Alexandre,
It is NOT the same solution. The Kali does a regeneration of the I2S signals out of the Pi, reducing the jitter in all 3 streams used by the Audiophonics (and Mamboberry) DACs... the bitclock, LRclock, and data streams.
The clock on the Audiophonics DAC HAT (and a similar, but not as fancy one on the Mamboberry) provide a clock signal to the ES9023 DAC chip that is used for its internal Asynchronous Reclocking circuits. While that process reduces the amount of degradation the jittery I2S signal from the naked R-Pi produces, the much cleaner I2S signal produced by the regeneration of the Kali works MUCH better and produces much better output sound quality.
Greg in Mississippi
P.S. I still need to do some responses here and the details on the mods so-far and what is still planned, sorry, been busy. In the meantime, I tried to take a picture of the modified DAC... sorry, this is a bad picture, but at least shows the current state.
Attachments
P/Ns?
unknown acronym .. my mind its like blender doe reading a lot of PDF and thousand acronym ...
but i figure out you want specific component ..
tomorrow morning with the hot coffee ,,, we talk for some nice components ..
Last edited:
http://gr.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...=sGAEpiMZZMtLiKaZgV7flacwZI1zQKwDQI5pGqy9uGo=
or
20 x 4700 pF 500 VOLT DC SILVER MICA RUSSIAN MILITARY CAPACITORS * NOS * | eBay
Resistors
http://gr.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...=sGAEpiMZZMsPqMdJzcrNwkIO7zlx7ydXK/7avhgDTAg=
or
http://gr.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...=sGAEpiMZZMsPqMdJzcrNwu0acJ8NjBqak62ECzRnvSM=
any combination of this , improve general the sound , and special in low area .. more huge & control ...
cheers !!!
or
20 x 4700 pF 500 VOLT DC SILVER MICA RUSSIAN MILITARY CAPACITORS * NOS * | eBay
Resistors
http://gr.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...=sGAEpiMZZMsPqMdJzcrNwkIO7zlx7ydXK/7avhgDTAg=
or
http://gr.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...=sGAEpiMZZMsPqMdJzcrNwu0acJ8NjBqak62ECzRnvSM=
any combination of this , improve general the sound , and special in low area .. more huge & control ...
cheers !!!
My mod philosophy...
I don't have the technical training or experience to design my own gear... or the equipment to test it. Instead I leverage what I've learned from others and from my own experiments to identify what seems to work to get the best sound out of my setups.
What I've found makes the most significant differences in how DACs sound comes down to two areas... signal integrity and power.
For signal integrity, in the case of the Mamboberry, I had the example of the Mamboberry LS (MBLS) to draw from. Changing the series resistors on the I2S and clock feeds to the 51R from the MBLS was a small, but worthwhile improvement (witha very good cost to benefit ratio).
Then adding a Kali reclocker makes a VERY significant improvement to the sound out of the MB, stock or modified. It really is a no-brainer for the MB (and MBLS too).
My try of a 0R series resistor in the clock feed to the DAC was based on both some comments I've heard that suggested that MIGHT be the best way to connect a clock to an ESS DAC AND the use of one on the EUVL DAC card. But it was clear in the first minute of listening that it was not a step forward and made the sound more hi-fi-ish, not the direction I wanted to go. I went back to the 51R there. I do wonder if there is an even better value, but at this point I intend to trust Vasilis and leave the I2S/clock signal series R's at 51R. I used Susumu RG series for all of these, which have proven to be very good sounding SMD resistors (Some have said they approach nude Vishays in their sound).
OS & other SW tweaks and optimizations are also VERY important in getting the best signal to the DAC chip and the best sound out. I am sadly a duffer in the Linux world, but the environment upgrades and optimizations described here by others are also very worthwhile. I just can't offer any advice on them, that is not my area of expertise.
