Op-Amp Diskurs: AD797A – AD797B / OPA627AU + other.. / DIY-Audio

so, 😉
after i´ve finally got the Green ES9038Q2M (see post before) i can continue to “develop/build” the planned DIY-DAC (according to the main topic of this site->”Audio-introduction”->”..all in favor (in the way) of building „our“ own DIY-DAC !!” 😉 ..)

and as i said, i´ve got the feel that the AD797ANZ (i had no other AD797 here) is absolutely the best choice on the “Blue” ES9038Q2M (and from the Op-Amps i´ve got here so far of course) (LME47910,-20,OPA2134,Muses8920, etc..), on the Green they “sounded” for me a little bit too thin(+harsh)..
guess (it is) because of the different pcb-layouts, other voltage regulators, capacitors and so on; wonderful thread concerning this as posted million times before->https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/314935-es9038q2m-board-301.html
i´ve just ordered (as planned) some OPA627AU (they should be a little bit “warmer”, but also with the wide soundstage + 3D/spacious/”airy” attitude) and hope they will fit my personal taste a little bit more (and this is exactly what it is in the high hifi-gear-equipment->from a certain level on its always/depends on your personal taste + affectations/preferences)..
so, by that, as some user said, the the AD797B is the optimimum choice for hi-fi by the AD797s i´ve found by chance a .pdf (datasheet) from original Analog-Devices->Link..



and indeed, the frame-specifications are almost the same but there are some differences..(picture is only a small excerpt)
some user said (also here in the forum->http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=76:
“..Category 5 – complete sound traveling in the clean air”
2x AD797BRZ – this is the op-amp truly deserving the name of the Analog Device. This one is a smoother and fuller sounding version of the AD797. Switching from the ANZ to the BRZ series is like going vinyl instead of digital. Everything is smooth to the moment your music craves for the harsh texture like aggressive violin passages, distorted guitars, or stronger double bass phrases. The readability of the furthest plans is great, without going into image sharpening effect which makes you see the details more but lose the feeling of perspective at the same time. Roughly, it’s like the AD79ANZ with all advantages of the OPA627BP added. The soundstage is nowhere limited and the sound image of whatever possible shape. This is a reference integrated op-amp for me so let me know as soon as you find better, and I will verify it.”
i will test it then, have to buy this AD797BRZ.. 😉 ..
another thing is that i now continue to find a case, look for the right torodial transformer (+15V-0–15V) and so on; Audiophonics has some there->https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/search?search_query=transformer+15v



by that, i´ve found some old “Harman Kardon HD710” (for maybe using some parts/case of it) and interesting was also the “normal” CD-Player LCD-displays which had “millions” of different display-elements (maybe to get some other ideas for “layouting” your own display)..


(but i will continue to post raspberry-things, audio-distros (software), ESP32-things and so on, no worry)
gr.. 😉

Finally the ES9038Q2M V1.07 “Green” arrived / results compared to the “Blue” one..

so, 😉
hooray 😉 , finally the Green ES9038Q2M V1.07 arrived (more Hi-Fi again 😉 )->

Impressions: used first the coax-input (Samsung BD-Player) ->absolutely massive !!, thought: more hi-fi again (as with the first ES9018K2M+ES9028Q2M, not soo with the “Blue” ES9038Q2M..)
interesting is that the NE5532 is absolutely great on this “Green” one; fabulous sound via spdif/coax+NE5532; goes really down and with good “push”..
changed first to the Muses8920 and then to 2*AD797; stick now with the ADs->more “room”, better THD, almost too thin for some i would say (in opposite in using them on the “Blue” ones..).

would say a better performance (Green vs. Blue) by 5-10% 😉 (its also ca. 20% heavier (“Green”) and the PCB is thicker; got the feel has a better “ground”, especially for the “lows”)..
other differences: the “Lock”-light on the “Green” is more “torquise” and is only lit in playing something over I2S (over coax its permanently)..”Blue” Lock-light is red and permanently lit (at connect).

(if u have other questions, please leave a comment here->Link above)

many greets for now 😉

New Moode V4.3 out – now as an image (.img) / ESP32S factory-reset/flash

so, 😉
a new “Moode” V4.3 is out; now as an image (.img); u dont have to set it up/compile it for yourself anymore->Moodeaudio.org
first impressions: (all in relation to “our” ES9038Q2M-“chinese-boards”):

choose first the “I2S-generic”-settings; runs okay, no problems..

used then the “Audiophonics ES9028Q2M” setting->for me better, not so “harsh”, got the feel it has more room, more “exact”, think its maybe about the specialized register-adressing of the ESS-chips (but don´t know for sure if they “fine-tune” it for the chip, guess so)…used then to cross-check the “hifiberry-dac” settings; the same there; for me absolutely to “harsh”, too much treble (not such a “fine resolution” as the AudiophonicsES9028-setting..)
(the “Allo Katana”-setting (at contrary to Volumio) works also NOT !! (on the ES9038Q2M (chinese)))

stayed with the ES9028Q2M-setting, then tested for DSD(DoP): works, Moode said “Encoded to DoP 352.800khz”, but the DSD-Led on the ES9038Q2M was NOT lit !!

