Amanero PCM and DSD (Update)

This is an update to this post on using foobar to play both PCM and DSD files [link]

Playing PCM and DSD files with foobar:

After installing foobar2000,

From the foobar2000 website, download:

• ASIO support 2.1.2 or newer

UPDATES

Get to the “Super Audio CD Decoder” repository [link]

• Download the latest file from the foo_input_sacd folder
• Download the latest file from the foo_dsd_asio folder

When you extract the zip files you will find:

• foo_input_sacd.dll
• ASIOProxyInstall-x.x.x (application).
  • This installs foo_dsd_asio in the default directory C:\Program Files\ASIOProxy
    

foo_input_sacd

This plug in shows up as “Super Audio CD Decoder” and allows you to playback the following formats:

• Playback of Super Audio CD ISO images, DSDIFF files and DSF files
• Converts DSD to PCM (if your DAC cannot play native DSD)

To install or update foo_input_sacd, just drag it to the components window in foobar and click “apply”

The control panel looks like this: you can select DSD output or PCM output (when converting DSD to PCM)

More on the different options: [link]

I tested the conversion of DSD to PCM, using both DSD64 and DSD128 files. The results were as expected:

PCM Conversion	Output Sample Rate for DSD64 Input	Output Sample Rate for DSD128 Input
44.1KHz	44.1KHz	44.1KHz
88.2KHz	88.2KHz	88.2KHz
176.4	176.4	176.4
352.8KHz	352.8KHz	352.8KHz

foo_dsd_asio

foo_dsd_asio is kind of a “meta-asio” driver. It is used by the sacd plug-in above as the output device and in turn foo_dsd_asio outputs to an ASIO driver for an actual device. Apparently the sacd plugin does not output directly to an ASIO driver, it must go through the meta-asio driver. (Actually, ASIO itself is a meta-device driver because it talks to the actual device driver)

For one thing, foo_dsd_asio handles the “DSD playback method”: for example, “DoP Marker 0×05/0xFA”. “DoP” means DSD over PCM. Marker 0×05/0xFA means use the marker (for DSD) as specified in the proposed “USB Link for DSD Audio via PCM Frames” open standard [link][link]. This “marker” method is predominantly driven by the MacOS since its built-in USB2 audio driver only supports PCM. On the PC side, there is no native support for USB2 audio so people use ASIO and ASIO can support both PCM and DSD streams. The Amanero board handles “ASIO native”, but other boards may require a marker on the DSD stream.

Thus, foo_dsd_asio has the following functionality:

• Handles DSD playback method
• Converts PCM to DSD (optional)
• Outputs to DSD-capable ASIO driver

To install or update foo_dsd_asio, run the ASIOProxyInstall-0.6.x.exe program.

I tested the PCM to DSD conversion. The latest foo_dsd_asio plug-in handles all sample rates as shown in the following results:

PCM Sample Rate	DSD64 Conversion	DSD128 Conversion
44.1KHz	2.82 MHz	5.6MHz
88.2KHz	2.82 MHz	5.6MHz
352.8KHz	2.82 MHz	5.6MHz
96KHz	3.07 MHz	6.14MHz
384KHz	3.07 MHz	6.14MHz

AMANERO FIRMWARE/DRIVER UPDATE

Recall that previously ASIO4ALL was used because the Amanero lacked native ASIO support. Amanero updated the firmware and released ASIO drivers.

For instructions on enabling native ASIO playback, you can follow this excellent post:

Amanero ASIO or you can get the ASIO drivers from the Amenero site [link]. Note that the ASIO drivers compliment the standard drivers and you need both for ASIO support.

After updating the Amanero device with ASIO support  you do the following:

Fist set the output to be foo_dsd_asio (in order to support DSD output, and also PCM since this is the output device)

And then in the foo_dsd_asio configuration screen, select the Amanero board.

TIPS FOR UPDATING FIRMWARE

Erase firmware

1- Plug board into USB port

2- Short the pads as shown for at least 1 second (I used a paper clip)

3- Unplug the board

Download and Install Atmel device driver

1- Download and unzip the update tools from the Amanero web site [link]. You will get several files: a device driver for the ATMEL chip, a configuration application for updating the firmware and some other files.

