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Introducing the Buffalo III-SE-Pro 9028/9038

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Joined 2007
Paid Member
I cannot remember how, but I have solved the problem, and have not experienced it in a long, long time. I might have changed the grounding scheme or something, but I honestly cannot remember. Maybe it was the amanero firmware change...

OK, thanks. I usually use a line conditioner but had the system on the bench for repairs/upgrades and the frequency of volume jumps was much higher. I'm guessing that the (not cheap) power switches I use are somehow 'noisy' so soon they will be left on and logic-controlled outlets will manage power. I also added a software 'band-aid' by making full volume illegal. If it ever happens its reversed in 1/3 of a second.
 
Hex files are always there in Buffalo-III-SE-Pro-On-Board-Firmware/Release
Thanks for that.
I installed a fresh copy of the master firmware and the trusync firmware.
If I play the music @ 44.1k PCM the sound gets a bit worse when disabling OSF, but high bitrate music has no audible effect and none of the filter settings have any audible effect when changing between them at any bitrate. Is this normal?

Also the difference between normal operation and trusync seemingly not audible.
Also using the trusync firmware the SW1 that is supposed to switch the dac setting between trusync and normal operation actually just makes the dac do nothing if I switch it to "normal" setting. This makes me think "normal" is actually spdif mode and I'm not actually in trusync at all when SW1 is set to trusync because this is the same behavior as the master firmware.
Any advice?
 
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Joined 2015
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I would like confirmation about my integration.
I have the 9038, using Chronus/Hermes/Amanero stack.
Chronus is connected to 9038 with D1/D2/DCK via u.fl.
All settings are "default", including Amanero firmware

Music plays, so thats a good sign.
Various questions:
1) How important is Chronus reclocking, given that the 9038 has DPLL ?
2) Which is the "best" Amanero firmware to use?
3) DSD files don't work for me. They either play really fast or there is silence. I use the DSD over WASAPI plugin in foobar. I am able to play DSD when connecting my Chord mojo with the same player
4) Would this integration yield the lowest measurable jitter?
5) How does using the ext_mck (currently not used) change things?
 
-snip-
Various questions:
1) How important is Chronus reclocking, given that the 9038 has DPLL ?
Your question had been well answered in the introduction of Cronus by Russ White here.
2) Which is the "best" Amanero firmware to use?
The "best" depends on the OS used for playing music. In case of Windows, 1099c firmware will be most stable, capable of playing music up to DSD512. If DSD512 on linux is pursued, there is no stable firmware for now. DSD512 on linux appears to require a big endian (BE) format and the 2005be firmware, the latest, is still buggy, though almost close to being completed.
3) DSD files don't work for me. They either play really fast or there is silence. I use the DSD over WASAPI plugin in foobar. I am able to play DSD when connecting my Chord mojo with the same player
WASAPI does not work for DSD in Amanero. You need an ASIO driver for Windows provided by the Amanero site.
4) Would this integration yield the lowest measurable jitter?
The answer is already there in your question 1).
5) How does using the ext_mck (currently not used) change things?
For ordinary use, you can forget it. It is used for an SMA receptacle receiving the clock signal elsewhere (instead of on-board clocks on the Cronus) via an SMA cable.

Regards,
 
FYI: We have added some Combination deals to the web site for the Buffalo 9038Pro.


Buffalo-IIIsePro38 Complete Kit Combo for $699
[1] Buffalo-IIIsePro38 2-Channel DAC w/Full Series Regulator Set
[1] Centaur 2A Power Supply Complete Kit
[1] Mercury Balanced I/V Stage v1.1 Kit
[1] Placid HD BP Power Supply Kit


Buffalo-IIIsePro38 Complete Kit Combo + Power Transformers for $749
[1] Buffalo-IIIsePro38 Complete Kit Combo (see above)
[1] 9V+9V (30VA) Power Transformer
[1] 15V+15V (50VA) Power Transformer
 
Hi Guys , I've built a B3-SE pro and the unit sounds great. Currently using the merciry and Sypativo amps. However I have found that when OSF is enabled the DAC is rolling off the treble from about 10khz quite badly and is very audible. I prefer the sound with the oversampling on but it seems the system sparkles quite softly with it on. Any ideas what might cause this? I'm using LVPS as power for the DAC. I've tried all combinations of filter settings but the treble still rolls off badly. I'm using UMIC measuring mic and software.
 
...

So one cool option is that the ES9028/38 allows you to assign GPIOs to SPDIF input. The default firmware could be altered to allow for that - then you could have 2 SPDIF sources (one consumer level coax, and one TTL/CMOS) without needing any external switching. :) If anyone is interested I can create a branch that does that.

...

Cheers!
Russ

Hi,

I would like this firmware branch to use two spdif inputs.
Where to find it?

BR

Branko
 
Hello
I have seen that the B3se Combo Kit now includes the PSU Centaur and no longer Placid-HD.
This is due to higher current needed by the ES9038 board, true ?
Without using 384fs a Pacid-HD would be sufficient ?
Centaur is not that low-noise - is there any noticeable effect in sound quality ?
BR
Andreas
 
Hello
I have seen that the B3se Combo Kit now includes the PSU Centaur and no longer Placid-HD.
This is due to higher current needed by the ES9038 board, true ?
Without using 384fs a Pacid-HD would be sufficient ?
Centaur is not that low-noise - is there any noticeable effect in sound quality ?
BR
Andreas

Yes, the Centaur is for providing higher current, and ease of setup.

All critical sections of the Buffalo are powered by Tridents (or the reg of your choice), which dominate noise performance. They are very low noise, making the pre-regulator noise less of an issue.

While the M350 is not considered "low noise" by today's standards, it is also not "noisy" by any means.
 
Has anyone here tried to run multiple Buffalo dacs over spdif with an aes/ebu soundcard
as a multichannel solution ? If so what's the experience regarding noise free and stable lock ?
Is spdif generally more reliable then i2s (usb) in that regard ? I did this but with the "Najda"
dsp for some years and it was very reliable with these dacs (3xBuffaloIIIse).

Lynx Studio AES-16e PCI Express – Thomann Sverige
 
Member
Joined 2007
Paid Member
For me, SPDIF seems very robust as long as wire runs are tidy and short.

That's an interesting sound card. It *appears* from the specifications that it has no built-in clock switching capability. As an interface from a digital audio workstation, of course, there may be less need to restore a signal using the original clock frequency. However, as an engine for music REproduction (vs. original production), I would expect better sound from any DAC interface that restores the original clock frequency. Six channels? With patience, there may be a solution in the future. I'm pulling 6 channels from a BBB/Hermes/Cronus. the BBB does not give powerful processing capability to the music rendering programs, but the audio is great and the hardware is significantly less costly than the Lynx PCI express interface you mentioned.