Holzohr said
yacheah saidThat looks pretty good. Are you getting one?
If so, please report back on the sound quality.
jazznut saidI didn’t follow the whole discussion, but may I ask what’s the reason for you (as you own a Bridge II) to look for an I2s compatible streamer? Just for DSD128? So far I would have expected that the superior coupling of the bridge by the lens interface usually beats all external solutions except the DMP which has an even better interface.
I think the only unique thing is the case with built in touch screen. I think you can buy everything else on your own. They offer a good deal on a linear power supply, but it is out of stock. And it is using generic software.
If you have a tablet, I would price the other boards, the Raspberry Pi3 is around $35. Does anyone know the price of the Allo Kali board?
Appr 75 Euro for their linear power supply is a very good deal, to the best of my knowledge.
It would be nice to get a copy of either Bryston or Audio Alchemy’s firmware. That would give you a better player than the ones available, as far as I am aware. I’m using Volumio without any other boards or linear power supply, I would like to add either the Hifiberry or Allo Kali, and a linear power supply, but then I wonder if the little Aries would be a better deal, as I still need a case. As is Volumio is only good for casual listening, using either a flash drive, or a USB hard drive.
Not to mention, I’m new to Linux.
Thanks for posting the Audiophonics link, more options;-)
I am still a Squeezebox guy and I love tinkering now and then and that I can use such a solution (even DSD128-ready now) via I2S. To be honest I sold my first Bridge II (in pre Roon times). Now with Roon it's a different story and I am happy with the Bridge II. Though I prefer Roon (especially via the Bridge II) for listening I won't quit the Squeezebox plattform. The sq of this rather el-cheapo solution is surprisingly well. The DS DAC should have more I2S-inputs.. instead of SPDIF.. imho.I'm on Jriver with the Bridge II. Not sure what's better then for you (Roon/bridge or separate streamer/Squeezebox), as Roon is being told as worse sounding than Jriver on the Bridge (and probably other streamers, too).
Holzohr saidThe DS DAC should have more I2S-inputs… instead of SPDIF… imho.
I, too, would not want to give up the other inputs. But a few more I2S would be perfectly fine and I bet some would use them. Flexibility is always good.
Probably similar to others here, I currently use all my I2S inputs (including the Bridge which is I2S, but not HDMI); the two HDMI inputs being used for the DMP and the NPC. Should I want to get an Octave Server, I would have to us an alternative input for one of the sources or unplug one source and replace with the Octave. Not the best situation, but luckily I don’t plan on an Octave (or any other I2S source) at this point. The downside to all this is a new back panel would be required on the DS to accomodate the additional input(s), something that would be provided on a DS MkII or an all new model. No word from Paul on such a new beastie …
Just got my new and amazing DMP and DSD. Yeah, worth every dollar. So here is my first hurdle. I’m using the DSD as a preamp and have my TV cable going through TOSlink which is working to my satisfaction. I want to connect my OPPO BDP-105 for movies and Netflix only using its HDMI2 out to the I2S 2 input. Not getting any sound at all. I read at the begining of this thread a little about OPPO compatibility but is seemed to fizzle out. Am I going to have any success with this configuration?
Bruce L,
I am fairly certain that the Oppo HDMI out is configured for a different use other than I2S.
Does the Oppo have another digital out that you can connect to your DS?
If it only has toslink, you can use a converter to change it to SPDIF, since you have your CATV connected via toslink.
Bruce Locke saidI want to connect my OPPO BDP-105 for movies and Netflix only using its HDMI2 out to the I2S 2 input. Not getting any sound at all.
MrDerrick saidI am fairly certain that the Oppo HDMI out is configured for a different use other than I2S
http://www.psaudio.com/forum/directstream-all-about-it/hdmi-de-embedder/
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/oppo-and-hdmi-de-embedder.677966/
Look at it like this;
Try to put a bluray disc into a cd player - it won’t play will it? Still if visually the disc looks identical, the CD player does not have a blue laser and circuitry to decode the data residing on the disc. When you finally discover this, you accept the fact that you won’t get any sound.
It is the same with I2s vs HDMI. It looks the same, but they are different animals. The DS just uses a HDMI receptacle and HDMI cable to carry an I2s (LVDS) signal opposed to a HDMI signal that this cable normally carries.
So when people see HDMI, it isn’t necessarily HDMI in the same manner as if you would see a shiny plastic disc and it turns out that it was not an audio CD after all.
Another way of looking at it is that Oppo provides diesel, but your DS can only run on petrol.
Thanks for the info on the HDMI vs I2S. I’m not determined to use the HDMI out from the OPPO, obviously that is a dead end anyway. However, when I tried the OPPO to the DSD with toslink and then digital coax , no luck. Verified all inputs were selected properly. The only connection I have not tried is USB. I had my gear connected last week with another pre amp in the chain and all was well, I just wanted to compare the DSD connected directly to my amp vs through another pre amp. It sounded pretty good through the pre amp so I can revert back if needed.
