I spent the evening wiring up two very large, high quality torodial transformers tonight. My first impressions are that the sound is smoother, the mids and treble are more separated and airy; and the bass is fuller. Detail has also increased and the musics presentation seems more intimate, and overall the sound just sounds more natural. I'm looking forward to them breaking in a bit.
Question about duplicate circuits ....
Newbie here. I do not have an engineering degree so please be patient with my question. I am just trying to understand the choices you made. My question has to do with stacking the DACs. On DAC1 you have a circuit that obtains 3.3 volts and another that obtains 8 volts for the PCM1794A. Wouldn't it be simpler to just use that one circuit for the other DACs instead of duplicating the same one four more times (actually it is 8 if you count the left and right)? Assuming you treat the PCM1794A as a resistance and you have 8 in parallel could you just use 1 circuit and just up the amperage to it? My guess is you could have the same performance with a whole lot less circuitry? Just trying to learn. Thanks.
Newbie here. I do not have an engineering degree so please be patient with my question. I am just trying to understand the choices you made. My question has to do with stacking the DACs. On DAC1 you have a circuit that obtains 3.3 volts and another that obtains 8 volts for the PCM1794A. Wouldn't it be simpler to just use that one circuit for the other DACs instead of duplicating the same one four more times (actually it is 8 if you count the left and right)? Assuming you treat the PCM1794A as a resistance and you have 8 in parallel could you just use 1 circuit and just up the amperage to it? My guess is you could have the same performance with a whole lot less circuitry? Just trying to learn. Thanks.
Yes and no.
Yes you can use one big power regulator to parallel feed all boards, than you would need one 3,3v and one 8v regulator.
No it will not sound the same. The sound depends on more than just this difference, using a good regulator close to the dac chip is very efficient. Using a big separate supply downstream of the dac chip with a relatively big travel distance through a cable and pcb tracks will make higher impedance and thus regulating less efficient.
In the dddac design however the digital and analog are feed from the same power supply, this method is less ideal than using two separate supplies. You have a chance that that digital rubbish travels on the supply and ground lines to the analog power supply.
What sounds better is also a matter of implementation of the different designs and quality of the used regulators.
Just try it out.
In the future I want to play around with splitting the digital and analog power supply to see what this does.
Dear Supersurfer,
2 weeks ago I receive the rpi and I can say that is a huge improvement from the PC.
In the beginning I was not able to use it with Volumio and I run it with Runeaudio. But my plan is to use the rpi with Volumio to connect the i2s directly to the DDDAC removingthe Waveio.
Yesterday with the help of Michelangelo in the Volumio forum I solve the problem and now can install it in rpi.
This morning I decide to modify the DDDAC. I remove the Waveio and I install the rpi plus the isolator as very well documented by Palmito (many thanks Palmito) in this thread.
The result is... no music at all!
I re-check everything and the connections looks ok.
I hope that is not required to modify the OS in the rpi... I have no idea how can do it.
I attach 2 pictures... before with Waveio and after with the rpi.
Maybe you have any advise?
Thanks for you support
Enrico
PS: Happy Easter to everybody
2 weeks ago I receive the rpi and I can say that is a huge improvement from the PC.
In the beginning I was not able to use it with Volumio and I run it with Runeaudio. But my plan is to use the rpi with Volumio to connect the i2s directly to the DDDAC removingthe Waveio.
Yesterday with the help of Michelangelo in the Volumio forum I solve the problem and now can install it in rpi.
This morning I decide to modify the DDDAC. I remove the Waveio and I install the rpi plus the isolator as very well documented by Palmito (many thanks Palmito) in this thread.
The result is... no music at all!
I re-check everything and the connections looks ok.I hope that is not required to modify the OS in the rpi... I have no idea how can do it.
I attach 2 pictures... before with Waveio and after with the rpi.
Maybe you have any advise?
Thanks for you support
Enrico
PS: Happy Easter to everybody
Attachments
Hi Enrico,
Nice build! There can be two problems; hardware or software.
Have you tried connecting without the isolator first?
I expect the issue is software related.
You need to modify a file in the software to be able to send data to the I2S output. Russ White has documented this nicely here:http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/twisted-pear/250583-building-open-embedded-audio-applicance.html
If you have already done this than there might be a problem with the connection through the isolator. To debug you can try connecting it first without isolator and see what happens.
Good luck!
Gerards,
Nice build! There can be two problems; hardware or software.
Have you tried connecting without the isolator first?
I expect the issue is software related.
