I've got a couple of mod batches planned for the original Mamboberry, some of which borrow from the LS and others borrow from EUVL's ES9022 DAC card and would apply to both Mamboberrys.
I won't have much bench time available this week for this, but will start to sketch them out here over the next few days and should be able to get to modifying mine late next week.
The one thing I should add is how good are you with SMD soldering? What I'm planning will involve replacing SMD components on the card, some small, some pretty small, and in a couple of places REALLY REALLY SMALL AND REQUIRING PRECISE PLACEMENT AND VERY TRICKY SOLDERING.
Seriously though, the best upgrade for the LS (or original Mamboberry) is a good power supply. And the Allo.com Piano reclocker seems to work well with it, at least in my setup.
I don't know of a balanced card, but I still wonder if the allo.com Piano 2.1 could be configured for a balanced output. But that may have to wait for the full infrastructure (driver and utility to general and load filtersets)... and I don't know if that's all available yet, tho I haven't looked recently.
Greg in Mississippi
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Greg, do you have an opinion on that iFi iPower wall-wart?
Should be possible to create a DSP config that inverts the channels on the 2nd DAC, to achieve that.
WIP. I believe their devs have an "advanced" driver and utility, not too far away.
To add to Clivem's question about the ipower.
I need to get better power supply for my LS as well. I was looking at the ifi ipower for the convenience having a ready made solution but then someone recommended the silent switcher:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...r-mains-free-low-noise-15v-and-5v/description.
Also discussed here starting at post #119
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/powe...ll-signal-analog-circuits-12.html#post4837891
Would that be a good fit, or is the ipower (or other) the way to go?
I need to get better power supply for my LS as well. I was looking at the ifi ipower for the convenience having a ready made solution but then someone recommended the silent switcher:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...r-mains-free-low-noise-15v-and-5v/description.
Also discussed here starting at post #119
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/powe...ll-signal-analog-circuits-12.html#post4837891
Would that be a good fit, or is the ipower (or other) the way to go?
Sorry, gonna wax philosophical here...
I don't have any direct experience of the iFi units. Sorry, living here in the rural southern US with the nearest city of even 100,000 a 2 hour drive away and no known audio enthusiasts within that radius, I only hear stuff that I buy or make. ****
What little I know of the iFi power supplies comes 2nd hand. That includes...
1. I have a lot of respect for the AMR/iFi engineering team... their products seem to be well engineered, somewhat innovative, and well-received, at least from the reviews I've perused.
2. Sonore chose to provide an iFi supply as the base power source for their well-received uRendu, which says it must be at least decent. OTOH, there have been a lot of comments on people getting good improvements by swapping in even fairly low-cost EBay linear supplies, with the common comments of lowering brightness and increasing resolution. VERY few people have said that replacing the iFi was a mistake.
3. Soundcheck had some good things to say about the iFi units, especially when paired with an add-on filter. OTOH, he liked the Meanwell SMPS when paired with mravica's regulator board much better.
For low-level setups I generally DIY linear supplies. Where I have replaced a full SMPS or just a switching regulator with a linear supply or linear regulator, I've always gotten good gains. Two specific situations were:
1. Going from a good fairly low-noise computer SMPS ATX supply first to a linear-supplied PicoPSU (which uses several switching regulators) and from there to a fully linear supply for the ATX supply on my early computer music player setup.
2. Replacing the linear-fed switching regulators that are used for the processor, DSP, and other pre-DAC/clock digital circuits in my Sony HAP Z1-ES with linear regulators.
Both of these builds made striking gains in the SQ of those setups. On the Sony HAPZ, I did a number of other modifications to it, some VERY significant in scope, and none made as large of a difference as replacing those three switching regulators on the digital circuits.
I need to be very honest here and say I'm not an SMPS bigot... all 5 pairs of amps currently in rotation in my 2 systems use SMPS's, 3 pair Hypex units, 2 pair B&O IcePower. AND besides the amps I have currently, in the distant past I heard a couple of the Berning all-tube amps in systems I knew well and found them VERY good, SMPS's notwithstanding. OTOH, I'm very eager for the time when I work through my project backlog and can finish restoring the large Counterpoint hybrid amps I've used in the past... I'll very interested in how they will hold up against these recent amps and how their linear supplies interact in my systems. But I've generally had better results with linear supplies on source and line-level gear.
