Tír Na HiFi

rickmcinnis wrote:The Japanese device is currently available from stock.

I wrote him a note Thursday.

Cannot remember if there were details on the firmware.

Does seem there are quite a few folks saying the SD cards have advantages for our purposes.

With all of the in and out of the drives one wonders how rugged they are and if not particularly would it be easy to replace?

Surely the SD drive receptacle is a dollar part with a few pins to solder?
That's the least concern.

What does it sound like is more to the point. That will def depend on the firmware (aka software) programmed into the FPGA which as you know will be responsible for everything - just like of course in the Soekris. At least with the SDTrans384 you have a large body of established users who have written hundreds of posts about their experience; perhaps you should dive into them and read up on it?
I will be refreshing my memory too.

I liked the feel of Nigel's too. Nice and simple and easy to see what's going on and attached DAC is appealing at $50.

Jonathan

That is the problem - with all that is written there is very little said more than IT WORKS. Sure they say it sounds good but not enough credibility of the reporters or much comparison to other approaches.

The biggest problem is the I2S arrangement. They are using LVDS which is said to bring about more jitter than a simple I2S connection as from WAVE IO type devices.

These allow the device to be placed away from the DAC but as small as it is I would rather they be close together.

I think the designers had only the chip used in the BUFFALO DAC in mind.

So it can be made to work but one wonders how well?

The thing that makes the first one I posted about stand out is they said something about the firmware and there are a few people who have reported using it. The one Nigel linked to is a mysterious black box that for all we know might be the superior device but someone will have to buy it to find out how good it is. Not usre if it is a pure I2S or another LVDS version.

I think after all of this I will stay with the damned computer.

EDIT Just looked at a better picture of the board and there are "regular" I2S outputs on the right side of the board so I guess I am back to dithering about this/

Rick,
..
I posted pix of my SDTrans384->Soekris DAM DAC test setup on the SDTrans384 thread if you are interested.

I've only listened to it a bit, with really no breakin and not even warmed up. And the DAM is basically stock with original firmware & filters. And I thought it sounded pretty good... definitely worth continuing to develop.

I can send you a copy of the SDTrans384 manual if you want.

And if you get one and want u.fl sockets & cabling, I'd be happy to do that for you on yours.

Greg in Mississippi

gstew wrote:Rick,
..
I posted pix of my SDTrans384->Soekris DAM DAC test setup on the SDTrans384 thread if you are interested.

I've only listened to it a bit, with really no breakin and not even warmed up. And the DAM is basically stock with original firmware & filters. And I thought it sounded pretty good... definitely worth continuing to develop.

I can send you a copy of the SDTrans384 manual if you want.

And if you get one and want u.fl sockets & cabling, I'd be happy to do that for you on yours.

Greg in Mississippi

is it revision 1 or 2 dam board you got?

nige2000 wrote: is it revision 1 or 2 dam board you got?

I have 2 rev 1 0.02% boards.

Prolly do a dual-mono setup with them someday (if I don't burn them first!).

So I know I have a huge awakening when I do mods to the ladder supplies.

Lots to do on this! But first I have to figure out why I'm not getting my serial connection to work for updating the firmware and filters. I've tried 3 different serial connectors, 3 different pieces of software, and 3 different computer so far, no joy.

Greg in Mississippi

gstew wrote: Lots to do on this! But first I have to figure out why I'm not getting my serial connection to work for updating the firmware and filters. I've tried 3 different serial connectors, 3 different pieces of software, and 3 different computer so far, no joy.

Greg in Mississippi

I bought a specific USB to 232 adapter (ATEN) because they don't all work, I think some don't put out the correct voltage levels that the DAC needs to see.

Just got the serial updating to work, was a combination of my needing to cross TX-RX, powering-connection sequencing, SW setup, and using the right one of serial connection HWs. Based on some posts in the main DAM thread, I saw I needed to measure the signal levels out of my HW. One of my USB-Serial adapters is TTL, so 3.3v and too low. I have not checked my 3rd HW, which is the serial connection port on an older motherboard. I will later, it'll be a good backup.

But my other USB-Serial does have the right level and with everything else done right, it worked right away!

Got them updated to 0.99 & loaded Paul's filters. But now back to the workbench, need to build regulators.

Thanks again for all the assistance!

Greg in Mississippi

UPDATE: WOOHOO!!! I even got the TTL adapter to work via the isolated serial!!!