Thanks of the tips, both of them were considered.
One of our diyinhk XMOS card is isolated, the other is not. Though comparision is rather difficult, because one of them is molded directly to it's DAC board with a 20 pin connector, so it seems to be difficult to disconnect. It's still a question wether isolator is a good thing, or causes more problems than it solves.
We do not have Reflector D. Currently we use another SMPS also sayed "very good", next week program is how it performs against a linear power supply. Generally speaking I prefer linear, while while my partner prefers SMPS. It's a question, we can agree or selecting different PSU?
One of our diyinhk XMOS card is isolated, the other is not. Though comparision is rather difficult, because one of them is molded directly to it's DAC board with a 20 pin connector, so it seems to be difficult to disconnect. It's still a question wether isolator is a good thing, or causes more problems than it solves.
We do not have Reflector D. Currently we use another SMPS also sayed "very good", next week program is how it performs against a linear power supply. Generally speaking I prefer linear, while while my partner prefers SMPS. It's a question, we can agree or selecting different PSU?
You may want to read up some of the threads here. While certainly specific to the vendor (Twisted Pear Audio), the fact, that they experimented with the RasperryPi and settled on the BeagleBoneBlack, two other SBCs, may have lead to interesting findings. It seems they have done a lot to the clocking, like creating an external clock, etc.
Maybe you will find some interesting info, even if it does not solve your problem, per se.
This may be the topic, that started it all:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/twisted-pear/250583-building-open-embedded-audio-applicance.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/twisted-pear/250583-building-open-embedded-audio-applicance.html
Aggressivity gone. Nothing to do with the SBC boards, possibly new unused boards, and the fresh soldering required to set up the boards caused some harshness.
After a week, I2S easily beats the UBS->XMOS type connection.
We have compared the three boards.
The Odroid XU4 is big disappointment. It has problems with USB3, if switching the board off, there is a good chance it forgets the SSD/HDD mounted to it. And to remount it takes no less than fifteen minutes while it rebuilds music file database with 32000 music file from the HDD. See https://www.google.hu/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=odroid xu4 usb3 issue . They say this issue can be solved by cleaning the USB3 parts with alchohol, but this is not true. The USB3 chip simply bad. One of the two boards even died when removing an HDD from the USB3. There are also to many probles with the I2S. First it has 1.8V output, while must of the DACs require 3.3V. They have 1.8V -> 3.3/5.0V shifter card, but what a coincidence, the I2S and I2C is not supported! And when when it was solved diy, it seems the official Ubuntu kernel does not connects to the I2S. We tried it through the USB2 output only.
There were no such problems with the Odroid C1+, it works with both I2S and USB2 as intended.
After initial setting (a few resistor had to be resoldered to another position) the CubieTruck/CubieBoard3 also worked fine.
Sonically, the CubieTruck was the winner. It's a rather old guy, also the most costly of the three candidates. It's not a powerstation, but it will be used for listening music only, and it has more than enough CPU power for this purpose. It has good I/O capability, and it seems more important.
We used HDD and SSD input sources for the test. Though not a special "audiofil SSD", my Samsung 840 EVO 1TB performed better than the HDDs, so the SSD will be dedicated to the cubie, which has a nativ SATA2 controller (very rare feature in ARM boards).
Battery power supply was also tried against an SMPS sayed "very good". We had some lithium ions (2800mAh, 6000mAh and 12000mAh) to try with the Cubie.
The stability, dynamics and details were improved with the battery solution. And size counts, but we hadn't more than 12000mAh at the time. Possibly battery type also counts, I think it worth to try a LiFePo4 also.
After a week, I2S easily beats the UBS->XMOS type connection.
We have compared the three boards.
The Odroid XU4 is big disappointment. It has problems with USB3, if switching the board off, there is a good chance it forgets the SSD/HDD mounted to it. And to remount it takes no less than fifteen minutes while it rebuilds music file database with 32000 music file from the HDD. See https://www.google.hu/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=odroid xu4 usb3 issue . They say this issue can be solved by cleaning the USB3 parts with alchohol, but this is not true. The USB3 chip simply bad. One of the two boards even died when removing an HDD from the USB3. There are also to many probles with the I2S. First it has 1.8V output, while must of the DACs require 3.3V. They have 1.8V -> 3.3/5.0V shifter card, but what a coincidence, the I2S and I2C is not supported! And when when it was solved diy, it seems the official Ubuntu kernel does not connects to the I2S. We tried it through the USB2 output only.