Bruce, do you have your Audio Processing set to down-mixed stereo (I have a oppo 205, so may be a little different) and Audio Output for S/PDIF set to 192k LPCM?
I have to use the coax digital out from mine as well, I didn’t want to but the whole I2S vs HDMI thing…
It works for me through the coax with those settings.
Bruce Locke said Just got my new and amazing DMP and DSD. Yeah, worth every dollar. So here is my first hurdle. I'm using the DSD as a preamp and have my TV cable going through TOSlink which is working to my satisfaction. I want to connect my OPPO BDP-105 for movies and Netflix only using its HDMI2 out to the I2S 2 input. Not getting any sound at all. I read at the begining of this thread a little about OPPO compatibility but is seemed to fizzle out. Am I going to have any success with this configuration?Hi Bruce, I assume you've gotten your answer from others but just to be sure. The I2S output is not (and never will be) compatible with HDMI. It uses an HDMI cable for its transmission but that's about it. HDMI is a completely different format of data than I2S and never shall the two be compatible with each other.
Good day Paul,
Yes, I have been schooled on the HDMI / I2S issue, thanks to a great group of guys here. BTW, just want say that this is my first step into truly amazing sound. I thought my OPPO-105 sounded great with SACDs but I am amazed at just how much detail I have been missing all these years. I could not be happier. Ditched the surround setup for pure 2 channel bliss.
Veneet, yes I have the down-mix set to stereo but may have had the output set at bitstream. I’ll experiment a bit when I get home tonight.
thank you
Great to hear, Bruce
The Oppo is a wonderful introduction into good audio, but there is indeed more to hear and enjoy.
Does anyone know if the I2S output on the PS Audio PWT is compatible to the I2S input on the LKS MH-DA004 DAC?
bertie1 saidWell, the said 'rush of blood' occured and I soldered jumper pins to the P5 header of the HiFiBerry Digi+Pro to get a native i2s signal out of my Raspberry Pi3. My goodness those circuit board holes are SMALL, so you need to put your best glasses on!/
I reckon we know exactly what it is that we want - a high quality (reclocked) signal in i2s/LVDS format (HDMI adaptor) from our (modified) single board computers, so that we can keep using our favorite customized bit-perfect playback software (especially with our phone app controls - is this not surely the ‘golden age’ of music playing?!)But… Patrick’s last post reminds me of how many different ways there are to go wrong when trying to hook up separate circuit boards!
I have zero confidence in my ability to be an audiophile ‘pioneer’ so I’m going to do nothing, until a clever person figures this all out and then I will try to copy exactly what they do. Unless of course I get an unexpected ‘rush of blood to the head’ in the meantime and try to work it out myself anyway hehe!
The stand-out observation is that this type of signal is unbeleivably sensitive to environmental interference and just isnt viable from my limited experience unless the native i2s portion of the chain ends up inside a metal box… which creates a separate problem in that the RPi needs a wifi connection which wont work too well in a metal box. No doubt there are countless workarounds but I ended putting the RPi into a much larger enclosure but left off the back panel of the enclosure, positioning the RPi such that its antenna module stuck out the back. On the other hand, the LVDS i2s signal once converted seems pretty impervious to environmental interference (my home-made HDMI cable is 45cm) and getting this LVDS conversion done seems critical for carrying the signal to your dac.
In my set-up, i2s seems an improvement over coax since there is less grain and maybe a bit more ‘air’ to the sound but that might even reflect other parameters (crappy coax cable perhaps).
At least I am no longer limited to coax sample rates, so thats nice. Still, my conclusion is this represents a lot of work so I recommend just buying a unit (like the new Audiophonics boxes) that already has an LVDS output!!!
rickmusicman saidNot sure about this. The LKS USB-100 doesn't seem to be fully compatible to the PS Audio standard. I have the device for sale now.Does anyone know if the I2S output on the PS Audio PWT is compatible to the I2S input on the LKS MH-DA004 DAC?
Another USB-to-I2S bridge is the Matrix X-SPDIF 2
I have tried the bridge directly with Roon ROCK and my old Daphile box but maybe the best way is to use it with a Raspberry Pi (via USB) and RoPieee (as a Roon endpoint). Thanks to Harry (the RoPieee author) the latest version supports DSD natively (even DSD512?). The current used kernels in ROCK and Daphile supports DoP only. At the moment I let Roon upsample everything to DSD128.
The white LED stands for DSD native, blue means DoP and green means PCM.
@Holzohr can you explain the HDMI i2s device you are using? I have a Ropiee roon endpoint and currently using the Allo DigiOne board and SPDIF, but wondering how you are using i2S. Apologies if you explained this, it isn’t clear to me 