Anyone using a D.BOB with their DS DAC?

I just bought a D.BOB to use with my DS Jr DAC. This component converts DSD from a SACD disk into DOP from the HDMI output from a universal Blu Ray player.

It works great and the sound quality is the best that I have heard in my system. Vocals are very natural and the bass is well defined and powerful.

But, I get a pop when I first put in a disc and it starts playing or when I stop playing it and start it back up. Does anyone else have this problem? I am trying to determine if the D.BOB that I have is faulty or if this is an issue with all of them.

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I just saw this unit last night on music direct site. I own a Oppo USP-205 so the oppo does this for me to DS dac with coax

Darren,
So, you are getting a popping sound too? Sorry, but I was confused with the comment of just seeing this on Music Direct with “the Oppo does this for me to DS dac with coax”.

I talked to the owner of Geerfab audio today and he had not heard of anyone else having this problem, so I am trying to narrow down if it is just my unit or if others have the problem.

I don’t own a D.BOB. I own a Oppo bluray sacd player that sends DSD over PCM via coax or optic. I don’t get any pops at all to my DS dac from Oppo.

Save yourself a bunch of money (you’ll need it for 2 more HDMI Cables). This does the EXACT same thing and removes the Copy Protection so nothing is “dumbed down” to 48/16.

Cheers,
:tumbler_glass: :tumbler_glass: :tumbler_glass:

Yep. I get a Pop using my Sony UBP-X1000ES which spits out a True DSD over PCM signal which the DSD Sr., detects as a 64fs, 1Bit DSD signal using the I2S inputs. My Pop only cost me $50 on eBay and some soldering.

My Speakers don’t mind it.

I have an OPPO 205UDP and cannot for the life of me get the SACD layer to play, even when telling it to output PCM on the OPPO, which I would assume, would be DoP. I was considering getting a D.BOB, but, if you have a way to get the OPPO to feed DSD to the DS DAC, I would love to hear what I am missing. I am using the coax output.

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@ sjsanders due to their copy protection the only way to use a stock Oppo as an SACD or DVD-A hi-res disc transport is over HDMI to a multi-channel pre-processor. The HDMI “handshake” preserves the copy protection. An affordable workaround for your Oppo paired with your DirectStream Dac is to retrofit an Oppomod aftermarket I2S output card to your Oppo. This will provide you with the proper I2S format HDMI connection your DSD shares.

@sjsanders
I am not sure what would be more expensive, the Oppomod or the D.BOB. But, either one should work.

And I thought I read in other posts that the Oppomod only works with the “03” series (103 or 203). But, I may be incorrect with this.

Another thing to consider if you go with the D.BOB: In the 105, DSD is only output through the HDMI 2 output. But, the Marvell video processor is only used with HDMI 1 (not sure if this is the case with the 205). So, unless an HDMI cable is connected from HDMI 1 to the TV, you would have to give up the best video processing. I am more audio oriented, so this was not an issue for me.

Thank you. I was not aware of the OPPOmod and will look into it. I am not using my 205 as a video player, so I can use either HDMI output. I believe with mine, HDMI output #1 carries the DSD, while #2 is for connecting a video monitor, but perhaps I have that backwards. It is interesting that it is silent until I hit the stop play control and I get a split second of audio output.

Of those in this thread using the D.BOB, any issues with 24/192 into the DS Sr? I can successfully get DSD64 and PCM 24/96 from my Oppo 205 through the D.BOB to the coax input of the DS Sr. But 24/192 results in distorted sound. I’m wondering if there’s something wrong with the coax input of my DS Sr since it’s spec’d to take 24/192 via coax.

This may be related to the issues some have had with the Bryston BDP-2. Those who have the upgrade board for this streamer/server can play 192/24 files fine via USB, but the S/PDIF and the AES/EBU inputs produces distorted sound.

Can you play 192/24 via USB?

Hi,

Yes, I can play 24/192 no problem through USB. I can successfully get 24/192 from the D.BOB with two other DACs that I have, so it gives me the feeling that something’s wrong with coax input on my DS Sr.

When you reference an upgrade board, is that in the Bryston or the D.BOB?

I am sorry, my note is ambiguous.

Bryston offered an upgrade board for owners of the BDP-2 when they improved the unit. The new board was an improvement, except the DirectStream DAC cannot lock on to the data stream of 192/24 files from the BDP-2’s S/PDIF and the AES/EBU outputs with the new board installed. Everything else works fine including playing 192/24 via USB.

Bryston and PS Audio both report they have not otherwise seen this problem.

My thought is the D.BOB issue may be related.

Hi Elk,

Thanks for your clarification!

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You are very welcome.

Ted had some comments on why there is an issue between the Bryston and the DSD. You may be interested in digging for them.