On power, for this DAC on a Kali on an R-Pi, I suggest that the minimum baseline for best sound is one good power supply for each unit, R-Pi, Kali, and Mamboberry. I consider the typical EBay transformer/cap/regulator setup with a good regulator (TPS7A47xx, ADM71xx, LT3042 are good examples, but not the only good regulators out there) as the minimum for each supply. I must be clear that I am not an anti-SMPS bigot. The amps currently in both of my setups use SMPSs to very good effect. But for low-level work such as digital sources and DACs, I have had my best results with linear supplies. EVEN the Meanwell SMPS units that came with the Uptone Audio LPS-1s caused a low-level buzz in some circumstances in my setup, which caused me to go with linear supplies for them. So while I KNOW one can get good results from SMPSs in a low-level circuit like the R-Pi, Kali, and Mamboberry stack, my experience is that you'll have a better chance at getting good results with linear supplies, hence my recommendations.
I want to note here that I do not pooh-pooh parts changes such as replacing the RCA jacks (I really don't like the ones on the Mamboberry!) and the output filter components. But IMHO, signal integrity and power are the fundamental foundations for good performance... other things will enhance, but optimizing signal and power are critical to getting the best performance.
In the case of these three units, what I've done for each is:
1. My R-Pi is powered by a somewhat modified K and K Audio Low Voltage Power Supply, 12 watt version set to 5v, available here: K&K Audio | Other kits .
I modify it with larger pre and post regulator caps, I'll share if anyone wants to know. AND while the one I have is still using the LT3083 which is a good, but not stellar regulator, I'm on the lookout for a replacement regulator.
2. My Kali is powered by either one of the supplies I mentioned in an earlier post (Hammond IE core transformer, hi-spec oversized diodes, 47,000uf Jensen 4-pole filter cap) or an Uptone Audio LPS-1. Both feed either a Dexa or Belleson 5v regulator (I prefer the Belleson just a bit over the Dexa) AND I have a 100uf/800v polyprop cap across the output at the header pins on the Kali.
3. My Mamboberry uses another of the linear supplies as per the Kali above OR another LPS-1.
But the power network on a piece of equipment doesn't end with the raw power supply, it extends all the way to the DAC chip's leads. AND to that end I have done some additional modes to the board...
I have two sources of inspiration for what I did on the Mamboberry board... EUVL's ES9022 DAC card AND a general movement towards using SMD film capacitors around DACs that I've seen happening over the last several years.
EUVL did a couple of things that I thought were very interesting on his DAC card... first, he put bypass caps right on the chip pins. In the case of the ES9022, this meant a .01uf C0G across the AVCC-DIF pins (pins 5 & 4, with the DIF pin 4 grounded to set the chip to I2S input format) and 2 larger caps across the CP-CN pins (9 & 10) and the NEG-GND pins (11 & 12). In the first version of his card he used MLCCs, but in the later version he used PPS SMD film caps there. More about that in a moment.
Second, he added a significant amount of capacitance across most of the places that the datasheet recommends only a relatively small amount... for example the ESS datasheet specifies a 10uf + 1uf from the AVCC to ground. EUVL puts an 820uf United Chemicon conductive plastic + 1uf MLCC + .01uf C0G (on the chip pins). The datasheet recommends 1uf to ground from the NEG pin to ground. EUVL put a 560uf United Chemicon conductive plastic in his earlier version and a 120uf Panasonic FC in his later one.
He also uses other film caps in his later version... a 1uf Wima mylar across VREG (pin 6) to ground, and a 1uf Panasonic PPS across both the CP-CN pins and NEG-GND pins.
I had first become aware of SMD-sized film caps from John Brown's huge ECDesigns DAC thread, where he used them as bypasses on several later versions of his TDA1541 DAC chip implementation before moving to his own-design discrete R2R setup. I started looking for them in other DACs and found them on a DAC from Ayre, the DIY-targeted RAKK DAC from K&K, EUVL's ES9022 DAC card, another ES9022-based DAC design by another DIYAudio poster Fitzfish, some of the DIY designs by Acko, and even the otherwise some mainstream-ish (though actually pretty well designed) Sony HAP Z1-ES. I first tried them on a modification to an ESS Juli@ soundcard I was using to feed I2S to my first use of one of EUVLs ES9022 DAC card and using them instead of MLCC bypasses in the chips generating the I2S stream resulted in a sweeter sound.