You need to modify a file in the software to be able to send data to the I2S output. Russ White has documented this nicely here:http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/twisted-pear/250583-building-open-embedded-audio-applicance.html
If you have already done this than there might be a problem with the connection through the isolator. To debug you can try connecting it first without isolator and see what happens.
Good luck!
Gerards,
Ciao Stefan,
Thanks for your reply.
I have 2 isolator and I already try with both, so I also expect that is a software issue.
The problem is that I don't know how to modify the software.
If I understand well what Russ explain in the thread look like he propose 2 methods:
The first doesn't require any sw modification. Just link the P5 in the rpi to dac and should be fine. The second require the sw modification but to connect the B3SE
Anyway I will try to make a direct link removing the isolator and I'll let you know
Thanks and Regards,
Enrico
Thanks for your reply.
I have 2 isolator and I already try with both, so I also expect that is a software issue.
The problem is that I don't know how to modify the software
.If I understand well what Russ explain in the thread look like he propose 2 methods:
The first doesn't require any sw modification. Just link the P5 in the rpi to dac and should be fine. The second require the sw modification but to connect the B3SE
Anyway I will try to make a direct link removing the isolator and I'll let you know
Thanks and Regards,
Enrico
Hi Enrico,
You need to do the software mod anyway otherwise it does not work. You must log in to your Pi through ssh, you can use putty for thos on a win pc in the same network. If you google a bit you can find tutorials on how to do this. You can try through the raspberry pi community.
Regards,
You need to do the software mod anyway otherwise it does not work. You must log in to your Pi through ssh, you can use putty for thos on a win pc in the same network. If you google a bit you can find tutorials on how to do this. You can try through the raspberry pi community.
Regards,
Hi Enrico, I just did the same , remove the xmos and add a pi.
I made a connection that i saw on the picture of Supersurfer, thanks: 10 pins connector on the mainboard and 4 wires solder on the pi, thanks Palmito for the scheme. This also very easy to switch back if it doesn't work. Then install Volumio (1.2beta) and put I2S on in Volumio, reboot Volumio and Pi and there was music. I did not any software changes. So it's working without isolator. I haven't compare it, with my SONOS yet but it sounds promising. Maybe it's something with the wiring? Greeting and good luck, AcvB
I made a connection that i saw on the picture of Supersurfer, thanks: 10 pins connector on the mainboard and 4 wires solder on the pi, thanks Palmito for the scheme. This also very easy to switch back if it doesn't work. Then install Volumio (1.2beta) and put I2S on in Volumio, reboot Volumio and Pi and there was music. I did not any software changes. So it's working without isolator. I haven't compare it, with my SONOS yet but it sounds promising. Maybe it's something with the wiring? Greeting and good luck, AcvB
Dear Stefan,
With the kind help from Palmito by PM I can make it work
Was as expected a sw issue and Palmito drive me step by step to solve it.
Thanks a lot for your help to both of you.
Best Regards,
Enrico
Hi,
I'm just about to embark on this journey, any chance you can start a new thread and outline the steps you have taken.
Thanks Ade
DDDAC + Raspberry I2S + Volumio
Dear Doede,
I hope you forget me for the OT but I would like to share here my experience that can be helpful for other newbie like I am.
So, those are the steps that I take to transform my original DDDAC+Waveio+PC to a DDDAC+Raspberry (B2) +Volumio:
HW First (the easy part):
1 - Remove the Waveio and I use the 5V PSU from Doede to power up the Raspberry (much better then the wallwart).
2 - Install the P5 header in the RPI
3 - Connect the P5 header to the DDDAC I2S header as Palmito show here (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...-192-24-dac-pcm1794-waveio-usb-input-148.html)
SW part (the headache)
1 - First of all you need to flash the SD with the Volumio. There is no much to say here... You can refer to the Volumio website where is very well explained (Get Started - Volumio)
2 - When you have your SD ready you need modify the sw to make the RPI working through the P5 header. I copy/past here the instructions that Palmito kindly sent to me yesterday (Thanks again Palmito):
You need to check that the file "/etc/modules" has the list of modules Russ used. You need to do this by hand. There's two ways of doing it:
1) If you have a usb keyboard (don't need a mouse for this) and a monitor that takes hdmi input, connect them to the rpi and reboot it.
2) Access remotely the rpi. I'm assuming your other computer is Windows for this step. If you don't have it, lookup in google "putty" and download and install it in another computer in the house. Open "putty" and connect to the rpi (the ip address will be whatever you type in your browser window to get the volumio web interface) or you can get it from the "system" menu entry in the volumio web interface.
