Greetings Ray!
I hope you're well and enjoying music...
I don't know exactly what those caps are (of course Brian does...). I believe the part is the ADM7150. Here is the data sheet.
https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADM7150.pdf
Page 6 Table 5 has what you're looking for. Pins 1 and 8 need bypass capacitors of at least 10uF. I would install 100uF, personally, but larger is OK too.
As for thermal management, page 19 is reassuring. However, I think it would be easy to re-solder the regulator base if you scratch off some of the solder mask between the ground pads of caps six and nine to form a channel under the chip back. Your pads are quite sparse with solder right now - I would add a bit of solder to them and the back pad plus new channel. Then flood it with water-soluble flux and place the regulator on top- you will only need to touch the pins with a fine soldering iron tip to connect them. I suggest tacking single, opposite-corner pins first to get the alignment just right, then the rest. The back will need a bit of extra heat, of course. Finally, add C6 and C9.
This is like some of the microsurgery I did for a living before retiring to become a full-time Honeydew construction worker!
All the best,
Frank
I hope you're well and enjoying music...
I don't know exactly what those caps are (of course Brian does...). I believe the part is the ADM7150. Here is the data sheet.
https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADM7150.pdf
Page 6 Table 5 has what you're looking for. Pins 1 and 8 need bypass capacitors of at least 10uF. I would install 100uF, personally, but larger is OK too.
As for thermal management, page 19 is reassuring. However, I think it would be easy to re-solder the regulator base if you scratch off some of the solder mask between the ground pads of caps six and nine to form a channel under the chip back. Your pads are quite sparse with solder right now - I would add a bit of solder to them and the back pad plus new channel. Then flood it with water-soluble flux and place the regulator on top- you will only need to touch the pins with a fine soldering iron tip to connect them. I suggest tacking single, opposite-corner pins first to get the alignment just right, then the rest. The back will need a bit of extra heat, of course. Finally, add C6 and C9.
This is like some of the microsurgery I did for a living before retiring to become a full-time Honeydew construction worker!
All the best,
Frank
Hi Frank, I'm good thank you, I trust you too? Yes, still enjoying the music; I'm pretty much full-on DSD via HQ Player and various DSD decoders - I have ppy's DSC2 amd Marcel's Valve DAC and I'm currently working on Marcel's RTZ decoder.
Thanks for the pointer on the regulator part - I just ned to find one now I'm about to place an order with Mouser but they're out of stock there. You're suggestion about soldering the back of the regulator is good too, though I don't think it's essential in this application from what I've read in the datasheet you linked to as Vin is only 5V and the current drawn isn't great.
I'll need to equip the Cronus with some oscillators but I can't find the Rhea boards so may have to concoct something - let's see if I can get it powered up first though.
Thanks for the pointer on the regulator part - I just ned to find one now I'm about to place an order with Mouser but they're out of stock there. You're suggestion about soldering the back of the regulator is good too, though I don't think it's essential in this application from what I've read in the datasheet you linked to as Vin is only 5V and the current drawn isn't great.
I'll need to equip the Cronus with some oscillators but I can't find the Rhea boards so may have to concoct something - let's see if I can get it powered up first though.
...glad all is well. Could this be an opportunity to explore temperature compensated oscillators? It's no secret how much better the Cronus/Buffalo pair sounds after a few hours of warmup. Certainly, the Cronus board is blessed with multiple crystal connection strategies if you are willing to solder. If some exotic clock crystal requires an interface, I'd be willing to collaborate by making a custom Rhea substitute. EasyEDA has been a game-changer for me.
F.
F.
I finally found the time to test my fix to the Cronus module today - it works and is currently playing music va a DSD decoder. I need to give a big public thank you to @itsikhefez for a very kind donation of a pair of Rhea oscillators.
Hey is anyone watching this thread? Anyway, a quick question: If one is using Cronus/Amanero the clock is coming from Cronus, so is it OK (no startup problems, etc) to power down the two clocks (not the USB clock) on the Amanero board? Easy to do by removing the inductors on their power input pin. I believe that less beating oscillators can be a good thing, I think it should be OK, but I might be missing something.
I am running this Cronus into a DSC-2, using a single SC Pure clock on the Cronus for DSD 512 input only, sounds fantastic.
I am running this Cronus into a DSC-2, using a single SC Pure clock on the Cronus for DSD 512 input only, sounds fantastic.
I can report that powering down the two clocks on the Amanero board works fine when running with the Cronus. It is easy to do as well by removing the inductor on the power trace to both clocks, took 5 minutes to do with solder wick. As the clock source is "slave" to the Cronus clock(s), it makes sense to power the others down, as no one needs more beating clocks in their DAC! Also this will reduce power consumption of the Amanero board, which can only be a good thing. I only use a single clock (an IanCanada SC Pure) on the Cronus as this DAC (DSC-2.x) runs all the time at DSD 512 from HQPlayer, sounds fantastic!
Thanks Barrows, good to know. I dug out my old Amanero from the recycle bin.
Is the SC Pure clock a drop in replacement or do you need to make other mods?
I’ve been reading all about IanCanada products. In fact just today I received a PurePi and FifoPi Q7II. Hoping to replace my BBB/Hermes/Cronus. I’d be interested to hear about your system. Do you use other parts from IanCanada?
Is the SC Pure clock a drop in replacement or do you need to make other mods?
I’ve been reading all about IanCanada products. In fact just today I received a PurePi and FifoPi Q7II. Hoping to replace my BBB/Hermes/Cronus. I’d be interested to hear about your system. Do you use other parts from IanCanada?
Pure SC fits in the socket on the Cronus, but it is a little bit taller, one may have to use longer stacking pins if using the socket. I actually soldered the Pure SC straight into the Cronus board to save on height. Other wise, it fits fine-I am only using a single clock, but I am pretty sure two will fit as well. You might want to check on power consumption as well, I did not bother 'cause I just figured I'd be fine with a single clock. I do no know if Pure SC uses more power than a standard Crystek.
Regarding the Pure SC clock, I'm curious about any experiences with its temperature sensitivity. In my use of the Crystek products, the systems always sound better when warmed-up for about 3-4 hours. It's a fairly obvious effect that others have also reported. One potential source of this effect is the quartz, and this is the first report I've seen regarding swapping out the Crysteks on a Cronus. Very interesting and any other observations on the Pure SC would be great to read. Thanks in advance!
I have almost read that entire thread. It was said that those clocks have sensitivity to temperature as well. There was some talk of a heating gizmo for them but not sure if it became a product.
I know Twisted Pear don’t like mention of competing products, hope they won’t care so much now
I know Twisted Pear don’t like mention of competing products, hope they won’t care so much now
Concerning power to run the crystals, I see that the Crystek 957 typically uses 15mA, max of 25mA (for ~1 ms at startup?). That's certainly no problem for the Cronus voltage regulator (rated up to 800mA). I'd expect the Pure SC to draw about the same current as the Crystek. If you look at it from the standpoint that "quartz is just quartz", the supply voltage is the same, and there is no need for shunting power to run the oscillations.
There is some useful information out there on the effects of temperature on crystal performance but nearly all of it concerns long term frequency stability.
Audio is pretty unique in that it requires excellent short term stability. SC crystals are more temperature sensitive than AT crystals for frequency, but I haven't found any convincing manufacturer data concerning the effect of temperature on close in phase noise. We aren't really interested in frequency stability over time. I suspect equilibrium is more important than the absolute temperature. Psu quality and vibration isolation will be much more critical in achieving best performance.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...jitter-crystal-oscillator.261651/post-6053220