High quality Dante multi way system for DIYers

For quite a while I was happy with my excellent modified Stingxer F1 but the question,
if this quality of sound was possible with a multi channel setup never left my mind.
When I one day saw Brooklyn II boards pop up on ebay I was getting exited.
I searched the net if there was an adapter board available. Lo and behold I
found one at Aliexpress. Man this is heaven for computer audio.
$120 for the Dante board and $80 for the adapter is not significantly more
expensive that a Singxer by itself.
Dante not only sounds better than the Singxer USB DDCs but it is rock solid.
No hick ups, no pops, no clicks.
8 channel output via I2S is just a dream come true for the diy audio world.
The only thing that I need to figure out is how to get my AK4490 an AK4495
dac boards to accept serial control mode because data is not sent out
on a left/right stream over one data pin but as two separate streams over two
data pins.
Here is my set up so far:
hlk9f.jpg


If anyone can help with the serial mode problem I would appreciate it.

Greets,
Klaus
 
Hi wealas,
The AKM chips receive DSD over I2S via dout and lrck pins and can do this
with PCM data too. If the Brooklyn II had muliplexed singnaling there would
only be 4 digital out pins, but it has actually 8. It's made for Professional Studio or Road use.
Routing single sources for mixes was more on their mind than stereo.
On the AKM chips the serial or
parallel mode is chosen by setting the PSN pin low or high, but there must be
something else that I'm missing. The data sheet of the AKM chips says the
PSN pin has internal pull-up but I 't know what activates it.
I guess I have to dig in deeper than I actually wanted to solve this problem.

Greets,
Klaus
 
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I think you are confusing the DAC control mode (either i2c or serial control mode) with the audio format (i2s, DSD, TDM, left or right justified) - two completely separate interfaces.
PSN pin sets the control mode for the DAC chip to either hardware (pin) or register (i2c/SPI) mode. That is only used to configure how to control the DAC chip, not to transfer any audio signal.
I think you need to figure out if there is any jumper or setting on the Brooklyn interface card to tell it not to split stereo channels into dual mono. The Dante has an SPI interface for configuration so you might have to figure out how to use that.
The wikipedia page for i2s (I2S - Wikipedia) states that the protocol defines "At least one multiplexed data line"
 
I wish I knew why the dac does not function even though I tied the SPN pin to ground.
I was using this dac on the singxer f1 with no problem, so I know it's working at least in
normal I2S mode.
There must be something else that needs to be done.
I am thankful for any clue.

Klaus
 
Grounding PSN is not enough. You then have to select the method of serial control, I2C or Three-Wire, and then write the appropriate code. DINL and DINR are only active in external digital filter mode (EXDF) and it is only an option in serial control mode.
 
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It is not the board it is the chip. If it needs programming , it needs programming no way around it. The only chip I am aware of that has a pin selectable external DF mode, giving you the simultaneous input mode, is the PCM1794A. Other than that it is glue logic and a remux'ing circuit.
 
If you search the datasheet for the data pin names (DINR and DINL) you will only find references to the special external digital filter mode that AKM supports and that is only 16/24/32 bit LSB format ( table 22) - not i2s. I have not seen any details about the format.
 
While I'm waiting for my, to be programmed, dac boards, I successfully managed to get iteration two working.
Here we have A Dante Module from Monisms
at work. It is a stereo two way system with true I2S out. I just hooked up my old AK 4490 board.
This dac module is modyfied with Oscon SEP Caps, LiFePo4 supplies for the digital and analog sections and bypassed opamps.
The combination sounds so analog, 3d like and detailed, that there is no going back to my former system. I have not even started my Windows Server 2016 in RAM yet, nor did I use HQplayer or any other special Software. Amazing, is all I can say.
Even if I would never use the multi-way functionality I would never go back to USB Audio.
The Singxer F1 with all its mods does not compare to this basic Dante module.
I hardly can wait to get the new dac boards progrmmed for the Brooklyn II system.
Pics of the actual setup are added later.

MNS-DANTE-I2S-R-04-1P

Klaus
 

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Strange that there is so little interess in this aproach.
I thought this ist diy audio and the PC based section.
$120 investment a few wires to attach and we got a source
that neither any USB device, nor a RPI with all its canadian gizmos ,
will be able to reach. On top of that there is the bonus of a
digital crossover for free.
Go figure.

Klaus
 
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