As I learn more and more about power supplies, I realize I know less and less of what is important for them. One thing is VERY clear, that the effect of a power supply is very complex AND system dependent (and when I say 'your system', I include your powerline and what noise is inherent on it from other devices in your abode and outside in neighboring buildings).
I've been carefully reading any of the practical and theoretical materials I can on power supplies, with what I consider the most useful the comments from the manufacturers and users in the Sonore uRendu and Uptone Audio JS-1, Regen, and now LPS-1 threads on Computer Audiophile. What I'm hearing (just as here) is that SMPS units can work well, but 'it depends'.
Me, for now, I'm sticking with my lowly mostly DIY'd linear supplies. It's not due to cost, I mostly use Jensen 4-pole capacitors on the more critical ones, which at about $80 USD per cap per rail makes my supplies pretty pricey builds after adding in transformers and diodes and any associated casing/wiring. And anecdotally, I've heard (from a good friend in the UK) that going with an expensive DIY'd C-L-C linear regulated supply on his network switch made a noticeable difference over a lesser linear supply. So I have an area to experiment in, as none of my supplies are anything more than basic C-filtered ones.
Back to the topic at hand, IF I was starting from all stock wall-wart supplies right now AND if I couldn't DIY, I'd consider the iFi... or for a audiophile in the US, Jameco.com has some at least decent linear regulated wall warts (at $12 USD each or so, I've gotten some here to try with some new network gear) that would also be worth a try (especially at that price!).
Given that I can DIY I'd probably leapfrog over the iFi and go for the Meanwell/mravica setup Soundcheck just tried. OR a decent DIY linear option that should beat the Jameco wall-wart solution can be sourced from K&K Audio here (K&K Audio | Other kits), these are one of my go-to setups for lower-end builds (2 of these units and 4 DIY'd units inspired from them are currently powering my experimental digital sourcing setup... Zotac LMS source computer, switch, wifi access point, 2 FMC optical networking endpoints, and the R-Pi (and soon a BeagleBoneBlack too).
And I have to say the Silent Switcher looks interesting, I might buy into the Kickstart for one or two to try out. But then what to use to feed it 5v?
Sorry, no definite answer, just mostly un-informed personal experience!
YMMV!
Greg in Mississippi
**** It was so much easier to get to good DIY & audio resources when I lived in Minneapolis/St Paul with a metropolitan population larger than the entire state I currently live in, as many as 5-6 high-end audio salons (one used to be in walking distance from home), companies like Audio Research, Magnepan, Bel Canto, and Wadia in the metro area, an old-time radio museum a couple of miles away as a source of NOS tubes, and a very vibrant and active audio club with a large DIY contingent. Without the internet, I'd be dead in the water here!
I don't have any direct experience of the iFi units. Sorry, living here in the rural southern US with the nearest city of even 100,000 a 2 hour drive away and no known audio enthusiasts within that radius, I only hear stuff that I buy or make. ****
What little I know of the iFi power supplies comes 2nd hand. That includes...
1. I have a lot of respect for the AMR/iFi engineering team... their products seem to be well engineered, somewhat innovative, and well-received, at least from the reviews I've perused.
2. Sonore chose to provide an iFi supply as the base power source for their well-received uRendu, which says it must be at least decent. OTOH, there have been a lot of comments on people getting good improvements by swapping in even fairly low-cost EBay linear supplies, with the common comments of lowering brightness and increasing resolution. VERY few people have said that replacing the iFi was a mistake.
3. Soundcheck had some good things to say about the iFi units, especially when paired with an add-on filter. OTOH, he liked the Meanwell SMPS when paired with mravica's regulator board much better.
For low-level setups I generally DIY linear supplies. Where I have replaced a full SMPS or just a switching regulator with a linear supply or linear regulator, I've always gotten good gains. Two specific situations were:
1. Going from a good fairly low-noise computer SMPS ATX supply first to a linear-supplied PicoPSU (which uses several switching regulators) and from there to a fully linear supply for the ATX supply on my early computer music player setup.
2. Replacing the linear-fed switching regulators that are used for the processor, DSP, and other pre-DAC/clock digital circuits in my Sony HAP Z1-ES with linear regulators.
