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SDTrans 384?

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 11:41 pm
by rickmcinnis
I am really tempted to try this thing.

Going through the posts in various forums I see many by jkeny. In fact, I see this thing was brought a couple of years ago here.

Would greatly appreciate getting jkeny's opinion on this approach and , of course, anyone else's but he seems to have thought about it more.

I see no reason it should not work with the SOEKRIS but I sent a note asking if the seller knows. Would be good to be sure.

Re: SDTrans 384?

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 12:05 am
by nige2000
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lossless-SD-dig ... Swd0BVqzdJ

whats clocking the i2s signals on this sdtrans 384

the lack of info on these boards is astounding

Re: SDTrans 384?

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 2:03 am
by jkeny
rickmcinnis wrote:I am really tempted to try this thing.

Going through the posts in various forums I see many by jkeny. In fact, I see this thing was brought a couple of years ago here.

Would greatly appreciate getting jkeny's opinion on this approach and , of course, anyone else's but he seems to have thought about it more.

I see no reason it should not work with the SOEKRIS but I sent a note asking if the seller knows. Would be good to be sure.
It's a while since I looked at these devices but I always thought they were worth looking into - I even got one of those QLS QA660 SD players a good while ago. Must dig it out again & have a fresh look at it. At the time, I found the sound pretty good but not better than the music from PC. Although the software developer sounds like he is on the right track, the hardware design doesn't live up to the simplicity of the software design - the signal passes through too many chips including resampling chips - but as I said I must dig it out & have another look at it

The SDtrans always seemed the best thought out of the SD players but it was difficult to purchase & a bit expensive then - don't know what it's priced at now?

Re: SDTrans 384?

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 4:42 pm
by rickmcinnis
around $450.00 excluding freight.

There are tcxos on the board from what I have read, Nigel. Of course, I am not the person to ask about that kind of thing.

There is a good picture of the thing on the SOEKRIS site.

I will post the link to it later and maybe you can see what is there.

Thanks, jkeny.

Re: SDTrans 384?

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 4:50 pm
by rickmcinnis
Look at post #1120. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendors- ... ost4203202

Very clear photograph.

Re: SDTrans 384?

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:23 pm
by jkeny
rickmcinnis wrote:Look at post #1120. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendors- ... ost4203202

Very clear photograph.
Yea, thanks
I can't see any clocks in that pic unless PC1 & PC2 are clocks but unusual designations - they would normally be named X1, X2 on the PCB screen print. But, from memory, I think it uses NDK clocks - I just can't see them - maybe underneath the board?
It looks like IC7 is the I2S driver.
As Nige said already the biggest problem with the simplified PC substitutes tried so far, like Raspberry Pi, or Beaglebone etc. has been the quality of the I2S signal coming off the board - this could be improved with reclocking of the signal. It would be a good indicator if this was already done on the SDTrans board but I can't tell from the pic

Re: SDTrans 384?

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:57 pm
by rickmcinnis
After seeing that it is easy to over the separate parts without making a mess of the board that put me over the edge. I have placed my order.

Now to sell my JCAT USB card and cable and two WAVE IOs.

I guess I will use the remaining computer parts for loading the SD cards.

Still a little concerned about the best way to load music onto the SD cards.

Re: SDTrans 384?

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 9:30 pm
by randytsuch
rickmcinnis wrote:After seeing that it is easy to over the separate parts without making a mess of the board that put me over the edge. I have placed my order.

Now to sell my JCAT USB card and cable and two WAVE IOs.

I guess I will use the remaining computer parts for loading the SD cards.

Still a little concerned about the best way to load music onto the SD cards.
Did you buy the SDTrans board, or the ebay one?

If it was me, I'd hold off selling all of the USB cards until I see how this new sd card player sounds.

Re: SDTrans 384?

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:15 pm
by nige2000
randytsuch wrote:
rickmcinnis wrote:After seeing that it is easy to over the separate parts without making a mess of the board that put me over the edge. I have placed my order.

Now to sell my JCAT USB card and cable and two WAVE IOs.

I guess I will use the remaining computer parts for loading the SD cards.

Still a little concerned about the best way to load music onto the SD cards.

If it was me, I'd hold off selling all of the USB cards until I see how this new sd card player sounds.
Completely agree,
throwing out the baby with the bath water

heres the pic
Image

also interesting
http://www.rendu.sonore.us/rendu.html

Re: SDTrans 384?

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:32 pm
by nige2000
Image


can only see one oscillator on this board on the top right in black
edit actually i see none thats a pulse transformer

why is this board supposed to be good?