Better than the weld wire directly on the board?For contact resistance.
What is the contact resistance of this solder cups in your opinion?
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Hello,
Especially if you buy the " turret? " with the right diameter you can solder it at both sides of the board. You can get the one with a little ring in the centre so it will not fall through the soldering hole. This one you can solder at both sides of the board while the green connector will probably just have a good connection on the side where you can heat up the solder. With a turret you have access to both sides for soldering.
You can get one with a solder cup or you can wrap the wire ( if you are not using a garden hose cable) around the turret. For the stranded wire the cup will be easier.
The contact resistance of the turret or the metal part of the connector where it touches the board? I think the turret will have a larger contact area with the board so resistance will be lower.
The metal in the connector is on the thin side probably because of the way it is made.
The solder cup will gave a good connection if you choose the right seize of cup for your wire. If you wrap you will a larger contact area than a screw terminal. After wrapping apply some solder. If you have a wrapping tool you could do without soldering but you will have to google about that.
Greetings,Eduard
P.s of course if you are not planning to dissemble everything 4 times a year you might as well use no turret but a nice solid core cable
Especially if you buy the " turret? " with the right diameter you can solder it at both sides of the board. You can get the one with a little ring in the centre so it will not fall through the soldering hole. This one you can solder at both sides of the board while the green connector will probably just have a good connection on the side where you can heat up the solder. With a turret you have access to both sides for soldering.
You can get one with a solder cup or you can wrap the wire ( if you are not using a garden hose cable) around the turret. For the stranded wire the cup will be easier.
The contact resistance of the turret or the metal part of the connector where it touches the board? I think the turret will have a larger contact area with the board so resistance will be lower.
The metal in the connector is on the thin side probably because of the way it is made.
The solder cup will gave a good connection if you choose the right seize of cup for your wire. If you wrap you will a larger contact area than a screw terminal. After wrapping apply some solder. If you have a wrapping tool you could do without soldering but you will have to google about that.
Greetings,Eduard
P.s of course if you are not planning to dissemble everything 4 times a year you might as well use no turret but a nice solid core cable
Thank you! I love when others have experienced a good copper star ground system. I have a monster copper bus bar with all my gear tied to that then runs via 2awg copper to a dedicated audio ground rod outside.
Walnut is absolutely beautiful so I would also enjoy that, try adding some sorbothane footers to it. It will make a nice improvement for not a lot of money. Use real sorbothane tho.
The grainte case is expensive and heavy, especially with it already weighing 80lbs pre grainte but I look forward to getting it. And my system is pretty darn close to what you say ur dream system is and it absolutely is a killer idea.
I have so many hours into this, it's not funny which is why I set to leave the screw terminals for now and will remove all once I'm for sure done with it. I did use deoxit on every one though. For the constant clock output from the 4 cap ucpure, I did desolder the connector and solder the wire directly to the ucpure. I only use WBT silver solder it's the best, but expensive, I think I have $300-400 in solder alone in my speskers and subs.Man! Congratulations! What a build! 😜
The copper piping serves as a brilliant and simple yet efficient Faraday shield. Your work on it is very impressive. Please keep us updated on how it affects the sound. Given your highly resolving system, I'm eager to hear your thoughts and impressions.
I have a question about the green connectors. All the screws are iron-ish or magnetic in some way. I was thinking about changing them to copper screws too. Have you already made this change? I began the process of replacing the entire connectors with PTFE ones, but it's quite tedious with all the desoldering, cleaning, and resoldering involved. Just changing the contact screws should suffice. lots of people such as Dany Ritchie or the guys at Purifi seems to avoid iron like the plague in all their builds. I respect their expertise, so I'll follow suit rather than experimenting unnecessarily.
I'm also making some changes to the Vishay Dale resistors on the OPA861 by replacing them with AN tantalum ones. It only requires four, so it's a relatively easy modification that could yield interesting results.
Lastly, If you don't mind, I might also borrow your copper pipe idea.👊🏼
Using those connectors @eduard isnt worth it imo. If your gonna do the work, just solder to the board. Desolder it later if needed is really not difficult.
Danny Ritchie at gr research is the man! I'm a huge fan, talked to him quite a bit. His designs are absolutely incredible, just like Ian is for electronics. I have his nx otica and servo subs, that I then went 🍌 upgrading.
