StationPi SMT + ReceiverPi DDC + Amanero would be correct.
FifoPi Q7 will provide the isolation.
I have a similar project. Yes, the Amanero is on the RPI side. Where is your PC? Mine is under (on another shelve).
@Yveskoala it will be about 4-5 feet away most likely. I'm in the process of building a 10'x11' workshop with one wall dedicated to all my audio gear. I'm a headphone listener so I don't need the same amount of space. That should allow me enough room to keep the tower far enough away just in case there's leakage.
Just FYI, I experimented with a mini itx build powered by one of Sala's L-adapter boards. I heard a very slight benefit using a linear power supply but not enough to warrant a full atx linear supply.
Just FYI, I experimented with a mini itx build powered by one of Sala's L-adapter boards. I heard a very slight benefit using a linear power supply but not enough to warrant a full atx linear supply.
Yep. I did that. And put what I thought was the ‘spacer bar’ that came with kit. Which was actually a join bar which shorted it too. Took me a while to figure out. I also cut these on almost all the boards under the green power connectors as these are usually in danger of shorting the board under unless you add a nut to the spacer.
I have been thinking about a clock update for some time and have so far come up with this for the project.
It's supposed to feed a multichannel ESS 9038pro dac in syncronous mode (the dac) input would be
an "MCH-streamer" from minidsp (already have that). So now I'm wondering if I'm missing any pitfalls here.
Comments anyone ?
It's supposed to feed a multichannel ESS 9038pro dac in syncronous mode (the dac) input would be
an "MCH-streamer" from minidsp (already have that). So now I'm wondering if I'm missing any pitfalls here.
Comments anyone ?
Hi guys. I have recently built a Streamer based on Ian`s cards. I have used Fifo Pi Q7 with SC Pure clocks, HDMI Pi Pro, Pure Pi 2, Ultra conditioner mkII, Raspberry 3B+.
As powersupply I am using av Ferrum Hypsos powersupply. I am also using a copper plate for shielding between Pi and Q7 card.
I compared my streamer to a Mano Ultra mkIII streamer, listened on a system based quality components like Respons Jussi loudspeakers, Mola Mola Tambaqui dac on the I2S input with Audioquest Vodka cable, Mola Mola Kaluga poweramplifiers, PPA stdudio Quad switch, Vibex Granada Platinum Dual DC powerdistributor etc.
My streamer was powered up for 15 hours before comparing the two.
Sadly I found that the Mano Ultra mkIII sounded clearly better. It had larger more threedimensional soundstage, instruments had more natural and fuller sound with more overtones, especially acoustical instruments and voices. Wifi and usb on the PI3 was turned off.
I tried to connecth the copper plate between the Pi and Q7 card, and this improved the sound of my streamer, but there was still a step up to the Mano streamer.
The price of the parts I have used and the Mano Ultra mkIII is almost similar.
As is I consider buing the Mano Ultra instead, but wonder if anyone have tested the difference of a streamer like mine with and without the Shield Pi mkII card?
As powersupply I am using av Ferrum Hypsos powersupply. I am also using a copper plate for shielding between Pi and Q7 card.
I compared my streamer to a Mano Ultra mkIII streamer, listened on a system based quality components like Respons Jussi loudspeakers, Mola Mola Tambaqui dac on the I2S input with Audioquest Vodka cable, Mola Mola Kaluga poweramplifiers, PPA stdudio Quad switch, Vibex Granada Platinum Dual DC powerdistributor etc.
My streamer was powered up for 15 hours before comparing the two.
Sadly I found that the Mano Ultra mkIII sounded clearly better. It had larger more threedimensional soundstage, instruments had more natural and fuller sound with more overtones, especially acoustical instruments and voices. Wifi and usb on the PI3 was turned off.
I tried to connecth the copper plate between the Pi and Q7 card, and this improved the sound of my streamer, but there was still a step up to the Mano streamer.
The price of the parts I have used and the Mano Ultra mkIII is almost similar.
As is I consider buing the Mano Ultra instead, but wonder if anyone have tested the difference of a streamer like mine with and without the Shield Pi mkII card?
@geiren
Your project looks great. You did a good job. congratulations!
I don't have your streamer, but after google it, I found it uses just the CCHD957 as clocks and active regulators as power supply. The SC-Pure clocks and the battery/ultracapacitor power supply are way better at the phase noise performance and low noise performance. Based on my long time listening testing and comparison, no other streamer has better sound stage and details than this configuration. So there is no reason.