There were no such problems with the Odroid C1+, it works with both I2S and USB2 as intended.
After initial setting (a few resistor had to be resoldered to another position) the CubieTruck/CubieBoard3 also worked fine.
Sonically, the CubieTruck was the winner. It's a rather old guy, also the most costly of the three candidates. It's not a powerstation, but it will be used for listening music only, and it has more than enough CPU power for this purpose. It has good I/O capability, and it seems more important.
We used HDD and SSD input sources for the test. Though not a special "audiofil SSD", my Samsung 840 EVO 1TB performed better than the HDDs, so the SSD will be dedicated to the cubie, which has a nativ SATA2 controller (very rare feature in ARM boards).
Battery power supply was also tried against an SMPS sayed "very good". We had some lithium ions (2800mAh, 6000mAh and 12000mAh) to try with the Cubie.
The stability, dynamics and details were improved with the battery solution. And size counts, but we hadn't more than 12000mAh at the time. Possibly battery type also counts, I think it worth to try a LiFePo4 also.
Nice report Abra.For me the difference between the Odroid C1+ and the Cubietruck is not evident,the FIFO reclocking does its job.
You should try place your libraries on a NAS Server also.
The C1+ is more easily integrated in the DAC, it is smaller,and his connector I2S 2,54 mm pitch can be replaced by MMCX connector.
You should try place your libraries on a NAS Server also.
The C1+ is more easily integrated in the DAC, it is smaller,and his connector I2S 2,54 mm pitch can be replaced by MMCX connector.
Depending on the architecture of SBC boards,less interrupt,supply noise
Another test to do
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Maybe you are right in case of SBCs, where HDD/SSD can be connected through crappy US2 bus.
But the Cubie has nativ SATA support, and hard to belive that the extra NASH (with SATA) + router + Ethernet ports + cables + connectors + PSUs + softwares has any sonic advantege over the single local SATA. Though I didn't try it.
Fortunatelly the Cubie has 2 BGyte RAM, with the possibily of well caching the SSD, or even to set up a RAM drive to minimize/skip the use of SATA during play, I think it worth a try.
I want to use the Ethernet for remote controlling the Cubie from my phone/laptop/desktop computers, and for listening online radio stations.
While the combined Wifi/Bluetooth will be at least blocked/shaded, or even removed entirely.
At the end there is also no need to use the USB at all. There are other parths like GPU that are unnecessary for music playing. To many possibilities.
But the Cubie has nativ SATA support, and hard to belive that the extra NASH (with SATA) + router + Ethernet ports + cables + connectors + PSUs + softwares has any sonic advantege over the single local SATA. Though I didn't try it.
Fortunatelly the Cubie has 2 BGyte RAM, with the possibily of well caching the SSD, or even to set up a RAM drive to minimize/skip the use of SATA during play, I think it worth a try.
I want to use the Ethernet for remote controlling the Cubie from my phone/laptop/desktop computers, and for listening online radio stations.
While the combined Wifi/Bluetooth will be at least blocked/shaded, or even removed entirely.
At the end there is also no need to use the USB at all. There are other parths like GPU that are unnecessary for music playing. To many possibilities.
You can also apply this http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/278846-interrupt-linux-music-server.html#post4429126
You can also apply this http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/278846-interrupt-linux-music-server.html#post4429126
Here is another interesting review of cubie: CubieTruck Metal Case Kit Getting Started Guide and Review
Do not use NTFS but EXT4 if you want better SATA performance.
Yes,ideally a coaxial connector is best for I2S signal,on the Cubie it's difficult to implement,in this case we can use a little adapter
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...mate-weapon-fight-jitter-366.html#post4422452
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...mate-weapon-fight-jitter-366.html#post4422452
Use an oscilloscope and look at the outputs with a dummy load. If the problem is noise you will be able to see the problem even with no signal playing, so long as the DAC is "locked" on. WHen a problem is this bad, I guarantee you can see it.
Make sure your connections are galvanically isolated. Make sure your PC AC supply and audio AC supply are separated by a filter. At least use ferite beads on the AC line, if not better. Make sure you aren't running your digital cables back around another source of noise.
Under no circumstances lift the ground from a power supply pin.
Good luck,
Erik
Eriksquires turnaround
Abra
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/223936-i2s-cable-wire-type.html#post3248684
Abra
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/223936-i2s-cable-wire-type.html#post3248684
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