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Buffalo DAC (ESS Sabre 9008)

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C

chalkandtalk

Member
Joined 2006
I have just put together my Buffalo DAC with IVY and PSUs. Big thanks to Brian and Russ.

I have installed everything (inc trafos) inside a Denon 1920 after ripping out the 5.1 direct out kit (shown on the left of the pic in Russ's post 627 of this thread). So far I have only fed the DAC SPDIF from an external source and taken ouput from SE on IVY. Everything works fine. I am getting a slight hum because earthing isn't quite right.

My next step is to connect the DAC to the DSD chip as shown in post 627.

Russ: Once this DSD connection is made, will DVD A and SACD play through this one connection? Or will I need an OTTO?

cheers

Aidan
 
F

Forane12

Member
Joined 2008
I am playing with my Buffalo and specifically with the Ivy, I finally decided to try what the effect of the switches is and I was wondering what is the actual function of switch number 3 - notch delay by the manual. It does make a profound change in sound with the switch off - is there a chance that someone can explain in brief what happens as I am very interested in what is the right position of this switch. Obviously the default is on but what happens when it is off? Thanks in advance, if the question is too simple please ignore.
 
BrianDonegan

BrianDonegan

Member
Joined 2004
twistedpearaudio.com
Send me an email. I tried to email you through the forum, but I cannot.
Click to expand...

Okay, this was not meant to say, "if you want to be notified, email me." I meant that evetsfrance should email me about getting the support forum notification fixed.

I WILL NOT be sending out emails to people to let them know when boards will be available. There are just way too many requests for me to do that.

I will say that I should have more boards available in a couple weeks.
 
Russ White

Russ White

Member
Joined 2005
twistedpearaudio.com
Nikola Krivorov said:
I am playing with my Buffalo and specifically with the Ivy, I finally decided to try what the effect of the switches is and I was wondering what is the actual function of switch number 3 - notch delay by the manual. It does make a profound change in sound with the switch off - is there a chance that someone can explain in brief what happens as I am very interested in what is the right position of this switch. Obviously the default is on but what happens when it is off? Thanks in advance, if the question is too simple please ignore.
Click to expand...


Nikola, switch 3 should always be low "-".

It actually controls the quantizer setting.

There is an issue when trying to run the 9-bit quantizer (which is default) so please set it low to run the 6-bit quantizer setting.

Cheers!
Russ
 
F

Forane12

Member
Joined 2008
Russ White said:



Nikola, switch 3 should always be low "-".

It actually controls the quantizer setting.

There is an issue when trying to run the 9-bit quantizer (which is default) so please set it low to run the 6-bit quantizer setting.

Cheers!
Russ
Click to expand...


Hi Russ,

Yes I get it now, I probably missed it in the posts. Actually the difference is so big that it was a great relief for me to hear what the Buffalo can do - after switching #3 to "-" the whole picture suddenly changed and all the talking about how great this DAC is started to make sense, on several occasions the hairs on my neck just went up, especially on my favorite "Amused to Death", not to mention the effect that Diana Krall started to have on me ;) .
Fantastic DAC guys!


P.S. What happened with the Counterpoint? I am dying to try a different I/V stage with the Buffalo...
 
J

jims

Member
Joined 2007
BOM

Russ or Brian

I received your Buffalo board, looks great, and I just bought a ES9008 chip. I couldn't wait until the new pre-built boards are ready. I wanted to get started ordering parts, but not all of the parts on the schematics are labelled. Can I get a BOM for your Buffalo?


Thanks

JimS
 
Russ White

Russ White

Member
Joined 2005
twistedpearaudio.com
Re: Re: How to bypass the internal oversampling filter

NeoY2k said:
I'm still very afraid of the IV stage, I think I'll go with something IVY like (or maybe buy an IVY to start with, simply), but SNR and DNR go way down, if I remember correctly, because of "high residual hf noise".

Well, if you can't really hear it it's not that bad but it upsets me.

Russ, could you get it measured again with your new configuration of the IVY?
Click to expand...

I am not sure what you mean. I have posted the measurements, IVY with Buffalo produces excellent DNR and THD in the configuration we ship. (122+db and -117db THD+N)

Things are very well ironed out now.

And, I have a zero global feedback I/V stage coming that will make the out of band noise even more a non-issue. That is the "Counterpoint" I/V stage you may have heard of.

What is there to be upset about? :) It sounds great!

Cheers!
Russ
 
J

Javin5

Member
Joined 2006
I received my Buffalo kits and like to thank you, Brian and Russ. Nice packaging and labeling, professionally done PCB's, quality components, etc. Really great!

Assembling the LPBPS and the LPDPS was easy; however I have some questions on the IVY-kit:

(1) I have not found a layout for the IVY as there is for the other modules. Is there one, where? This would be helpful for assembling.

(2) What is the correct orientation to solder the opamps to the bottom side of the board? This question was posed earlier in post 136, but I found no reply.

(3) Is the now supplied OPA1632 an equivalent to the former THS4131?

Kurt
 
Russ White

Russ White

Member
Joined 2005
twistedpearaudio.com
Javin5 said:
I received my Buffalo kits and like to thank you, Brian and Russ. Nice packaging and labeling, professionally done PCB's, quality components, etc. Really great!

Assembling the LPBPS and the LPDPS was easy; however I have some questions on the IVY-kit:

(1) I have not found a layout for the IVY as there is for the other modules. Is there one, where? This would be helpful for assembling.

(2) What is the correct orientation to solder the opamps to the bottom side of the board? This question was posed earlier in post 136, but I found no reply.

(3) Is the now supplied OPA1632 an equivalent to the former THS4131?

Kurt
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words Kurt. Brian does a great job putting together the modules. He always makes me look good. :)

1) Brian is in the midst of revamping the website. So look fore more pics/info up there soon. In the meantime I will post some pics in a bit.

2) If the opamp has a vertical bar the bar on the opamp lines up with the bar on the PCB. If the opamp has a dot, orient it with the dot on the PCB.

3) Yes it is. :)

Cheers!
Russ
 
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