I used them also to good effect in updating a modified Panasonic S47 DVD player, adding more to that Sony HAP Z1-ES, and in my extreme mod of a HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro. In all cases where I used them to replace ceramic bypasses around a DAC chip I got a sweeter and more detailed sound. So I used them on my mod to the Mamboberry too!
Specifically, what did I do?
1. I added a .01uf C0G across the AVCC-DIF pins (5 & 4) and two .022uf/16v Panasonic PPS films, one across the CN-CP (9 & 10) and the other across the NEG-AGND (11 & 12) pins.
2. I unsoldered the 4 4.7uf electolytics (conductive plastic?) around the DAC chip and replaced them with 1uf/16v Panasonic PPS caps. Note that the two on the side of the DAC chip AWAY from the RCAs are across AVCC-GND and the two on the side TOWARDS the RCAs are across CP-CN and NEG-GND.
3. I added a 560uf/16v United Chemicon conductive plastic cap across one of the two 1uf PPS caps I added across AVCC-DIF(GND).
4. I added another 560uf/16v UC cap across the MLCC cap next to the clock chip.
5. I added a 100uf/16v Nichicon Fine Gold (I have not had good results with the Panasonic FC cap line that EUVL used here) across the 1uf PPS cap across NEG-GND.
6. I replaced the capacitor from VREG-GND (on the Mamboberry, it is the MLCC just above the 'RR' where 'MAMBOBERRY' is spelled out) with another 1uf PPS AND added one of the 4.7uf caps I'd pulled off in the previous step across it... I took this from the MBLS, where Vasilis has one of those 4.7uf caps there instead of an MLCC.
7. I removed the resistor just above the MLCC above, which also goes from VREG-GND. This is used to set the output level AND some posters who had added this on various ES9022 implementations thought it lowered the SQ. That may not be true for the ES9023, but it was easy to leave out and while it increases the output level slightly in my setup, it is not so much as to cause a problem. It might go back in during a later modification IF I get that far... I'll explain later.
The results?
1. A sense of an emphasis and tilt towards the highs was significantly reduced. Yup, it is still there a tiny bit... but mostly in comparison to my other digital sources and is not obvious.
2. Inner detailing and instrument textures are MUCH more apparent, adding a significant jump in 'realism'. Outer detailing is also improved, with better bass detailing and revealing of some subtlies and layers that were just missing before.
3. Improved dynamics, especially in the bass.
4. A reduction, but not elimination of what I identify as the characteristic sound of an ESS DAC chip being run in ASYNC mode, which makes the sound a bit more hi-fi-ish yet a bit indirect.
For less than $20USD in parts, an afternoon soldering, and no drawbacks that I have heard so far, I'd say if one can handle SMD soldering, go for it! The hardest part was soldering the .022uf PPS caps on the CN-CP and NEG-GND pins. I did ruin 2 getting 2 successfully on... the trick I found was to have them just overlap the end of the chip pins so you can touch the fine soldering iron tip to the chip pins above the caps to solder them on. BUT you have to be VERY quick to prevent damaging or even ruining the DAC chip.
What's next? Here's what else I have in mind to try:
1. Removing the 51R series resistor in the clock line to the chip's MCLK pin (pin 13) and running a small coax cable from the MCLK pin out of the Kali to the chip side pad where the resistor was to put the chip into synchronous mode. Hopefully this both removes the ASYNC sound AND sounds better!
2. Remove the Kali MCLK to chip MCLK input cable from above, put the 51R back in, cut the trace from the regulator shared by the clock and the ES9023, and added a small LDO (LP5907) there. Then decide which sounds better, sync mode or a separately regulated clock.