2-Plug the board into a USB port. At this point the device is completely unidentified. You may get a prompt to install a driver or you may not. Following is the manual installation of the ATMEL device driver:

3- Open the Device Manger under the System control panel. The device shows up as “unknown device” as shown below

4- Right click on the unknown device and select Update Driver Software, indicating the location of the driver which is in the folder you downloaded. Your Amanero board is now a “AT91 USB to Serial Converter”

Your are ready to update firmware

1- Ensure that you have erased the firmware as shown above, and ensure that the device is identified as “AT91 USB” as a port as shown below:

Reader Contribution: Musiland Review

Here is a nice review from Sam5050 on the Musiland devices

Part 1 can be found here: [link]

Just finished my review on the following Musiland devices used as headphone amps/DACs and/or PC interfaces.

• 2012 Monitor 01 USD (as USB to SPDIF interface only)
• 2012 Monitor 02 US Dragon Edition (as USB to SPDIF interface and as a DAC and as a headphone amp)
• 2012 Monitor 03 US Dragon Edition (as a DAC and as a headphone amp) [link]
• 2012 Monitor 03 USD (as USB to SPDIF interface only)
• older Monitor 02 US (used as USB to SPDIF interface and DAC and Headphone amp).

(The “D” in USD is “digital interface only”, no analog outputs)

TEST ENVIRONMENT

Here are the computer systems used for testing:

Office system

Win 7.0 64bit/PC i5 Processor/ 8G Ram, 4 T of storage (2 -1T HDs and a USB 3.0 2-T WD external), SOtM CPU fan and PS filters, powering the USB 3.0 with a AQVOX linear USB 2.0 PS. Cardas Clear USB cable. Foobar2000 v1.1.8 – tried various output schemes, including Musliand ASIO, Musliand KS, JPlay, SoX upsampler, various bit depths and latencies. DAC – APL (6 AKM 32-bit DACs per channel, linear independent PS, ECC99 tube output).

Main System

Win Vista 64bit/Core 2 Quad Q9300 4G/ 4 Tbs – (2- 1T HD and a 2-T HD). Using a SOtM tX-USB Audiophile PCI to USB Audio Card/and a fan-less ultra high quality PC supply in my main PC music server, SOtM CPU fan filter. Stilnote USB 2.0 USB cable. Foobar2000 v1.1.8 – tried various output schemes, including Musliand ASIO, Musliand KS, JPlay, SoX up-sampler, various bit depths and latencies. DAC – Xindak DAC5 with NOS Siemens Cca (1960’s) tubes.

The rest of my system included Reference 3A Royal Masters (main), Dulcets (office), same Class A MOSFET hybrid amps (6922 pre section), Tellurium Q Ultra Blacks (main) TQ Blacks (Office), Synergistic Research Power Chords and Digital RCA cables on each.

I used my amp/speaker system and headphone system over many months and tweaks.

Music

Mostly Alt, some vocal, classical and jazz. Redbook tracks were up-sampled to 32/176k w/SoX ), native high resolution played without up-sampling. Test tracks are too numerous to list but included redbook wave files (burned using EAC), Vinyl played on a SOTA analog rig and recorded at high Res (32/176K), native DxD (32/352k)(curiosity of L2) and DsD (PCM re-sampled in foobar).

Here are a few favorites: Florence and the Machine – Dog Days, David Gray – Please Forgive Me, Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark, Brand New – Degausser, Them Crooked Vultures – No One Loves Me and Neither Do I, Wiz Khalifa – Work Hard, Play Hard, Zedd -Spectrum, BOB – So Good, David Guetta – Titanium, Joseph Haydn – String Quart in D, Op 76 (DxD), From Let Us Garlands Bring – Come Away Death (DxD) etc…

APL DAC as implemented inside a Denon 3910

The AKM 4397 DAC boards

The modded Denon 3910 with the APL DAC

Tube stage and Lundhal amorphous core transformers

SOtM-PCI to USB Audiophile Card [more here: link]

Xindac DAC 5

USED AS USB TO SPDIF INTERFACE

Bottom line – the 03 USD is an exceptional Interface. In fact, it beat out the M2Tech EVO/with Acopian Linear PS (the best I have owned so far out of many)! Which I have now sold. I bought another 03 USD for my office system. It has become my reference. Wonderful sound, great interface software! So flexible and stable – surely beats the M2Tech non-interface.

