I own DAC + Streamer in the 12k€ range and of course I expect from the "DIY pre-built" DAC+Streamer Ian stack, which is in total realistically ~2.5€k (with EU tax), a similar experience like a "commercial" product in €15k+ range ;-)
It would be interesting if some of you,who have built quite expensive Ian stacks (at least what I as a newbie can interpret from posted pictures), can provide some comparisons to the usual suspects, like Denafrips/dCS/Weiss/Rockna/Lumin/Chord.. ?
A complete highend finished build from DDDC costs 5.2€k (with tax).
Ian did a great job, even I hardly ralized it is NOT for the average pre-built click&build "DIYer" like myself....and doing something wrong, gets very expensive...
I totally agree with you @gerihifi. Including, sadly, the last sentence.
I listened to a completed project with Ian’s board and I was really impressed with what I heard.
I have listened to products like dCS Bartok, Merason Frérot, Chord Qutest, Nagra Tube DAC, Wattson Emerson and others and I can tell the quality of a project with Ian’s boards are up there. The 5k-15k (euros or USD) range is a good estimation.
My use case is to get USB signal and push it thru i2s without losing or converting high resolution files (up to 768k PCM and DSD1024 if possible). I found nothing on the market. The Holo Red was a close contestant.
Plus, you have the pleasure to celebrate once you are able to hear music.
I listened to a completed project with Ian’s board and I was really impressed with what I heard.
I have listened to products like dCS Bartok, Merason Frérot, Chord Qutest, Nagra Tube DAC, Wattson Emerson and others and I can tell the quality of a project with Ian’s boards are up there. The 5k-15k (euros or USD) range is a good estimation.
My use case is to get USB signal and push it thru i2s without losing or converting high resolution files (up to 768k PCM and DSD1024 if possible). I found nothing on the market. The Holo Red was a close contestant.
Plus, you have the pleasure to celebrate once you are able to hear music.
i have already built a few DACs with ian products, and spent thousands of eueros....because i am convinced of the sound...and appreciate his work very much...
but i am very unhappy about the way it went now...because he doesn't recommend the parts anymore now that it burnt out, and i asked him before i bought the parts...
it feels like i have thrown the money out of the window
but i am very unhappy about the way it went now...because he doesn't recommend the parts anymore now that it burnt out, and i asked him before i bought the parts...
it feels like i have thrown the money out of the window
Hello,
Of course!!
You may have the best clocks in the entire universe if their connection to the board is just so so you surely did waste a lot of money.
It will be like a racing bicycle custom made to your body, road quality and cycling skills but you wont pay attention to get your tires properly inflated.
Ian is not selling a nice quality pump so these kind of things are being neglected.
Adding some kind of material between clock and board is still good
I am trying to answer my own question here ….
Is it because the UCPure board has a relay to isolate the caps from any active circuit and that relay needs power to operate to either isolate and provide power via caps or charge caps and provide power via the board - thus requiring power to do anything? No power to board no music regardless of the cap charge???
I did not connect the UCpure yet but i thought the crucial element is that power is supplied to the '' signal board '' without the coke cans connected to the mains!!. Once the voltage is below a certain level the mains will be asked to give the extra juice to the caps until the max. level is reached. This is what should happen if everything is working according to the design!!
If things are build like they should in a chassis you should be able to transport things even with a charge being present in the caps. Of course if there is 1,5 volt present and your caps are not securely mounted then you could fry something.
Greetings, eduard
I understand your situation @Aiello. I am sure Ian will come back with a solution for you. It happened with Gabster with one of his project, one Ian’s board was defective.
For now, it looks like Ian is not available. I read here he had health issues last summer, I also read he is busy at work. He is working on our stuff over and above everything else. I am OK to give him some time to rest and come back to reply. There is a risk to deal with a small business with only one person (you would be surprised about the number of employees of famous Audio companies). Let’s hope for the best for him and wait for his return.
I also have unanswered questions for him. I will wait.
Yves
For now, it looks like Ian is not available. I read here he had health issues last summer, I also read he is busy at work. He is working on our stuff over and above everything else. I am OK to give him some time to rest and come back to reply. There is a risk to deal with a small business with only one person (you would be surprised about the number of employees of famous Audio companies). Let’s hope for the best for him and wait for his return.
