Attachments
Oh, no, yet another board! ;-)
The NewClassD specs say jitter = 1 ps (10 Hz to 50 kHz).
The Accusilicon specs say jitter = 0.2pS (10Hz to 1MHz) or 0.08 pS (12kHz to 80MHz) [numbers are slightly different for the different frequency versions].
Support in checking a hum problem
Hello, everybody,
i have bought a DDDAC recently.
The device basically plays and has an extremely pleasing sound, dramatically better than my previous NOS Dac. Soundwise, I am already thrilled and happy with this Device.
However, from the beginning it brings a penetrating hum into my chain. This hum is volume dependent, i.e. when the volume knob on the amplifier is turned, the hum becomes louder and vice versa is no longer audible when this knob is in zero position.
I have now varied and replaced the power distributors and cables, but could not achieve any change. In suspicion I have a contact problem in the device, due to postal transport (as the device played fine at pre-owners place).
Since I am unfortunately not very good at soldering and electrical work, I wanted to ask you if you have a tip, who I can contact with this in Berlin or the surrounding area... Or if somebody here can help me.
Thanks and kind regards
Albert
Hello, everybody,
i have bought a DDDAC recently.
The device basically plays and has an extremely pleasing sound, dramatically better than my previous NOS Dac. Soundwise, I am already thrilled and happy with this Device.
However, from the beginning it brings a penetrating hum into my chain. This hum is volume dependent, i.e. when the volume knob on the amplifier is turned, the hum becomes louder and vice versa is no longer audible when this knob is in zero position.
I have now varied and replaced the power distributors and cables, but could not achieve any change. In suspicion I have a contact problem in the device, due to postal transport (as the device played fine at pre-owners place).
Since I am unfortunately not very good at soldering and electrical work, I wanted to ask you if you have a tip, who I can contact with this in Berlin or the surrounding area... Or if somebody here can help me.
Thanks and kind regards
Albert
Is the DDDAC and your (pre)amp grounded to safety earth? Are the audio GNDs connected to safety earth? This could cause a ground loop.
Do you have a transformer output for the DDDAC? If yes, this would make it very easy to break the ground loop.
Otherwise I'd suggest looking at a ground loop breaker.
See here for more on earthing and ground:
Earthing (Grounding) Your Hi-Fi - Tricks and Techniques
Dear mbrennwa, dear Hifoli,
many thanks for providing these hints and tips.
I didn’t yet check the phase nor do I own transformers so far.
Now, after running through the here recommended sound-au-com („Earthing (Grounding) Your Hi-Fi - Tricks and Techniques“), I decided to insert a ground loop breaker for a quick check. This solved the problem instantly.
Now will have to think of aquiring sowters to replace the Miflex KPCU-01 capacitor…
Many thanks so far - a great help!
many thanks for providing these hints and tips.
I didn’t yet check the phase nor do I own transformers so far.
Now, after running through the here recommended sound-au-com („Earthing (Grounding) Your Hi-Fi - Tricks and Techniques“), I decided to insert a ground loop breaker for a quick check. This solved the problem instantly.
Now will have to think of aquiring sowters to replace the Miflex KPCU-01 capacitor…
Many thanks so far - a great help!
Hello,
If i will start using Ian's fifopi board i want to use the lifepo4 board he developped. In Doede's attachment it is indicated I 0,33-0,8 A going to j3 but it is much lower because that would mean something on that board would get hot. So i presume both j3 and j5 can be fed by a separate 3,3 volt supply from Ian's board with each a pair of supercaps added.
I think adding these parts with the special clocks will already give a nice improvement.
Greetings, Eduard
If i will start using Ian's fifopi board i want to use the lifepo4 board he developped. In Doede's attachment it is indicated I 0,33-0,8 A going to j3 but it is much lower because that would mean something on that board would get hot. So i presume both j3 and j5 can be fed by a separate 3,3 volt supply from Ian's board with each a pair of supercaps added.
I think adding these parts with the special clocks will already give a nice improvement.
Greetings, Eduard
Attachments
The 0,33A is when also the PI3B is attached to the fifopi… 0,8A is at boot - the PS must be able to deliver that or the PI will not boot.
The Fifo itself takes like 90mA at the non-isolated side and the clock part 35mA
will you attach the fifo to the Waveio?
Hello Doede,
I will probably kind of copy the things you will be doing because i am using the Aurender with wave io too.
I will however try to use Ian's lifepo4 board as well. I must read some other threads more carefully to find out if this supply can feed all the circuits i need to add. The batteries can supply the current for boot up but i think they cannot contain enough energy to deliver 0,33 A for an evening of music without being charged i guess.
At fiirst i will try upgrading by just adding the fifopi to Aurender wave io combo. Later i will probably add some more parts to be able to replace the Aurender.
Greetings,Eduard
I will probably kind of copy the things you will be doing because i am using the Aurender with wave io too.
