Thank you Ian and guys. I'll wait and see and possibly ask for an update related to this additional controller later on, it would be good to know if this will be available for FifoPi and/or McFifo.
My issue is related to syncing video on an LG tv and its toslink audio output to ReceiverPi. In my case unfortunately the tv is able to anticipate the audio by max 0.2 sec, when using the pc its software is able to add the needed delay for this being a non issue.
Keep up the awesome work, Ian, take care
Why so much for AS338
Inspector, the $107 magically because more like $123 in the checkout page...
... and, on the initial purchase form, it asked for what type of shipping, for which I chose the fastest of the 3 options (DHL). At this point, it did not specify the cost of shipping. So, I was a bit surprised/dismayed at the $64 shipping fee I was charged when I got the second charge through the convoluted process of ordering via Taoboa Focus.
I mean, how much do these clocks weigh? I imagine they could have smashed them between a couple of books to flatten them and fit them in a standard envelope. Wait, never mind ...
The plot thicken further in that the password I selected for my esteemed membership in Taoboa Focus was sent back to me in plain text on an unencrypted confirmation email. So, I was glad I knew not to use a password I use anywhere else.
Inspector, the $107 magically because more like $123 in the checkout page...
... and, on the initial purchase form, it asked for what type of shipping, for which I chose the fastest of the 3 options (DHL). At this point, it did not specify the cost of shipping. So, I was a bit surprised/dismayed at the $64 shipping fee I was charged when I got the second charge through the convoluted process of ordering via Taoboa Focus.
I mean, how much do these clocks weigh? I imagine they could have smashed them between a couple of books to flatten them and fit them in a standard envelope. Wait, never mind ...
The plot thicken further in that the password I selected for my esteemed membership in Taoboa Focus was sent back to me in plain text on an unencrypted confirmation email. So, I was glad I knew not to use a password I use anywhere else.
Glad to help
Glad to help but it's really more about my greed for exploring better sound quality and realizing I'm too busy at this moment to add building Andrea's clocks to my schedule.
Yes, I feel gouged by the shipping costs, especially since it wasn't disclosed at the ordering stage.
And they are very careless with security to send a password unencrypted like that. I'm also glad I used Paypal rather than a credit card for the order.
I think the product is genuine as I corresponded directly with Accusilicon via email ahead of making the order and they confirmed that the seller within Taobao (PartsLab) is their vendor.
I'll post my listening impressions once received. I'd be happy to do any measured tests I can manage as well, if any are viable with the equipment I have at hand or can reasonably acquire.
Glad to help but it's really more about my greed for exploring better sound quality and realizing I'm too busy at this moment to add building Andrea's clocks to my schedule.
Yes, I feel gouged by the shipping costs, especially since it wasn't disclosed at the ordering stage.
And they are very careless with security to send a password unencrypted like that. I'm also glad I used Paypal rather than a credit card for the order.
I think the product is genuine as I corresponded directly with Accusilicon via email ahead of making the order and they confirmed that the seller within Taobao (PartsLab) is their vendor.
I'll post my listening impressions once received. I'd be happy to do any measured tests I can manage as well, if any are viable with the equipment I have at hand or can reasonably acquire.
JCMcNeil @
I bought the same clocks that you are waiting for. I am quite pissed when it comes to shipment cost. Once you accept the two first step in the ordering prosess, you are locked to the shipping cost, which is ridiciolus high for two small pieces.
I will wait to hear what you have to say about the sound Q from them. I have not concluded yet, becouse of few ours playing yet.
I bought the same clocks that you are waiting for. I am quite pissed when it comes to shipment cost. Once you accept the two first step in the ordering prosess, you are locked to the shipping cost, which is ridiciolus high for two small pieces.
I will wait to hear what you have to say about the sound Q from them. I have not concluded yet, becouse of few ours playing yet.
I certainly agree on the shipping costs and their poor ordering flow (from the customers' point of view)
Did you also use DHL?
Once received and "broken in" I'll be contrasting mine with Accusilicon AS318b and NDK NZ2520SDA clocks.
Yes, DHL.
I must admit that after a few hours I couldn’t stand listening to the 338’s. Maybe they need longer time to «burn in». I am pretty shure that the cheaper clocks I have tried, like Accusilicon , NDK SD and SDA , differs individually. I have two WaveIo card, and the one with SD clocks sound better than the one with SDA clocks, which is the opposite that one might expect. I guess it all comes down to how lucky you are with the clocks you order whether they are from a good batch or not.
A friend of mine with exactly the same dddac as mine, will test Accu 338, to see if he likes them better than his Accu 318’s. I didn’t, but maybe they needed more time ? Stay tuned.
