Something cool for Raspberry Pi/ODROID: I2S/DSD isolator HAT with native DSD decoder

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iancanada

iancanada

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Joined 2009
twitter.com/iancanadaTT
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sckramer said:
Ian, So my replacement works!

Started comparing with a simple i2s source, a raw hifiberry digi+pro (no on board regulation, at least with my beta board).

It's surprisingly easy to hear the improvement even on headphones! It's digging down into the noise, bringing out subtlety. Easier to get into the volume, nice varied leading edge.

Learning that you are not isolating/mirroring all GPIO's. For example this digi+pro relies on GPIO5 (44.1x) and 6 (48x) to select the crystal -- so I set piCorePlayer to sample everything to 48. (It passes thru GPIO6)

I don't plan on using the digi+pro, but thought the digi+pro would be a pretty popular board to use with this...

Any thoughts?

Thanks!!!

PS. I'll send you that half broken board this week.
Click to expand...

Hi sckramer,

Glad to know you received it and happy with it. I like your setup, very clean and clear.

Yes, IsolatorPi has good result working with DAC/digital interface in master clock mode. I'll take it into consideration to see if I could support digi+ pro in later on upgrade. Besides GPIO5,6 for digi+pro, is there any other GPIO need to be isolated?

Regards,
Ian
 
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F

franz159

Member
Joined 2015
MikeyFresh said:
Sometimes it is difficult to determine what is actually currently available from another country, even with the wonders of Google Translate.

I find it challenging to know for sure whether something like the TerraBerry HAT from Japan is actually available for shipment to the U.S. much less actually DSD compatible and with a proper driver available for the specific software I wish to use (Moode 3.7).

Ditto the super cool looking TauDAC from Germany, but is this vaporware? My attempts to contact the developer via their web contact form have gone unanswered.

In my case I think Ian's forthcoming (soon?) ES9018 board is probably my best bet, or maybe the previously announced but seemingly dormant Soekris DAM1231 project will pan out. Allo also seems a likely candidate to potentially offer such a DAC HAT, and I'd certainly love to see Mamboberry take a stab at it.

According to Tim @ Moode, the driver availability is no trivial piece to this. So for instance would Ian's forthcoming DAC board likely work with an existing ES9018 driver such as the one for Twisted Pear?
Click to expand...

Hi everybody.

A follow up on the Terra-Berry Dac 2 mentioned in the above post.

RaspberryPi Terra-Berry - テラテクノス株式会社

According to the spec, the Dac provides for separate power input to the dac and to the raspberry
terraberry2_power.png


If that's the case, wouldn't that make the isolator un-necessary?

Also what about this clock spec:
Built-in small crystal oscillator excellent in phase noise characteristics as master clock (45.1584 MHz for 44.1 KHz, 49.152 MHz for 48 KHz)
Automatic switching of master clock

Thanks
 
sckramer

sckramer

Member
Joined 2010
iancanada said:
Hi sckramer,

Glad to know you received it and happy with it. I like your setup, very clean and clear.

Yes, IsolatorPi has good result working with DAC/digital interface in master clock mode. I'll take it into consideration to see if I could support digi+ pro in later on upgrade. Besides GPIO5,6 for digi+pro, is there any other GPIO need to be isolated?

Regards,
Ian
Click to expand...

Think that's the biggie for GPIO support (GPIO5), there's amp mute & ir stuff, but think you already have that covered, or can use the un-isolated header.

I've seen here and there you can remap GPIO's somewhere in the kernel, or dev overlay... maybe someone knows how to do that easily?

you isolate these: GPIO22, GPIO25, GPIO6

map GPIO5-->GPIO22 & jumper 22-->5 on the digi+pro could be a possible solution?
 
F

franz159

Member
Joined 2015
I received the isolator and the DOP decoder back in July, but I did not have time to put it to work...:)
Just a quick confirmation: is the isolator confirmed to work with Allo Boss Dac running in master mode?
Or does anybody have any other recommendation for which HAT dac to use? (this is waiting for Ian DSD Dac Hat).

Thanks for any input!
 
