• These commercial threads are for private transactions. diyAudio.com provides these forums for the convenience of our members, but makes no warranty nor assumes any responsibility. We do not vet any members, use of this facility is at your own risk. Customers can post any issues in those threads as long as it is done in a civil manner. All diyAudio rules about conduct apply and will be enforced.

Hi-end DSP based multi-channel integrated Preamp/Crossover/DAC project

My Najda is dying and I still follow this thread waiting for the new product!

Hi

Even though we don't post a lot these days you'll be relieved to know that a lot of work is going on in the background on this project. There is no less than 10 boards in this project, eight of which are our own custom design. Each of these eight boards has either been redesigned, reworked or upgraded so we need to make sure that all of the planets line up correctly and everything works together like clockwork. We are pushing the envelope on what we can or can't do with available technology. Even the metal work has also been changed accordingly. As Aristotle once said the whole is greater than the sum of all parts. Hopefully it won't be much longer and we will update our website with a pre-order ;)

Regards
David
 
I hope no one is holding their breath in anticipation:rolleyes:

That's a bit cheeky mate :D. There are 10 boards all up, Dave has completely redesigned 8 of them. I am privileged to know what's coming and it's well worth the wait. I know this product is a world beater and far ahead of anything else on the market. All good things come to those who wait. Be patient grasshopper.
 
Last edited:
1. Will the board be updated with the ES9038 now when available? Pretty much a drop-in replacement, isn't it?

2. How does the TI PCM1863 rate as far as ADC's go, against for example AKM AK5397EQ or the Mytek Brooklyn implementation? Seems this is a crucial conversion in the signal chain to maintain transparency on par with the DAC used.

3. Does the LPS use LT3045 and if so how many and in what config (parallel or series)?

4. Can it be used with FIR filters (XO etc) created with Audiolense? Seems like two products that could benefit from each other. You may want to get in touch with Bernt.

5. Compatible with VituixCAD?
 
1. Yes the updated Preamp uses 9038PRO and a redesigned IV stage

2. We will be using the Esstech ES9311Q dual low noise regulator specifically designed for the 9038PRO

3. We use the Burr Brown PCM1863 as it can handle our low jitter 49.152MHz clock directly without clock dividers and has some built in buffering and programmable attenuators among many other features. Not sure how it compares with the AKM AK5397EQ.

4. Yes the UP+ will be able to work with this software ;)

5. Not familiar with this package but if you can translate the filters into standard biquad blocks you should be able to load them into Audioweaver as well as any FIR filter that you may require ;)

cheers
david
 
Dear David, is there a visible light at the end of your "UP+ development" tunnel?

Had to do some reworking of the IV stage because of power dissipation concerns but all should be good now. Making some last minute updates on the analog input board so should be good to go unless something else pops up.

I am about to update the website. Trying to learn Wordpress and Elementor. I'm no expert at it but getting there.

cheers
david
 
Question relating to Audioweaver design in Ultimate Preamp on-board memory

I've had my Ultimate Preamp running unchanged for 18 months.

When I first received it I customised the preconfigured 3-way crossover script from the download page and saved it to the on-board flash memory.

Now I want to temporarily try some HF amps that require the HF level to be reduced.

I made the level change and ran the script on the Ultimate Preamp on-board memory. CPU shows as 0.41%. All good.

When I attempt to play something with JRiver I get

Playback could not be started on the output 'ASIO' using the format '44.1kHz 2ch'.

If I now close Audio Weaver so I can play something, does the script continue to run on the Ultimate Preamp on-board memory?

Thanks.
 
I've had my Ultimate Preamp running unchanged for 18 months.

When I first received it I customised the preconfigured 3-way crossover script from the download page and saved it to the on-board flash memory.

Now I want to temporarily try some HF amps that require the HF level to be reduced.

I made the level change and ran the script on the Ultimate Preamp on-board memory. CPU shows as 0.41%. All good.

When I attempt to play something with JRiver I get

Playback could not be started on the output 'ASIO' using the format '44.1kHz 2ch'.

If I now close Audio Weaver so I can play something, does the script continue to run on the Ultimate Preamp on-board memory?

Thanks.

Make sure you have the drivers installed for the Amanero board if you are running Windows. The Amanero board is powered from the PC so it is always running even if the Preamp is turned off. If you want your Audioweaver script to always run then you need to save it to on-board flash as outlined in the document by bkdog ;)

cheers
david
 
Make sure you have the drivers installed for the Amanero board if you are running Windows. The Amanero board is powered from the PC so it is always running even if the Preamp is turned off. If you want your Audioweaver script to always run then you need to save it to on-board flash as outlined in the document by bkdog ;)

cheers
david

Thanks David.

It's 18 months since I set up my Ultimate Preamp and I haven't given it a thought since then so what I did at the time is a bit hazy.

