Monat: Juni 2021

Got today the AK4113 digital receiver to I2S-output/ still at 96khz/24bit..

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so, 😉

got today this little “gem”, the mentioned AK4113 Digital Receiver Board + LCD1602 Screen SPDIF Optical/Coaxial/I2S To I2S Converter”(LINK)

thought first i have to solder the pinheader for the LCD1602 by myself; but it was already soldered->

“powered” it by a simple usb to 5V “converter” but all i got at the end was 96khz/24bit via the hdmi-audio-extractor and also via the coax/toslink-output of the Sony BDP-S7200 and the Philips BDP9700/12->

tried all different settings in the system-menus from the both player (auto,bitstream,pcm etc.,etc.)->no success..also via the hdmi-extractor the max was 96/24..

but don´t know if the AK4113 detects (and displays) it accordingly; but the 3 manual settings on the extractor were “pass”,”2ch stereo” and “5.1”..with the “pass” and “2ch stereo” i got only 48/24 max..has to “evaluate” it more..

UPDATE 1: seems like these special 4k-hdmi-switch/audio-extractor only supports audio up to 96/24..so, be careful in choosing the right one !!

another thing was that i wanted originally connect the AK4113 via I2S (to bypass the spdif-conversion) to an ES9038Q2M, but absolutely no “lock”-light..thought about it a lot and i guess (at the moment) the I2S-line (-cables) are too long (ca.30cm)..(read it sometimes ago->”the i2s-line(-cables) has to be short as possible (5-10cm)..”

UPDATE 2: curiously, i´ve got the “lock”-light (and its playing) with the “blue” ES9038Q2M; so, again, there is often a compability-problem with different devices..

greets for now + much more to come.. 😉

“Shame on me”->very nice “Burr Brown” (uargh) implementation on a Philips BDP9700..

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so, 😉

“shame on me” 😉 , but got today by chance a “Philips Fidelio” (uargh, hell 😉 ) Blurayplayer BDP9700 “in” and as u know, i HATE this “Burr Brown”-sound, for me its the sound u have to avoid by any chance, its exactly the opposite of this “airy”/”open-sounding” of the later ES-Sabre-chips, i must say its the finest implementation of any Burr Brown-“gear” i´ve ever had (okay, this thing/player costs originally above 500€ !!)..

but so “honor where honor is due“->very nice “craftsmanship” (and thats the point by the later “Burr Brown”-implementations)..

the “sound” is absolutely superb (FLACs till 24/192 over “internal” stage/chinch), best BB i´ve ever had (as said), rock-solid, but misses these unbelievable ES-Sabre-advanced-bitstream-thing (the fabulous/enormous “soundstage”/”positioning”/”airy attitude”)..

but as u see (they used for example 2 toroidal transformer (one just for audio)) its absolutely made on a highest level of “craftsmanship” and so u got a result which has also to be achieved..

picture-wise these player is worser than the other Sony BDP-S7200 which i also have here; by that the firmware is too old + buggy->the Sony (and the newer Sony UBP 4K-Player) are absolutely better IMO..

(these have btw. and as u surely know 2 x HDMI-out (1x for audio only) (absolutely “common usage” nowadays)..(these Philips has also 2 x HDMI but u cant get DSD (via DLNA) over HDMI out)..

so, clear and rock-solid BB-sound here now (but not for long !!), in this sense, greets for now, more to come (especially about this HDMI->I2S-thing) !! 😉

SFB2

(eventually) “Lock”-problems (coaxial/optical)-line on ES9038Q2M-boards..

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so folks 😉 ,

as slighty feared, i´ve got a new hdmi-switch with an audio-extractor-function (also for DSD) (19€/Aliexpress)->

but got “massive” lock-problems, means its “stuttering” over the coaxial and optical line on our ES9038Q2M-boards (the “lock”-LED is constantly “working/blinking”); no constantly bitstream..(had it also often, when the soldering on pi-boards/es9038q2m i2s-line was not so optimal)..

checked the coax-cable, used toslink too: same problem..

thought first the switch couldnt deliver a constantly bitstream but connected it then to our mini-dac (Ünnlink 192Khz Digital to Analog Audio Converter  (http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/?p=2384)) and voilá, no stuttering/problems anymore..

okay, but i had not such lock-problems with my Sony CD-changer, nor Blurayplayer, nor Telekom-Mediareceiver over coax/toslink..

so it seems its only on some audio-devices (spdif transmitter/receiver-chips problems/incompatible) and as we had it here in discussion a thousand times (->”.. and as we know „our“ early chinese ES9038Q2M-boards had not such a good „coax/toslink/spdif-line“ (the first onboard spdif-receiver-chips were not soo good (hashtag #SRC4192/AK4113/4118) ->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/?p=2211 ->“..First, on the new, blue SMPCB they use some „DS9281“ for „better coaxial conversion, less jitter, less „lock“-„problems, „better coaxial line..“),

i/we have to make/find a workaround and for this i´ve found this little nice gem->

“AK4113 Digital Receiver Board + LCD1602 Screen SPDIF Optical/Coaxial/I2S To I2S“, 25$ Ebay/->LINK

has a lot of other advantages too !! first, we got finally our “digital format/sampling frequency/digits”-display !! got besides the 2 spdif-lines also an I2S-in (will be passed through) to whom we can connect for example another hdmi-extractor (link/description at the bottom) and can easily switch between the input-channels via some simple button switch and have in any case some beautiful digital-format/sample-rate display !! 

by that it uses the AK4113 which should result in less jitter etc. too..

so, great (i´m waiting for it now) and yet to the last point today, these “Digital Interface Board HDMI / MHL to I2S / Coaxial / Optical”-device;->

had it mentioned in some articles before and because its above the 26€ duty-edge, i thought to buy it from https://audiophonics.fr/en -> https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/diy-interfaces/digital-interface-board-hdmi-mhl-to-i2s-coaxial-optical-p-15388.html ;

it cost “double the price” (same device) 50€, but its in the EU; faster shipping times + no duty problems..(and there are a lot (all) other nice things u need to have (i2s-cable,XH 2.54mm Male Socket 5 Channels connector,  toroidal-transformer, cases, all u wish)

greets for now + more to come !! 😉