Kategorie: DACs

HDMI I2S LVDS to I2S /-modules / incompatible XMOS-driver V4.45 Win-10 / new ESP32s

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so, 😉
in waiting/looking for a toroidal 15V-0-15V transformer and the right case and thinking about the “maximum” 😉 DIY-DAC + connections i came back again to some HDMI I2S LVDS to I2S-connections/modules..

Audiophonics has some there (25€+shipping)->https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/diy-interfaces/hdmi-i2s-lvds-to-i2s-input-module-hdmi-i2s-lvds-to-i2s-output-p-12422.html (u can get the same here for 21$ without shipping (costs)->https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-HDMI-to-IIS-I2S-Receiver-Board-Conversion-Board-Module-With-I2S-Switching-/332651861540
interesting by this “Audiophonics”-module is the selectable dual-I2S-input option ->

(u can get single “ones” here for 15$->https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/diy-interfaces/interface-module-hdmi-lvds-input-to-i2s-p-12683.html?search_query=hdmi%20i2s&fast_search=fs)

meanwhile i think u have to include such a “I2S-HDMI”-option because we got more and more USB-bridges with I2S-HDMI-out like the Gustard U-16 (see some earlier posts, LINK ) or some Singxer SU-1 for example..

Audio-GD also made equipment with this connection and interesting would be if it has great benefits in modding a “transporter” means CD/DVD-Audio/Bluray-player and so on to bypass the spdif-connection/conversion and directly connect the transporters internal I2S-connection to an I2S-HDMI output module like this:(Link)

by that it is recommend only to use (hdmi-)cable shorter than 50cm->”..which needs to be kept as short as possible to uphold decent signal integrity”..
Kitsune for example has some there also by only 30cm (as example)(9,90$)->LINK
by that, i´ve faced some incompatilibity issues with the XMOS-USB-driver V4.45 (on my Skysong (Singxer)-USB-bridge) since the last Win10-updates (stuttering); reverted back to V4.36 (but still not “optimal”)..(link to the driver in the forum->Forum)

also i´ve got some new (Geekcreit Doit.am Devkit V1-36pin) ESP32 from banggood (to have a spare)->Link 

it looks a little bit different and i also think there´s a “fresher” Wroom32-module on it (newer revision)..

more to come, greets for now 😉

Op-Amps: Burson V5/V6 – AD797BRZ / ES9038Pro with Burson V5 / Gustard H-10 with V6

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so, 😉
after i´ve re-checked my Op-Amp-“collection” 😉 (in testing them on an ES9038Q2M) and reading a lot of op-amp reviews again, i´ve ordered a few days ago some AD797BR(Z) (as described in some posts before)..

The “B“-line has a stricter factory-selection/-fabrication and is mainly considered as the best AD797 for audio..
by that, curiously, i got the most the site-/page-visits here op-amp-wise, means the main interest is also in the op-amp-section/part/reviews..
so i can/will hopefully test them in a few weeks and the next step (op-amp-wise) would be the “Burson V5/-6″-line..


was also clear, as said in the earliest posts..but they cost around 40-50$ (pair)..
(the third set of pictures here are some Burson V5 on an ES9038Pro->https://hallmanlabs.com/2018/01/04/pictures-of-es9038pro-dac-w-burson-audio-v5-opa-and-orange-amplifications-discrete-design/)

some good toroidal transformer (+-15V) cost also about 30-40$ (min.) and so i/u have to check out which will bring the best “tone/sound”-enhancement (or both of course)..

(Link-Aliexpress or from Audiophonics or something)
“Webcontrol”-ESP32-wise its still in development but primary i think i want now to search for the right case, transformer..
many greets from here for now 😉
(some pics of pc/-hifigear with Burson´s + also a pic from a Gustard H-10 with V6s)

New ESS chip out !! -> ES8620 audio-solution (usb-bridge) !! / Gustard U-16

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so, 😉
found by chance this new ESS-Baby 😉 in searching for new driver on shenzhenaudio..
Gustard U-16 (ES8620) !!

https://www.shenzhenaudio.com/gustard-u16-es8620-support-pcm32bit-768k-dsd512-dop-and-native-dsd-digital-interface.html(284$)
->”Adopting the latest USB audio interface solution ES8620 from ESS, USA
Supports up to PCM 32bit/768KHz and DSD512, and supports both DoP and Native DSD.
ESS’s USB interface chip design is a completely optimized architecture for high-quality digital audio signal processing. It is not a general-purpose chip with USB digital audio interface code, so it has immediate impact on sound quality improvement;”
“…128MB SDRAM is used as the system buffer and digital audio processing FIFO..”
“..the machine uses up to three FPGAs to implement USB audio interface clock management and external 10M clock part of the audio clock frequency synthesizer..”



