I made A/B comparisons that where about a few hours apart.
By having the Chinese FIFO DDC in the chain I am equally impressed with the Wiim Ultra or the cellphone as a source. That thing seems to reconstruct the digital signal/data really well.
If one does not need the convenience to hook up different sources he/she/it 😵💫 can use USB Player Pro in bit perfect mode streaming Tidal or playing stored music at really high quality.
I did not expect that at all.
USB Player Pro even passes YouTube audio of course not bit perfect.
If there are sonic differences between the Wiim Ultra and the cell phone using the UAC1 DDC they are not to the extent that I would choose one over the other.
This is a preliminary accessment as I didn't spend much time on the comparisons.
Setup at the moment is:
Wiim Ultra or cell phone into
Fifo DDC into
Chinese R2R Dac with Sparkos Pro 2590 opamps into
Cary SLP 90 tube pre clone into
LM4780 Amp into
Quad L21 speakers
And before you ask...No I wouldn't change or leave out a thing.
Klaus
By having the Chinese FIFO DDC in the chain I am equally impressed with the Wiim Ultra or the cellphone as a source. That thing seems to reconstruct the digital signal/data really well.
If one does not need the convenience to hook up different sources he/she/it 😵💫 can use USB Player Pro in bit perfect mode streaming Tidal or playing stored music at really high quality.
I did not expect that at all.
USB Player Pro even passes YouTube audio of course not bit perfect.
If there are sonic differences between the Wiim Ultra and the cell phone using the UAC1 DDC they are not to the extent that I would choose one over the other.
This is a preliminary accessment as I didn't spend much time on the comparisons.
Setup at the moment is:
Wiim Ultra or cell phone into
Fifo DDC into
Chinese R2R Dac with Sparkos Pro 2590 opamps into
Cary SLP 90 tube pre clone into
LM4780 Amp into
Quad L21 speakers
And before you ask...No I wouldn't change or leave out a thing.
Klaus
What does DDC mean! And is that Chinese one any different/better to an Ian Canada Fifo or an Allo Kali?
I never used anything from Ian or Allo but I tried many DDCs including a modified Singxer F1 and this Chinese DDC is a good step up. Heck for the asking price it's a steal.
For a portable system I will use a wooden box and stick the DDC underneath the lid soldering a USB C plug to the board. This will protrude the lid so I can place the cell phone on it. No cable needed.
For a portable system I will use a wooden box and stick the DDC underneath the lid soldering a USB C plug to the board. This will protrude the lid so I can place the cell phone on it. No cable needed.
I just found this on AliExpress:
￡79.12 | UAC1 USB digital interface
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EvCrsdm
Apparently comes with hdmi now and not SMA coax
I believe JP might be referring to your statement, "no cable needed," though I could be mistaken and he`s hinting at sth different — JP's expertise is well beyond mine.
Yes it only comes with I2S via HDMI.
There is a Wolfson Spdiff converter chip on the board that has 3 smd resistors on the input where the I2S signal can be tapped.
Mclk is on a resistor only 15mm away from the others.
That confused me when looking at a diagram of hdmi I2S pin out. I never knew I2S could have +/- !
OK, back to the Ultra topic. It seems the Ultra is very user friendly on the software side of things but apparently the DAC leaves something to be desired. People start to plug in various external devices as a solution. External stuff is eh... external and clutter often needing its own PSU which is all more clutter. Solving a problem is best done at the root IMHO. Instead of adding a fifth wheel and a second steering wheel we could try to make it better technically by taking away what is not OK in our opinion.
So: can the internal DAC be improved or replaced? Having an internal improved situation with excellent local regulators and discrete or transformer based output stage seems more effective. Or is stuff well designed and is it just a matter of audiophilitis?
We have seen that the internal SMPS can practically not be replaced but maybe the DAC and its output stage section possibly can be upgraded. It saves a few conversions and interfaces and that certainly won't hurt. As known I don't have the Ultra but I am highly interested in it and willing to draw improvement boards. Information has to be given by those that have an Ultra and can measure dimensions etc.
No making a new board is time & effort & testing & fuss & wishes by many. What if... what if the opamps would be replaced just like the electrolytic caps? What if we place shielding over the complete circuit? Is there space enough to do so? What if such modifications make the Ultra not needing any external clutter anymore? Wow, imagine we as tech guys making it better than before without piles of extra stuff!
So: can the internal DAC be improved or replaced? Having an internal improved situation with excellent local regulators and discrete or transformer based output stage seems more effective. Or is stuff well designed and is it just a matter of audiophilitis?
We have seen that the internal SMPS can practically not be replaced but maybe the DAC and its output stage section possibly can be upgraded. It saves a few conversions and interfaces and that certainly won't hurt. As known I don't have the Ultra but I am highly interested in it and willing to draw improvement boards. Information has to be given by those that have an Ultra and can measure dimensions etc.
No making a new board is time & effort & testing & fuss & wishes by many. What if... what if the opamps would be replaced just like the electrolytic caps? What if we place shielding over the complete circuit? Is there space enough to do so? What if such modifications make the Ultra not needing any external clutter anymore? Wow, imagine we as tech guys making it better than before without piles of extra stuff!
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I've removed the switching module and connected a 12 V supply to where it's output pins were connected, which seems to work ok. So space not an issue if PS is external.
Keyword being "external" 🙂 Space is practically never an issue when adding external stuff but eventually space in the home will be an issue.
My vision is to have a well designed and fine sounding setup with as least as possible external stuff and superfluous wiring/cabling/connectors/wall warts. Tight & tidy & electrically sound without any possible impact on reliability.
My vision is to have a well designed and fine sounding setup with as least as possible external stuff and superfluous wiring/cabling/connectors/wall warts. Tight & tidy & electrically sound without any possible impact on reliability.
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Sometimes one has to accept a limitation, in this case the small size of its casing. Then another device might have been a better choice. One knows beforehand that devices practically all have SMPS. We also know beforehand what size a device is. A matchbox sized device can't be upgraded with a linear PSU based on a transformer. So one could have chosen a device a bit larger or add external stuff and still have a large footprint with cabling and extra stuff as a reward.
The PSU is hardly seen in the measurements of the Ultra. It is more the wish to have it very clean. It would be nice if someone that did buy that too expensive linear PSU could remeasure the Ultra. Probably adding an AmyAlice filter to the SMPS would already be enough.
The PSU is hardly seen in the measurements of the Ultra. It is more the wish to have it very clean. It would be nice if someone that did buy that too expensive linear PSU could remeasure the Ultra. Probably adding an AmyAlice filter to the SMPS would already be enough.
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