3. Adjust the formerly shared regulator up to 3.6v, which is supposed to improved dynamics from the ES9023 (and is supported in the datasheet). If I do this, the output level will increase a bit more and I may need to add a resistor from VREG to GND again.
4. Look at a better DAC chip regulator. The LP5907 as used in the MBLS does show a lower noise spec than the TPS7A49 currently there AND I suspect Vasilis' use of them in the MBLS is one of the main reasons some have reported better sound out of that unit. OTOH, that likely means going back to 3.3v, which might not be a positive trade-off.
5. Some have reported that removing the caps across the CP-CN pins to disable the negative voltage producing charge pump and then feeding a -3.3v into the NEG pin produces good results. I consider that living dangerously and will likely try it on another ES9023 DAC implementation first, like buying a REALLY cheap EBay card that uses this chip and trying it there first.
Truthfully, the things I've done so far (upgrade to the MBLS signal series Rs, good power, tweaked power bypassing on the card) are what I feel should make the most significant improvements to the Mamboberry. They are pretty advanced modifications that not many will attempt, but my opinion so far is that they are well worthwhile. The 5 additional items above MIGHT produce useful gains (and might not), and are what I'd say are fairly advanced (some might say 'crazy!') mods. I will at some point try the Mamboberry in sync mode with the MCLK from the Kali, which I hope will further reduce or even eliminate the remaining largest negative I have with the unit, the ESS 'ASync' sound. The rest of the mods I detail above... we'll see.
Finally I found it interesting to compare it to some of the other digital sources I have available. Compared to my highly-modified HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro, the 'to-die-for' midrange of the Mamboberry that I mentioned in earlier post in the HFBD+P mod thread is still there, but the modified HFBD+P is overall the winner due to the increased sense of directness that I attribute to it running in Sync mode. Interestingly this is without it on a Kali... I am hopeful the HFBD+P will get EVEN better when I get around to trying that.
I also compared it to my two Soekris DAM DAC implementations, one getting I2S from an R-Pi, the other getting I2S from an SDTran384 SD Card Player. Yup, both of these beat both of these modified DAC hats in almost every parameter, with the one fed via the SDTrans384 more lifelike and real sounding than the other.
Yet when I compared ANY of these to my current phono setup, pedestrian as it is, all lose to vinyl. DANG, more work needed!!
Sorry, I did not take pix of the mods as I was doing them. I will take some better pix and post them later, but not all the details will be visible including some of the caps on DAC pins. So I've attached some pix of the early and later EUVL ES9022 DAC card which do clearly show those details.
Greg in Mississippi
I don't have the technical training or experience to design my own gear... or the equipment to test it. Instead I leverage what I've learned from others and from my own experiments to identify what seems to work to get the best sound out of my setups.
What I've found makes the most significant differences in how DACs sound comes down to two areas... signal integrity and power.
For signal integrity, in the case of the Mamboberry, I had the example of the Mamboberry LS (MBLS) to draw from. Changing the series resistors on the I2S and clock feeds to the 51R from the MBLS was a small, but worthwhile improvement (witha very good cost to benefit ratio).
Then adding a Kali reclocker makes a VERY significant improvement to the sound out of the MB, stock or modified. It really is a no-brainer for the MB (and MBLS too).
My try of a 0R series resistor in the clock feed to the DAC was based on both some comments I've heard that suggested that MIGHT be the best way to connect a clock to an ESS DAC AND the use of one on the EUVL DAC card. But it was clear in the first minute of listening that it was not a step forward and made the sound more hi-fi-ish, not the direction I wanted to go. I went back to the 51R there. I do wonder if there is an even better value, but at this point I intend to trust Vasilis and leave the I2S/clock signal series R's at 51R. I used Susumu RG series for all of these, which have proven to be very good sounding SMD resistors (Some have said they approach nude Vishays in their sound).
