Asynchronous I2S FIFO project, an ultimate weapon to fight the jitter

have you check your oscilloscope probes and terminated the dac output by connecting it to something, like a preamp, and i think your MCLK signal should be a square wave maybe the probes again, not an engineer so those are just my thoughts, and you oscilloscope should have at least a 30mhz bandwidth
Yeah, my scope is low-end and only 10mhz. Anyway, tnx for MCLK hint, I will compare it with my other dacs...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ras Dan
Tnx for the info I will try that, just not sure where to put that resistor as FifoPiMa is connected to RPI by GPIO header directly. Should it go btw Fifo and RPI or from Fifo to DAC?


Good to know, after you mentioned it, I was able to find some references ... https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/cd-square-wave-pre-ringing-a-filter-problem.6901/
Regarding BCLK, resistors that affect the shape of the signal (influencing signal reflection...) are placed as close to the source as possible. Try replacing the original resistor on the PCB with a higher value. It is a resistor on the I2S output.
Did you measure that ugly BCLK shape before the DAC? If so, you should change the resistor on the reclocker PCB.
 
** Hope I post in the relevant topic. If not, please let me know **

Hello 🙂

I have built a Iancanada full streamer/dac.
So far I have built it using :
  • Station pi with separated +5V for pi and audio section
  • Raspberry pi 4B
  • FifoPiPro Q7 II with SC Pure clocks and PiMonitorPro
  • Dac ES9038Q2M with MCLK connected to FifoPi
  • I/V transformers board with upgraded resistors.

Power supply is :
  • UcPure Quad for 3.3V
  • LinearPi + UcConditionner for 5V
I am now wondering what would be the next steps to improve further.
As I want to keep RCA outputs, I’ll invest in nice i/v transformers.

Could you guide me on how to move forward with this DAC and help pinpoint what really makes an impact? I don’t want to waste time in useless improvements, but I am willing to do very well what could be good ones.

Here’s a list of ideas—which ones do you think are the most worthwhile? Can you help me to prioritize ?
Any help would be really appreciate ! Thanks a lot!

A - Supply the Dac ES9038Q2M board with separated powers. I power it from UcPure today. If so, which inputs are important to separate from J2 ? AVCC ? VCCA ? None ? Both ?
B - Supply the Rpi and the audio section of the PiStation with different +5V (Done and I like it)
C - On UcPure, following some Ian ideas from his blog : remove fuse, direct wiring and other hacks to power FifoPi and the Dac board
D - Shield the toroidals transformers
E - Shield the raspberry pi or put it away thanks to a gpio extension cable, or both
F - Add a copper plate between each module (fifopi, dac...) and ground it
G - Wire analog ground from fifopi to the dedicated pinpad on the stationpi
H - Wire analog ground to the earth of the wall socket
I - Other improvements ?

Have a very good day !

IMG_5667.JPG
 
Playing a DSD512 converts to 24 bit/384kHz, and checking Audio Info shows "S16_LE, S24_LE" as supported formats for the Audio Device.
I noticed the same with FIfoPiMa 1.5, regardless of S2 jumper (DoP on/off) on the board it always converts to PCM, I think this is related to configured dtoverlay in /boot/firmware/config.txt. For me RPI4 only works with hifiberry-dacplus. I know that for RPI5 hifiberry-dacplus-std is recommended now. If you have rpi5 you can try it...
 
** Hope I post in the relevant topic. If not, please let me know **

Hello 🙂

I have built a Iancanada full streamer/dac.
So far I have built it using :
  • Station pi with separated +5V for pi and audio section
  • Raspberry pi 4B
  • FifoPiPro Q7 II with SC Pure clocks and PiMonitorPro
  • Dac ES9038Q2M with MCLK connected to FifoPi
  • I/V transformers board with upgraded resistors.

Power supply is :
  • UcPure Quad for 3.3V
  • LinearPi + UcConditionner for 5V
I am now wondering what would be the next steps to improve further.
As I want to keep RCA outputs, I’ll invest in nice i/v transformers.

Could you guide me on how to move forward with this DAC and help pinpoint what really makes an impact? I don’t want to waste time in useless improvements, but I am willing to do very well what could be good ones.

Here’s a list of ideas—which ones do you think are the most worthwhile? Can you help me to prioritize ?
Any help would be really appreciate ! Thanks a lot!