I also have unanswered questions for him. I will wait.
Yves
Gabster has some videos where he compared his Ian DAC to a high end DAC in the $15k-$30k range I think and he says it competes.
Hello everyone
I have a question to ask. There is a problem with my FIFOP Q3 clock. So it cannot be used .
So I only use the combination of transportspi and PI4. Connect to d90se via hdmi (i2s). I found that it works, but when I use toslink to connect to rme babyface pro fs, it does not work. The system used is picoreplayer
Can anyone help me solve this problem? Thank you very much
I have a question to ask. There is a problem with my FIFOP Q3 clock. So it cannot be used .
So I only use the combination of transportspi and PI4. Connect to d90se via hdmi (i2s). I found that it works, but when I use toslink to connect to rme babyface pro fs, it does not work. The system used is picoreplayer
Can anyone help me solve this problem? Thank you very much
Attachments
I don't know much about DACs so I would like to ask:
If an external DAC receives bitstream and clock signals via the I2S - HDMI interface, will the bitstream always be clocked by the source or will the DAC re-clock the bitstream?
So in the above case, the Topping 90SE disconnects/interrupts its own clock source for the DAC IC and uses the FiFO Q3 clock?
If so, is this true for all DACs with I2S input?
If an external DAC receives bitstream and clock signals via the I2S - HDMI interface, will the bitstream always be clocked by the source or will the DAC re-clock the bitstream?
So in the above case, the Topping 90SE disconnects/interrupts its own clock source for the DAC IC and uses the FiFO Q3 clock?
If so, is this true for all DACs with I2S input?
It depends, if DAC have Sync mode then accept clock from streamer, Async mode DAC always use its own clock.
Is there an Async mode DAC with I2S input? It would not make sense.
Interesting reading.
https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/20...igh-quality-audio-with-inter-ic-soundi2s-bus/
An Async mode DAC may exist but that would be useless.
https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/20...igh-quality-audio-with-inter-ic-soundi2s-bus/
An Async mode DAC may exist but that would be useless.
I thought that these signals are I2S:
SCK -> SCK
LR/D0 -> LRCK
SD/D1 -> Data
MCKL no connect
What am I missing?
Rgrds Jan
SCK -> SCK
LR/D0 -> LRCK
SD/D1 -> Data
MCKL no connect
What am I missing?
Rgrds Jan
Hello,
After the clocks have been without power for a few hours the burn in process needs to start again taking the same time as the initial burn in?
Is it like a good wine that has been transported from an auction on a bumpy road to your beautiful countryside cottage?
A bumpy road will force you to use a virgin socket or to solder it right away.
What a hobby.
Greetings,Eduard
After the clocks have been without power for a few hours the burn in process needs to start again taking the same time as the initial burn in?
Is it like a good wine that has been transported from an auction on a bumpy road to your beautiful countryside cottage?
A bumpy road will force you to use a virgin socket or to solder it right away.
What a hobby.
Greetings,Eduard
These are the possibles mappings on my Holo May. I’ll find out which one I should choose for Ian‘s stack.
That been said, I don’t know which pins are used or not for i2s.
I just built a ProtoDAC using a DIR9001 board with a cheap PS, and I have to say it does sound quite good! I still need to put more hours on it. Not sure if any of you have hade a chance to hear one? The settings I used for the I2S were only 3 with my set up, and not sure if it can help anyone here. It was BCLK/DATA/LRCK. Perhaps the Ian components are different? Would be nice to hear any feed back from someone that has heard the ProtoDAC compared to Ian's DAC. Thanks!
I confirm, Holo May is using Alt2 pin-out for HDMI-i2s (see diagram before), the same used with PS Audio, for Ian Boards. I have the HdmiPiPro.
Correct. Input the better clocks in my DAC. MY streamer has regular default clocks on the fifo. It gets reclocked as it comes I to the DAC by the DAC FiFO with SCPure clocks.
If you send signal to an external DAC you are getting the sound of that DAC mostly. Of course if you send it a great signal better than whatever was feeding it before it will sound better. But you are hearing the external DAC clocks and any reclocking.