OS & other SW tweaks and optimizations are also VERY important in getting the best signal to the DAC chip and the best sound out. I am sadly a duffer in the Linux world, but the environment upgrades and optimizations described here by others are also very worthwhile. I just can't offer any advice on them, that is not my area of expertise.
On power, for this DAC on a Kali on an R-Pi, I suggest that the minimum baseline for best sound is one good power supply for each unit, R-Pi, Kali, and Mamboberry. I consider the typical EBay transformer/cap/regulator setup with a good regulator (TPS7A47xx, ADM71xx, LT3042 are good examples, but not the only good regulators out there) as the minimum for each supply. I must be clear that I am not an anti-SMPS bigot. The amps currently in both of my setups use SMPSs to very good effect. But for low-level work such as digital sources and DACs, I have had my best results with linear supplies. EVEN the Meanwell SMPS units that came with the Uptone Audio LPS-1s caused a low-level buzz in some circumstances in my setup, which caused me to go with linear supplies for them. So while I KNOW one can get good results from SMPSs in a low-level circuit like the R-Pi, Kali, and Mamboberry stack, my experience is that you'll have a better chance at getting good results with linear supplies, hence my recommendations.
I want to note here that I do not pooh-pooh parts changes such as replacing the RCA jacks (I really don't like the ones on the Mamboberry!) and the output filter components. But IMHO, signal integrity and power are the fundamental foundations for good performance... other things will enhance, but optimizing signal and power are critical to getting the best performance.
In the case of these three units, what I've done for each is:
1. My R-Pi is powered by a somewhat modified K and K Audio Low Voltage Power Supply, 12 watt version set to 5v, available here: K&K Audio | Other kits .
I modify it with larger pre and post regulator caps, I'll share if anyone wants to know. AND while the one I have is still using the LT3083 which is a good, but not stellar regulator, I'm on the lookout for a replacement regulator.
2. My Kali is powered by either one of the supplies I mentioned in an earlier post (Hammond IE core transformer, hi-spec oversized diodes, 47,000uf Jensen 4-pole filter cap) or an Uptone Audio LPS-1. Both feed either a Dexa or Belleson 5v regulator (I prefer the Belleson just a bit over the Dexa) AND I have a 100uf/800v polyprop cap across the output at the header pins on the Kali.
3. My Mamboberry uses another of the linear supplies as per the Kali above OR another LPS-1.
But the power network on a piece of equipment doesn't end with the raw power supply, it extends all the way to the DAC chip's leads. AND to that end I have done some additional modes to the board...
I have two sources of inspiration for what I did on the Mamboberry board... EUVL's ES9022 DAC card AND a general movement towards using SMD film capacitors around DACs that I've seen happening over the last several years.
EUVL did a couple of things that I thought were very interesting on his DAC card... first, he put bypass caps right on the chip pins. In the case of the ES9022, this meant a .01uf C0G across the AVCC-DIF pins (pins 5 & 4, with the DIF pin 4 grounded to set the chip to I2S input format) and 2 larger caps across the CP-CN pins (9 & 10) and the NEG-GND pins (11 & 12). In the first version of his card he used MLCCs, but in the later version he used PPS SMD film caps there. More about that in a moment.
Second, he added a significant amount of capacitance across most of the places that the datasheet recommends only a relatively small amount... for example the ESS datasheet specifies a 10uf + 1uf from the AVCC to ground. EUVL puts an 820uf United Chemicon conductive plastic + 1uf MLCC + .01uf C0G (on the chip pins). The datasheet recommends 1uf to ground from the NEG pin to ground. EUVL put a 560uf United Chemicon conductive plastic in his earlier version and a 120uf Panasonic FC in his later one.
He also uses other film caps in his later version... a 1uf Wima mylar across VREG (pin 6) to ground, and a 1uf Panasonic PPS across both the CP-CN pins and NEG-GND pins.
