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Twisted Pear Audio - Buffalo32S (ES9018 DAC)

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#724
Spirit02 said:
How'd you go Russ?


I presume it will still take an I2S stream too?

Waiting (im)patiently! 😛

Keep up the good work 🙂
Click to expand...


Hi,

Thanks for the encouragement. One of the very cool things about having so much time wrapped up in designing for this chip, is I have had so much experience on which to draw while I have designed this new board.

The new board builds on the experiences gained and I have put a lot of time and work into it. A lot of prototyping and proving ideas. A lot of "back to the drawing board" moments.

After all that, I really think I have something very special now. I don't want to give away too much yet. But new production boards are ordered and should be here in days. All that's left is to build up a couple, and then ramp up for production.

There are some really cool features in the new board. You don't lose any of the things you like about the Buffalo, and you gain a lot of options.

Each of the digital supplies is on-board and ready to roll, but each can be defeated and external supplies used. There are headers to support this. It's your choice.

The board supports the same flexibly in regard to stereo or mono input formats as buffalo(and buf32S) did. Consumer or TTL level SPDIF, as well as DSD or PCM. Configuration is simple as always.

The output stage is separate, but not compromised. I worked hard a new layout for IVY II that has an extremely short signal path at the critical input section. It also has some new changes that reflect the experiences I have had in designing output stages for this chip.

Also there is a wicked cool little plug-in extremely low impedance/low noise shunt regulator for AVCC that is something very special. It solves a lot of technical hurdles which have always been present, and are not simply remedied. It is the best solution I have found so far.

Even the clock section on the PCB allows for using the on-board XO with a crystal, or the same ultra low phase noise clock of the Buf32S. It can be built either way.

The board exposes all of the parts of the circuit one may want to experiment with. You can change supplies, output stages, clocks, firmware, etc. 🙂

The layout is optimized with an eye on EMI and especially to get the most out of the chip. I really worked hard on the ground plane strategy and the supply bypassing. Buffalo was a good first effort, and Buf32S grew into something incredibly successful and personally satisfying beyond my hopes. Now, "Buffalo II" as I am calling it is a natural evolution based on the experience and success of those two projects (not to mention the COD and Opus) as well as the result of requests many people had. This new PCB fulfills many of my own wants and brings to fruition some my own new ideas. I didn't want to just "redo" Buffalo. Really, what I wanted was to draw inspiration from it while working on something much better.

It has been a long time coming, but that's because the new design took a lot of work to get right. Lots of prototyping bits and pieces and working details out. I am a designer. The joy is not just in the result, but the work.

So thanks for being patient. I hope you enjoy the Buffalo Ii as much as I have enjoyed working on it.

Thanks to you guys who help keep me excited about this stuff. Especially thanks to Brian. There is no Twisted Pear Audio without you man.

Cheers!
Russ
 
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#730
Russ and Brian,
Take your time..... Patience is a virtue! (I would love to beta-test......)
Buffalo B32S is great - and I hope Buffalo II will be even greater!!
Thanks for designing and making it available for the DIY-community!!!!
Nic
 
#736
Buffalo32 / Volumite

A little while ago I bought and installed the Volumite on my B32 DAC and I promised to try it direct to my amp versus using it into my Lightspeed / NP B1.

Initially I only ever used the B32 with the volume at max into the LSA/B1 as I also had my Vinyl connected. However a few months ago I had to dismantle my system and pack it away; a couple of weeks ago I finally managed to start reconnecting it - I left the vinyl out of the system, plugged in a MUX4 and went directly from the B32 to the amp.

The sound was OK and after a visit from some friends I had to agree that OK was about it - gone was the beautiful sound I used to know - the top end was muffled and the bass boomy.

So I plugged back in the LSA/B1 - quite an improvement. Then I removed this and plugged in one of the prototype DCB1/Hypnotize boards I had built - now I was not only back to the excellent sound I had before, but it was sounding even better than that - more open, more detail, better controlled bass.

The power amp is a gainclone (Peter Daniels) and I cannot drive it from the LSA nor the B32 without a buffer; however B32 Balanced to Stax works wonderfully well. I would assume that other amps with higher input impedance would work a lot better in this situation.

I am now going to put the Hypnotize board into the dac box with it sitting directly on the unbalanced outputs. The analogue side will have its own path to the power amp via another buffer - probably the LSA with another Hypnotize buffer.

So for the time being the digital side is very well sorted!😀😀😀
 
#737
AlanElsdon said:
, plugged in a MUX4 and went directly from the B32 to the amp.

The sound was OK and after a visit from some friends I had to agree that OK was about it - gone was the beautiful sound I used to know - the top end was muffled and the bass boomy.

So I plugged back in the LSA/B1 - quite an improvement. Then I removed this and plugged in one of the prototype DCB1/Hypnotize boards I had built - now I was not only back to the excellent sound I had before, but it was sounding even better than that - more open, more detail, better controlled bass.

The power amp is a gainclone (Peter Daniels) and I cannot drive it from the LSA nor the B32 without a buffer; however B32 Balanced to Stax works wonderfully well. I would assume that other amps with higher input impedance would work a lot better in this situation.
Click to expand...


Just wondering, did you cut the traces as recommended in the manual? I noticed quite an improvement in sound when I did.

...from the manual
The PCB has 4 marks near the outputs which when cut make the output impedance 21Ω. People using the DAC to
drive headphones may wish to leave those uncut. Those using the DAC into capacitive cables and/or an amplifier will
want to cut those traces
 
#738
ichiban said:
Just wondering, did you cut the traces as recommended in the manual? I noticed quite an improvement in sound when I did.

...from the manual
The PCB has 4 marks near the outputs which when cut make the output impedance 21Ω. People using the DAC to
drive headphones may wish to leave those uncut. Those using the DAC into capacitive cables and/or an amplifier will
want to cut those traces
Click to expand...

Hi, yes I did cut the traces - successfully as far as I know, but I will re-check before I start putting the buffer into the B32 box.

Everything works as expected, it just seems to be a possible impedance mismatch.😕
 
#740
BrianDonegan said:
Driving higher impedances is not typically a problem; it is usually driving lower impedances which require a buffer.

The B32 can easily drive low impedances, however, and has absolutely no issue driving high impedance loads.
Click to expand...

Brian,

I had been wanting to redo the layout of the B32 and all its bits in my case, so I will do more checking - wiring / tracks etc and repeat the tests.

On a different topic I am looking at various ways of bi-amping my speakers, one of which is to keep the signal digital until the power amps; to this end I would need two Buffalo 32 DACs. Will the new Buffalo only support 2 channels, that is would I need a pair of them? A possibly cheaper option would be to buy another one of the current B32's to ensure compatability - will they still be available when the new boards become available?

Alan
 
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