first (interesting) review i found is here->https://www.dastereo.ru/t/gustard-u16-debyutnyj-konverter-na-es8620-xmos-amanero-upali-otzhalis/28117

didnt find any real opinions/soundtests against the other ES-chips till now (Update: and i guess i won´t find any at all because it is (unfortunately) only a “usb-bridge” (more or less)->”High performance usb digital audio interface” 😉 )

more to come, greets !! 😉

ESP32 – Bodmer TFT_espi / autoconnect github / Picoreplayer 4.1.0 / Dietpi V6.18

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so, 😉
nothing particular new; “audio”-wise its a little bit on “hold” (had first to buy some +-15V toroidal transformer and so on) but i made a little progress/effort “usability-wise”..
i´m now able to get something in the spiffs-fs (ESP32), read it out 😉 and display it via “drawJpeg” from the famous Bodmer TFT-eSPI-library->Link

(!! sorry for the still absolutely “shitty” layout, but i was only happy to get something on the display at all 😉 !! (will change/edit it then; only some “ideas” (for not doing it in this way 😉 ) for u maybe)
was a little bit difficult because u (i) really need the absolutely newest libraries (jpegdecoder.h for example too) from the bodmer-github-repository (some older example jpgs are unreadable by their own decoder-library and so on..)..
have still some problems/the first third of a decoded jpeg is corrupt, but i can now upload some jpegs in the spiffs, list and display them..(and understood how)
the whole sketch (web-gui for filter-selection, HW-volume control via digi-poti, display jpgs etc..) is here->Link and i maybe make a post in the forum->Link..(could be very interesting for some who also want to understand the ESP32 “better”)..


by that it was all build on top of the absolutely fabulous “Autoconnect-library” by Hieromon -> https://github.com/Hieromon/AutoConnect; absolutely super great webserver/wlan access library->absolutely to recommend !!
Picoreplayer is now at V4.1.0 (24.Nov 2018)->https://www.picoreplayer.org/main_downloads.shtml(Pi-Kernel-bump to 4.14.81, squeezelite-update, support for Rpi 3B+ and so on->Link
Dietpi is now also at V6.18 (26/11/18)(some bugfixes+improvements)->https://github.com/Fourdee/DietPi/blob/master/CHANGELOG.txt
that was it for now, more to come, stay tuned, greets 😉

HW-Volume pinlayout – ES9038Q2M + OPA627AU/AD827

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so, (another one today) 😉
found by chance a picture of the pin-assignment for the HW-Volume-control on an ES9038Q2M (its from the Audiophonics-site->Link..)(“we” knew it, but so its much “clearer”) 

by that there´s also a wonderful picture from an combined Raspi/ES9038Q2M (its from the diyaudio-forum; hope i can use it here, if not, please e-mail)->Link

(i´m lately thinking also about to include some raspi directly in such a DAC too, because (as said and also in testing here) on a raspi (over I2S) u have an absolutely superior sound comparing to any XMOS-USB-device (over PC by example)->see this post too->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/2018/05/moode-volumio-on-a-raspberry-pi-vs-samsung-bluray-player-spdif-coax-impressions-src4392-beta-project-2/ and whats all about this site too 😉 ..
third, on some japanese-yahoo-auction-site they also recommend/have the OPA627AU on it; but they use it only in the dual 15V “environment”, they recommend “strong +-15V” 😉 ..in the case of a single rail 15V they recommend the AD827 (JN) (and they made a special layout for both cases)->https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/q238163678

New XMOS-USB audio driver (V4.47) / SMSL 8A V3 / Winbond W25Q64 (Qxx) Arduino/ESP32S SPIflash

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so, 😉
there´s apparently a new XMOS-USB audio driver, V4.47 (Link) (08-06-2018) out; found it first by reading some reviews for the Sabaj DA3 (->https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=ktk1k2hchrlfmloktc0k3c5og0&topic=152638.340 ) and yesterday at an Audiophonics-Ad concerning the new SMSL 8A V3->https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-without-volume/smsl-m8a-v3-usb-dac-es9038q2m-32bit-768khz-dsd-xmos-xu208-p-12934.html and also directly at Theyscon->current release : V4.47..
by that there´s also a new V4.41 from Thesycon/Jlsounds->Link forum..)
also the new SMSL 8A V3 has a “2nd generation XU208” (259€)->

by that i´ve bought some new “Winbond W25Q64” (64Mbit/8MByte) SPI-“serial flash-memory” (only 1,29$ par example->Aliexpress) to use it maybe on an Arduino to display some graphics on the TFT-display and because the Arduino by example has a very low ram-amount (32kB !!) i wanted to extend the memory to store some data for the bitmaps..

