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New FIFO buffer for RPI/SBCs

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#2,103
soundcheck said:
Thx for giving the world a 5th supply option.

And another USB-C cable option to enlarge the ever growing cable spaghetti-knot. 😀

Joking aside.

You see that the whole power thing runs out of control, don't you!?!?

Why did you put that USB-C port at a different position than all other
ports on all the other boards again!?!?
Ok. I do understand that the front-right position wasn't taken yet on the tower. 🙄
But that's probably not been your intention!?!?


I pretty much gave up on consistent located soldering pads (or a common screw terminal).
I mentioned more then once - and I'm not alone with this - that a quality audio electronic should NOT
be powered through an USB port, which then also requires a low quality USB cable for powering the whole stuff. A NoNo.
.
And then you keep ignoring that hot subject - we discussed it several times over the years - and you just give
away these easy wins. :whazzat:
Click to expand...




The idea behind it , was to be powered by Nirvanas (that are still being tested today)
The power on isolator replaces the PI power. Our only choise was that side (opposite the RPI connector) and placing was dictated by layout. In any case , I am keeping in mind your sugestions and will implement them in new design (especially solder points for power , they dont take much space)
 
#2,104
Markw4 said:
Since some components are drawing varying currents through resistive traces and pin connectors, that modulates the voltage as power travels to more distant locations from where the power connector is. That does mean that the external voltage can be regulated perfectly, but it won't and can't stay regulated throughout all the boards in the stack. This is no different from any other precision dac, but is complicated by having separate boards with pin connectors to transfer power. If there were only one board and power planes were used along with ground plane then things could be very different. At it is with a stack, it probably does benefit from multiple supplies. If someone wants to know how much, start with three supplies, get used to how it sounds, then start removing one at a time. If you still find the sound good enough then for your purposes maybe one supply is enough.
Click to expand...

Yep. That's what I've been talking about.

You could even break it further down.
E.g. The PI power rails are really lowQ. You just experienced this.
You could hook up an Uptone LPS with potentially limited impact.
The Pi still wouldn't run that stable.

However. Adding a 330uF Oscon after the PI regs and right on the 5V rails might have a much bigger effect on stabilizing that board. (you might have seen that top quality PC motherboards do have numerous Oscons onboard)
Several people over here at DIY-A are now replacing the DC/DC converters against high quality ones - there's a PI power HAT available.


The same logic applies to a DAC chip. You can change whatever PS out there. There'll be minor changes. But if you'd play around with e.g. the $2 buffer cap on the AVDD pin it usually has a ten times greater effect. This advise
was given Allo some time ago over here. As a result you now see e.g. supercaps on the board.


It's always about getting rid of bottlenecks.
 
#2,105
smoothquark said:
I am planning to get the Katana soon. I was thinking of waiting for the isolator before I buy, to save on postage. Any idea when the Nirvana might be available?

I currently run a RPi into the USB DAC sectioon of a Marantz HD-AMP1, together with Robson Acoustics Voltaire Zero speakers - the speakers are fantastic and I am not sure whether the Marantz is doing them justice. In terms of volume, I am only running at about 1/3, but the sound quality is simply not good enough for me - it could be the digital volume of the Marantz and/or DAC + RPi combination.

I am therefore really looking forward to try the Katana, and am hoping that I would not be disappointed. I am considering replacing the Marantz (I think it uses Hypex UCD modules) for either Hypex NCores or Icepower 300ASC - the XTZ Edge 300 looks very good value for money (XTZ EDGE A2-300 power amp - XTZ Sound in Balance). What do people think?

In addition, it will be fantastic if there is a repository of drawings of back panels and bottom plates for enclosures like the Galaxy etc. I can put things together (but not an expert 🙂 ), but cannot design back panels to save my life...

A couple of other questions...

1. Will I be able to use a GPIO breakout like this (GPIO Interceptor GPIO Breakout for 40-pin Raspberry Pi – 4tronix) to have access to the GPIO for a rotary encoder etc? It will of course increase the height of the stack. I was also considering adding a small OLED screen for status and volume - I am using my own linux compile with mpd, and realise that I will have to compile in the alsa support for my usage.

2. I don't think the manual mentions it, but doesn't the ES9038 support a SPDIF input? If so, is this available?

Thank you.
Click to expand...


1. Katana has no access to GPIOs
2. Spidif input is not supported on master DACs


Speakers look good. I am using 400$ bookshelf speakers but they dont sound as good as main setup. I think regarding speakers that it has less to do with the price and more with capacity of enclosure (decay times etc..I am not an expert)
 
#2,110
cdsgames said:
The idea behind it , was to be powered by Nirvanas (that are still being tested today)
Click to expand...

If you seriously consider that at least 3 Nirvana's ( around $300) are to be used for
the tower in "Best Perfomance Mode"- and all connected by USB-C cables - I do have the feeling that the whole thing is turning into the wrong direction.

Nirvana - as far as I recall - also offers screw terminals - right?

I posted the multiple PS subject also over at Ians thread yesterday. Ian responded to it quickly.

Ian is a step ahead of you guys. He already build some SuperCaps buffers - these pretty much act like highest quality batteries. What he says/thinks - as I read his answer - is that he might solve the multiple PS issue by attaching multiple supercapbuffers to a single feed. That looks like a promising approach to me.


Anyhow. Let's enjoy what we have. It's a great starting point into the 2018 audio season. 😉
 
#2,112
Hello cdsgames,

I was curious about this DAC and looked at powering options in the manual. I am not sure you have already spoken about this.

If we use three supplies to power Katana, there is power up sequence mentioned. Is it really necessary to maintain this sequence? Assume I want to put this DAC along with three power supplies in a bigger aluminum case, I would like to have one power supply switch for the DAC. But having only one power supply switch will mean I cannot maintain the power up sequence.

I am thinking this will be a problem and not sure if I am missing something. Can you please clarify if this is possible to do at all for this DAC?

Thanks
 
#2,113
baswamin said:
Hello cdsgames,

I was curious about this DAC and looked at powering options in the manual. I am not sure you have already spoken about this.

If we use three supplies to power Katana, there is power up sequence mentioned. Is it really necessary to maintain this sequence? Assume I want to put this DAC along with three power supplies in a bigger aluminum case, I would like to have one power supply switch for the DAC. But having only one power supply switch will mean I cannot maintain the power up sequence.

I am thinking this will be a problem and not sure if I am missing something. Can you please clarify if this is possible to do at all for this DAC?

Thanks
Click to expand...


Frankly if you power the 3 boards in the same time it should be no problem
 
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