Well, to summarize the sound of the Musiland 03 USD as an interface is just plain outstanding! Incredible detail, while always supremely musical. This is THE BEST value in high end audio – never even reviewed by a major publication (sad)! The sound stage is deep and wide, with a wonderful texturing of instruments – each presenting a holographic image. Great PRAT, dynamics with excellent bass clarity. Everything you could ask for.

One note – highly sensitive (especially using headphones) to settings, for example in Foobar the simple changing of bit depth or buffer length in the output setting window has a significant effect on the sound (32 bit sounds best on most recordings, 260-1000ms buffer setting sounded the best).

It was system dependent on the ASIO vs Kernel Streaming output. On the office system ASIO; on the main system KS had the greatest clarity. Somewhat a tradeoff of clarity (KS) vs smoothness (ASIO). You really need to play around with these setting to get the right blend. It is worth it…the difference between sounding good and magical!

I can not say enough good things about the 03 USD – how great this interface is when properly tweaked.

The Musiland Monitors with digital output are the best USB to SPDIF interfaces I have heard (they are the new standard). In other words better then the M2Tech EVO, Hi-face, Audiophilleo 2, John Kenny Mk 2, etc… That I had tried before. – answer = YES! Beat the best by a hair – the EVO,with a vastly better control panel.

The 2012 Monitor 01 USD (as a PC interface) it was better then the 02 US Dragon, but not nearly as good as the 03 USD

USED AS DACS

Both as DACs not nearly as good, (as described above, they are much better as interfaces). The sound stage compressed, tone thinned, a bit of edginess, etc… One note the DxD native files (24 bit/352K) played perfectly on both using the analog DAC outputs (using Foobar, no re-sampling), and sounded really good. When compared to the down-sampled (176K) run through the tube DACs it was a push. The tubes more musical, richer in tone, the SS DACs more lively (and I mean lively with DxD files!!!).

As a DAC, these Musilands really can’t compete with a top end tubed DAC. Even a moderately priced one like the Xindak DAC5 with a high quality tube replacement (NOS), is in a whole other class. The Xindak can be had for $500-$600 bucks adding another $100 for a good NOS 6922 and maybe $150 for a good power cord, you have a really excellent DAC. THe Xindak also has a opamp based SS output and also a switchable upsampler.

Obviously for a lot more money you can get something like the APL – 6 32bit AKM DAC per channel, linear power supplies, (my older version has the ECC99 tube output stage), a pro quality SPDIF receiver chip (this can handle 192K inputs with ease, the Xindak is limited to 176K), Lundahl transformer coupling (no caps), etc… Now you are in a whole other league.
Sound and money wise.

I had a MiniMax DAC plus which used the ESS9018 and offered both a tube and opamp based output. It had some nice features like Sabre ES9018 DAC chip, Separate Power Transformers for digital and analog sections, M2Tech OEM 24bit 192KHz Async USB input. It sounded good, about were the Xindak 5 was (with NOS tube), but much more expensive. So I sold it. The APL is in a whole other league. So much for the cult of the “Sabre ES9018″ being the best DAC chip around!

There are many fine high end DACs, like the DCS, the Lampizator, MSB etc…

Musiland 02US Dragon Edition

The Musiland 03US Dragon Edition

USED AS DAC PLUS HEADPHONE AMP

On the Headphone side, my listening system is a Pair of Senn HD800s (upgraded Warren Audio cables). Woo Audio WA6SE (with upgraded caps, 6FD7 NOS tubes, NOS 1952 5u4g rec). In comparison the Musiland 02 us Dragon and the 03 US Dragon were not even close. The 03 US Dragon was better, but had the same flat sound stage, thin tonality, edginess in the upper frequencies, hollow bottom. I do use the 03 US Dragon with my laptop as a portable “on the road system” with some Phillips noise cancelers. Now it is not fair to compare $1000 tube headphone amp to a $200 one, but I wish I could say it was a closer match.