Was your DAC working in ASYNC mode with bypassing the good external clocks?
I would suggest:
1. Break-in for longer time
2. Make sure software is in bit-perfect mode without any upsampling and and processing.
3. Try different DACs
4. Use UcPure 3.3V as power supply for FifoPi clean side
BTW, I like your copper shield plate, very cool.
Ian
Your project looks great. You did a good job. congratulations!
I don't have your streamer, but after google it, I found it uses just the CCHD957 as clocks and active regulators as power supply. The SC-Pure clocks and the battery/ultracapacitor power supply are way better at the phase noise performance and low noise performance. Based on my long time listening testing and comparison, no other streamer has better sound stage and details than this configuration. So there is no reason.
Was your DAC working in ASYNC mode with bypassing the good external clocks?
I would suggest:
1. Break-in for longer time
2. Make sure software is in bit-perfect mode without any upsampling and and processing.
3. Try different DACs
4. Use UcPure 3.3V as power supply for FifoPi clean side
BTW, I like your copper shield plate, very cool.
Ian
Hello,
Of course this is the opinion of someone promoting his own products.
Sometimes a more basic '' thing '' works better because not everyone has the right tools and know how to diy things properly. Look at the issues with the UC pure caps getting penetrated.
Probably there is a little more to getting the best sound than connecting some boards.
Of course most people just wanna do it a little differently and end up with something not working as intended.
This probably also the reason why so many questions keep popping up.
Greetings, Eduard
What needs to be remembered is this is DIY. Anytime even if the box says this item is suitable for la, la, la. Does not mean it will just work. I welcome anyone to look towards the custom automotive market as reference.
There are simple work-arounds for the Ultracap issue. 1 is not mounting the board directly on top of the caps. 2 would be to Install neoprene type isolation foam on the bottom of the pcb. it is a simple issue that is to be expected building any project. Where problems not thought of often arise when individuals choose to stray from "traditional" configurations. Nothing wrong with this other than you might be alone in troubleshooting etc. I would imagine Ian has futureproofed is designs in a sense adding connection points etc. to have connections for future product integration and R&D. Since I am certain his test group do not all have the equipment Ian has or the ability to add connections to a pcd that are not there.
We need to remember that these are not large scale commercial products being built for the mass market. The issues seen here are no different than the issues any manufacturer sees during product development. Ian has shared his work with us at reasonable cost in comparison to commercial offerings an in my case satisfies my need to build and tinker.
Lets try not to crap all over someones hard work because of missed questions, having bugs or the design not meeting your design standards or requirements.
I personally thank Ian for saving me many nights on the couch, thousands of dollars in an equivilent streamer and most importantly the cost of a divorce attourny should I purches said streaming device.
There are simple work-arounds for the Ultracap issue. 1 is not mounting the board directly on top of the caps. 2 would be to Install neoprene type isolation foam on the bottom of the pcb. it is a simple issue that is to be expected building any project. Where problems not thought of often arise when individuals choose to stray from "traditional" configurations. Nothing wrong with this other than you might be alone in troubleshooting etc. I would imagine Ian has futureproofed is designs in a sense adding connection points etc. to have connections for future product integration and R&D. Since I am certain his test group do not all have the equipment Ian has or the ability to add connections to a pcd that are not there.
We need to remember that these are not large scale commercial products being built for the mass market. The issues seen here are no different than the issues any manufacturer sees during product development. Ian has shared his work with us at reasonable cost in comparison to commercial offerings an in my case satisfies my need to build and tinker.
Lets try not to crap all over someones hard work because of missed questions, having bugs or the design not meeting your design standards or requirements.
I personally thank Ian for saving me many nights on the couch, thousands of dollars in an equivilent streamer and most importantly the cost of a divorce attourny should I purches said streaming device.
Thank you for your quick reply Ian.
The streamer has been running for 75 hours before I visited a friend for testing. When at his house it was running for 15 hours before listening.
I was using Roon as playback software, and there is no upsampling or other adjustments turned on.
The streamer is set up with UcPure 3.3V as powersupply for FifoPi clean side.
Did a new camparison between the Manu Ultra mkIII and my streamer. The Mano Ultra mkIII sounds better in our setup, and it is not difficult to hear.
I am very happy with my Mola Mola Tambaqui dac, and dont plan on changing it.