It's funny you talk about the resistors, I actually ordered four this morning. I am going to use the Audio Note silver tantalum... I expect it to be a big upgrade. Use wbt solder!
The copper pipe was an idea I never saw anyone do, but a brilliant idea I thought. I also Faraday cage the positive lead again with dedicated ground wire. I found multiple layers of copper foil and ptfe with each being grounded makes a difference... I've done three layers to all my DIY cables. Here just one so far, but the copper acts as a second.
I share pics to help inspire others, as @Gabster 2000 inspired me, I just wanted to go even farther.
Here is a video, same song setup as my before full grounding and setup was done (minus top copper covers which aren't done yet... Just have it done on the bottom over pi)
The sonic improvement is absolutely undeniable in person, and I think the video shows part of that. I encourage everyone to seperate, sorbothane for vibration, deoxit everything, and ground like mad.
Test bench demo:
Almost-finshed with grounding, vibration, deoxit demo:
Please subscribe to see more content and I hope I can inspire other builds, too.
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I am a firm believe you can achieve quite a lot with Ian's build. Actually I'm positive. I would A/B any dac out there to my build now... Its not just the components as you say. The way everything is implemented is very important, almost more so, than each part in a vacuum. I think my test bench to pre final case demonstrates even thru YouTube limits you can get a lot of performance with a well integrated and built system. Commercial stuff can't afford large spacing and huge amounts of metal grounding and vibration unless the price goes through the roof.
I have about $400 now in copper, $100 in silver solder, $50-75 in aluminum, $200 in sorbothane (and got it half off thru isolate it! Limited sale) ect. Commercial products are commonly part cost total * 5-7 = retail cost. It's easy to see how this $700-1000 worth of material to push for the best performance can end up costing more than most dacs to begin with (translates to likely +$5000 to retail cost)
Ian is a hell of a good designer. You can take his stuff and go against $20k+ dac and streamers quite easily if, and big if, you go the extra mile. Just stacking them all and using included free wire and all the connectors ect will be an amazing (truly) product, but you leave a lot on the table.
Like I always say, if your gonna do it - do it right.
Can you please say which you tried and give further links and sonic changes you noticed? I am not familiar with manganin.
I am almost crazy enough to stack a bunch of path audio resistors for each, lol, they would be huge tho... But on my speskers these are end level resistors and better than anything else.
As a newbie with DIY digital sources, I have recently purchased a series of Ian Canada products, to build a 'flagship' streamer for my non-oversampling DAC (LAB12 DAC1+). The streamer consists of:
I am using Gentooplayer with Logitech Media Server, Squeezelite and Qobuz.
Although the system works fine, when streaming directly from the Rpi4 USB port (positioned on the StationPi Pro board, of course), the IAN Canada transport does not send music to the DAC, when the TransportPiAES is connected via the SPDIF coaxial cable to the DAC. All lights of the various Ian Canada cards light up as expected, and the streamer 'locks' fine with the DAC, when the SPDIF cable is connected (see photo with arrows).
Initially I used the 'IanFifoII' DAC in GentooPlayer. But I have also tried other DAC options, but without success. I am not sure whether I have a hardware (FifoPi Q7? TransportPiAES?) or software problem (GentooPlayer?).
Does anyone have any suggestions about what might be wrong and what I should test?
Thanks in advance for the support.
Panos
Athens, Greece
- StationPi Pro
- LinearPi Dual
- Salas L-Adapter
- 3 UCConditioner MkII boards
- FIFOPi Q7
- TransportPiAES
I am using Gentooplayer with Logitech Media Server, Squeezelite and Qobuz.
Although the system works fine, when streaming directly from the Rpi4 USB port (positioned on the StationPi Pro board, of course), the IAN Canada transport does not send music to the DAC, when the TransportPiAES is connected via the SPDIF coaxial cable to the DAC. All lights of the various Ian Canada cards light up as expected, and the streamer 'locks' fine with the DAC, when the SPDIF cable is connected (see photo with arrows).
Initially I used the 'IanFifoII' DAC in GentooPlayer. But I have also tried other DAC options, but without success. I am not sure whether I have a hardware (FifoPi Q7? TransportPiAES?) or software problem (GentooPlayer?).
