Lossless SD digital Player is computer audio now reborn?

[nige2000]

Is 8mHz an unusual value for this application? I can see advantages with such a slow clock - could it be akin to slowing down the CPU?

Why do you think they chose this value?

no idea why its 8mhz my board was built to price more so than anything else
however this gives much simplicity on which to build

the 8mhz clk has been changed now with an increase of resolution
and i think its worth demoing at next CA meet

How does it compare to your PC now?
Because I'm also a cheap bastard, I'm thinking about buying one of these (instead of the deluxe model that Rick has)

And I agree with Rick about the display, I would worry that it adds noise to the system, would be nice if it could be isolated from the rest of the board, wonder how difficult it would be to do that.

certainly at the races for one of top slots
which is great any way you look at it
i haven't done stringent a-b testing and dont intend to until ive finished honing it as it involves moving equipment setup etc
i think theres a CA meet on the horizon here in the next few weeks ill bring usb and sdplayer varieties of soekris for a playoff
and we should have a consensus then

replaced the 32.768 clock the difference was so much i was wondering if the stock oscillator was working at all
partially out of lazyness im just after putting a reclocker board on the side to take the i2s out a little earlier bypassing some r's

ill let you know what it sounds like when i get a chance to listen

oh pic

[nige2000]

think they are very few audio pcs that can compete with this

this is looking like a must have device for digital audio enthusiasts

[gstew]

think they are very few audio pcs that can compete with this

this is looking like a must have device for digital audio enthusiasts

Well, at $85 USD, that was a no-brainer. Ordered one last night, need to figure out how far to take it before comparing to the SDTrans.

Greg in Mississippi

[nige2000]

thanks for the support greg
Its certainly cheaper for you to buy the generic one for comparison than the other option for me

If you get two lifepo4 cells to power it and replace all oscillators and the crystal remove all electrolitics and the two ldo 3.3v regs
That should be most of the heavy lifting and should be comparable then to sd trans

You must have two kitchens with all the pots you have on the cooker:)

Was playing with synchronisity or the lack there off
I had a feeling this last while that asynchronous clocking isnt really audiophile in its presentation especially after the experiments on the diyinhk i2s and usb hub as asynchronous sounds slightly a little edgy maybe its the fight for alignment and synchronized sounds more fluid and coherant
I assume most of us would prefer the soekris to work on fixed oscillators of 22 and 24mhz rather than adjustable 45/49 then we could have a fully synconised sdplayer soekris
Ive taken the fpga clk out of the dac to pre align or clock the i2s coming in and im hearing some benefits of that vs using the sdcards ndk

I suppose i could consider getting 45/49 ndks replace the adjustable and use a 74 ff to divide for sd card player
Assuming using the sdplayer as freq selector works

[gstew]

Also it was easier for me to do this than send you my SDTrans for a comparison. I do have a stock of good 22/24mHz NDK clocks here along with some LiFePo4 cells. I'll have to look at what to source for the other clocks, suggestions?

I'll probably keep the SDTrans mostly stock, but power it with LiFePo4 as a good apples-to-apples. I don't want to muck with it much if I end up deciding this other one can be made comparable, it'd be nice to re-sell the SDTrans.

I DO have way too many projects going, need to start winnowing them. I had an experience a couple of weeks ago that has started me down that path... I was playing with some off the cheapo Raspberry Pi DAC hats (HiFIBerry DAC+ Pro, MamboBerry) and did a lot of mods to the HiFiBerry thinking I could really lift it. It stayed solidly in the bottom tier of my digital sources and the MamboBerry (with some very minor tweaks) was roughly comparable. Funny, a still stock DAM fed from a Pi is one of my best sources right now, I had much higher hopes for them. I'll play with them some more, but I've started considering moving them off my list and the one I bought that I haven't run yet (an IQAudio) will go on the block soon. I expect the DAMs fed by either a Pi or an SD card player will end up as my top digital sources for awhile... Once I get these sorted, I can get my vinyl running again. But I have a similar situation in turntables, arms, and DIY phono stages (and amps too, dang it!).

Very curious to hear/see more about what you're doing on synchronous clocking... pics? Still, it'd be nice to start with a better clock than the one in the DAM. I saw your posts on the main DAM thread... I keep wondering if I should buy a couple of the new ones and peddle the two original DAMs I have before I tear into them (and make them nearly impossible to sell).

Will post more when I get it, am interested in clock/crystal suggestions.

Greg in Mississippi

[jrling]

Or putting it in other words - 'I have the faith'!?

Fascinating journey and thanks for sharing it with us nige.

I came across this pic of an Aune S18 card player and I thought it bears an uncanny resemblance to your player -



Chinese made. Similar layout certainly. Components like clocks are reputed to be Crystek 947. Amazing amount of space between components which I think is a good thing.
Way more money than yours as it's in a case.

Being in the cheap seats myself, I am tempted by yours.

Cheers
Jonathan

[jrling]

Another thought. The SD card bit of these players is the irritating part. SDTrans guys chose it for simplicity and low noise of the SPI interface.

I wondered if there is any way of converting the storage to say SATA or USB retaining the SPI interface (or the FPGA code would have to be rewritten)?
Haven't found anything in my searches so far.

[gstew]

Another thought. The SD card bit of these players is the irritating part. SDTrans guys chose it for simplicity and low noise of the SPI interface.

I wondered if there is any way of converting the storage to say SATA or USB retaining the SPI interface (or the FPGA code would have to be rewritten)?
Haven't found anything in my searches so far.

LOL. I looked too and didn't find any adapters that fed SATA or anything into an SD card interface. I think the simplicity of that interface is one of the secrets of why these work so well.

Note: See John Swenson's thoughts on what he called "Tony's Player" on the Audio Asylum here:

http://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m.html? ... %3Dpcaudio

This is not quite as convenient, but a similar concept.

I'm looking at this as an opportunity to up my digital source game a LOT... couple SD card players as my 'ultimate' source with re-ripping my music on an optimized setup and I hope I will be so happy that I won't want to play the vinyl copies of any music I have in both analog and digital storage media.

Greg in Mississippi

[jrling]

H Greg - great minds and all that - I really was enthusiastic about 'Tony's Player' as a concept in 2013, but no-one else seemed to want to get behind it and fund a project with JS. Unsurprising I suppose as it is very unfriendly to say the least.

I tried the concept on Fryderyk, but the sheer mention of Ethernet had him spluttering into his Guinness (or more likely 80% proof vodka). Networking will not darken the doors of WTFPlay. End of. On reflection and following a beautifully crafted and reasoned argument he wrote me - I agreed!

The SPI interface is delightfully simple and you can understand them choosing it, but I am not convinced that it is the only or best choice necessarily for SQ. But what do I know as a simple accountant.

Cheers
Jonathan

[rickmcinnis]

Without using the SD card the whole thing is lost.

The idea was to get all of that stuff out of the way.

Every approach has its drawbacks.

I like being able to jump to the next track without all of the rigmarole of my previous setup.

Now that I am used to the "cards" I prefer it. I was worried this was going to be a sore point.

AS with anything, once you get used to it ...