Signalyst DSC1

Thank you. The period of tests, the search for the optimal design and components is complete.
I'm working on the final release. But I would like to hear from everyone who is interested in DSC - How do you want to see it?
Before the final release, I am ready to discuss your proposals.

Pavel,

Congratulation!! Job well done. I just saw on CA that you have solved the problem with XMOS too.

I think the board should be "as general and as simple" as possible such that it would appeal to a large group of DYers. Different people want to hook it up differently e.g. output stages, isolated/unisolated USB to IIS etc. The originally idea of Signalyst for the DSC 1 was an open design and people can make whatever changes as see fits. I personally like the transformer output stage that you implemented earlier, simple and effective. My 2 cents. I am sure other people will have different views.

Regards,
 
BBB/Hermes/Cronus Success

barrows luchoh, thank you. I will review your suggestions and answer later.


Can this solution help you?
The DSC1 DAC as a way to understand how a simple DSD DAC actually works - Page 4 - DAC - Digital to Analog Conversion - Computer Audiophile
It is enough to replace two inverters with 74LVC1G04 at 74LVC1G34.
In the final version, this will be fixed.

@ppy: hats off to you! That was it.
Perhaps I'lll look into replacing the inverters. Especially if it would work with the rest of the DACs I have.

The good news: I realized that BBB Botic driver has the option to invert the phase. So I connected my BBB->Hermes->Cronus -> BCK.DSDL/DSDR ->DSC2.6 and pin 10 to pin7 to provide DSDEN. Same noise as before.
Then I changed
Code:
/sys/module/snd_soc_botic/parameters/dai_format
contents from the default 16385 to 17409.

Boom! Perfect sound. There are of course pops from the DSD start as the mute is not operational, but I'll deal with this later - for now I'm quite happy.

Thank you Pavel for your help and continuing support!
 
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I think the board should be "as general and as simple" as possible such that it would appeal to a large group of DYers. Different people want to hook it up differently e.g. output stages, isolated/unisolated USB to IIS etc. The originally idea of Signalyst for the DSC 1 was an open design and people can make whatever changes as see fits.
  1. The project will be licensed Open Hardware
    Full documentation and gerber for self-production will be available.
  2. The official name will be DSC2. I agreed this name with the author of DSC1.
  3. The output PCB will be replaceable as in v2.5. There will be places for installing transformers from different manufacturers. But while those Chinese transformers that I installed, I like the most in sound.
  4. The list will be supplemented .....

Dear friends, thank you for helping make the project convenient for everyone. I will comment on your wishes. I have a definite opinion after a large number of tests.
 
  1. The project will be licensed Open Hardware
    Full documentation and gerber for self-production will be available.
  2. The official name will be DSC2. I agreed this name with the author of DSC1.
  3. The output PCB will be replaceable as in v2.5. There will be places for installing transformers from different manufacturers. But while those Chinese transformers that I installed, I like the most in sound.
  4. The list will be supplemented .....

Dear friends, thank you for helping make the project convenient for everyone. I will comment on your wishes. I have a definite opinion after a large number of tests.
Great news thanks ppy
 
I believe DSC style designs require the DSDON and MUTE signals from the Amanero, since the TPA Hermes/Cronus has no provisions for those signals it will not work.

I'm working on a PCB that is essentially a TPA Hermes Amanero but with isolated outputs for DSDON and Mute. There's a little more to it as TPA Hermes/Cronus repurposes the Amanero Mute output for clock select but I believe that's solvable.

Happy to share when I polish off the initial board layout.
 
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  1. The project will be licensed Open Hardware
    Full documentation and gerber for self-production will be available.
  2. The official name will be DSC2. I agreed this name with the author of DSC1.
  3. The output PCB will be replaceable as in v2.5. There will be places for installing transformers from different manufacturers. But while those Chinese transformers that I installed, I like the most in sound.
  4. The list will be supplemented .....

Dear friends, thank you for helping make the project convenient for everyone. I will comment on your wishes. I have a definite opinion after a large number of tests.

Thank you for all your effort! Looking forward to your comments.

Regards,
 

TNT

Member
Joined 2003
Paid Member
Pavel: I wish for isolation between USB interface and DSC. Also, I would prefer the USB interface operated in slave mode, and the DAC PCB had a (better) XO on board, with a dedicated low noise LDO (LT-3045, etc). Then the clock could go back to USB interface through the isolators.
Also I would like to see pretty good current drive out of this, to drive amp input stages directly (or perhaps passive attenuators for some) as HQPlayer can control level, and very soon it appears more DSD capable VC are coming to other software players. Also at least 3.0 V out for 0dB signals.
I might like pre-mounted ICs as well, soldering SMD resistors by hand is no problem, but the ICs can be a little tricky for me.

+1
 
This is the PCB I'm working on - as yet unfinished as I have to sort out the power supplies to the isolators and it needs a careful check but you should get the idea.

The aim is to use a TPA cronus for clocking so the board is essentially a variant of the TPA Hermes but with the additional (isolated) connections for Mute and DSDon.

ZSH3sXg.png
 
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Pavel,

Congratulation!! Job well done. I just saw on CA that you have solved the problem with XMOS too.

I think the board should be "as general and as simple" as possible such that it would appeal to a large group of DYers. Different people want to hook it up differently e.g. output stages, isolated/unisolated USB to IIS etc. The originally idea of Signalyst for the DSC 1 was an open design and people can make whatever changes as see fits. I personally like the transformer output stage that you implemented earlier, simple and effective. My 2 cents. I am sure other people will have different views.

Regards,

1+
 
Pavel,

Congratulation!! Job well done. I just saw on CA that you have solved the problem with XMOS too.

I think the board should be "as general and as simple" as possible such that it would appeal to a large group of DYers. Different people want to hook it up differently e.g. output stages, isolated/unisolated USB to IIS etc. The originally idea of Signalyst for the DSC 1 was an open design and people can make whatever changes as see fits. I personally like the transformer output stage that you implemented earlier, simple and effective. My 2 cents. I am sure other people will have different views.

Regards,

+1. The I2S socket will enable a direct connection to Raspberry / Volumio player

Thanks for Your efforts, Pavel
 
IMVHO the 4137 is very promising and very versatile as well but in a few tests it was a weird animal soundwise... It does create an impression of a wide and deep soundstage with a lot of weight but somehow it homogenizes the sound and has that very difficult to describe, unnatural feeling of too much of upsampling. Kudos to Pavel for not falling for cheap tricks.
 
Hi Pavel, I'm still really enjoying my DSC2 - thanks.

Regarding a 'final' version, In my opinion you should keep your board very simple, essentially as you have it now, with a choice of output configuration. Keeping it simple gives people maximum choice, from a basic Amanero/DSC2 configuration to all sorts of options for offboard isolation/reclocking/upsampling/etc modules and enables upgrade experimentation. Trying to accomodate everyone's preferences will probably be impossible anyway.

The only change I suggest is to discard the plug-in power supply modules and provide simple connectors to allow a variety of power supply types to be used, which fits with my theme of maximum choice

Ray
 
Right now there so many good options for oversampling to DSD in software players (Audirvana Plus, ROON, Daphile, JRiver, HQPlayer, etc) that it is unnecessary to do the conversion in hardware.
These software players also take advantage of the far greater computing power available, in an actual computer, and do much better conversions as well. Adding an oversampling chip directly to this design would just add unnecessary complexity, and it could increase the local noise footprint as well (it is DSP after all). To me one of the big advantages of doing the conversion process this way is that it has a very low noise footprint on the board.