On an ESP32S its not soo critical (4MB); u can store the bitmaps in the SPIFFS-subsystem but anyway i didnt find a “SPI-flash”-library for the ESP32S and the Arduino in general !! searched thousand hours on google and yesterday i found per chance this SPI-flash/library/tools on “RinkyDinkElectronics”->Link, the same guy who made this beautiful UTFT-library !! and which i used before ! 😉 ->Library : SPIflash

connected and it runs fabulously 😉

and hooray !! 😉 , i´ve finally ordered an “ES9038Q2M”-“Green” V1.07, (i have a “Blue”-one here) to check finally out if there´s a “shitty” PCB/components-problem on the “Blue” or if they sound the same..

by that, next OP-Amp will be the “OPA627“(AU)->”The Bugatti Veyron on the Op-Amps” 😉

many greets and more to come !! 😉

 

 

Volumio at V2.457 / Dietpi V.6.16 / mympd / upgraded ES9038Q2M decoder board I2S

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so, 😉
after searching today for some new ES9038Q2M-boards/-infos, i´ve found also this “Upgraded version of ES9038Q2M decoder board I2S input OPA1612+AD8397ADRZ” (it was also mentioned in these diyaudio.com-forum)->Link

it costs only about 42$ (incl.shipping), and interesting is (besides all the disadvantages like the 5V-9Vplug, the only-headphone 3,5mm jack and so on) that they use “OPA1612” for the AVCC-section and some “AD8397ADRZ” for the “output”-section..

i´ve googled immediately for “AD8397ADRZ” and according to this post/article->https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-gd-discrete-op-amps-reviewed-opa-earth-opa-moon-opa-sun-v-2.397691/ its only in the “Category 2 – nice but incomplete sound” 😉  (posted the link+excerpts also in the forum here->Link)

the author there also said, that for him (and thats interesting for me) the AD797BRZ (i have the AD797ANZ here) are the only ones in the “Category 5 – complete sound traveling in the clean air” 
“..roughly, it’s like the AD79ANZ with all advantages of the OPA627BP added” and as u know, i just wanted to buy lately an OPA627 (the “Bugatti Veyron” on the OP-Amps) to “finalize” my op-amp-experiences..
so i guess i have to check-out these AD797BRZ some time too 😉

another thing is that they are now at Volumio V2.457 (PI Kernel bump to 4.14.69 and some fixes), i´ve tested it immediately with the ES9038Q2M and the “Allo-Katana”-setting, and it was, as said in an earlier post, “massive” (ES9038Q2M+2*AD797) again !!

 

this time had the chance to test it before with the ES9028Q2M-option (in Volumio) and some minutes before also with the i-sabre-k2m option in Dietpi V6.16..

last time i thought it could also be by the changed footprint/pi-kernel-bump but today i would say the “Allo Katana”-overlay is more specialized on the ES9038Q2M-core->

finally, at present, i must really say that i have the best sound (on all distros) with the newer Volumio (V2.452 and up) + “Allo Katana”-settings on an ES9038Q2M+2*AD797 !! (okay, its really tight between them but Volumio is absolutely easy to handle at present)

DietPi is now at V6.16, i just wanted to set up the new “mympd”-(fork of ympd), ran into trouble, theres a workaround now and its fixed in DietPi V6.17..(“Allo Katana” works NOT on DietPi (with the ES9038Q2M) but with the “i-sabre-k2m” overlay i got 32/384..)

more to come, greets for now 😉

 

Raspi-AK4137 single-HAT for 2/3B/3B+ Pi (30$) ; “Sonore” ISO2DSD v7

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so, 😉
thx to this phenomenal (post) in the diyaudio.com-forum->https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/314935-es9038q2m-board-278.html,
we have now here our AK4137 as a single HAT for the Pi !! 😉
as said in earlier posts, we have to improve the signal-quality(lower jitter and so on) over I2S->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/2018/06/srcs-ti-4192-ak4137-volumio-update-foo_dsd_asio/


it costs only 30 !! $ and u can get it here->LINK
“..The main function of this board is to improve the quality of the Raspberry Pi I2S signal and reduce jitter. And make up for the Raspberry Pi I2S output without MCLK! The original I2S output of the Raspberry Pi does not have MCLK and most high-performance DACs require MCLK to work. And the AK4137 reconstruction clock reduces the Raspberry Pi output signal jitter enhancement.
This board supports Raspberry Pi 2B 3B 3B+”..
so, as also posted earlier the AK4137 has 768khz (PCM) + 12.288 MHz DSD and DR: 186dB !! ● THD+N: -150dB ->AsahiKasei(AKM) datasheet->Link

(u use it between the Pi and our ES9038Q2M for example..a really long explanation on the other functions of this HAT is in the ebay-description above)

by that i came by chance (and according to the previous post) about this “Sonore ISO2DSD“-converter (a GUI for the sacd-ripper) + “Sonore DSD2FLAC“->


u can download both from here:
https://www.sonore.us/iso2dsd.html
https://www.sonore.us/dsd2flac.html

many greets for now !! 😉

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