I must admit that after a few hours I couldn’t stand listening to the 338’s. Maybe they need longer time to «burn in». I am pretty shure that the cheaper clocks I have tried, like Accusilicon , NDK SD and SDA , differs individually. I have two WaveIo card, and the one with SD clocks sound better than the one with SDA clocks, which is the opposite that one might expect. I guess it all comes down to how lucky you are with the clocks you order whether they are from a good batch or not.
A friend of mine with exactly the same dddac as mine, will test Accu 338, to see if he likes them better than his Accu 318’s. I didn’t, but maybe they needed more time ? Stay tuned.
IME Accusilicon and Crystek 957 clocks take about 3-days of warmup time after power-on to sound their best (I know one guy with good ears who said it took 4-days). Even using the tri-state disable pin on one for too long can reset the need for warm-up time. Its why high end dacs are often designed to leave both clocks fully running at all times. Topping D90 does that too, as do ES9038Q2M Allo dacs (don't know much about their other dacs). Whether or not that will be noticed depends on the rest of the reproduction system, the listener, etc. Also IME how stable clocks will be after being allowed to fully warm-up depends a lot on the implementation around them. Just because an implementation looks like it should be great in principle doesn't necessarily mean it is as optimized as it could be.
Last edited:
Do you mean by that, that if you listen to 44.1 for a few days (for example) and then switch to a 192kHz track, you would need another few days to have that (the 192kHz track) sound optimal again?
sounds cumbersome to me....
To be honest, I have a master power switch for all the equipment and power up 30 minutes before I go in "sit back & enjoy music" mode and switch off later on. So listening to your point, I have never enjoyed the clocks at their best?
Potentially, yes. But to determine the practical impact why not leave the DAC playing a loop at 45mHz for 24 hrs, then listen critically at 45mHz and then the same track at 48mHz. My bet is the difference is not worth the concern.
I have elected to only run one of Andrea's clocks and leave it powered always, but I am betting it makes little difference. I do actually get a boost in quality by restarting it just before the session, but I suspect it's related to an anomaly with the oven circuit. But it does speak to how sensitive the sound quality is to the clock signal.
I have elected to only run one of Andrea's clocks and leave it powered always, but I am betting it makes little difference. I do actually get a boost in quality by restarting it just before the session, but I suspect it's related to an anomaly with the oven circuit. But it does speak to how sensitive the sound quality is to the clock signal.
AS338
That's interesting. I wonder if more time, as per Mark4's suggestion, would help.
I currently have an AS318b handling 48-96-192 and an NDK SDA handling 44-88-176 on a FifoPi Q2, connected* to my DIY AD1865 DAC with 3x Ultracap-enhanced power supplies, passive filter, and jfet output stage. It sounds very good to my ears with the same tune sounding better resolved on the AS318b (compared to the NDK) when I have access to the same song in both clock speed families.
I haven't had the opportunity for a direct comparisons with a truly "high end" DAC- the best I've been able to A-B it with is a Chord Mojo and it sounds much better than the Mojo to my and others' ears with level-matched, semi-blind comparisons enabled by a Schiit Sys. There's more air between instruments, more details, and a more stable soundstage in general.
So, we'll see how the AS338 impacts that system and I'll try to exercise some patience for an adequate burn-in.
*via HDMI by way of TransportPi and Ian's HDMI Receiver to Ian's i2s-PCM board.
That's interesting. I wonder if more time, as per Mark4's suggestion, would help.
I currently have an AS318b handling 48-96-192 and an NDK SDA handling 44-88-176 on a FifoPi Q2, connected* to my DIY AD1865 DAC with 3x Ultracap-enhanced power supplies, passive filter, and jfet output stage. It sounds very good to my ears with the same tune sounding better resolved on the AS318b (compared to the NDK) when I have access to the same song in both clock speed families.
I haven't had the opportunity for a direct comparisons with a truly "high end" DAC- the best I've been able to A-B it with is a Chord Mojo and it sounds much better than the Mojo to my and others' ears with level-matched, semi-blind comparisons enabled by a Schiit Sys. There's more air between instruments, more details, and a more stable soundstage in general.
So, we'll see how the AS338 impacts that system and I'll try to exercise some patience for an adequate burn-in.
*via HDMI by way of TransportPi and Ian's HDMI Receiver to Ian's i2s-PCM board.
Last edited:
The solution is to leave both clocks running at all times, if your dac is sensitive at all to very low level jitter/phase-noise. If so, best to switch the clock outputs to the dac using clock buffer chips having an output enable/disable pin function, or else use a small relay with gold contacts.
Last edited:
Keeping both clocks powered
Does Ian's FifoPi keep both clocks powered in this manner? Or, if not, can it be modified to do so?
Does Ian's FifoPi keep both clocks powered in this manner? Or, if not, can it be modified to do so?
and adding jitter again?
I would like to see some real proof that this (power on for days) is really a thing