There are extensive threads in the 'digital line level' forum here, where folks have tried a wide range of solutions for DSP.
Other than the Buffalo, much depends on your goals and specific components. How would you handle transitions in file sample rates, which typically affect the behavior of digital filters? Resample everything to a chosen frequency?
Other than the Buffalo, much depends on your goals and specific components. How would you handle transitions in file sample rates, which typically affect the behavior of digital filters? Resample everything to a chosen frequency?
Correct. It's job is to switch the base frequency of the system clock to avoid non-integral data resampling from the original frequency. Thus, the data is always unmodified from the original format on its way to the buffalo DAC.
MiniDSP kits such as MiniSHARC can run in full slave mode, but only operate at a fixed sample rate (48 or 96 kHz in the case of the MiniSHARC).
The Cronos can easily be configured to provide a single master clock signal and 'tidy up' the I2S signal via the potato flip flops, but then you wont get input sample rate switching (e.g. between 44.1 and 48 kHz). You fundamentally lose sample rate switching ability when using fixed sample rate products like the MiniSHARC because it is not supported.
But if you have a fixed source sample rate (like from a PC) then sample rate switching is irrelevant, and the Cronos can happily supply the same fixed master clock to, say, an Amanero USB, MiniSHARC, and Buffalo DAC (all running in slave mode of course). An advantage of using the Cronos is it reconstitutes the I2S signal - which is degraded by the Hermes isolator - so you get all the advantages of isolation from a dirty PC USB or Beaglebone Black power supply without any downsides. This is the main reason for using a Cronos IMHO. The async re-clocking/de-jittering of the Buffalo is very good, so unsure whether running everything from a single low-jitter master - whilst theoretically the best solution - would give any noticeably audible improvement.
The Cronos can easily be configured to provide a single master clock signal and 'tidy up' the I2S signal via the potato flip flops, but then you wont get input sample rate switching (e.g. between 44.1 and 48 kHz). You fundamentally lose sample rate switching ability when using fixed sample rate products like the MiniSHARC because it is not supported.
But if you have a fixed source sample rate (like from a PC) then sample rate switching is irrelevant, and the Cronos can happily supply the same fixed master clock to, say, an Amanero USB, MiniSHARC, and Buffalo DAC (all running in slave mode of course). An advantage of using the Cronos is it reconstitutes the I2S signal - which is degraded by the Hermes isolator - so you get all the advantages of isolation from a dirty PC USB or Beaglebone Black power supply without any downsides. This is the main reason for using a Cronos IMHO. The async re-clocking/de-jittering of the Buffalo is very good, so unsure whether running everything from a single low-jitter master - whilst theoretically the best solution - would give any noticeably audible improvement.