I had first become aware of SMD-sized film caps from John Brown's huge ECDesigns DAC thread, where he used them as bypasses on several later versions of his TDA1541 DAC chip implementation before moving to his own-design discrete R2R setup. I started looking for them in other DACs and found them on a DAC from Ayre, the DIY-targeted RAKK DAC from K&K, EUVL's ES9022 DAC card, another ES9022-based DAC design by another DIYAudio poster Fitzfish, some of the DIY designs by Acko, and even the otherwise some mainstream-ish (though actually pretty well designed) Sony HAP Z1-ES. I first tried them on a modification to an ESS Juli@ soundcard I was using to feed I2S to my first use of one of EUVLs ES9022 DAC card and using them instead of MLCC bypasses in the chips generating the I2S stream resulted in a sweeter sound.
I used them also to good effect in updating a modified Panasonic S47 DVD player, adding more to that Sony HAP Z1-ES, and in my extreme mod of a HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro. In all cases where I used them to replace ceramic bypasses around a DAC chip I got a sweeter and more detailed sound. So I used them on my mod to the Mamboberry too!
Specifically, what did I do?
1. I added a .01uf C0G across the AVCC-DIF pins (5 & 4) and two .022uf/16v Panasonic PPS films, one across the CN-CP (9 & 10) and the other across the NEG-AGND (11 & 12) pins.
2. I unsoldered the 4 4.7uf electolytics (conductive plastic?) around the DAC chip and replaced them with 1uf/16v Panasonic PPS caps. Note that the two on the side of the DAC chip AWAY from the RCAs are across AVCC-GND and the two on the side TOWARDS the RCAs are across CP-CN and NEG-GND.
3. I added a 560uf/16v United Chemicon conductive plastic cap across one of the two 1uf PPS caps I added across AVCC-DIF(GND).
4. I added another 560uf/16v UC cap across the MLCC cap next to the clock chip.
5. I added a 100uf/16v Nichicon Fine Gold (I have not had good results with the Panasonic FC cap line that EUVL used here) across the 1uf PPS cap across NEG-GND.
6. I replaced the capacitor from VREG-GND (on the Mamboberry, it is the MLCC just above the 'RR' where 'MAMBOBERRY' is spelled out) with another 1uf PPS AND added one of the 4.7uf caps I'd pulled off in the previous step across it... I took this from the MBLS, where Vasilis has one of those 4.7uf caps there instead of an MLCC.
7. I removed the resistor just above the MLCC above, which also goes from VREG-GND. This is used to set the output level AND some posters who had added this on various ES9022 implementations thought it lowered the SQ. That may not be true for the ES9023, but it was easy to leave out and while it increases the output level slightly in my setup, it is not so much as to cause a problem. It might go back in during a later modification IF I get that far... I'll explain later.
The results?
1. A sense of an emphasis and tilt towards the highs was significantly reduced. Yup, it is still there a tiny bit... but mostly in comparison to my other digital sources and is not obvious.
2. Inner detailing and instrument textures are MUCH more apparent, adding a significant jump in 'realism'. Outer detailing is also improved, with better bass detailing and revealing of some subtlies and layers that were just missing before.
3. Improved dynamics, especially in the bass.
4. A reduction, but not elimination of what I identify as the characteristic sound of an ESS DAC chip being run in ASYNC mode, which makes the sound a bit more hi-fi-ish yet a bit indirect.
For less than $20USD in parts, an afternoon soldering, and no drawbacks that I have heard so far, I'd say if one can handle SMD soldering, go for it! The hardest part was soldering the .022uf PPS caps on the CN-CP and NEG-GND pins. I did ruin 2 getting 2 successfully on... the trick I found was to have them just overlap the end of the chip pins so you can touch the fine soldering iron tip to the chip pins above the caps to solder them on. BUT you have to be VERY quick to prevent damaging or even ruining the DAC chip.