Does anyone have any suggestions about what might be wrong and what I should test?
Thanks in advance for the support.
Panos
Athens, Greece
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Hi Panos,
When using Gentoo, you can stream only from one output at a time, so either RPi-USB or the Q7/TransportPiAES. For Q7 to be utilized, you could try "i-sabre-q2m and I2S Generic" driver or similar.
And at the same time, you also should select the corresponding "audiocard" in 06. Player/Audio settings -> Squeezelite settings.
Few suggestions:
I got better results with Squeezelite-R2 than the classic one.
Experiment with kernels, many got the best results with EUPNOR/EUP100NOR variant. Version selection (6.1 vs 6.6) is a matter of personal preference. Also don't forget to set the profile and activate RAMsystem. There are a lot of other tweaks, but these are the fundamental ones.
Anyway, for the absolute best results I highly recommend setting up your new streamer for Diretta Target only and let the server duty be carried out by some other PC/Rpi. Once you try, there's no turning back 😁
There's also a support forum for Gentooplayer with other great guys and admins willing to help with these matters: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55235-gentooplayer/page/233
When using Gentoo, you can stream only from one output at a time, so either RPi-USB or the Q7/TransportPiAES. For Q7 to be utilized, you could try "i-sabre-q2m and I2S Generic" driver or similar.
And at the same time, you also should select the corresponding "audiocard" in 06. Player/Audio settings -> Squeezelite settings.
Few suggestions:
I got better results with Squeezelite-R2 than the classic one.
Experiment with kernels, many got the best results with EUPNOR/EUP100NOR variant. Version selection (6.1 vs 6.6) is a matter of personal preference. Also don't forget to set the profile and activate RAMsystem. There are a lot of other tweaks, but these are the fundamental ones.
Anyway, for the absolute best results I highly recommend setting up your new streamer for Diretta Target only and let the server duty be carried out by some other PC/Rpi. Once you try, there's no turning back 😁
There's also a support forum for Gentooplayer with other great guys and admins willing to help with these matters: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55235-gentooplayer/page/233
Hi Wladimir,
thanks very much for your insightful instructions. That's indeed quite a lot for me to absorb.
The problem that i am currently facing is that I cannot make the Q7/TransportPiAES to work. It 'locks' with my DAC, but unfortunately does not send any music. All the lights light up, so there doesn't seem to be any hardware problem, but then again... no music. When I press the play button on my LMS, the 'lock' light of my DAC (which is already on) bleeps instantly, but nothing happens.
I have tries the I2S Generic driver, as well as a bunch of others. No good.
So, how can I determine whether I have a hardware or software problem? Is it possible that any of the StationPi Pro, the FifoPi Q7 or the TransportPi AES have a problem? Do I have to do something with the J17 jumper on the StationPi Pro? For the moment all pins and open.
Any clues about I should find my way out of the tunnel towards the light?
Cheers!
thanks very much for your insightful instructions. That's indeed quite a lot for me to absorb.
The problem that i am currently facing is that I cannot make the Q7/TransportPiAES to work. It 'locks' with my DAC, but unfortunately does not send any music. All the lights light up, so there doesn't seem to be any hardware problem, but then again... no music. When I press the play button on my LMS, the 'lock' light of my DAC (which is already on) bleeps instantly, but nothing happens.
I have tries the I2S Generic driver, as well as a bunch of others. No good.
So, how can I determine whether I have a hardware or software problem? Is it possible that any of the StationPi Pro, the FifoPi Q7 or the TransportPi AES have a problem? Do I have to do something with the J17 jumper on the StationPi Pro? For the moment all pins and open.
Any clues about I should find my way out of the tunnel towards the light?
Cheers!
Hi, in my case Gentooplayer does not play with I2S Generic or i-sabre-q2m ONLY IanFIFO II setting. And sound device/card : card 0: sndrpihifiberry [snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac], device 0: HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0 [HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0]
Also in my case better results witn Squeezlite and not Squeezlite-R2 this can be system specific but i have very good analytic system.
In Panos case which i helped him with the installation, i suspect there might be a problem with the Station Pi Pro, someone mentioned bad solder in some pins, which ones have to be reflowed?