I have the drivers installed for the Amanero board (well "Combo384" anyway). That's how JRiver interfaces with the Ultimate Preamp.

I'm using "Uploading an AudioWeaver design to The Ultimate Preamplifier". Is that the document by bkdog?

I've just re-read the document from the beginning.

I already have UPCP installed but it won't connect. I assume it must have done 18 months ago.

The instructions say "Once Audioweaver Server is running it will default to native PC mode so you need to select the right connection (RS-232) to communicate with the Ultimate-Preamp hardware from the menu. Ie [Target] → [Change Connection] → [RS232] as shown in the following screen grab."

When I run Audioweaver it does run in native PC mode but when I try to change it to RS232 (COM1, COM2 or COM3), it won't connect.

Anyway...

When I run the script in the on-board memory that appears to work because it shows CPU activity as depicted in the instructions.

I was hoping not to load the script into on-board flash because it's only temporary and I don't want to disturb the normal operation.

In that document it says "This script will run on the Ultimate-Preamp on-board memory so long as the Ultimate-Preamp is not switched off. "

My plan was to let the script to run in the on-board memory until my testing is finished.

Presumably, both AudioWeaver and JRiver can't use the interface at the same time.

But when I close AudioWeaver it appears that the script running in the on-board memory is no longer running. At least, if I restart AudioWeaver it shows 0% CPU activity in the Ultimate Preamp so I assume it's no longer running.
 

Attachments

  • Audioweaver.png
    Audioweaver.png
    386.3 KB · Views: 429
If it's not connecting then make sure you have a USB cable connected to the service port on the back of the Preamp. If you don't have an extra USB cable you can just temporarily swap the cable from the Amanero USB port to the service port and then swap back once everything has been configured and you are ready to play some music.

If it's still not connecting check this in the Windows device manager. Then you may have to reinstall the FTDI driver again. ie go Start -> Ultimate Preamplifier -> USB Driver -> Win-7 USB Driver

PS If you want to configure Audio Weaver and play music at the same time then you will need both USB ports connected ;)

cheers
david
 
If it's not connecting then make sure you have a USB cable connected to the service port on the back of the Preamp.

If you want to configure Audio Weaver and play music at the same time then you will need both USB ports connected

Thanks very much Dave. With a second USB cable connected to the service port I was able to connect using RS232 and COM4. I can see the scripts I loaded into the on-board flash memory 18 months ago running.

Audio Weaver Server.png

With the 3-way xover I’m using the bass, mid-bass and mid outputs on the Ultimate Preamp.

I loaded the 3-way xover and reduced the high level from -1.8dB to -12dB.

3-way xover.png

I click Run and the upload process appears to have been successful.

However, I’m not hearing any difference.

If I click “Halt” all activity in the Server stops and there’s no playback so I assume the modified script is running in the on-board memory.

Any suggestions please?
 
Thanks very much Dave. With a second USB cable connected to the service port I was able to connect using RS232 and COM4. I can see the scripts I loaded into the on-board flash memory 18 months ago running.

View attachment 752334

With the 3-way xover I’m using the bass, mid-bass and mid outputs on the Ultimate Preamp.

I loaded the 3-way xover and reduced the high level from -1.8dB to -12dB.

View attachment 752335

I click Run and the upload process appears to have been successful.

However, I’m not hearing any difference.

If I click “Halt” all activity in the Server stops and there’s no playback so I assume the modified script is running in the on-board memory.

Any suggestions please?

Are you getting outputs from all 3 channel pairs ?

cheers
david
 
Are you getting outputs from all 3 channel pairs ?
david


Yes.

I bought my unit with both balanced and unbalanced outputs.

I should be able to use a mix of balanced and unbalanced outputs shouldn't I?

All my amps have unbalanced inputs but the ones I'm testing have balanced.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to put this on the back-burner for now. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again, Dave.
 
Yes.

I bought my unit with both balanced and unbalanced outputs.

I should be able to use a mix of balanced and unbalanced outputs shouldn't I?

All my amps have unbalanced inputs but the ones I'm testing have balanced.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to put this on the back-burner for now. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again, Dave.

Yes you can use a mixture of unbalanced and balanced outputs on the preamp but be aware due to way I layed out the pcb at the time the unbalanced outputs are inverted wrt to the balanced outputs so you will need to reverse the speaker connections on the amps for the unbalanced speaker connections to maintain the correct phase ;)

cheers
david
 
Yes you can use a mixture of unbalanced and balanced outputs on the preamp but be aware due to way I layed out the pcb at the time the unbalanced outputs are inverted wrt to the balanced outputs so you will need to reverse the speaker connections on the amps for the unbalanced speaker connections to maintain the correct phase ;)

cheers
david

Thanks again for your help David. Bit embarrassing really. I misunderstood how the xover component worked in Audio Weaver. Expecting to have HF at the top and LF at the bottom but it's the other way around.

All good now.