DQ DAC 2, BIII SE, Tube-I-Zator, Arduino, Amanero Build

[DQ828]

I have already built a standard BIII using the IVY as the output stage & control it all with an Arduino Mega, I'll call my approach passive control as I did not remove the BIII firmware chip. When I setout on that journey I was not aware of HifiDUINO and the fact that the BIII could be controlled directly from the Arduino via the removal of the BIII firmware chip, that I could never have worked out for myself. As I had already set my goals and was well into the project I decided to see my approach to it's final conclusion, which I'm glad to say I have done and it's all working very satisfactory. I have had lots of help on the way & I thank all of those people very much. I have included a photo of the original which is still in it's prototype cloths.

I have always wanted to try tubes/valves and after much reading finally decided the preamp DAC stage was probably the way to go, at least for me that is. I had originally intended on removing the IVY from the original build and installing the Tube-I-Zator in it's place, but after coming across the HiFiDUINO blog and after much hand wringing and bank account fretting the DIY bug go the best of me again, so I decided to build a completely separate DAC = DQ DAC 2

I have gathered all (or most) of the components & as soon as my speakers are completely finished I will get this project into full swing.
One of the really scary parts of the project is the code required to make the whole thing work, if it wasn't for a very helpful community I would never be able to do it on my own as I am code challenged. I had a lot of help from my ex (yes my ex wife who was a programmer in a past life) on the original build as well as other DIYers.

So this build will consist of:

• BIII SE
• Tube-I-Zator I/V Stage
• Arduino Mega
• ITead Studio 3.2 TFT LCD Touch Shield
• Amanero USB interface
• 12V Trigger outputs to trigger my amps & Active analogue crossover
• SPDIF, Toslink & BNC inputs I think.
• Apple Remote control, damn I need to buy another one.

I do have one issue with the Apple remote I am using at the moment which is small & beautifully made, I keep losing it

The remote will control the:

• Volume
• Balance
• Source Selection
• Sleep function
• Dimming Screen backlight
• and many other functions that HiFiDUINO and others have built in.

As I am also electronically challenged I am drawing a diagram of how it will all go together before I start building, that way I hope to reduce errors & disasters.

I'm looking at using Potato Flip Flops so I can re-clock the Amanero with the BIII clock, of course I'll be standing on the shoulders of giants to make that happen.

As I have purchased parts of the build at different stages with different outcomes in mind I do have at least one issue I haven't worked out yet. When I had the transformer made for the Tube-I-Zator I had an extra 5v secondary put in, now I wish I had made it a 12v secondary. As it stands I figure I'll probably be able to run the Mega from the 5v secondary but I will not be able to run the 12v triggers from it which means I need another PSU, which I was hoping not to have.

[hochopeper]

Just had a quick skim of your plans, looks fun!

Being a touch pedantic and I know you haven't had a chance to think it through yet, but, I think you'll need to re-think the reclocking scheme, you won't be using the fixed speed clock from the BIII for the reclocking. Maybe I'm mistaken though? qusp/bigpandhak/glt will be along and correct me I am sure In fact, is the reclocking mod mostly for those who are using synch mclk for the DAC? Or does it help for asynch too?? Hmmm I'm no 9018 pro so best wait for the brains trust to arrive ...

Acko might be able to help you with a new board he's working on that could get you a neat solution with the Amanero though

[DQ828]

Originally Posted by hochopeper

Just had a quick skim of your plans, looks fun!

Being a touch pedantic and I know you haven't had a chance to think it through yet, but, I think you'll need to re-think the reclocking scheme, you won't be using the fixed speed clock from the BIII for the reclocking. Maybe I'm mistaken though? qusp/bigpandhak/glt will be along and correct me I am sure In fact, is the reclocking mod mostly for those who are using synch mclk for the DAC? Or does it help for asynch too?? Hmmm I'm no 9018 pro so best wait for the brains trust to arrive ...