disabled the software-mixer, resampling-options, but still no DSD-light..

i´ve mentioned it in this post/article before-> http://essabre-90xx-rpi.sfb2.com/2018/09/volumio-now-at-v2-452-did-it-dsd-lock-light-on-es9038q2m-alsamixer-archphile-xmos-usb-audio-etc/

the first time i´ve got the feel of real DSD/DoP (and the DSD-Led was lit of course) was in/with “Volumio”; foobar2000 also said ASIO-active (pcm-mode) 352.800khz and so on, but the DSD-Led was also not lit !!

conclusion for now (for “our” lovely chinese-ES9038Q2Ms 😉 ):

true/real DSD/DoP (DSD-Led lit) only on Volumio (V2.452 and up) (and meanwhile i think thats the point: with the “Allo Katana”-settings !!so far !!

by that, in listening here Moode is very very close to Volumio (maybe a little better at present IMO) (but as said, this is an absolutely personal/subjective impression).

also my ESP32S Geekcreit (Doit.am 36 pin) was not functional anymore, couldnt run/upload a sketch, tried everything, found now a way (and mainly with the right hex-adresses for the espressif-flashtool) to made it functional again->long Tut here (at the forum/at the end of the post)->LINK

greets for now 😉

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

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

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

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 !! 😉

Little (Win)-exkursus -> foobar2000-alternative – Teac Hi-res Editor / ASIO-DSD / Win 384k

so, 😉
by searching for the right settings to play real, native-DSD i came by chance about this tool->TEAC Hi-res-editor (WAV/DSD/DFF)
->https://teac.jp/int/product/teac_hi-res_editor/top

very interesting was, and thats why i post it here mainly, is because i couldnt play (flacs) above 192khz in VLC for example in Win8.1 (Win10) with the XMOS(Skysong)-USB-bridge and our lovely chinese-sabre-boards (ES90xx..)
i could select 24bit/384khz in sound-properties (XMOS-USB-Audio), could “generate” a test-tone, but playing flacs in 384khz by example was not possible..
I´ve installed this “Teac-Hi-res-editor” and surprisingly i had my 384khz (VLC) in Win8.1(Win10) !!
think it had installed some driver from which i was not aware of before..
second, the main very interesting feature of this Teac-Player/Editor that u can select the different DSD-rates (DSD64-2.8M,DSD128-5.6M and DSD256-11.2M) via the “play-frequency”-dropbox and it switches/plays through it->the Skysong(XMOS-USB)-bridge “clacks”-through and changes the LEDs accordingly to it !!

wonderful and absolutely easy !! (i had the ES9018K2M connected and have unfortunately a white noise at these rates (the PCM-rates up to 384khz are working well), but will test it with the ES9028Q2M and the ES9038Q2M)..
anyway, absolutely simple and very prolific !! 😉
(u must change the audio-driver in the audio-driver settings to “ASIO” of course-> see pictures..but soo easy, great)(if u have no “ASIO->(XMOS USB)”-option try to install the xmos-driver V4.36 or V4.45 again (here singxer/skysong-driverpack))

greets for now !! 😉

Volumio (now at V2.452) did it->DSD/Lock light on ES9038Q2M / Alsamixer Archphile XMOS USB Audio etc..

so, 😉
after i tested “Archphile” with the Skysong-Xmos-USB-interface and still don´t know how to limit the DSD-rate to the DAC/-combo (it uses 705600 but the ES9038Q2M doesnt support it, i got only a heavy white noise), tried everything in the /etc/mpd.conf; i used again “Volumio” as it said in one of their forums something about their DSD-native/DoP-compatibilty..
so let it run and hooray, the DSD-Led on the ES9038Q2M + the DSD-indication on the skysong-bridge were lit !!

(hadn´t got the DSD-indication before afaik).

wonderful, true DSD/DoP-sound !! 😉

had used foobar2000 with the Asio-driver/DSD-processor, the singxer audio-panel said:”Asio active(PCM-mode)-352800khz sample-rate”, see 2 posts before, but meanwhile i think it was converted !! to PCM- (with soxr by example) >because i hadnt got the DSD-led on and it wasnt not such a great improvement to “normal” PCM..
now with volumio it sounds absolutely fantastic, absolutely real DSD-“sound” !! (“real” DoP)

by that i´ve think meanwhile “Archphile” is for the really high-end USB-DACS->384khz,768KHz (and above); think its about the “Arch-linux ARM”-kernel/core..
also u got a wonderful “Alsamixer-volume and master-clock”-mixer for the XMOS-USB-audio interface (with the command “alsamixer”)->

also interesting in Volumio is that if use the “resample-option” in the settings it affects also the “DoP-chain”->set at 384khz resample/sox/very high, got my red light (PCM) on the bridge on and no DSD-light on the ES9038Q2M..
interesting II. is that u can resample up to 768khz (in Volumio) and u can hear something (but heavy white-noised) on the ES9038Q2M although somebody posted it can only play/(is capable of) up to 384khz in “asynchron-mode”; but i heard here something..->


greets for and more to come !! 😉

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