That is the I2S output of a previous PS Audio product. The thing to notice is that LRCLK and SDOUT are polarity inverted. It also doesn’t really indicate that the DS provides 5V and that the slave shouldn’t.
Here’s a more current DAC side, the flowthru pinout of the LVDS receiver chip is handy when routing, the DS series of products doesn’t use the master clock:
Well tonight I got a pair of OA channels enabled with the air core pure Cu wire inductors and the nude Z foils.
I was hoping I’d at least hear some improvement vs the shielded power inductors that were in there, but didn’t really know yet. We can speculate all day but only one way to find out. But OH my gosh… And I should have known by now I guess. The magnitude of the improvement is shocking.
And I’m sure the $10.50/ea resistors have an impact as well (that’s why I bought them); I don’t know exactly how much though. I do know that, despite how good they are I’ve never heard this level of overall change solely from a resistor change though.
I’m in a bit of audio shock here actually. YES, inductor core material DOES absolutely matter. There is no core that can equal air core. Period. And this is a much bigger change than the trafo change was. In fact the change is by far the biggest I’ve ever heard from any passive part. The naturalness of the sound now is unprecedented IME. The sound being imposed by those inductors (and resistors) is gone. The noise floor is low, low; tiny information/sounds are preserved and just decay off into quiet infinity. There’s no distortion. Can hear into it forever, back to the studio or hall.
Basically the analog is as much out of the way of the music as I can possibly make it. And it’s obviously so, very easy to hear. We can hear the full promise of DSD. This is a game changer.
From the OA bit buffer back (per ea +/-) there’s only 1 series resistor and 1 series inductor, a few shunt caps (excellent quality) and some super good wire to the XLR out.
Friend DW is due by here again on Sunday. He’s bringing several things including DAC#1, and a stereo amp to try vs my proto amp. I’m still looking for a good bi-amp setup I can “afford”. I need to, but just don’t have the time right now to build a 2nd proto amp. The commercial setup I tried this week is a flop; back they will go.
There’s no going back from this level… What has been heard can’t be un-heard. DW is going to be floored by DAC#2 now.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Very happy here after all this work. More to do on it, but oh my gosh sooo worth it now 
T
Oh and PS, after a ton of trying, r/r, testing, listening, lather, rinse, repeat I was only able to improve the measured THD+N yesterday by -2.5dB. One value (Cin to the OA) is changed slightly. It’s -15dB better than the very good sounding DAC that sits next to it currently. We’ll take it.
PSS this is where I was supposed to be this weekend (Pacific Audio Fest), representin’ with this group. Wish I was there now. My heart remains in the incredibly beautiful Pac NW forever. It was just going to be too expensive by the time I was looking at booking:
It is so great what you are doing.
But I have lost track of what you all did to get to this level of SQ.
It certainly would be nice to have some sort of of dynamically updated database of case by case manuals/howto’s, accompanied by their SQ reviewing. That and also referencing their predecessor and successor or fork.
Not quite what a forum is for, but for this group of enthousiasts, it would be a welcome and meaningful extension.
Agree, appreciate whats going on but the rate at whats changing its not even traceable for the average guy who has some knowledge… What this thread has taught me is wait. WAIT. I did the Edcore Mods and do find them better. That being said. There are 5 other mods that say it improves this machine if you do this, then you need to do that as changing and experimenting as you go. I do thank the guys trying but I feel its a one to two man show and thats a small viewing arena and different is not always better. I want to push the limits but I dont want to go one step forward and two back to undo things that were not as good now a new tweak is done
Ill wait and see what rolls out in the end as everything you can only go so far until you get diminishing returns
Before I pull the trigger on purchasing these I would like your expert opinion on using these 4v 220uf caps for R5, R6 parallel VOCM mod. Is 4v OK?
Thanks!
Order today, ships today. 298D227X0004P2T – 220 µF Molded Tantalum Capacitors 4 V 0805 (2012 Metric) 3Ohm from Vishay Sprague. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.
These upgrades are intriguing, but something I would never attempt myself. It would be great if there was someone in the fourm that had the ability, time, and was willing to do these upgrades for fourm members. I’m sure there are others here, including myself that might be willing to pay to have their DSD upgraded, provided the cost was within their budget.
Regarding external power supply choice for the analogue output board (With XF4400’s fitted),
Is it worth going ‘balls out’ for this application?
Have one of JK Richards power controller boards fitted, SR Purple fuse and RFI treatment done.
Considering pulling the trigger on a maxed out Farad 3.
Would spending 1K on a linear psu to power the DS analogue board be money wasted here?
My system is powered from a 10 Kilowatt hardwired balanced mains unit, so totally get the value of clean power to your hifi system.
Just wondering about the SCALE of the improvement chucking money at the Dac…in real world terms.
Thanks.
Yes 4V should be OK. They don’t look like they will need voltage derating at the DS internal tempuratures. I just have to remind people that tantalums are polarized and putting them in backwards can be really bad news.
Thanks Ted!
Seems like overkill? You can get the same results with this power supply.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2251832737064899.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.52881802EbZbvi
I have had great results using this very high quality supply (I add a 5uf film bypass and better fuse). My DS sounds great with this supply, My Power Board, VOCM mod, RF shielding and the Jensen transformers. My 2nd DS will be the same except with the LL1948 transformers.
You could order the Farad3 with just the upgraded IEC and basic DC cable. Then slowly tweak it with a fuse, better DC cable, and AC cable over time.
However, I do agree with Jeff, the Zerozone is quite good. The build is impressive.
I bought the Farad3. It was a great improvement. But, now I’m wondering what I’m going to do with it when I upgrade to the DSII when it is released. I probably won’t get much for the Farad3 on the used market.
-Alan
I found a local electronics shop to do the upgrades for me. I buy the parts, print out the instructions and pictures to give to them. So far so good.
-Alan
Ted, in case one I2S input is used, should the other be shorted as described or only if none is used?
Would be greatnif there also was a USB plug like this, also with the oder USB connector than pictured, used on the back of the DS.
They are independent, you can short the inputs of one I2S connector without affecting the other.
There is only ones that solder. But only two wires are needed.
I started surgery on a HDMI cable. I may just go the screw down connector route my eyes and finders are no longer well suited for the task. I rather r-eball a BGA chip with solder. It be about the same amount of fun.
Could RAL be doing the same application?