A - Supply the Dac ES9038Q2M board with separated powers. I power it from UcPure today. If so, which inputs are important to separate from J2 ? AVCC ? VCCA ? None ? Both ?
B - Supply the Rpi and the audio section of the PiStation with different +5V (Done and I like it)
C - On UcPure, following some Ian ideas from his blog : remove fuse, direct wiring and other hacks to power FifoPi and the Dac board
D - Shield the toroidals transformers
E - Shield the raspberry pi or put it away thanks to a gpio extension cable, or both
F - Add a copper plate between each module (fifopi, dac...) and ground it
G - Wire analog ground from fifopi to the dedicated pinpad on the stationpi
H - Wire analog ground to the earth of the wall socket
I - Other improvements ?

Have a very good day !

View attachment 1441342
I would recommend trying the IV trans from Ivan, they are very good. I originally purchased them and didn't appreciate them that much at the beginning... After playing around with other opinions, getting used to them + burn-in a bit, they are really my favorite now. Very natural, extending, transparent, and dynamic. I felt a little bit thin + a bit too detailed at the beginning --- coming from a tube output DAC. Then also tried OPA861 --- a bit too fast and tight for my taste, and ended up liking Ivan trans a lot lately.
 
I noticed the same with FIfoPiMa 1.5, regardless of S2 jumper (DoP on/off) on the board it always converts to PCM, I think this is related to configured dtoverlay in /boot/firmware/config.txt. For me RPI4 only works with hifiberry-dacplus. I know that for RPI5 hifiberry-dacplus-std is recommended now. If you have rpi5 you can try it...
I will try that when I get home again.
The rest just works as normal, I assume? Can't imagine why not...

And I use a RPi4 as well.
 
I would recommend trying the IV trans from Ivan, they are very good. I originally purchased them and didn't appreciate them that much at the beginning... After playing around with other opinions, getting used to them + burn-in a bit, they are really my favorite now. Very natural, extending, transparent, and dynamic. I felt a little bit thin + a bit too detailed at the beginning --- coming from a tube output DAC. Then also tried OPA861 --- a bit too fast and tight for my taste, and ended up liking Ivan trans a lot lately.
The xformer I/V is all I have used in my subsequent builds from over 4 yrs ago. Indeed, they are very, very nice sounding and don't require yet another +-PSU in your build.🙂 I'll probably will never go back to an active I/V output board.
 
I would recommend trying the IV trans from Ivan, they are very good. I originally purchased them and didn't appreciate them that much at the beginning... After playing around with other opinions, getting used to them + burn-in a bit, they are really my favorite now. Very natural, extending, transparent, and dynamic. I felt a little bit thin + a bit too detailed at the beginning --- coming from a tube output DAC. Then also tried OPA861 --- a bit too fast and tight for my taste, and ended up liking Ivan trans a lot lately.
Thank you ! I have ordered i/v transformers from ivan. He has started winding… 😉 so I’m happy to read that you like them !

What did you choose : cu:cu ? Ag:cu ? Ag:ag ? Active / passive ?
 
The xformer I/V is all I have used in my subsequent builds from over 4 yrs ago. Indeed, they are very, very nice sounding and don't require yet another +-PSU in your build.🙂 I'll probably will never go back to an active I/V output board.
Glad to hear it 🙂
So you have the passive version (Ivan now proposes an active option)
What did you choose : cu:cu ? Ag:cu ? Ag:ag ?
 
Last edited:
A - Supply the Dac ES9038Q2M board with separated powers. I power it from UcPure today. If so, which inputs are important to separate from J2 ? AVCC ? VCCA ? None ? Both ?
I have both inputs equipped with 3.3v shunt regulators and as close to the input as possible.
I have used Tentlabs shunt regulators for this, of course you can also use another brand.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MathieuDoe
made a switch with relay for switching between i2s and spdif.
i hope to get a ian canada Adapter U.FL I2S for DAC DDDAC Module, ufl cables and a reclockPi next week.
 

Attachments

  • ian dddac streamer.jpg
    ian dddac streamer.jpg
    579.3 KB · Views: 94
  • ian dddac streamer1.jpg
    ian dddac streamer1.jpg
    281.3 KB · Views: 93
Hello @iancanada, I have few questions about FifoPiMa 1.5 that could not be answered by manual.
  • What dtoverlay parameter should be set so it can be seen as DSD capable card by linux? Currently I am using hifiberry-dacplus but it can't play dsd without conversion to PCM.
  • Is there series resistor for BCLK/SCK on the board? (see my post)
 
I have both inputs equipped with 3.3v shunt regulators and as close to the input as possible.
I have used Tentlabs shunt regulators for this, of course you can also use another brand.
So you have prefered to remove the jumpers on the board to disable the 3.3v distribution from J2 and feed through shunt regulators each input, right ?
What is your input on the shunt regulators ? Is it the same power supply shared across the shunt regulators ?
 
Last edited: