OOTB
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Posts: 18
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Post by OOTB on Mar 30, 2016 21:34:06 GMT
WARNING long story ....IF I had to choose between the Bifrost with AK4490 (VERY accurate few-bit-type-DS) which can probably resolve around 18 bits, maybe even 20 bits ? and a much more expensive multibit version with a 16 bit ladder DAC that can resolve to about 13.5 bits than for me the choice would be simple. The AK4490 please ... MUCH more accurate and closer to the original. In short.... the DS is more accurate and cheaper. The MB is more expensive and less accurate BUT you have something most don't have. To me the choice is obvious based on technical merits. I would choose a DAC over functionality and looks rather than 2 different types of conversion chips and hype trains. Others may prefer the hype or having something 'different'. When someone hears substantial differences between those DACS then they should choose what they believe or heard to be the best. I am DAC deaf (I can hear differences between poorly designed and properly designed ones though) so every competently designed DAC sounds exactly the same when level matched AND when not aware WHAT I am listening at. This was very helpful. I'm going to pick up the AK4490 and have it installed locally. Your timing could not have been better with this. I was agonizing over whether to upgrade my UberFrost to the AK4490 or MB. Frankly didn't want to do the MB as now I have more money for the Ember 2. :-) Thanks again.
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OOTB
valued member
Posts: 18
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Post by OOTB on Mar 30, 2016 21:44:19 GMT
having recently bought the lcd-2 rev 2 and with a (Frans)filter on the way,... I don't think I'm posting this in the right place - but the above quote is from the 1st post on page one. Just curious if Frans makes filters now, and if he does so for the LCD-X. Any info is appreciated. Sorry if this is in the wrong place. (feel free to delete and send me a message or whatever is convenient.)
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oldson
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Post by oldson on Mar 31, 2016 13:18:42 GMT
I think he has no more boards left. I guess he will confirm soon
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Mar 31, 2016 19:07:49 GMT
The filter PCB's are all sold.
For the LCD-X a filter can be constructed for the Kameleon. This filter module can also be used in the (still to be developped) G1217 filter-add on.
When Jeremy doesn't have time for this and I have found some time again myself (currently heavily occupied with all kinds of things) I will make a line level filter device myself in the same fashion as the portable Kameleon.
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oldson
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Post by oldson on Apr 15, 2016 8:07:25 GMT
We all accept that amps benefit greatly for having a good psu. Can the same be said for dacs
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Apr 15, 2016 11:22:35 GMT
Power supplies for amplifiers have different properties as those for DAC's A good PS is never wasted.
A PS for a DAC should be low noise.
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oldson
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Post by oldson on Apr 16, 2016 20:54:18 GMT
my 2 most recent dacs are both usb powered. the reason i ask is because i am thinking of buying a desktop dac, are they potentially better for having a psu? (internal or external)
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Apr 16, 2016 22:26:02 GMT
It is easier to make a decent power supply in a desktop DAC. Of course, good filtering and a good PCB layout are more important than just a power supply.
So a well designed USB powered DAC may perform better than a less well designed desktop DAC. Of course, a well designed desktop DAC may perform better than a decent USB fed design.
PCB layout, implementation of the upsampling/filtering and application of good DAC chips and analog filters is more important than just a good power supply.
Unfortunately I really can't say which DAC is well designed and which is less. Never got into these things.
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Post by tunkejazz on Apr 20, 2016 4:14:49 GMT
Hi guys, I just want to share a little story about setting up the computer/DAC link.
Since last week I had the impression that my rig in the office (Ifi nano IDSD + Ember + HE400i/modded Philips) was not "sounding quite right". I think all this comes from testing the Fiio X3ii with those same headphones, which seemed to give significantly better results. So I started to fiddle with the settings of my player (Audacious, it is a Linux machine). Linux list the Ifi nano in many different forms depending how it is controlled (which driver/sound system). In my case not all of them worked, but I found one setting that just made everything sound OUTSTANDING!
After a lot of googling and reading I found out why. It turns out that by default, my system picked the right DAC device, but all the audio signals were going though some internal software mixer in the system that re-interpolates/re-samples everything with some fast/poor-sounding algorithm. After changing to another setting that streams the audio directly into the DAC, without any software conversions the results are incredible :-) The right command to check these things in Linux is to run in a terminal: aplay -L
sysdefault:CARD=AudioDOP2 iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio (DOP2, USB Audio Default Audio Device
hw:CARD=AudioDOP2,DEV=0 iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio (DOP2, USB Audio Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=AudioDOP2,DEV=0 iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio (DOP2, USB Audio Hardware device with all software conversions
My system was using the first one, which apparently is also employs a software mixer. The middle option is the correct one. My point is that a perfectly sounding amp/DAC combo can be spoiled by poor settings in the source. But Linux can be particularly tricky with these things :-)
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Apr 20, 2016 4:38:55 GMT
Had a similar experience with an old ubuntu.
Didn't sound good, windows sounded better as well as the X3 so never used ubuntu for listening unless I wanted to hear the content. One day my ubuntu became too old and had to use a newer version. Decided to use Ubuntu Studio which is designed for audio video production with all the drivers and programs needed. This one sounded great from the start and no driver issues on any of my DAC's
never went in deep nor do I seem to need it with Studio.
Mostly use the X3 as a source on line-out
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oldson
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Post by oldson on Apr 28, 2016 19:52:13 GMT
WARNING long story ....IF I had to choose between the Bifrost with AK4490 (VERY accurate few-bit-type-DS) which can probably resolve around 18 bits, maybe even 20 bits ? and a much more expensive multibit version with a 16 bit ladder DAC that can resolve to about 13.5 bits than for me the choice would be simple. The AK4490 please ... MUCH more accurate and closer to the original. In short.... the DS is more accurate and cheaper. The MB is more expensive and less accurate BUT you have something most don't have. To me the choice is obvious based on technical merits. I would choose a DAC over functionality and looks rather than 2 different types of conversion chips and hype trains. Others may prefer the hype or having something 'different'. When someone hears substantial differences between those DACS then they should choose what they believe or heard to be the best. I am DAC deaf (I can hear differences between poorly designed and properly designed ones though) so every competently designed DAC sounds exactly the same when level matched AND when not aware WHAT I am listening at. This was very helpful. I'm going to pick up the AK4490 and have it installed locally. Your timing could not have been better with this. I was agonizing over whether to upgrade my UberFrost to the AK4490 or MB. Frankly didn't want to do the MB as now I have more money for the Ember 2. :-) Thanks again. did you get the ak4490?
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Post by mowglikun on Jul 4, 2016 18:18:03 GMT
Hi guys, I just want to share a little story about setting up the computer/DAC link. Since last week I had the impression that my rig in the office (Ifi nano IDSD + Ember + HE400i/modded Philips) was not "sounding quite right". I think all this comes from testing the Fiio X3ii with those same headphones, which seemed to give significantly better results. So I started to fiddle with the settings of my player (Audacious, it is a Linux machine). Linux list the Ifi nano in many different forms depending how it is controlled (which driver/sound system). In my case not all of them worked, but I found one setting that just made everything sound OUTSTANDING! After a lot of googling and reading I found out why. It turns out that by default, my system picked the right DAC device, but all the audio signals were going though some internal software mixer in the system that re-interpolates/re-samples everything with some fast/poor-sounding algorithm. After changing to another setting that streams the audio directly into the DAC, without any software conversions the results are incredible :-) The right command to check these things in Linux is to run in a terminal: aplay -L sysdefault:CARD=AudioDOP2 iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio (DOP2, USB Audio Default Audio Device hw:CARD=AudioDOP2,DEV=0 iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio (DOP2, USB Audio Direct hardware device without any conversionsplughw:CARD=AudioDOP2,DEV=0 iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio (DOP2, USB Audio Hardware device with all software conversions My system was using the first one, which apparently is also employs a software mixer. The middle option is the correct one. My point is that a perfectly sounding amp/DAC combo can be spoiled by poor settings in the source. But Linux can be particularly tricky with these things :-) Tunkejazz, could I ask, which distro are you using, and whether you're going through Pulse Audio or piping directly to ALSA via the player?
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Post by tunkejazz on Jul 8, 2016 7:52:31 GMT
I am using debian at the moment, but I got similar results with Arch. The idea is to always stream to ALSA directly.
You should avoid Pulseaudio because it always remixes the audio internally as well as some ALSA interfaces for the same device. So yes, sending the stream directly to ALSA is the right way yo go, just make sure you pick the right device interface from the ALSA list (harware device, no software conversions).
I am using mpv player, but audacious works quite fine too and it has a nice menu to setup the audio output.
What distro are you using?
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Post by mowglikun on Jul 10, 2016 15:45:25 GMT
I am using debian at the moment, but I got similar results with Arch. The idea is to always stream to ALSA directly. You should avoid Pulseaudio because it always remixes the audio internally as well as some ALSA interfaces for the same device. So yes, sending the stream directly to ALSA is the right way yo go, just make sure you pick the right device interface from the ALSA list (harware device, no software conversions). I am using mpv player, but audacious works quite fine too and it has a nice menu to setup the audio output. What distro are you using? Currently dual-booting elementary & Arch, and I'm looking for a way to output all system audio to a DAC while bypassing Pulse. Doesn't seem like there's an easy way to do this... using JACK (or removing Pulse on Arch) seems like the closest option.
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Post by tunkejazz on Jul 10, 2016 20:31:26 GMT
Umm, I was "forced" to keep Pulseaudio because Skype needs it to work :-(
But with mpv, audacious, mpd (this one can be controlled from your phone like a sonos system!) and kodi I can easily bypass pulseaudio.
If you don't really use software that requires pulseaudio to work I would simply remove it, it is a pain in the neck! By the way, I quite like Arch... I removed it to test Debian Jessie when it came out and I am regretting it every day :-P
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