Hello Terry,
The box is labeled with the configuration.
Either THD or Sound Quality.
I suspect you have the THD version stack and the Sound Quality will be shipped to you soon as we are waiting for stock to arrive in Europe.
Haven't you received an email about this from our customer support team ?
regards,
Andre
PS: if you can OM me your order number I can confirm all of the above.
Hi André,
Thank you for your quick answer.
My order is : 4458
so you can reach me by email, no need to pollute the thread more than I did.
I didn't received an email about the missing output stage.
I don't see thd or sound quality on the board.
but maybe I missed it.
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Hi Terry,
I measured a fairly steady +/- 66mA. I guess the Sparkos opamps work mostly in class in Class A so unless the load is very low impedance this should remain steady even at peak volume.
John
Thanks.
Order no. was #003840.
I'm sure that the incorrectly made up cable came from this original order back in July. I didn't initially use the cable from the replacement Katana kit as the original was still connected to the PSU. Hence both the original Katana and its replacement are now toast, or at least one regulator certainly is. I've no way of knowing yet whether damage was also done to the Opamp or Micro-Controller boards or indeed the RPi it was sitting on. We'll see.
FWIW I'm no longer upset, just relieved to know it wasn't something stupid that I had done. Looking forward to cracking on with getting the best from the Katana stack. Very promising indeed so far.
Regards and thanks.
John
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Does not matter if cables came with previous Katana. Still our responsibility , new Katana board will be sent by courrier. Did not have enough time today , you will get tracking before 1pm tommorow
For anyone interested, I just started listening to Katana 1.2 today. Some brief comments here: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/314935-es9038q2m-board-325.html#post5613724
Hi Mark,
Never got to report the improvements that I got when changing supplies. Changing from a Pi Hut 3 Amp switched mode wall wart on the Pi to a ebay sourced LT3042 with pnp booster transistor supply (as in one of my earlier pictures) was a nice little improvement and surprisingly audible. I have done this before on other Pi DAC's to good effect. If you check the Rpi Circuit diagram you can see where to solder direct connection and just bypass the USB socket.
A bigger improvement IMHO came from using a LM317 based supply for the dual +/- 15 volts. I happened to have a neat solution ready to go. Let's just say those two changes alone were enough to stop me from going back to any of my PCM5102 or ESS9018 based DAC's. The isolator I'm sure will be a further improvement, again best IMHO with a good linear supply.
I really enjoy the gradual process of improvement with these DACs and the supplies improve. After more than 7 USB DAC's I'm sure from the off that this Katana is a little bit special and a step above the others.
When I get a chance I'll post my plans for my best possible supplies over on Gregs thread. so as not to upset anyone here.
Regards
John
Hi Mark,
Best so far is a difficult one to be precise about. What is best is different depending on what each user is looking to achieve. Some might want it to be small and simple. I can't advise on that. I can say what I've tried so far and what I believe may be the best available that I am aiming at, based on numerous previous trials with Pi and non Pi based DACs. All very subjective and therefore likely to be controversial:
Best I have tried on the Katana Stack:
RPi - LT3042 with PNP pass transistor preceded by its own 10 volt bench power supply.
Katana - Another of the above.
MCU - Same again
Output stage - a dual 15 volt twisted pair LCBPS.
I've not yet used the isolator with the Katana.
I think you can see an example of the board I used in my earlier photos on this forum a few pages back.
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=718489&stc=1&d=1543353793
What I'm aiming for:
Separate supplies for each using a modified Jung /Didden Super reg. (available in DIYaudio store), with an
LT3045 based tracking pre regulator. Each preceded by a capacitor multiplier and its own transformer. Depending on whether it can be heard or not the addition of choke regulation on the boards with steady current load. two diode centre tapped rectification for each supply. Snubbers on each transformer secondary.
That lot makes for a very big and quite expensive supply. In the past I've made single upgrades at a time to try and gauge the merit of the improvement. Only twice have I made it all the way to the above.
In general I have found consistent improvements as I've gone down this list in order:
1 SMPS
2 LM317 based single regulator
3 LM317 with LM317 tracking pre-regulator
3 As above but with Zener or diode string in place of lower voltage setting resistor and remote 0v sensing.
4 As above but with Capacitor multiplier
5 LT3045 based reg preceded by cap multiplier
6 Basic Jung.Didden super-reg
7 Improved Jung/Didden reg, added RC filters to improve current source and Opamp supply and remote sensing.
9 As above but preceded by a cap multiplier
10 As above but with choke regulation and snubbers on the transformer.
Perhaps the easiest place to start is between 4 and 5. The boards are easily available on Ebay and just need an appropriately sized transformer for their onboard diode bridge.
Hope that helps a little.
John
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Does anyone here besides me use a power conditioner for the whole reproduction system?
I am using a Monster HTPS 7000 Mk II. They are no longer made, but used ones are available on ebay from time to time for around $500. The Mk II is definitely the one to get.
Richard Marsh suggested it, of course he is biased from having designed it. But, it is very good. Sometimes amazingly good.
I first heard it at Richard's after he just got it hooked up. I walked in the room and before he said anything, I said, "it sounds better already." I had no idea that he only hooked up a power conditioner, he hadn't told me that he did anything at all.
One of the things it does is isolate grounds between load circuits. Ground impedance back to the power ground is very low, but ground impedance between things like preamp and power amp is very high. That forces signal grounds to mostly stay in signal cables, which they typically don't do by default. The distribution of where ground currents flow is frequency dependent, and lower frequency ground currents have more tendency to take a detour through power cable grounds.
There is another approach to dealing with that problem with was described by jneutron in the Blowtorch thread. He wraps line level signal cables around the power cables down the the power strip, then back up the power cable to the next device. It works too, but takes longer signal cables. He reported improved sound quality from doing it (less hum and noise), and he is definitely knows what he is doing with E&M.
Although ground hum and noise pickup can be improved by the probably non-intuitive cable routing, a good power conditioner will take care of it and do much more in terms of keeping line noise effects out of the hi fi system.
I am using a Monster HTPS 7000 Mk II. They are no longer made, but used ones are available on ebay from time to time for around $500. The Mk II is definitely the one to get.
Richard Marsh suggested it, of course he is biased from having designed it. But, it is very good. Sometimes amazingly good.
I first heard it at Richard's after he just got it hooked up. I walked in the room and before he said anything, I said, "it sounds better already." I had no idea that he only hooked up a power conditioner, he hadn't told me that he did anything at all.
One of the things it does is isolate grounds between load circuits. Ground impedance back to the power ground is very low, but ground impedance between things like preamp and power amp is very high. That forces signal grounds to mostly stay in signal cables, which they typically don't do by default. The distribution of where ground currents flow is frequency dependent, and lower frequency ground currents have more tendency to take a detour through power cable grounds.
There is another approach to dealing with that problem with was described by jneutron in the Blowtorch thread. He wraps line level signal cables around the power cables down the the power strip, then back up the power cable to the next device. It works too, but takes longer signal cables. He reported improved sound quality from doing it (less hum and noise), and he is definitely knows what he is doing with E&M.
Although ground hum and noise pickup can be improved by the probably non-intuitive cable routing, a good power conditioner will take care of it and do much more in terms of keeping line noise effects out of the hi fi system.
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Please see attached markup of your picture, with orange circles added. Looks good to me, as those are the jumpers to configure the +-15v power source.
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I think I got sent one of the rogue Katana power connectors and now have a toasted Katana. In any case I have no Katana LED on 3 way power, blinking controller status LED on 2 way power and Alsa not recognising the Katana in both cases. I've raised a help desk and hope Allo acts responsibly 