Can someone help to troubleshoot this problem, i have set his the same as mine (which by the way works perfectly) and the only difference between his and mine is that i use Hdmi pro .
Hello,
would there be any drawback using both HDMIpi Pro AND dual mono DAC with OPA861 at the same stack/same time over FifoPi Q7. I would like to use it to compare Ian's dual mono DAC with OPA861 (direct to preAmp) with my Buffalo DAC (over HDMI Pro --> HDMI Receiver --> I2S)
Thank you
Branko
would there be any drawback using both HDMIpi Pro AND dual mono DAC with OPA861 at the same stack/same time over FifoPi Q7. I would like to use it to compare Ian's dual mono DAC with OPA861 (direct to preAmp) with my Buffalo DAC (over HDMI Pro --> HDMI Receiver --> I2S)
Thank you
Branko
I used to use gentooplayer, but I like audiolinux as the best sounding now. Audiolinux will not work for audio over i2s however. I use usb from pi to dddc. On gento you need to use the general i2s driver I think if was... A few of them are identical... Search the gentooplayer fourm on audiophilestyle.com there is a lot of discussion about drivers, specifically gento within the last few months. Since going all audiolinux I don't keep up much there. It's almost for sure software issue... You can try volumuo to check hardware is setup right too, but they all sound worse than gentoplayer and audiolinux and then AL is a little better IMHO.
I had a lot of issues with software with pi on a station pi pro for usb use so I abandoned it and (which is better for sound) isolated pi away and usb to dddc... I have a stack of dddc to fifiopiq7 to dual mono to i/v board.
Station pi pro works a lot better without the usb, or if anything put a dddc onto the station pi pro (which I had) and it's much easier to get the usb signal to i2s for the board
Hi Badd99,
thanks for your recommendations. I've followed the guidance of Chris1967, who is more experienced than me on digital issues, and that's why I've started with GentooPlayer. Chris1967 is very happy with this Ian Canada setup, while I cannot get mine to work via the SPDIF connection of the TransportPi AES. In my case only the USB connection of the RPi works (placed on the StationPi Pro, of course). The difference of my system with that of Chris1967 is that I have a TransportPi AES, whereas Chris has an HdmiPi Pro.
I am puzzled about the source of the problem. Hardware or software? That's what I am trying to figure out, but I do not know how to go about it.
Any ideas perhaps?
Thanks
thanks for your recommendations. I've followed the guidance of Chris1967, who is more experienced than me on digital issues, and that's why I've started with GentooPlayer. Chris1967 is very happy with this Ian Canada setup, while I cannot get mine to work via the SPDIF connection of the TransportPi AES. In my case only the USB connection of the RPi works (placed on the StationPi Pro, of course). The difference of my system with that of Chris1967 is that I have a TransportPi AES, whereas Chris has an HdmiPi Pro.
I am puzzled about the source of the problem. Hardware or software? That's what I am trying to figure out, but I do not know how to go about it.
Any ideas perhaps?
Thanks
Please guys, we would like help in troubleshooting the problem, we dont want usb solutions.
We are also in contact with the developer of Gentooplayer Antonelo.
Here we are asking what we can do to see if the hardware is working or not.
My build is working 100%, but i have Hdmi Pro in stead of Transport Pi, we are trying to establish if this is a hardware malfunction.
Thank you.
Ian are you listening?
We are also in contact with the developer of Gentooplayer Antonelo.
Here we are asking what we can do to see if the hardware is working or not.
My build is working 100%, but i have Hdmi Pro in stead of Transport Pi, we are trying to establish if this is a hardware malfunction.
Thank you.
Ian are you listening?
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![IMG_20240114_175944[1].jpg](/community/data/attachments/1169/1169497-92532bbd8b9bc2421991abdf070d170f.jpg)
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Check post 10755. maybe it's applicable to your situation. Shoot Ian a message to confirm.
Pete
I have already sent an email to Ian and expecting his feedback on this. But of course any idea/suggestion from anybody else is most welcome. It's a pity that I have created this 'flagship' streamer and I am getting music only from the USB port of the RPi, which has not been my intention after all.
@pkonstantinidis Did you try both RCA and BNC output from TransportPiAES? Maybe a MonitorPi would be helpful, it is a must for Q7 (I have one for sale, because recently I bought MonitorPiPro; PM if you are interested).