I will however try to use Ian's lifepo4 board as well. I must read some other threads more carefully to find out if this supply can feed all the circuits i need to add. The batteries can supply the current for boot up but i think they cannot contain enough energy to deliver 0,33 A for an evening of music without being charged i guess.
At fiirst i will try upgrading by just adding the fifopi to Aurender wave io combo. Later i will probably add some more parts to be able to replace the Aurender.
Greetings,Eduard
Finally I have managed to get isolation between unisolated-isolated side of waveio and Fifopi. J5 (isolated) is feed by it’s own 3.3v psu, when J3 (unisolated) share the same psu as waveio 5v in (usb side).
I have been playing a lot over the weekend, and I must say that Ian’s Fifopi with Accusilicon have been a wake up call for me. In fact i like the sound so much that I am in no hurry to go for Lifepo4, but I know my self so well that it’s just a question of time before I push the «buy» button when Ian have a complete soulution with supercaps integrated on Lifepo4.
I have been playing a lot over the weekend, and I must say that Ian’s Fifopi with Accusilicon have been a wake up call for me. In fact i like the sound so much that I am in no hurry to go for Lifepo4, but I know my self so well that it’s just a question of time before I push the «buy» button when Ian have a complete soulution with supercaps integrated on Lifepo4.
I will soon report here what my experiences have been. I am listening to several combinations - one nice and revealing thing is taking the usb output of the PI straight to the WaveIO and group bout zones in Roon. Now I can do straight a-b and get good impressions on what is happening. With the Aurender of course I need to start to play the same tracks at the same time and then I can do a-b as well. Nice hobby we have
To your power supply point, I would say, forget feeding the PI with high end expensive power supplies. I feed it with a 13 euro SMPS.... the noise is hardly worse than a super regulator. I measured this and now sit tight! On the PI, the 3,3 volt for all compute and Logic is coming from this 5 Volt and is done by a switching Regulator Chip.
I measured the Noise of the 3,3 V output and it is significantly higher than the input noise - so I see no need for super stuff here. On the 3,3 V supply for the clocks, yes, that makes a (small) difference if you make this high end super low noise The on board 3,3 volt regulator on the fifopi is already very good...
Hmm, I am not sure I get this right. Why would you use the RPi USB (RPi USB --> WaveIO --> IAN) when you can do it much simpler with a shorter path via I2S (RPi I2S --> IAN --> DDDAC)?
Hello,
Because of the usb output of the Aurender the wave io is needed. But it appears that are some improvements to be made to the Aurender/wave io combo.
Replacing the Aurender by a device that will have an i2s output requires more investment.
That could be the next step for some of us.
Smoothdancer may buy the lifepo4 board which according to the designer ( of course) is a must. He likes to wait for the supercaps to be integrated in the board but i think it will be better to put them as close as possible to the circuit they are feeding.. greetings, Eduard
Because of the usb output of the Aurender the wave io is needed. But it appears that are some improvements to be made to the Aurender/wave io combo.
Replacing the Aurender by a device that will have an i2s output requires more investment.
That could be the next step for some of us.
Smoothdancer may buy the lifepo4 board which according to the designer ( of course) is a must. He likes to wait for the supercaps to be integrated in the board but i think it will be better to put them as close as possible to the circuit they are feeding.. greetings, Eduard
As Smooth dancer recognized, this is only for testing. This is my thinking:
I want to have a best possible idea of the quality of RPI3-Ian FiFoPi-DDDAC Combination. So I need comparison to understand how large this step is, other than more or less "better" - so what do I have and what can I do?
“Some media player source” - USB WaveIO - DDDAC. This was originally the set up for most of us where music was playing on a PC/Notebook/iMac with more or less audiophile players.
I replaced the PC/MAC with an Aurender a few years ago (2015) and this was a clear improvement on every other music streaming setup I had before (and also very user friendly)
To give a meaningful review on the RPI – Ian FiFoPi setup, I need to be able to compare to a few “know” situations and find a kind of ranking where everyone is able to find reference on what I am doing / saying. Hence all the different options for setting up the audio stream…
What I have right now to compare (in chronological order):
Source is feeding the DDDAC1794 Mainboard …
Media player S/W is Roon through LAN and WLAN…
RPI3 is running RoPieee…
Power Scheme as noted before…
1. SPDIF from a Sony 777 Deck
2. USB - WaveIO (from a Notebook with Foobar)
3. USB - WaveIO (from Aurender N100)
4. USB - WaveIO (from Aurender N100 - Ian FiFoPi
5. RPI3 only
6. RPI3 - Ian FiFoPi I2S
7. RPI3 - USB - WaveIO
As little extra “reference” I have a setup from
8. RPI3 – HiFiBerry DAC+ (standard with own analog out - BB DAC chip PCM5122)
As said, I will report back when I have been chewing through these options!
Stay Tuned
Good morning
Do you have an idea on why this could be? As the waveIO should be isolating the USB source from the DAC and is reclocking the signal asynchronous. I had different streamers too I in my HiFi journey and I really like the convenience they bring, but I can't wrap my head around how they could influence the sound.
Greetings