What's next? Here's what else I have in mind to try:
1. Removing the 51R series resistor in the clock line to the chip's MCLK pin (pin 13) and running a small coax cable from the MCLK pin out of the Kali to the chip side pad where the resistor was to put the chip into synchronous mode. Hopefully this both removes the ASYNC sound AND sounds better!
2. Remove the Kali MCLK to chip MCLK input cable from above, put the 51R back in, cut the trace from the regulator shared by the clock and the ES9023, and added a small LDO (LP5907) there. Then decide which sounds better, sync mode or a separately regulated clock.
3. Adjust the formerly shared regulator up to 3.6v, which is supposed to improved dynamics from the ES9023 (and is supported in the datasheet). If I do this, the output level will increase a bit more and I may need to add a resistor from VREG to GND again.
4. Look at a better DAC chip regulator. The LP5907 as used in the MBLS does show a lower noise spec than the TPS7A49 currently there AND I suspect Vasilis' use of them in the MBLS is one of the main reasons some have reported better sound out of that unit. OTOH, that likely means going back to 3.3v, which might not be a positive trade-off.
5. Some have reported that removing the caps across the CP-CN pins to disable the negative voltage producing charge pump and then feeding a -3.3v into the NEG pin produces good results. I consider that living dangerously and will likely try it on another ES9023 DAC implementation first, like buying a REALLY cheap EBay card that uses this chip and trying it there first.
Truthfully, the things I've done so far (upgrade to the MBLS signal series Rs, good power, tweaked power bypassing on the card) are what I feel should make the most significant improvements to the Mamboberry. They are pretty advanced modifications that not many will attempt, but my opinion so far is that they are well worthwhile. The 5 additional items above MIGHT produce useful gains (and might not), and are what I'd say are fairly advanced (some might say 'crazy!') mods. I will at some point try the Mamboberry in sync mode with the MCLK from the Kali, which I hope will further reduce or even eliminate the remaining largest negative I have with the unit, the ESS 'ASync' sound. The rest of the mods I detail above... we'll see.
Finally I found it interesting to compare it to some of the other digital sources I have available. Compared to my highly-modified HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro, the 'to-die-for' midrange of the Mamboberry that I mentioned in earlier post in the HFBD+P mod thread is still there, but the modified HFBD+P is overall the winner due to the increased sense of directness that I attribute to it running in Sync mode. Interestingly this is without it on a Kali... I am hopeful the HFBD+P will get EVEN better when I get around to trying that.
I also compared it to my two Soekris DAM DAC implementations, one getting I2S from an R-Pi, the other getting I2S from an SDTran384 SD Card Player. Yup, both of these beat both of these modified DAC hats in almost every parameter, with the one fed via the SDTrans384 more lifelike and real sounding than the other.
Yet when I compared ANY of these to my current phono setup, pedestrian as it is, all lose to vinyl. DANG, more work needed!!
Sorry, I did not take pix of the mods as I was doing them. I will take some better pix and post them later, but not all the details will be visible including some of the caps on DAC pins. So I've attached some pix of the early and later EUVL ES9022 DAC card which do clearly show those details.
Greg in Mississippi
Attachments
Last edited:
Odal, you are welcome.
And Soundcheck, you are welcome too, I'm glad I was able to help you get to sleep!
Again, my experience is that the improvements resulting from getting a better signal into a DAC and providing it with better power swamp ANY from other changes one can do. That's why I focused my energies there.
AND I always say to scoffers 'If you haven't tried it yourself, I don't consider your criticisms valid or useful'. While I HAVE done a number of both filter component AND output jack upgrades, I haven't done it to these jacks on the Mamboberry (which again, I strongly dislike ANYWAY). So I'll wire in a pair of good jacks (probably WBT NextGens), compare, and report back. This won't happen any sooner than this weekend or more likely next weekend, I have business travel the last half of this week.
Greg in Mississippi
And Soundcheck, you are welcome too, I'm glad I was able to help you get to sleep!