Both of these builds made striking gains in the SQ of those setups. On the Sony HAPZ, I did a number of other modifications to it, some VERY significant in scope, and none made as large of a difference as replacing those three switching regulators on the digital circuits.
I need to be very honest here and say I'm not an SMPS bigot... all 5 pairs of amps currently in rotation in my 2 systems use SMPS's, 3 pair Hypex units, 2 pair B&O IcePower. AND besides the amps I have currently, in the distant past I heard a couple of the Berning all-tube amps in systems I knew well and found them VERY good, SMPS's notwithstanding. OTOH, I'm very eager for the time when I work through my project backlog and can finish restoring the large Counterpoint hybrid amps I've used in the past... I'll very interested in how they will hold up against these recent amps and how their linear supplies interact in my systems. But I've generally had better results with linear supplies on source and line-level gear.
As I learn more and more about power supplies, I realize I know less and less of what is important for them. One thing is VERY clear, that the effect of a power supply is very complex AND system dependent (and when I say 'your system', I include your powerline and what noise is inherent on it from other devices in your abode and outside in neighboring buildings).
I've been carefully reading any of the practical and theoretical materials I can on power supplies, with what I consider the most useful the comments from the manufacturers and users in the Sonore uRendu and Uptone Audio JS-1, Regen, and now LPS-1 threads on Computer Audiophile. What I'm hearing (just as here) is that SMPS units can work well, but 'it depends'.
Me, for now, I'm sticking with my lowly mostly DIY'd linear supplies. It's not due to cost, I mostly use Jensen 4-pole capacitors on the more critical ones, which at about $80 USD per cap per rail makes my supplies pretty pricey builds after adding in transformers and diodes and any associated casing/wiring. And anecdotally, I've heard (from a good friend in the UK) that going with an expensive DIY'd C-L-C linear regulated supply on his network switch made a noticeable difference over a lesser linear supply. So I have an area to experiment in, as none of my supplies are anything more than basic C-filtered ones.
Back to the topic at hand, IF I was starting from all stock wall-wart supplies right now AND if I couldn't DIY, I'd consider the iFi... or for a audiophile in the US, Jameco.com has some at least decent linear regulated wall warts (at $12 USD each or so, I've gotten some here to try with some new network gear) that would also be worth a try (especially at that price!).
Given that I can DIY I'd probably leapfrog over the iFi and go for the Meanwell/mravica setup Soundcheck just tried. OR a decent DIY linear option that should beat the Jameco wall-wart solution can be sourced from K&K Audio here (K&K Audio | Other kits), these are one of my go-to setups for lower-end builds (2 of these units and 4 DIY'd units inspired from them are currently powering my experimental digital sourcing setup... Zotac LMS source computer, switch, wifi access point, 2 FMC optical networking endpoints, and the R-Pi (and soon a BeagleBoneBlack too).
And I have to say the Silent Switcher looks interesting, I might buy into the Kickstart for one or two to try out. But then what to use to feed it 5v?
Sorry, no definite answer, just mostly un-informed personal experience!
YMMV!
Greg in Mississippi
**** It was so much easier to get to good DIY & audio resources when I lived in Minneapolis/St Paul with a metropolitan population larger than the entire state I currently live in, as many as 5-6 high-end audio salons (one used to be in walking distance from home), companies like Audio Research, Magnepan, Bel Canto, and Wadia in the metro area, an old-time radio museum a couple of miles away as a source of NOS tubes, and a very vibrant and active audio club with a large DIY contingent. Without the internet, I'd be dead in the water here!
Greg, et al,
I've been working with the Raspberry PI3 and the HiFiBerry DAC + Pro recently using Volumino and MoOde Audio. Generally, I prefer MoOde and Tim has been helpful too!
The WiFi on the PI3 has been problematic as there is a "conflict" with this DAC hat. For the time being, I think I'm going to stick to Ethernet. Maybe, for what I want to do, the additional speed offered by ethernet will be needed anyhow...
Greg, I generally agree with your assessment on power supplies. They're very situation specific. I'd like to add that I've used the Jameco linear supplies over the years, to the point of tearing them apart. The ones that I opened up are nothing more than a garden variety LM317 implementation.
