Buffalo II

[Russ White]

The noise problem should not be present at either frequency 🙂

You shouldn't correlate clock speed to quality/locking.

 

[glt]

It is still very mysterious. It locks fine, but there is noise when the data is near zero or zero (silence). Got to think through this some more...

Thanks for all the replies...

 

[Russ White]

Think of it this way. When things are asynchronous (just meaning that the master clock is not an exact multiple of the bit clock) then the DPLL needs a bit of headroom to adjust. At 80mhz there is not much headroom. At 100mhz there is more. 🙂 That is why some sources work better with 100mhz.

When you go synchronous the DPLL basically does not have to do anything much at all. 🙂 because the master clock and the bit clock are the same fundamental to the sample rate. That makes things much easier for the DAC.

 

[glt]

I can think of it that way, but still does correlate to the problem 🙂

Basically my head says that there seem to be a reversal somewhere where silence is interpreted as white noise.

 

[Russ White]

It makes a bit more sense if you think about how noise shaping modulators work. 🙂

 

[glt]

Now you are speaking a foreign language 🙂

 

[Joshua_G]

Both audio and electronics are foreign languages… 🙂

 

[kotani]

I own a 80mhz buffalo as well, and all songs up to 192khz play fine through the exadebice usb interface, but above that, I get the same white noise issue when stopped or paused. Also, adjusting the volumite to the only "chanhes" he white noise somewhat, and does nothing to the actual volume. Has anyone found a solution? Please help... Thank you...

 

[kotani]

I probably shouldn't by typing on the iPhone while riding the train. I apologize for the spelling above...

 

[albertob]

I have a BII. I like the combo update trident, Will he back on sale combos tridents?

 

[BrianDonegan]

Available now...

 

[albertob]

Thanks Brian, I've bought the tridents.

 

[joemana]

I own a 80mhz buffalo as well, and all songs up to 192khz play fine through the exadebice usb interface, but above that, I get the same white noise issue when stopped or paused.

Try to replace the firmware, it only cost $2.

Joe

 

[glt]

I own a 80mhz buffalo as well, and all songs up to 192khz play fine through the exadebice usb interface, but above that, I get the same white noise issue when stopped or paused.

Try to replace the firmware, it only cost $2.

Joe

The alternative firmware is to use a wider DPLL bandwidth. Unfortunately, that does not solve the white noise issue...

 

[Russ White]

There are two thing you can do about the issue with your particular source:

1) Use a better source. 🙂
2) Change the clock (either to a faster one or a synchronous one)

 

[barrows]

Russ...

There are two thing you can do about the issue with your particular source:

1) Use a better source. 🙂
2) Change the clock (either to a faster one or a synchronous one)

speaking of #1: hope that you are considering the new CCHD-957s for that "better source", and perhaps Trident(s) to power them... Expensive, but probably worth it... Would make for great synchronous clocking perhaps... please no need to respond, I am sure you have thought of all this, and more, already...

 

[glt]

Partial workaround

I found a partial workaround for the white noise problem under silence (for 352.8K material and 80MHz Buffalo)

Enabling the automute loopback feature in the chip will shorten the noise to an "impulse". So during pause, stop or during the gap, you will hear a short "impulse" of white noise (fraction of a second) rather than continuous white noise.

I'll play with other parameters to see if I can further shorten the noise.

 

[kotani]

There are two thing you can do about the issue with your particular source:

1) Use a better source. 🙂
2) Change the clock (either to a faster one or a synchronous one)

Would I be able to buy just the custom 100mhz clock from you guys?

I would need two, as I am running dual mono...

 

[pfdavid]

BII drop-outs

Help: I'm still getting drop-outs from my BII system. I've tried a bunch of different approaches and I'm still getting the occasional hickup, averaging 1/minute. Although sometimes a whole song (3 min) will play cleanly, other times I'll get 3 drops within 15 seconds.

I assembled my BII about 2 months ago using all TPA components: USB receiver/DAC into a BII via I2S, BII into a Legato 3 I/V stage. Placid for the BII, Placid HD for the Legato. AC via the recommended toroidal transformers. A few weeks ago I installed the Firmware Update chip for the BII.

Following Leon vB's excellent integration guide and the other manuals, everything fired up smoothly, yielding wonderful sound, really much better than I expected. So now that it is so, so good, I want it to be perfect.

I started with this Mac PowerBook G4 with Itunes, then I installed COG, then I tried my girlfriends Intel Mac laptop using Itunes, then Audirvana. Switched USB cables. No difference.

I've attached a photo of the assembly. I tried to make the I2S connections equal length: they are about 3 inches long.

I have not tried switching to S/PDIF between the USB receiver and the BII, yet.

I would appreciate any suggestions or corrections to my build.

Thanks very much, - David

 

[glt]

... A few weeks ago I installed the Firmware Update chip for the BII.

...

I would appreciate any suggestions or corrections to my build.

Thanks very much, - David

Do you mean you installed this:

"High Bandwidth" Firmware for Buffalo-II
Alternate firmware chip for B-II users experiencing lock issues with some particular I2S sources.

How does it work with the original firmware?

[Note: let the DAC warm up 30 minutes after power on before you do your observations]