today I assembled the boards with 45/49 Rhea. Soldering went quite smooth but I made a small mistake to solder the Cronus header to the wrong place, intending to preserve the space for handling uFl.
After several attempts with no sound, I became aware that I was wrong with choosing holes. Leaving the already soldered header as it is, I added other header pins to the original (default) holes and succeeded in getting sound.
Playing DSD128 and PCM on B3SE via teleporter and these board is quite smooth but I'm going to check the details in the weekend. Included is the picture of my rough setup. My next step will be to find a new box for my B3SE and Hermes-Cronus with BBB.
BTW, I'm still using software clock divider by miero instead of H/W divider on the board. If I'm going to use the latter, I think that there is no necessity to edit kernel option for clock rate setting. Correct?
Best Regards,
Attachments
Congrats Twluke.can please provide more details on the mistake you made with soldering and pictures if possible so we can avoid that happening again with someone else.
Hi Russ,
Got my Hermes Board (no parts) yesterday, very fast to Germany! Thanks for it.
I believe to have all the right parts, but a schematic or part list would be nice for soldering.
Thanks in Advance.
Important building note. If you want to use the B3SE (digital output) terminal blocks with the cronus you will want to mount them on the bottom so as not to interfere with the uFLs - I will make that clear in the data-sheet.
Test fit twice - solder once. 🙂
Test fit twice - solder once. 🙂
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