For those that don't know, the LM317 is sort of the granddaddy of all three terminal regs. As such, it doesn't offer much "isolation" as frequency rises and as is the case in modern computer audio front ends. The more modern derivatives are much better in this regard. Thus, while I generally agree, I'd caution that just because one is going from a SMPS to linear supply doesn't necessarily equal having a check mark next to that and things are fixed...again, it depends.
Again, thanks for posting Greg!
I've been working with the Raspberry PI3 and the HiFiBerry DAC + Pro recently using Volumino and MoOde Audio. Generally, I prefer MoOde and Tim has been helpful too!
The WiFi on the PI3 has been problematic as there is a "conflict" with this DAC hat. For the time being, I think I'm going to stick to Ethernet. Maybe, for what I want to do, the additional speed offered by ethernet will be needed anyhow...
Greg, I generally agree with your assessment on power supplies. They're very situation specific. I'd like to add that I've used the Jameco linear supplies over the years, to the point of tearing them apart. The ones that I opened up are nothing more than a garden variety LM317 implementation.
For those that don't know, the LM317 is sort of the granddaddy of all three terminal regs. As such, it doesn't offer much "isolation" as frequency rises and as is the case in modern computer audio front ends. The more modern derivatives are much better in this regard. Thus, while I generally agree, I'd caution that just because one is going from a SMPS to linear supply doesn't necessarily equal having a check mark next to that and things are fixed...again, it depends.
Again, thanks for posting Greg!
I meant to provide the following links for those that may be in need:
Velleman 1A 1.5V-35V Power Supply Kit
Velleman K2570 Universal Power Supply 5-14 VDC 1A Kit
Adjustable Voltage Regulator Power Supply Board +/- 1.25V to 37V DC Output LM317/LM337 Design
Positive Voltage Adjustable Power Supply Board - AC/DC in DC out - Based on LM317T Regulator IC
Velleman 1A 1.5V-35V Power Supply Kit
Velleman K2570 Universal Power Supply 5-14 VDC 1A Kit
Adjustable Voltage Regulator Power Supply Board +/- 1.25V to 37V DC Output LM317/LM337 Design
Positive Voltage Adjustable Power Supply Board - AC/DC in DC out - Based on LM317T Regulator IC
I read one of the threads Greg mentioned. Lots of good information about powering digital device. See e.g. here for a some info about mostly commercial products :
Sonore microRendu - PSU Observations, Considerations & Commentary
Sonore microRendu - PSU Observations, Considerations & Commentary
I've been trying the LS in combination with the Kali reclocker and can confirm that the Kali makes a significant improvement to this dac. Looking forward to hearing about Greg's tweaks to the LS.
John
I've been on vacation for two weeks - no TV no audio no nothing - quite an experience. 
Meanwhile I had some discussions over at the HifiBerry thread, which resulted in certain activities.
Situation
1. Clive fixed the 4.4.23-simple kernel. 192kHz doesn't make any issue anymore
The kernel seems to be stable now -- as far as I can tell.
2. I provided Tim Curtis with that pre-compiled kernel. He'll try it this weekend. Not sure if and when he's gonna release it.
3. Clive told me he's actually quite close to the PcP guys.
I don't know if the PcP folks are interested to go for Clives kernel. They did not seem to be overenthusiastic.
A pity that there's afaik no other squeezelite based PI distro out. I talked to Tim some weeks back about it. We might join up to introduce squeezelite to Moode .
3. I also just managed to get an external 10$ USB GBIT ethernet dongle on the PI2 going.
This resulted in 300% network throughput performance (300MBit/s). Not bad.
4. Interesting developments on that Kali reclocker. Good to see that
it generates improvements on the Mambo. (That could have been expected)
However I guess the basic principle still applies, that the worse the base platform
configuration the more impact a reclocker will have or the other way around.
The better the platform setup, the less impact the reclocker will have.
Kali doesn't come with an isolator, right?? 384kHz and DSD runs stable?
Clive mentioned that Greg might have tried to drive the Mambo/Sabre in sync MCLCK
mode for even better performance. Did you??
5. Power supplies
I never said the Meanwell/Mravlca PS is better then the iFi iPower.