Again, my experience is that the improvements resulting from getting a better signal into a DAC and providing it with better power swamp ANY from other changes one can do. That's why I focused my energies there.
AND I always say to scoffers 'If you haven't tried it yourself, I don't consider your criticisms valid or useful'. While I HAVE done a number of both filter component AND output jack upgrades, I haven't done it to these jacks on the Mamboberry (which again, I strongly dislike ANYWAY). So I'll wire in a pair of good jacks (probably WBT NextGens), compare, and report back. This won't happen any sooner than this weekend or more likely next weekend, I have business travel the last half of this week.
Greg in Mississippi
Folks.
WARNING!!
Just been testing the 4.4.y-simple kernel.
I have following setting in "config.txt" :
"dtoverlay=mamboberry-dacplus-es9023-audio,bclk_ratio_int_div,384k"
Using "bclk_ratio_int_div" causes nasty noise @96kHz. 384k works OK.
We ran into that or a similar issue not long ago and it was fixed back then.
I PMed Clive. Let's see what he says.
WARNING!!
Just been testing the 4.4.y-simple kernel.
I have following setting in "config.txt" :
"dtoverlay=mamboberry-dacplus-es9023-audio,bclk_ratio_int_div,384k"
Using "bclk_ratio_int_div" causes nasty noise @96kHz. 384k works OK.
We ran into that or a similar issue not long ago and it was fixed back then.
I PMed Clive. Let's see what he says.
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Hi Klaus,
Testing at @96 kHz using either MPD resampling or native 24/96 files and no noise using same config.txt settings, DAC is Mambo DAC+.
dtoverlay=mamboberry-dacplus-es9023-audio,384k,bclk_ratio_int_div
-Tim
I'll do some more tests.
The sources for your kernel I fetched from your git copy. The ones I just tried are from Clives reanimated git.
I also use the Kali. Not sure if this can make a difference.
And I'm running that new kernel on PcP.
Customized kernels on PcP alone are quite challenging.
The sources for your kernel I fetched from your git copy. The ones I just tried are from Clives reanimated git.
I also use the Kali. Not sure if this can make a difference.
And I'm running that new kernel on PcP.
Customized kernels on PcP alone are quite challenging.
Today I added some copper WBT RCA jacks to the HiFiBerry DAC + Pro on flying leads to the solder eyelets on the circuit board. Thus, I was able to quickly compare to the stock RCA jacks.
From my understanding the RCA jacks on the HiFiBerry DAC + Pro board were custom made so that HiFiBerry was able to get a jack that was also gold plated on the center pin portion.
I do not know of the Mamboberry jacks.
Here's what I heard moving to the WBT jacks. Better across the board. More and more tuneful bass. Better instrument separation. The vertical soundstage presentation was increased and more separated.
Was it as much as a power supply change? No, but, it was a good portion of it...
From my understanding the RCA jacks on the HiFiBerry DAC + Pro board were custom made so that HiFiBerry was able to get a jack that was also gold plated on the center pin portion.
I do not know of the Mamboberry jacks.
Here's what I heard moving to the WBT jacks. Better across the board. More and more tuneful bass. Better instrument separation. The vertical soundstage presentation was increased and more separated.
Was it as much as a power supply change? No, but, it was a good portion of it...
Thx. That's what I'm saying all the time.
You need to get your priorities right. First things (easy wins) first.
My advise:
Take the WBTs out altogether and you'll save a hell lot of money. And you'll do even better. The obvious sideeffect is that you also get rid of the plugs of the cable. Which make things even better.
Then you'll do the same thing on the amp side. Guess what will happen !??!
I'm using 3 inch Mundorf silver wires between Mamboberry DAC and amp on my main system.
If I see all these ""audiophile"" (DIY-) projects with jack/plugs still attached, I can't take them serious.
Leaving such a huge bottleneck in the chain just prevents from highest quality music. IMO.
Enjoy.
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