Geir
For sure needs 7 days 24x7 breakin. UCPure makes audible difference. So does enabling true sync mode. The soundstage will open and acoustic instruments voices and drums and reverb are there that were never there before.
I brought it out Wednesday “CD Pull”. 7 guys including 3 musicians and a sound engineer said they have heard the CDAudio I played “for the first time” with instruments they never knew were there. Best sound any of them have heard.
Tonight we play Peter Gabriel “So”
Hello,
Sure for some people it is nice to spend weeks trying to get things to work.
Most issues can be solved in the end.
People would spend money on spending a big screen on their gear while it would be more sensible to spend some money on properly mounting those big coke can caps.
A few decades ago i added a film cap in parallel on a high voltage supply. It had a bit of an unclear coding but i was told by the reputable seller that it could handel the 360 volt dc voltage so it did for more than a year.. Back then that pre amp was switched on 24/7 and one day it was silent after work i opened up the chassis i dont remember the looks of the cap but a part of the copper trace going to that cap was kind of turned into small copper particles..
So did do some research and found out is was a 250 volt dc cap. Now we have internet so more info easier available but you can still transformers being sold as power transformers for diy gear while being developped for 400 or 800 CPS>
I am using machines at work which are tested every year to check if they are still up to specifications. Because it is diy things are not that critical some say.Take a look at the fires being caused by electrical bikes during charging.
Greetings, Eduard
Sure for some people it is nice to spend weeks trying to get things to work.
Most issues can be solved in the end.
People would spend money on spending a big screen on their gear while it would be more sensible to spend some money on properly mounting those big coke can caps.
A few decades ago i added a film cap in parallel on a high voltage supply. It had a bit of an unclear coding but i was told by the reputable seller that it could handel the 360 volt dc voltage so it did for more than a year.. Back then that pre amp was switched on 24/7 and one day it was silent after work i opened up the chassis i dont remember the looks of the cap but a part of the copper trace going to that cap was kind of turned into small copper particles..
So did do some research and found out is was a 250 volt dc cap. Now we have internet so more info easier available but you can still transformers being sold as power transformers for diy gear while being developped for 400 or 800 CPS>
I am using machines at work which are tested every year to check if they are still up to specifications. Because it is diy things are not that critical some say.Take a look at the fires being caused by electrical bikes during charging.
Greetings, Eduard
Hi,
You don't need to change the DAC, just see if you have a Sync option in it, or ask the manufacturer how to do it if possible.
My advice is to connect the FiFoPi Q7 to the Contnous connector, in your case the Ucconditioner 3.3V input to the PurePi (Molex mini connector). That's how you'll get your XOs to work constantly, regardless of whether the streamer is on or off.
This is my recommendation because in this way the XO Clocks work constantly and in this way they are stabilized to the maximum they can achieve.
In my case, it took about 3 weeks for the new XO to break in, in the manner described.
You really don't need to keep the whole streamer on, just the XO through the FiFoPi Q7 clean 3.3V.
But the software you use also plays a big role. RoPieee and Volumio, at least for me, are not the best option. Based on my software testing, to put it simply, Volumio is shallower and more two-dimensional than RoPieee and RoPieee is murky and slow. This is the simplest way to explain it.
I was not satisfied with that and then I started testing not so popular alternatives to get to AudioLinux and GentooPlayer. I currently use GentooPlayer which is very fast, transparent and configurable, all in all it sounds much better than Volumio and RoPieee. Audio linux is great, but it's a lot more complicated to set up properly.
It's DIY, you have to test everything to get to the bottom of it. Someone won't like the sound of GentooPlayer, but that's ok because each of us has our own taste.
BR,
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@geiren You could try different OS, maybe audio-optimized ones; I would recommend picoreplayer on RPi and Roon- squeezlite setting. Give it a try, it costs you nothing
Domenico of Amanero kindly and promptly helped me by sending an updated ConfigTool.exe, and after reinstalling cpld_1082 / 2006be15r2 there was music!
However, the problem is that all files above PCM96 (including DSD64 etc.) are accompanied by a loud hiss/distortion, exactly the same as what happens with the I2S DAC, so I do not believe the Amanero board to be the problem.
This is disappointing as I built this stack especially to be able to play (at least) DSD256, and bought the 44-rate family SC-Pure clock for that.
Could it be that I have one stock clock and one SC-Pure?
Any pointers where to look for a solution will be appreciated!