I just haven't tested it. My Mambo is still running in LAB mode on my desktop.
I think I did say that I consider that M/M combo better then my linear supplies that I have at hand.
The PS thing however is gonna be the next thing I'll look into.
Meanwhile I had some discussions over at the HifiBerry thread, which resulted in certain activities.
Situation
1. Clive fixed the 4.4.23-simple kernel. 192kHz doesn't make any issue anymore
The kernel seems to be stable now -- as far as I can tell.
2. I provided Tim Curtis with that pre-compiled kernel. He'll try it this weekend. Not sure if and when he's gonna release it.
3. Clive told me he's actually quite close to the PcP guys.
I don't know if the PcP folks are interested to go for Clives kernel. They did not seem to be overenthusiastic.
A pity that there's afaik no other squeezelite based PI distro out. I talked to Tim some weeks back about it. We might join up to introduce squeezelite to Moode .
3. I also just managed to get an external 10$ USB GBIT ethernet dongle on the PI2 going.
This resulted in 300% network throughput performance (300MBit/s). Not bad.
4. Interesting developments on that Kali reclocker. Good to see that
it generates improvements on the Mambo. (That could have been expected)
However I guess the basic principle still applies, that the worse the base platform
configuration the more impact a reclocker will have or the other way around.
The better the platform setup, the less impact the reclocker will have.
Kali doesn't come with an isolator, right?? 384kHz and DSD runs stable?
Clive mentioned that Greg might have tried to drive the Mambo/Sabre in sync MCLCK
mode for even better performance. Did you??
5. Power supplies
I never said the Meanwell/Mravlca PS is better then the iFi iPower.
I just haven't tested it. My Mambo is still running in LAB mode on my desktop.
I think I did say that I consider that M/M combo better then my linear supplies that I have at hand.
The PS thing however is gonna be the next thing I'll look into.
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Close doesn't mean intimate!!!!! LOL
To be fair, Steen/Greg/Paul/Ralphy will have sensible and solid reasons for wanting to track their upstream closely, rather than distribute a modified kernel. Doesn't stop you from making a modified piCorePlayer image available.
We love you Clive
We (pCP guys) are discussing and testing Clive's kernel updates but it always takes a little more time when there is more than one guy to make a decision.
regards
Hi folks.
Tim Curtis just recently announced the introduction of a new kernel based on Clives 4.4.23 sources.
For all of you who want to test 384k, DSD, etc. on your I2S HAT Dacs or bypass the
annoying DAC PCM51xx fliters with 384k, should give Moode a try.
Clive has also build-in quite some patches under the hood.
Tim gives you the choice to choose between the stock and the customized kernel.
Finally. A great distro delivers that long-awaited functionality.
Of course. Moode is "still" MPD only. "Still" !!!
Enjoy.
Tim Curtis just recently announced the introduction of a new kernel based on Clives 4.4.23 sources.
For all of you who want to test 384k, DSD, etc. on your I2S HAT Dacs or bypass the
annoying DAC PCM51xx fliters with 384k, should give Moode a try.
Clive has also build-in quite some patches under the hood.
Tim gives you the choice to choose between the stock and the customized kernel.
Finally. A great distro delivers that long-awaited functionality.
Of course. Moode is "still" MPD only. "Still" !!!
Enjoy.
Hi folks.
Tim Curtis just recently announced the introduction of a new kernel based on Clives 4.4.23 sources.
For all of you who want to test 384k, DSD, etc. on your I2S HAT Dacs or bypass the
annoying DAC PCM51xx fliters with 384k, should give Moode a try.
Clive has also build-in quite some patches under the hood.
Tim gives you the choice to choose between the stock and the customized kernel.
Finally. A great distro delivers that long-awaited functionality.
Of course. Moode is "still" MPD only. "Still" !!!
Enjoy.
I heard a rumor that Squeezelite might be included in Moode as an audio renderer. Unconfirmed of course ;-)
Btw, all Advanced Kernel overlay <params> are fully automated via Moode audio device table, no need to nano config.txt
-Tim
Hi souncheck,
I had a look at the github link you gave and as I see there are many different source trees, with various patches each. Is there any tree that includes all the patches we need so that I can get them and patch the official archlinuxarm kernel?
Many thanks in advance,
Michael
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