The sound from the HD800/Woo combination is incredible! The presentation is different from the amp/speaker system, a much more upfront (1st row vs 20th row) sound stage, but the level of detail retrieval is unsurpassed. I have heard sounds from recording that I have bee listening to for 20 years! Spooky good!

I tend to like the tonal richness, sound staging and musicality of the tube variety – best sound of the money.

MONITOR 02US DRAGON

I did own the older version of the Monitor 02 (the one hard AC wired), the new 02 Dragon beats it in every way.

I have to say I do like the design concept and functionality of the new 02 Dragon.  It has BOTH the SPDIF RCA output to feed an external DAC and the analog outputs (both RCA and dual Headphone jacks).  This makes it a very versatile unit.  I also liked the 02 Dragon’s built in volume control knob.  Great as a extremely portable unit.  You also have the power option of USB or 9V DC.  The Musiland Windows Control Panel, makes it  breeze to switch between digital and analogue outputs, even balance L/R channels.

I really wanted the 02 Dragon to be the winner sound-wise – I really love this design -but unfortunately it is inferior to both the USD 03 as an interface and US 03 Dragon as a DAC/Headphone amp.  It has a bit of a nasty edge to the treble, and a flattish sound stage.  The use of the Acopian linear PS did help, but not enough to my ears.

Gave the 02 Dragon to my son in college –  he loves it!  It is much better then the laptop headphone output!  It would be a great gift for someone not so obsessed with sound quality.  Add a pair of nice amped speakers (Bose) and some good headphones, and you have a really neat little audio system.

SUMMARY

Are the Musiland Monitors with digital output the best USB to SPDIF interfaces I have heard (new standard). In other words better then the M2Tech EVO, Hi-face, Audiophilleo 2, John Kenny Mk 2, etc… That I had tried before? – Answer = YES! Beat the best by a hair – the EVO, with a vastly better control panel.

Are they reasonably good as an analog-out DAC? With the huge advantage of being able to easily handle native 24/352K files, could they match some really good tubed DACs? Answer – definitely NO! And that would be asking too much – I agree!

Are they reasonably good headphone amps? Answer= YES and NO. They are in no way in the same league as say a Woo Audio WA6SE, or even the EarMax, but they are pretty good and very portable.

foobar Configuration for DSD (With Amanero Interface & Buffalo DAC)

See updated information here: https://hifiduino.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/amanero-pcm-and-dsd-update/

(Update 11/21/12) DRIVER 1.0.56

• Driver identification to ASUI4ALL is correct. Testing shows that there is no “resampling” to 48KHz.
• Channel mapping is correct for Direct Sound output, WASAPI output and foo_dso_asio for both PCM and DSD
• Use the setup instructions here but skip the custom channel mapping step

Note: previously I thought with this version of the driver the DSD channels were still inverted, but they are not.

(Update 11/19/12) WHICH DRIVER FOR AMANERO?

For now, stick to driver 1.0.5 and use the procedure outlined here. The latest drivers (1.0.54 and 1.0.55) resample 44.1K to 48K if using foo_dso_asio in order to support DSD. If you don’t use foo_dso_asio as output and use for example WASAPI, then there is no resample.

The reason is because the latest driver identifies the Amanero board (at least to ASIO4ALL) as not supporting 44.1K. Below the comparison between the 1.0.5 driver and the 1.0.55 driver:

In the meantime, the 1.0.5 driver works well for both PCM and DSD. I will update this post once a more stable driver is released.

PCM AND DSD CHANNEL ORDER

foobar is able to play both PCM and DSD files through a USB interface such as Amanero or ExaDevices. When connected with a Buffalo DAC, the same wiring can be used (for both PCM and DSD), resulting in a seamless operation without requiring source switching.

