Hi @TH3RTIN
Hopefully you’ve received your Gaia by now.
Can you confirm that the i2s can be configured for DS?
Thanks in advance
I did and I am still struggling to get it working.
I have Auralic Aries G2.1 and on the GAIA one of the forum members also helped point out the setting on GAIA. I believe for Direct Stream DAC it should be configured to 100.
In fact I have tried all the combinations and I could not get the sound out from GAIA. Not sure if it is the issue with the streamer GAIA. Yet to reset Auralic and try again. Will be giving this a shot this weekend again.
Any suggestions in the meantime is greatly appreciated.
Thanks to Orosie’s suggestions. The issue I had was due to AREIS G2 not showing USB HI RES OUTPUT. Restarting the Aries, fixed it.
Also, confirming GAIA works with I2S for DS. Follow the video to make it work with Direct Stream DAC. In the video link shared above for set up - the setting I set up and found to be working is exactly as in 2:44 in the video. 1 0 0.
I have the Gia and DS dac; changing the I2S pin out from the default 000 to 010 works great for pcm and DSD… for me a 100 pin out was fine for pcm but garbled dsd. Source is a Sonore ultra rendu SE.
Thanks @argoncat
did it improve things? I wondered if better clocking would make a difference if DS discards the timing info
thanks @TH3RTIN
I have the Aries too, and have found that it is very picky about which components are powered on 1st.
My progression to I2S was a two stage movement. First, I used the Sonore UltraDigital which I thought brought a nice spaciousness and clarity improvement over the USB format. More recently the transition to the Denafrips Gia DDC refined upon the Sonore qualities but the improvements were not as large as the original shift to I2S. A single chassis for the Gia was a simplification from the LPS / UltraDigital two box solution as my rig is minimal and clean.
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None whatsoever. Unless:
- you you have a stereo of 50k $ upwards and have extremely good hearing skills
- or can find some content that is available in DSD512 only and not in DSD256, DSD126, DSD64 any PCM format or even Redbook CD. I would highly doubt this being possible.
My experience is that recording studios willing to invest in DSD recording and mastering equipment are studios that care ultimo about recording and mastering quality, they need to be highly skilled and surely motivated. Thus DSD recorded and mastered music generally excels in sound quality. Those recordings are typically sold as DSD, Redbook CD and even vinyl. (Octave music, Blue Coast music). The music comes across brilliantly in any format.
MA Recordings is another company whose owner engineer makes state of the art recordings and masterings also in PCM. I own Sera Una Noche in redbook CD and Vinyl and heard the 96 kHz 24 bit master file. Also I purchased 3 native DSD albums from Blue Coast Records. All ultra excellent recordings but they sound pretty much the same in any file format or medium.
What about S.M.S.L SD-9 brand new streamer for less than 400 bucks? Impressive specs.
Thanks for sharing the 010 setting @argoncat Will try.
I’m thinking of the SD-9 as well.
It’s I2S is “LVDS”. Can anyone predict or confirm compatibility?
VEMANOEL
I’m thinking of the SD-9 as well.
It’s I2S is “LVDS”. Can anyone predict or confirm compatibility?
I found the following (albeit from 2015):
I2S is the native format of digital audio used internally in a DAC. The data will be in I2S format at the input to the DAC chip itself. I2S includes the following 4 signals: data, bit clock, word clock, and masterclock. A DAC which uses SPDIF input, will have an SPDIF receiver, which interprets (often poorly, and always with added jitter) a single signal, and then creates I2S from that single signal, and then sends the I2S feed to the DAC chip (or FPGA, etc).
The above is for PCM, for DSD, the signals are: data left, data right, bit clock, and masterclock. For some DAC chips (example, ESS), PCM and DSD can be multiplexed on the same I2S inputs to the DAC chip.
It is important to understand, that I2S signaling was developed at first to be used internally in DACs (and CDPs), as the signal is single ended and can degrade over distance. BUT, the I2S signaling used externally by the Sonore Signature Rendu is known as LVDS, this is a balanced version of I2S (so 4 signals running on 4 twisted pairs of wires which are balanced) and does not degrade over normal interconnect distances (a meter or two). An HDMI cable is used because there are good, high bandwidth HDMI cables with the proper impedance and enough twisted pairs. LVDS I2S signaling as used by Sonore (and PS Audio for one example of a compatible DAC) results in much lower jitter than SPDIF interfaces which are compromised by design.
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Baloney waymanchen11
My Mano Ultra has been bulletproof via i2s to the DSD Sr.
A cheap Tenealay Amanero box works well too.
They probably all work fine.
Good for you, you found something else that works with this I2S to DS. I2S sounds better than USB, no?
I2S is the best option
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I tend to echo Ted, there is little difference if the inputs are optimized.
Like him I just like to have them all filled up. Except for the internal “bridge” which DOES NOT play local.
If there is little difference in inputs to you, then you are very fortunate, you can use any input and be done with it. I am not as fortunate as I find the I2S much superior and even have to go through expense and trouble of converting my USB to I2S to get the better sound. Even with my Esoteric N03T streamer, running it converted to I2S is way better.
I remember AliExpress. That is where I got a bunch of fake cables. I got AudioQuest Wel Signature Speaker Cable for $600. Then there’s the Siltech Empress Double Crown RCA for $300. Then there’s the top of the line Kharma’s and Nordost Odin speaker cables so on…
Is this where you buy your stuff?
Negative. I’ve never purchased anything from them. I buy with PayPal. If someone tries to slip you a counterfeit they get you a full refund.
I paid slightly more for one at eBay and it works great.
As far as inputs are concerned, I think that they are mostly dependant on the quality of the source. Maybe the Matrix is doing the heavy lifting which is cool for you.
I have a Pro-Ject S2 Ultra in my USB in which is built for clean USB out. It actually has a switched USB decrapifyer built in. It sounds quite equal to the dedicated i2s streamer (with built in LPS) that is in i2s-1 input.
All streamers have SSDs in them for local files. This sounds better and is more convenient than my retired NAS. I can load them all remotely via WiFi after making “network places” for them on my PC.