Monat: Dezember 2018

…coming back to the AK4137 SRC / 22€-27$

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so, 😉
in still waiting/searching for the right +-15V toroidal transformer and the right case, i was searching yesterday again at these fabulous diyaudio.com-forum->https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/314935-es9038q2m-board-347.html and there is still some AK4137-modding “in the work”..
As said in this post before->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/2018/09/raspi-ak4137-single-hat-for-2-3b-3b-pi-iso2dsd-v7/ the AK4137 is an digital up-sampler/sample-rate-converter (SRC) with such enormous values like: up to 768khz, DR: 186dB !! ● THD+N: -150dB –
“„..The main function of this board is to improve the quality of the Raspberry Pi I2S signal and reduce jitter..”+”And the AK4137 reconstruction clock reduces the Raspberry Pi output signal jitter enhancement.”..

so and as this raspi-hats, “standalone” boards are meanwhile down to 22€/26$ (Link) respective 23€/27$(Link), u can give it a try..

by that, i have to say that these ES9038Q2M (stock) + some AD797s + raspberry pi (or some xmos-device) already have a superb sound/tune; as posted before i had a Cambridge-Audio-DAC-Magic (150€) here, and it was very well and clean manufactored (Wolfson-chips in it) but it was nevertheless absolutely no comparison to what ESS-chips (ES9038Q2M) are capable of->much better soundstage,3D,positioning,resolution->

“Forget about dual Wolfsons, this new unit shows what the ESS Sabre chip is truly capable of..Just fantastically detailed all along the entire frequency range, wide open, huge soundstage and separation, no noticeable coloration, but slightly warm and ultimately spot on timbre. There’s more than sufficient dynamics and air. A very worthy musical experience..“

so, back to the theme: i havent got understand it at first right, but with the following pictures its more clear..

 

and so you can select via the K1-K10 jumper/bridges the appropriate sample-rate/DSD-PCM-options, like with with the different filter-settings on the ES9038Q2M par example..

such a “standalone” PCB with I2S-in and I2S-out is better for a XMOS-usb-bridge for example (or the expensive versions of these have a spdif-input too (to directly connect to a transporter CD/Blu-ray))..

would be very interesting if these AK4137 have such a great impact on the tune (less jitter and so on) also on 44,1khz/16bit (Redbook)..

another thing is that some user, also in the diyaudio-forum, means that these “upsampling” by the AK4137 in general or in special this “PCM to DSD” conversion have enormous advantages noise-wise..the noise will be moved in some inaudible frequencies or better completely removed (through this sigma-delta-extra extrapolation/conversion).

anyway, as we have now different possibilities to “pimp-up” the already very good “sounding” ES9038Q2Ms->soldering some other voltage regulators on it (keyword “AVCC” etc.), use another,cleaner power supply (toroidal +-15V), use other OP-Amps (AD797,Muses) + upsample/reduce jitter with the AK4137, we must now see whats the best cost-performance relation..

so, back to the top, these 22€ for some AK4137 could be also a very good alternative but as i had yet not such a hat here, i unfortunately cant say anything to the benefits..

(if anybody has some experiences with the AK4137 and with a ES9038Q2M please share your experiences here in the comment-section !!)

many greets for now !! 😉 

 

New Dual ES9038Q2M out !! + new Volumio ES9038Q2M-plugin !! (HW-Vol. + DPLL etc.)

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so, 😉
in visiting this great,great, diyaudio.com-forum (as said a million times before and link also in the “sidebar”)->https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/314935-es9038q2m-board-338.html we have now here first a new “Dual ES9038Q2M-DAC/board“; it has also “a lot of shit” as a bluetooth-receiver and such on board, but has also an HDMI-I2S-input, see post before..(the board itself is also from “SMP CB” (like “our” green-ones))


160-200$ roundabout->Aliexpress-Link..

by that, and thats most important, someone over at the diyaudio.com-forum “DID IT” 😉 , means software-control on some internal register, HW-Vol, DPLL-settings and so on / unbelievable !!..

i dont want to write here too much about it (NDA and such), just head over to the forum->https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/314935-es9038q2m-board-338.html and u will be absolutely fascinated !!

also i found just now by chance a github-repository for a driver/.dtbo for the AK-4137 on a ES9028Q2M (hifibunny-driver) or ES9038Q2M->also just discussed in the forum..->Github/TuziUsagi->https://github.com/TuziUsagi/ak4137

more to come, merry christmas and many greets for now !! 😉

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 😉

“Arduino goes serial with the ESP8266” / quick and dirty tutorial..

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so, 😉
in waiting for the new Op-Amp (and looking for the right case + +-15V toroidal transformer), i´ve revived an old WeMoS D1-R2 (ESP8266)for using it with my Arduino-Cambridge-Audio-IR-Remotecontroller substitution (as wifi-/webcontrol)..
quick and dirty tutorial in the forum->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=89

nothing special, only that i had great problems in using the softwareserial-library on the ESP8266 and that i used “Serial1” instead (via “D4” (GPIO2)-“Serial1.begin(9600)”)
the sketch for the ESP8266 is built around the wonderful, wonderful “autoconnect”-library by “Hieromon”(as posted before)->https://github.com/Hieromon/AutoConnect

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)