L

lucser

Member
Joined 2015
502dac or 502dacpro

Which of the 2 Rpi dac hats from Pi2Media the 502dac and 502dac pro are better to use with ian isolatorpi? Both work?
I ask because by description one dac is working in slave mode the other in master mode. Does this difference have an influence also when SPDIF digital outs are used?
I've read many good things about the 502 DAC and now this and a new version 502 DAC pro based on PCM1792 are available at a very good price (59 & 99 usd)on Indiegogo. Basically I will mainly use the digital out so I think both of them will be the same for this purpose but the dac section could be a nice option sometimes.
The only thing I'm not sure is if both will work well with Ian's Isolator hat.
 
B

big bird

Member
Joined 2017
HifiBerry Digi+ Pro support

Does the isolator support the hifiberry digi+ pro? According to GPIO usage of HiFiBerry boards – HiFiBerry the following gpio's are used: GPIO2-3 (pins 3 and 5) are used by our products for configuration. If you are experienced with I2C, you might add other slave devices. If you a a novice, we don’t recommend this at all.
GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. You can’t use them for any other purpose. Pin 38 is actually not used.

On the HiFiBerry Digi+, GPIO16 is also reserved. GPIO16 is not connected according to IsolatorPiUsersManualRev1.0.pdf if it is used by the HifiBerry Digi+ Pro I think it should be connected should it not?
 
B

big bird

Member
Joined 2017
Morde said:
I managed to get my RPI - Isolator HAT - KALI - DDDAC combination up and running late last evening. I tested the functionality with Moode player by playing 24/192, 24/96 and 16/44.1 flac files. All of them worked flawlessly. No critical listening yet.

I'm powering the RPI with forum member mravlca's universal PS and the KALI is powered with mravlca's TPS7A4700 PS. I attached couple of quick and dirty iPhone pics.

Ok, for some reason I'm not able to add pics as an attachment. I'll try later perhaps...

"Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing.

If this occurred unexpectedly, please inform the administrator and describe the action you performed before you received this error."
Click to expand...
Did you put the isolator in master mode or did you leave it in slave mode?

Regards,

Bert.
 
H

Henderson

Banned
Joined 2017
Hi IanCanada,




I get an IanCanada isolator RPi hat & Clock II board


Would like to know please if this is a proper scheme to reclock the I2S Stream from the RPI by the clock II :


RPI 3 --> IanCanada Pi Hat Isolator --> CLOCK II board --> I2S DAC inputs


Will I Have a reclocking by the clock II board with the RPI 's I2S in master mode without FIFO in between please ? So just more jitter than without FIFO but a least a reclocking at the bit depth/Fs speed of the original material at the output of the clock II board and not the Masterclock things of the RPI ?


Or not at all and I have to slave the board before as seems to mean Big Bird member in the post above mine ?


Many thanks for your help, I'm abit lost...
 
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sckramer

sckramer

Member
Joined 2010
sckramer said:
Ian, So my replacement works!

Started comparing with a simple i2s source, a raw hifiberry digi+pro (no on board regulation, at least with my beta board).

It's surprisingly easy to hear the improvement even on headphones! It's digging down into the noise, bringing out subtlety. Easier to get into the volume, nice varied leading edge.

Learning that you are not isolating/mirroring all GPIO's. For example this digi+pro relies on GPIO5 (44.1x) and 6 (48x) to select the crystal -- so I set piCorePlayer to sample everything to 48. (It passes thru GPIO6)

I don't plan on using the digi+pro, but thought the digi+pro would be a pretty popular board to use with this...

Any thoughts?

Thanks!!!

PS. I'll send you that half broken board this week.
Click to expand...

Hi Ian, just curious, find anything wrong with that board?

ref --> post #300
 
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iancanada

iancanada

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Joined 2009
twitter.com/iancanadaTT
Paid Member
audioengr said:
Ian - is there something in the hardware of the Pi that limits your DSD decoder and isolator to DSD64 or is this only a software limitation?

Also, does your PCM decoder board support 24/384 and therefore DoP DSD128? Does this work with any available software?

Steve N.
Click to expand...

Hi Steve,

Yes, that the limitation of the software that your are using right now.

You can try piCorePlayer audio optimized verson, which is here:
Download - piCorePlayer
for 384KHz/DSD128 support.

An older version of mOOdle supports those format too, please ask Tim for the link to download.

My IsolatorPi is capable for 768KHz/DSD256, so please no worry at all. You just need a suitable software.

Regards,
Ian
 
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