Tír Na HiFi

Tried the Diyinhk XMOS 768Khz USB card today and it sounds excellent.

No isolation that I am aware of on the Diyinhk XMOS 768Khz USB card but it does have a linear Reg same as the JL Sounds card so not exactly sure why I am hearing all these improvements.
The LiPO I am sure helps for powering the Diyinhk XMOS 768Khz USB card.

In terms of the Amanero Card you could be right John but I need to wire up the Amanero again just for a sanity check.
I have a system now which works well for changing between cards so hopefully will be able to provide more feedback soon.
Posted some pics here:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-da ... post563046

Looks like things are hotting up again. When I get back and figure out how far away the new amps are suggest we have a decent meet up to hear the new amp/Johns stuff and Pearse's new card. BTW was offered a golden gate which I tried to pawn off on Simon but I think it would require a massive group buy to secure! Of course I would look after it but people would be free to come and visit whenever.

Happy Hols Tony,

For Simon I would recommend to wait it out a little as there are so many major steps taking place in the DAC world this year at low cost that there should be some serious competition coming along to the big names.
I expect a small investment on USB card change on your Lampi could see some real good improvements given what I am hearing.

I will have some quick change USB cards ready for the nest meet so all can judge the improvements on these new generation of cards.

Cheers, Pearse.

Which interesting DACs are coming out this year
I'm pretty happy with the soekris both the USB diyinhk 768 and sd card versions
The revision 3 sounded pretty good even stock

I'm sure the l4 could be upgraded with a better implementation of i2s
stock implementation looked a bit like an after thought

Adding a reclock flip-flop to the 768 diyinhk should squeeze a little more out of it
Maybe same for f1 too

Not so much the interesting DACS yet to appear this year Nige but all the supporting stuff that will change the breed of DACS yet to appear.

On the one hand you have all the stuff going on at the moment with Audio Over Internet Protocol "AOIP" with Dante and Raveena protocols, Rednet Pro Audio AES I/O controllers, 10 MHz Word clocks connected, Mutec convertors, etc..

On the other hand you have all the USB cards with isolation, reclocking, more powerful XMOS chips, powerful FPGA technology, microrendu based tech and so on.

Separate power supplies seem to be gaining traction for DACS and more Triode based output stages appearing in DACS.

I expect to see AOIP DACS coming out of China soon, how they manage licencing for the AOIP software we will see!

There just seems to be a lot going on at the moment and as soon as I see a 2 channel AOIP controller appear from the Pro Audio world for us Audiophools I will be jumping on board.

Like you have proven with the Soekris DAC is appears to be becoming easier to pull together a really excellent DAC for a small amount of money.

I expect you could build a serious DAC based on the Soekris DAC for 1k, sell it for 2K at 100% profit, someone has got to be doing it soon :-))

lol
A very simple implemented one
Really not much harder than wiring an electrical plug
www.lessloss.com/echos-end-p-218.html

I suppose its priced like what it sounds like not what it cost to build

nige2000 wrote:I'm sure the l4 could be upgraded with a better implementation of i2s
stock implementation looked a bit like an after thought

Adding a reclock flip-flop to the 768 diyinhk should squeeze a little more out of it
Maybe same for f1 too

Whilst very interesting beyond my capabilities, certainly would be loath to jump in soldering new bits inside the black box. I still haven't mustered the funds to send it back for DSD. Funny how the Big7 was top of the tree when Pearse got it but Likasz has certainly beefed up the range and prices with the golden gate. I betcha the copper idea came when he saw Pearse's implementation on the Big7. The R2R boards seem to be making there way out into the market place and some reviews are coming back. Seem very positive.

nige2000 wrote:lol
A very simple implemented one
Really not much harder than wiring an electrical plug
http://www.lessloss.com/echos-end-p-218.html

I suppose its priced like what it sounds like not what it cost to build

Yikes...lovely case but half the cost is probably for those 12 "Firewall" modules inside...this hobby does make you shake your head sometimes, no doubt it works but the mark up is a bit much.

If the case could be purchased separately it would tempt me to build a Soekris based DAC.

tony wrote:

nige2000 wrote:I'm sure the l4 could be upgraded with a better implementation of i2s
stock implementation looked a bit like an after thought

Adding a reclock flip-flop to the 768 diyinhk should squeeze a little more out of it
Maybe same for f1 too

Whilst very interesting beyond my capabilities, certainly would be loath to jump in soldering new bits inside the black box. I still haven't mustered the funds to send it back for DSD. Funny how the Big7 was top of the tree when Pearse got it but Likasz has certainly beefed up the range and prices with the golden gate. I betcha the copper idea came when he saw Pearse's implementation on the Big7. The R2R boards seem to be making there way out into the market place and some reviews are coming back. Seem very positive.

It would only take 10 mins to solder in a few lines off the Amanero and 5v on the 4.5 to check some of these new breed USB converters Tony, if they do not bring a big improvement then nothing lost.
Will bring my soldering iron along with the converters ready for plug and play if you are interested.
WTFPlay sees all of them with no configuration, just start as normal and play.

Ah ok one has to take a few risks to get reward. Will work up the courage over the next few weeks.