Thank you.
Would you guys think this would be a must for any S/PDIF DAC? I2S requires 3 lines minimum, which is a lot for equipment interconnection if you were to transmit via 75 ohm coax.
i'm not sure I understand what you mean. transmit what by 75ohm coax? and from where? its supposed to be installed in your dac. you would never transmit i2s by 75ohm coax, it should be 50ohms, you havent noticed the tiny u.fl micro BNC connectors and cables the fifo uses?
well put it this way, if you must persist in sticking with spdif, then this is a really good leveler and for the money its a steal, dacs that come with this sort of system run to 5 figures
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Connecting to Buffallo III
Good day, Ian!
I followed this thread with highest intrest though I understand the material just globally.
I own the Buff III as well and thriving for the best quality in using this DAC, I
like to use the Fifo and the double clockboard. My TP-Buffalo III setup exist of the four inputs SPidf module plus the sidecar, for switching between I2s and SPdif material. Next to this I use the Waveio USB-I2s card for playing Wav and Flac files from PC.
Can I just place the Fifo+clock between the output of the 4*Spidf board and the Dac? (for SPdif) And and (for the I2s connections) from the sidecar to the I2s connections of the Fifo to the I2s input of the Dac?
Or should I forget the sidecar and can I use both I2s an SPidf connections from the Fifo? And can I choose on the Fifo for both types of inputs?
Is it possible to use your SPdif-board in conjunction with the buffalo 4*input board?
Sorry, lots of questions, hopefully a simple answer,
Thank you for all your fantastic work!
Ed
I forgot who gave me this suggestion. But with running at sync mode, my own experiencing shows current BIII input port and the local XO adapter still have space getting some improvement for the last drop of juice. So I designed this PCB KIT. Actuall two adapters integrated together.
One is the input adapter. I put a 20P SMT head on the bottom side to get connect with B III, on the top side, there is a group of U.FL connectors which could improve the signal quality. For stereo I2S aplication, only three U.FL socket are required. Because at the sync mode, ESS9018 still very sensitive to the input I2S sck, improving the signal transmitting quality is very important.
The other one is the local clock adapter. It will be soldered vertically right above the local clock position by a right angle 3P connector pins. If you put a local XO (make use of the 100Mhz CCHD950 for example) into the socket, ESS9018 will run at async mode. or, If you want to run the sync mode, you just need to remove the local XO from the socket and connect the MCLK cable from FIFO clock board into the U.FL socket on the adapter PCB. So, you can switch between the two mode quickly to enjoy both, or doing some listing compare.
Ian
Good day, Ian!
I followed this thread with highest intrest though I understand the material just globally.
I own the Buff III as well and thriving for the best quality in using this DAC, I
like to use the Fifo and the double clockboard. My TP-Buffalo III setup exist of the four inputs SPidf module plus the sidecar, for switching between I2s and SPdif material. Next to this I use the Waveio USB-I2s card for playing Wav and Flac files from PC.
Can I just place the Fifo+clock between the output of the 4*Spidf board and the Dac? (for SPdif) And and (for the I2s connections) from the sidecar to the I2s connections of the Fifo to the I2s input of the Dac?
Or should I forget the sidecar and can I use both I2s an SPidf connections from the Fifo? And can I choose on the Fifo for both types of inputs?
Is it possible to use your SPdif-board in conjunction with the buffalo 4*input board?
Sorry, lots of questions, hopefully a simple answer,
Thank you for all your fantastic work!
Ed
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Hi Ed.
Basically FIFO is I2S in and i2S out, while with S/PDIF buard will be S/PDIFs in and I2S out. Anything under is condition is OK. I'm using the second configuration. I don't have the sidecar of the 4*SPDIF board. I suspect the 4*SPDIF boad could go before the spdif board. But the spdif board already have three spdif input
.Have a good night
Ian
Hi Ed.
Basically FIFO is I2S in and i2S out, while with S/PDIF buard will be S/PDIFs in and I2S out. Anything under is condition is OK. I'm using the second configuration. I don't have the sidecar of the 4*SPDIF board. I suspect the 4*SPDIF boad could go before the spdif board. But the spdif board already have three spdif input
Have a good night
Ian
Hi Ian
I have exactly the same configuration as Ed except I don't have the 4*S/PDIF. I still can't figure out how to connect FIFO and WaveIO to the BIII and switching between them. according to qusp, the sidecar is not a good choice for switching I2S signal. Can you give me some suggestion?
not really with the fifo it doesnt, not enough to worry about IMO. there are other advantages in that higher rates and multichannel can be achieved, but I think Ian has leveled the playing field considerably with this board
This was what I was trying to lead bigpandahk to, but was brief when typing on my phone.
Compromised i2s switching IMO is a worse solution than switching an spdif signal and feeding either spdif into FIFO. Certainly better to be spending the money on good quality clocks for the FIFO than on extra gear to allow switching of the i2s.
I am leaving spdif sources out of my system because i2s switching isn't for me and my only source is a computer.
I was thinking the opposite : usb-spdif-i2s-fifo-i2s is good for the galvanic isolation the spdif pulse transformer provides from the computer, at least better than an adum.
didnt say to get rid of the transformer, just have a separate reasonably well done spdif input + TTL level shifting and connect directly to the dac. for me that makes more sense than changing the whole signal path to accommodate an input I hardly ever use. plus spdif is band limited at lower speed than my i2s
This is my main concern, I use both Toslink and USB for input. The BIII can't switch between 2 I2S source.So the only option is USE-SPDIF-FIFO-I2S?
Clock Recommendations for Dual Mono Buff III
Currently planning a Buff III build using I2S FIFO and wanted some recommendations. I have read through the thread and have come away with the following assumptions:
1. The clock that most people are going with and liking seems to be the CCHD-957 in 45.1584 and 49.152. Is this correct or has a better option been discovered. Though I know largely this is a matter of opinion.
2. I'm not sure if I've seen a Dual Mono Buff III build using the FIFO yet. Has anyone built one yet and can advise on how to provide both Buff III with the same Clock and I2S output from a single FIFO ?
3. Reading the Buff III docs and thread it was mentioned that having the clock extremely close to the Buff III itself has really large benefits. Do folks feel that the FIFO with the Dual Clock Board out weigh the benefits of having the default clock on the Buff III so close physically thus having the absolute shortest path to the Buff III chip itself.
-TJ
Currently planning a Buff III build using I2S FIFO and wanted some recommendations. I have read through the thread and have come away with the following assumptions:
1. The clock that most people are going with and liking seems to be the CCHD-957 in 45.1584 and 49.152. Is this correct or has a better option been discovered. Though I know largely this is a matter of opinion.
2. I'm not sure if I've seen a Dual Mono Buff III build using the FIFO yet. Has anyone built one yet and can advise on how to provide both Buff III with the same Clock and I2S output from a single FIFO ?
3. Reading the Buff III docs and thread it was mentioned that having the clock extremely close to the Buff III itself has really large benefits. Do folks feel that the FIFO with the Dual Clock Board out weigh the benefits of having the default clock on the Buff III so close physically thus having the absolute shortest path to the Buff III chip itself.
-TJ