• Disclaimer: This Vendor's Forum is a paid-for commercial area. Unlike the rest of diyAudio, the Vendor has complete control of what may or may not be posted in this forum. If you wish to discuss technical matters outside the bounds of what is permitted by the Vendor, please use the non-commercial areas of diyAudio to do so.

Buffalo III - flexibility without compromise.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jump to Latest
#522
Takaji said:
The last mention of the ES9018 datasheet in this thread indicated that you still had to sign a non-disclosure agreement... good to see this is not needed anymore! 🙂
Click to expand...

I asked for two weeks ago datasheet directly to ESS - support. No any answer ever...
I just got it today at once that datasheet following Takaji usefully advice/info. Nice!
 
Last edited:
#524
Hi Russ

I can see in the old manual of Buffalo this:
"AVCC should be in the range of 3.3V +/- 5%. Voltage outside this range may result in damage the DAC."

I can see in the new manual of Buffalo 3 the follow:
"You might note that we use an AVCC voltage that is slightly
higher than 3.3VDC. This helps us achieve slightly better dynamic range."

In "Technical Details of the Sabre Audio DAC" I can find this:
"The Sabre DAC operates from nominally 3.3v for its analog section and
nominally 1.2v for its digital section. The analog section
power supply is flexible: it will operate from 4.0v down to1.8v
with little performance degradation.
.................................................................................
"This configuration allows >132dB of DNR to be typically
reached. NOTE: With 4.0V power supply greater than 133dB can be achieved."

Is destructive more than 3,3v AVCC or not? The DAC can in fact tolerate up to 4v on AVCC? What could be a safe level in your opinion?

Can you comment a little, and maybe precise exactly what is the AVCC level you have set up in the Buffalo 3?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
#525
This just reflects a progression of knowledge passed on to me from ESS since that Buffalo manual nothing more. Early data sheets said that AVCC should be 3.3V. What we found with Buffalo II and III was that 3.4 to 3.6V was a sweet spot, lower or higher gave mixed results. Certainly up to 4V is safe , but such voltage will require some tweaking of output stages to compensate. 🙂 Really if your questions are about the chip itself, they should be directed to ESS.
 
Last edited:
#526
Russ White said:
This just reflects a progression of knowledge passed on to me from ESS since that Buffalo manual nothing more. Early data sheets said that AVCC should be 3.3V. What we found with Buffalo II and III was that 3.4 to 3.6V was a sweet spot, lower or higher gave mixed results. Certainly up to 4V is safe , but such voltage will require some tweaking of output stages to compensate. 🙂 Really if your questions are about the chip itself, they should be directed to ESS.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for your comment. In fact, in the meantime waiting my Buffalo coming, I really try to understand better (in details) how the things works... I have no intention to come out on the market with another DAC based on this chip (or another one...).
 
#527
Coris said:
Thanks again for your comment. In fact, in the meantime waiting my Buffalo coming, I really try to understand better (in details) how the things works... I have no intention to come out on the market with another DAC based on this chip (or another one...).
Click to expand...


I was not worried over that, only trying to explain that my knowledge of the chip has its limits as well. I regularly have the ask ESS questions myself. 🙂
 
#529
beau2317 said:
My Buffalo III arrived a couple of days ago. While I was waiting for it to arrive I'd built the rest - PSUs, tube output stage, etc. So it only took a few hours to get it up and running.

I plan to post a separate thread with build pics, etc

But just wanted to say that it sounds awesome..
Click to expand...

Hi ,what type of tube output you used ? can share the circuit ?

Thanks
 
#531
Stacking two BII or BIII board

I received multiple BIII board kits and looked at bare boards with neither pin headers nor terminal blocks. This looks very flat.
The impression gave me a such idea of "Stacking two BIII boards in a vertical direction and making DAC chip +, - outputs in parallel for a simple stereo configuration with just one I/V module."
This combination would bring 8 DAC output sections for each L/R channel.

Has anyone experimented this configuration and compared with a conventional dual mono?
 
Last edited:
#532
It should work just fine (though i have not tried it exactly like you say). This would not be dual mono, but would be stereo with 8 DACs in parallel. 🙂

I am not sure I would feel compelled to do so. 😀

You will also need to think about DAC addresses etc, you would want special firmware for that.

I would say give it try if you feel like it. 😎

Just keep in mind power requirements and the fact that your I/V stage will have double the output swing unless you adjust it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom