Kategorie: XMOS-XU208/U8

Hifi-fine-tuning / some little thoughts / external 5V – XMOS-bridges (“Skysong” here)

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so,  😉

today some little thoughts about hifi-fine-tuning here..

as i´ve ordered again some “green” “SMPCB V1.07” (its the fourth meanwhile, burnt one as testing out some dual dc ;-( ) and as i´m stuck now to buy some new bluray-player (for hdmi to i2S) i´ve reactivated my Skysong XMOS-bridge (http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/?p=1883) ->I2S->ES9038Q2M (green V1.07) to get some hifi “with ease” (from PC)..

cause i´ve got a little trouble at higher-resolutions (24/192) i´ve feeded the xmos-bridge (think its the same with all of them) again with an external 5V power-source, et voilá, again such a great difference to the usb-powered thing (said a lot about it in the above mentioned blogpost)->really again 10-15% better tune, hifi-began 😉 , means the music “disengages” from the speaker..

okay, and as i think my new Mission LX-2 are very “roomy” + “light”, i´ve got sometimes the feel that the old Mission 780 sound a little bit more “hifi” in some cases; they seem to be more “vocal”-focussed..

to “compensate” this i thought i change the standard NE5532 to my “heavenly” AD797ANZ (http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/?p=1693) as they have these unbelievable room, and some 3D-ish at their own and correspondent absolutely perfect with the sabre-chip-characteristica->”..i think the speciality on these Sabre-Chips is this digitally room/3D-feeling + also with the great soundstage..so i stay, as said, with the AD797ANZ“

(we had a schematic of the recommended op-amps for the ES9038Q2M, also with greater dynamic + thd/dnr etc..))->

so, i´m listening right now to these “combo” with the “heavenly” AD797ANZ (although i think they sound also a little bit “distorted”) and try to get the best out these special (what i like so much) roomy/3D-ish ess-sabre “hyperstream” technology (and to find the right speaker + amplifier for it)..

will post more in future, stay tuned and have a nice “happy new year” !! 😉

some quick and dirty pics from the DIY-DAC / best sound via Pi4->SkysongXMOS-Bridge->ES9038Q2M (with Burson V5-D)

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so, 😉

bought today again some little stuff for the main-goal here on the site->the own “DIY-DAC/network-streamer” 😉 ..

decided to built it with a separate power supply/-unit (like for example these Mission-PSXs combos (have often posted about it)..(to eliminate any electronical interference/-noise)(the original “combos” were only for cleaner/stronger “power”)->

and so, i have ordered some dual voltage AC/DC-converter (rectifier), because the manufacturer always say “..best results with a dual 15V-0-15V power source/supply” (although the chip itself (ES9038Q2M) runs with 3,3V VCC max. (see this Datasheet ES9038Q2M (LINK))..(guess its about the LM78/9X “.fixed linear voltage regulator integrated circuits” (i think they took the fixed 15V-version of it)..

anyway, separated today the transformer/power-supply for the ESP32s,oled-display,AK4113 digital receiver etc. to a separate case (in this case also the massive Cyrus-PSX toroidal-transformer (dual 27V) will find his housing))

(Ebay, AC/DC (max. 36V) to 5V-15V Dual Voltage Converter Board Mini Rectifier Power Supply Module, 6€ ->LINK )

and okay, as “i fired it up” with the Pi4 + Volumio and my other XMOS-bridge (Leaf-audio), got problems in detecting it by the Pi, i used then these absolute wonderful Skysong-XMOS-bridge !! (posted also a lot of it before->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/?p=1883 ) and got these beautiful tune/sound again !! (and its btw. only with these Skysong-bridge (the Leaf-audio (XMOS too) for example sounds lightyears worser)..

got “dynamic-wise” about minimum 5db 😉 more “frequency-spectrum” then with my Bluray-HDMI-I2S-extraction-combo (and thats almost the best/optimum combo for this transporter/hdmi/i2s things)..

absolutely fantastic !! (as said “the Pi is made for music” + these wonderful “best XMOS-implementation” Skysong-bridge !!) 

that was it for now, more to come, many greets and stay tuned !! 😉

New speaker / little experience-report / Volumio at 2.861 / some new ES9038Pro DACS / Universal USB to I2S Interface Indicator

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so, 😉

as i´ve bought some “new” speaker (Mission Cyrus 780 (one bass driver was defect, had to order some spare from the UK)), i´ve had to re-adjust/re-set/re-listen to my hifi in general..

I´ve just bought some AMD Ryzen on some Asus-Board too and so i could test the nowadays “onboard-sound-solutions” (in this case some Realtek S1220A with 120db SNR) against some “normal CD-transporter” or some Raspberry PI 4 over USB->I2S to some ES9038Q2M..

Absolutely still no comparison !! ->we forget these onboard-sound now and go directly to the USB->XMOS-USB-Bridge->I2S->ES9038Q2M vs. Raspberry Pi -> XMOS USB-Bridge->I2S->ES9038Q2M thing..

First thought (over PC->XMOS-USB->I2S->ES9038Q2M) these ESSabre-engineers “add/or re-invented” some really funny/sunny/airy components to the digital stream..absolutely lovely, much “more voluminous”, airier..(these advanced-bitstream-thing))

But after connected to the Raspberry Pi 4 via USB(3.0)->XMOS-USB-Bridge->I2S->ES9038Q2M its still an enermous “lap ahead”, guess its absolutely because of the short electronical circuits on the Pi (less latencies) and the less EMI-interferences on some PI-boards against the “noise” on some normal PC-mainboards..

So its again some “normal” CD-transporter (over spdif to some dac/ES9038xx) vs. Pi-4 (for saved media-content)..

Updated my volumio-software on the Pi-4 (now at V2.851), absolutely great, super fast “scrolling” through the libraries (more CPU-power Pi-4)..

->https://volumio.org/get-started/

So conclusion for now (again):->forget the soundcard/USB-thing from the PC/MAC->its still about “normal” CD-transporter vs Raspberry Pi ->USB-bridge->ES9038xxx..

I´ve also bought some Synology DS214Play now->absolutely great, no lags/problems now, absolutely smooth..

by that i´ve found right now by chance these “Arduino-based Universal USB to I2S Interface Indicator” by dimdim.gr; its here->http://www.dimdim.gr/arduino/universal-usb-to-i2s-interface-indicator/ (+ there are a lot of very interesting infos about sabre+akm-boards in general on this site !!)

thats exactly for what i searched soo long !! (.ino is here->LINK)

also found some new ES9038Pro-DACS on massdrop for example->will post then more about it..

greets for now !! 😉

New: Topping D10s (1 x ES9038Q2M) vs. SMSL Sanskrit 10th SK10 MKII (AK4493)

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hi there, 😉

unfortunately nothing new from here building/buying around some new ESSabre (9038Q2M) chips (DIY) but 2 new, interesting DACs “came up the table” lately:

The Topping D10S with 1xES9038Q2M in it, XMOS XU208 + OPA2134  (changeable)->

goes for only 99$ !!  (Amazon,Aliexpress,Ebay,Audiophonics,Shenzhenaudio)..

a very detailed test about it is here (as always “audioscenereview”)->https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-d10s-usb-dac-and-bridge-review.14859/

and/or the SMSL Sanskrit 10th SK10 MKII for a little bit more (110$)  (Amazon) ->

audioscenereview-review is here->https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-sanskrit-10th-mk-ii-dac-review.12148/

question is which sounds better ? (i will make a new thread about it in the forum (Link) and hopefully someone will/can post his/her experiences with both of them)

as i originally wanted to buy some Topping D50S (2xES9038Q2M, 250$ Amazon) because of the 3 inputs (USB,coaxial,toslink) the Sanskrit would be the better choice..

but as i like these phenomenal, unbelievable, “airy”, “openstage”-sound from the ESSabre-chips sooo much, its the question if these AKM4493 were sounding similar..

more to come… (gather some more information about them (the two) right now) 😉

Usability / Volumio->BubbleUPnp / Volume-Potentiometer-Hardware-None

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so, 😉

sorry for the lately uninteresting/not so “fresh” news about the ES9038Q2M/ES90xx-chips/boards etc..; maybe that will come back..

today, to keep this blog going, some usability-tricks/tips using a RPI-4B and volumio..->https://volumio.org/get-started/

runs fantastic (imo), is absolutely DSD-capable (remember to use an USB-bridge (XMOS or Anamero) “in-between” and set volumio on “DSD-direct”,”no mixer”, “no resampling”-> else u wouldn´t get the red/torquise DSD-lock-light on the ES9038Q2Ms..->

by that i´ve tried a lot of dlna-apps for volumio and best for me so far is->BubbleUPnP->LINK

there are millions of other (“Mediahouse etc.,etc.,”) but imo, BubbleUPnp correspondends superb with volumio..u can see in BubbleUPnP whats playing, can change the volume via the “normal” volume-keys and u can also play/send .mp4/.mkvs etc.  to volumio and it plays only the audio/tracks..great ! 😉

by that i´ve bought a 10kohm-poti again (wire-diagramm here->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/?p=1660  ) and although we have a web-volumecontrol with a MCP4131 “here”->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/?p=1306

i still thought its “usability-wise” better to use an old-school (analogue) poti but its still the same problem as first: u have only a very short range (i guess 35 degrees) from full to nothing and u have to turn it manually ;-)(but u are nearer on it 😉 )..still doesnt know the right conclusion for me, still in testing 😉 )..

greets for now and more to come !! 😉

again some new pics->DIY-DAC (ES9038Q2M) / 100.000 visitors..

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so, 😉

because we have almost a 100.000 !! visitors here on the site (hooray, tomorrow i guess 😉 ), i post some additionally pics on the improvements of the DIY-DAC..

I´ve added some 0.96OLED (I2C) to display the data-format and rate (DSD/PCM-44.1k-384k DSD256 and so on); by that i use also 2 new LEDs (blue for DSD and red for PCM) to make the dac more shiny 😉 ..

problem was to get the information through the usb-bridge if it got DSD or PCM..will post then more about it..

unfortunately nothing “more” new about these “whole” ess sabre-things, maybe then more, greets for now !! 😉

(fifth picture is from a “Copland CSA100”->Quad Mono Sabre)

DIY-DAC: Telekom Media Receiver 303A as case/with 12V/3A power supply->as audio-streamer with Rpi4 + XMOS-USB-bridge + ESP32 as display-controller..

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so, 😉

i´ve found a few days ago some “withdrawn from service” 😉 Telekom (uarghh ;-( )  Media Receiver 303A->was first interested in the internal HDD->500GB Seagate, but have seen then this has also a built-in 12V/3A power-supply and its from the dimensions almost ideally as some Raspberry Pi4-ES9038Q2M-audiostreamer !! (not soo big) 😉

Display-wise its a little bit limited (due to the available space (height)) in the front, but some LCD1602 will maybe do it fine..

found then an easy way to connect some to an ESP32 via I2C and via some “web-remotes” (see other posts here “Project-1” etc..) we can select via some photocoupler/relais the inputs of the ES9038Q2M (Coax,Toslink, I2S/USB), adjust the hardware-volume, filter-selection and so on and can display the settings on the display/LCD1602) !!

so far so fine, but this is a heck of a lot work to do !! 😉 ..

(i´ve planned to use Volumio on the raspberry ->easy controlling via the web-interface, DLNA-capable, MPD etc..)..

as said, here at first testing-out some aspects/parts for it and a first result by example is that these 3A makes the “blue” ES9038Q2M absolutely a little bit “airy(ier); had before some 2A power supply (12V)..

by that the “Leaf-XMOS-USB-bridge” (->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/?p=2066) is better than first thought..

+ also my new “ESP32” will come to a new life 😉  (not to mention the Raspberry Pi4 2GB)

makes really a lot of fun here, and i will inform you about some further improvements !!

greets for now !! 😉

SFB2

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