From doing either of the two things above you will then follow the stuff below. But before you proceed search google for "linux pico" and learn how to use that editor, it's very simple and it's wysiwyg.
After all the booting (if using monitor/keyboard) or connection (if using putty from another computer) stuff you will:
1) See the login prompt. The user will be "root", the password what you changed it to when you installed volumio (if you didn't change, and you should, the default "root" password is "volumio").
2) Once you are the prompt ("#"). You will need to type "cat /etc/modules" and see what is there. If the list does not match the one Russ specified, you need to edit the file:
snd_soc_bcm2708
snd_soc_bcm2708_i2s
bcm2708_dmaengine
snd-soc-pcm1794a
snd_soc_rpi_dac
3) Edit the file with "pico /etc/modules", erase what is there and replace it with the list above.
4) Save the file.
5) Reboot the pi and see if it will play music.
Look complicate but actually is not (if I can do you can also do)and is working fantastic.
The result is amazing... The DDDAC is playing with much more 3D focus, more punch, more brilliant... simply fantastic.
Next step will be to install the isolator as suggested by Palmito but anyway is working very well already... I will post again if I notice a big improvement.
I hope this long post helps this community as well as I have been helped.
Enjoy the Music
Enrico
Dear Doede,
I hope you forget me for the OT but I would like to share here my experience that can be helpful for other newbie like I am.
So, those are the steps that I take to transform my original DDDAC+Waveio+PC to a DDDAC+Raspberry (B2) +Volumio:
HW First (the easy part):
1 - Remove the Waveio and I use the 5V PSU from Doede to power up the Raspberry (much better then the wallwart).
2 - Install the P5 header in the RPI
3 - Connect the P5 header to the DDDAC I2S header as Palmito show here (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...-192-24-dac-pcm1794-waveio-usb-input-148.html)
SW part (the headache
)1 - First of all you need to flash the SD with the Volumio. There is no much to say here... You can refer to the Volumio website where is very well explained (Get Started - Volumio)
2 - When you have your SD ready you need modify the sw to make the RPI working through the P5 header. I copy/past here the instructions that Palmito kindly sent to me yesterday (Thanks again Palmito):
You need to check that the file "/etc/modules" has the list of modules Russ used. You need to do this by hand. There's two ways of doing it:
1) If you have a usb keyboard (don't need a mouse for this) and a monitor that takes hdmi input, connect them to the rpi and reboot it.
2) Access remotely the rpi. I'm assuming your other computer is Windows for this step. If you don't have it, lookup in google "putty" and download and install it in another computer in the house. Open "putty" and connect to the rpi (the ip address will be whatever you type in your browser window to get the volumio web interface) or you can get it from the "system" menu entry in the volumio web interface.
From doing either of the two things above you will then follow the stuff below. But before you proceed search google for "linux pico" and learn how to use that editor, it's very simple and it's wysiwyg.
After all the booting (if using monitor/keyboard) or connection (if using putty from another computer) stuff you will:
1) See the login prompt. The user will be "root", the password what you changed it to when you installed volumio (if you didn't change, and you should, the default "root" password is "volumio").
2) Once you are the prompt ("#"). You will need to type "cat /etc/modules" and see what is there. If the list does not match the one Russ specified, you need to edit the file:
snd_soc_bcm2708
snd_soc_bcm2708_i2s
bcm2708_dmaengine
snd-soc-pcm1794a
snd_soc_rpi_dac
3) Edit the file with "pico /etc/modules", erase what is there and replace it with the list above.
4) Save the file.
5) Reboot the pi and see if it will play music.
Look complicate but actually is not (if I can do you can also do
)and is working fantastic.The result is amazing... The DDDAC is playing with much more 3D focus, more punch, more brilliant... simply fantastic.
Next step will be to install the isolator as suggested by Palmito but anyway is working very well already... I will post again if I notice a big improvement.
I hope this long post helps this community as well as I have been helped.
Enjoy the Music
Enrico
Here the PCB: Free Amanero Isolator bare PCB Twin pack - DIYINHK.
You have to populate with the isolator (Digikey PN: 390-1062-5-ND), 2 capacitors C1/C2 (MLCC 0.1uf 16V X7R 0805 (Murata GRM21BR71H104KA01L or equivalent))and the pin headers.
If you look in page 148 of this thread you can found more details from Palmito.
Enrico