Acko might be able to help you with a new board he's working on that could get you a neat solution with the Amanero though

I could have got the whole reclocking thing clocked up

Hmm $150, my budget is already blown & I dont have a case yet.

[hochopeper]

Originally Posted by DQ828

I could have got the whole reclocking thing clocked up

Hmm $150, my budget is already blown & I dont have a case yet.

$150 is for the Teflon board and designed to match his turbo clock, he's talking about a vanilla version too, price as yet unknown.

[qusp]

yes, unless you are actually using the amanero clock for clocking the BIIISE the reclocking mod is totally superfluous. the BIIISE already uses its onboard clock to not only control the dac, I believe it has some flipflops that reclock the incoming bck/lrck/sdata now. you can see them directly after the i2s inputs IC5.ICx, ICx on D2, D1, DCK.

the amanero reclocking mod is only of any benefit if you plan to use the ESS in Synchronous mode, at which point I would suggest you get a fifo reclocker , because the onboard clocks on the amanero will not allow the full 44.1->384 speeds with the oversampling filter turned on, they need 90.3168/98.304MHz clocks for that, so they are 4x too slow unless you disable the OSF.

otherwise have fun!! the acko lower budget version should still allow the reclocking cleanly at the speeds supported, perhaps we could suggest an optional 4 x multiplication of the clock on his board, which could add very minimal jitter.

[glt]

Originally Posted by qusp

yes, unless you are actually using the amanero clock for clocking the BIIISE the reclocking mod is totally superfluous. the BIIISE already uses its onboard clock to not only control the dac, I believe it has some flipflops that reclock the incoming bck/lrck/sdata now. you can see them directly after the i2s inputs IC5.ICx, ICx on D2, D1, DCK.

the amanero reclocking mod is only of any benefit if you plan to use the ESS in Synchronous mode, at which point I would suggest you get a fifo reclocker , because the onboard clocks on the amanero will not allow the full 44.1->384 speeds with the oversampling filter turned on, they need 90.3168/98.304MHz clocks for that, so they are 4x too slow unless you disable the OSF.

otherwise have fun!! the acko lower budget version should still allow the reclocking cleanly at the speeds supported, perhaps we could suggest an optional 4 x multiplication of the clock on his board, which could add very minimal jitter.

See Buffalo III - SE

There is still benefit in reclocking the Amanero output with the Amanero clocks into a asynchronously operated Sabre32 but you are limited to 192K.

You could also take the output clock from the clock on-board the BIII and use that clock to reclock the output of the amanero board. This will not limit the SR to 192K since this clock is 100 MHz.

[DQ828]

I will get the whole thing up & running before I do the reclocking, I imagine that will be some time away.

[SCompRacer]

Originally Posted by DQ828

I will get the whole thing up & running before I do the reclocking, I imagine that will be some time away.

I was hoping you would do the clocking thing sooner so I can figure out what to do with mine.

I like your plan!

[qusp]

Originally Posted by glt

See Buffalo III - SE

There is still benefit in reclocking the Amanero output with the Amanero clocks into a asynchronously operated Sabre32 but you are limited to 192K.

You could also take the output clock from the clock on-board the BIII and use that clock to reclock the output of the amanero board. This will not limit the SR to 192K since this clock is 100 MHz.

what makes you think amanero will work at 100MHz or a multiple/division of it?

oh hang on, you are suggesting to do exactly what I thought was already happening?

[qusp]

Originally Posted by glt

See Buffalo III - SE

There is still benefit in reclocking the Amanero output with the Amanero clocks into a asynchronously operated Sabre32 but you are limited to 192K.

You could also take the output clock from the clock on-board the BIII and use that clock to reclock the output of the amanero board. This will not limit the SR to 192K since this clock is 100 MHz.

hmm OK interesting, well sure have a bash. I was under the impression that they do reclock the incoming clock to the onboard clock and they looked like the best candidates.