Hi guys, i have a PWD MK2 last version firmware, my streamer is a Raspberry pi 2 with custom linear power supply, my connection is USB, sound is ok, i could say perfect.
Thinking about an upgrade, because Raspberry share bus between USB and Lan, i bought a Audio GD i2s Output Module
link: http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/diy/I2Skits/I2SEN.htm
I try to do the connection but PWD never take the lock. In this forum another one make this but use a PS Audio DirectStream.
Is the HDMI different between PWD MK2 and DirectStream?
my map:
PIN01 - Power 3.3V
PIN12 - BCK
PIN34 - MCK
PIN35 - WCK
PIN39 - Ground
PIN40 - Data
Could be the driver of the player?
I readed that someone use Hifiberry DAC driver with Volumio/RuneAudio player.
If their documentation says that they are an I2S master and provide the master clock. (All of the signals have to come to the PWD. The PWD doesn’t provide master clock or bit clock.) The Allo Kali manual state that it sends the correct signals. You also have to be able to invert the Data and Left/Right signals for PS Audio products. I don’t know if inverting some signals are options on these devices.
The I2S connection on the PWD (and other PS Audio products) uses an HDMI cable. Each signal in HDMI is represented by a differential pair, i.e. there are two wires for the bit clock, two wires for the master clock, two wires for the data and two wires for the L/R indicator. Whenever the signal in one wire in a pair goes up the signal in the other wire goes down. In PS Audio products the data connection and the left/right connection have the wires reversed. If you are wiring your own HDMI cable you can fix this easily. If your product comes with it’s own HDMI connector you may have to invert the signals somewhere else…
If this seems too complicated you might consider using a different input on the PWD. Tho the best input can be I2S, it really depends on the source as well and if the I2S wasn’t designed well it may be easier to get a great S/PDIF or AES/EBU connection.
Indeed the signals you need are there. You’ll need the pinout for the HDMI cable and differential LVDS drivers. If you haven’t discovered http://www.i2s.sonore.us you’ll be happy. The HDMI page has most of the details you’ll need.
UPDATE:
i bought hifiberry digi + pro, i have soldered 5 pins on the i2s out of this card named P4.
i made this map:
1 GND
2 Master clock (22.5792MHz for 44.1, 88.2, 176.4 kHz sample rates, 24.576MHz for 48,96,192kHz sample rates)
3 Bit clock (frequency = 32/64* sample rate)
4 Frame clock (frequency = sample rate)
5 Data
5 -> DATA
3 -> BCLK
4 -> WCK
2 -> MCLK
1 -> GND
from hifiberry digi + pro to audio gd output module
Without having the devices people are buying in front of me I can’t really guess where people might be making mistakes, and further I can’t warrant that any given device is well designed or PS Audio compatible from just the amount of info on the typical web sites.
In this case we’re talking about products that I don’t have, didn’t design and have never used. I’ve answered technical questions with correct technical answers, but I have to draw the line somewhere.
Further, as I’ve said in the past, I suspect that people can get just as good sound quality with, say AES/EBU or S/PDIF (or even TOSLink) as I2S if grounding, etc. isn’t done well. The advantage of those is that they are standardized and directly supported by most hardware so the risk is quite a bit lower.
First off it won’t work with the DS, DS Jr nor, I suspect, with the PWD and other PS Audio DACs. I changes all input sample rates to 211kHz which isn’t supported in the DS firmware.
ASRC (asynchronous sample rate conversion) is a whole different kettle of fish - it’s not for me - it may have lower output jitter than input jitter, but it encodes the input jitter as changes in the digital bit stream, thereby making it impossible to remove that input jitter down stream. Whether any given DAC sounds better with ASRC than SSRC is up to the design of that DAC, the rest of the system it’s in and the ears of the listener.