However the channel order for PCM and DSD is swapped. When playing DSD with the same wiring as PCM, the right channel will appear on the left and the left channel on the right. This can be fixed by swapping the wiring manually or by using a relay, but defeats the seamless mode of operation that could be achieved. Further, adding a switching mechanism may introduce unwanted noise or other disturbances to the signal, and takes away the “straight wire” configuration that audiophiles long for :-).

CONFIGURING FOOBAR FOR PCM AND DSD PLAYBACK

Fortunately, there is a solution which is based on swapping the channels in the SACD plug-in for foobar. Summarized here are the steps in configuring foobar for correct playback of both PCM files and DSD files.

After installing foobar2000,

From the foobar2000 website, download:

• WASAPI output support 3.0 or newer (optional)
• ASIO support 2.1.2 or newer

From the Super Audio CD Decoder website, download:

• foo_input_sacd-0.6.1.zip or newer. Gives you “foo_input_sacd” (SACD decoding plug-in) and “ASIOProxyInstall-0.6.0.exe” which gives you “foo_dsd_asio” (DSD asio output plug-in)

From the ASIO4ALL website, downloadg

• ASIO4ALL 2.10 or newer

Note: there is a DSDIFF Decoder 1.4 plug-in in the foobar website which is not used in this configuration.

In foobar -> preferences you will see the following (I also downloaded the HDCD decoder, but it is not necessary for DSD):

Double click on ASIO4ALL to launch the control panel. If you don’t see the control panel it is minimized on your task bar. Configure ASIO4ALL by selecting the Amanero board. ASIO4All will work with all the output devices in Windows 7 since they all conform to the WDM driver architecture. Click on the little icon to highlight it.

Now configure foo_dsd_asio by selecting ASIO4ALL as the ASIO driver (if the Amanero board supported ASIO, it would show up here). This is the kludgy part: output to Asio4All which outputs to the actual device.

Note the DSD Playback Method settings: DoP Marker 0x05/0xFA. “DoP” means DSD over PCM. Marker 0x05/0xFA means use the marker (for DSD) as specified in the proposed “USB Link for DSD Audio via PCM Frames” open standard [link][link]

Note also that the SACD plug-in can also convert from PCM to DSD. There is a discussion here about that feature: [link] and also at the code repository [link]. You can convert PCM material to DSD64 or DSD128 on the fly. In my aging ThinkPad T60, the conversion on the fly takes 20% or processor load. Below it is set for no PCM to DSD conversion.

DSD Channel Swap

(Only needed if your DSD channels are swapped. This happens if you use driver 1.0.5 or earlier)

Now you need to create a custom channel map for  f00_dsd_asio. This is done in order to swap the channel. Click “Add New” in the Custom channel mappings interface

Configure the new channel mapping as shown:

1. Choose the foo_dsd_asio driver from the select list
2. Assign “Technology Streaming 1” to Right and “Technology Streaming 2” to Left. (The default is 1 to Left and 2 to Right)
3. Give it a proper name (e.g.: “foo_dsd_asio – RL”)

Click OK and you will see the new custom channel map in the list

Select the output device for DSD (the custom channel map that you just created). Note that If you select “foo_dsd_asio”, then you will have the channels swaped:

Note: with driver 1.0.56 or later which fixes the channel swap, just use foo_dsd_asio

Configure the SACD plug-in for DSD. If you configure for PCM it will convert DSD to PCM:

TESTING

In order to test your configuration, you can download any Stereo test file from the internet. I downloaded 3 simple mp3 files that would test “Left Channel”, “Right Channel” and “Both Channels” [link]. I then converted the files into DSD files by using the free AudioGate application.

Put all the six files into foobar and play them one by one…

Amanero – Buffalo II DSD with Foobar

FIRST TIME, HURRAY!

Got DSD working with the Amanero to Buffalo II:

• Works with the re-clocking of the bit-clock mod (can’t take it out now :-))
• No need to change any wiring to the Buffalo II DAC. Supports PCM and DSD with the same connections (This likely only works with the Sabre32 DAC because the designer decided to support both PCM and DSD with the same connections). There is also an issue with channels being “swapped”. See update at the end of post.
• Used foobar with asio4all and foo_dsd_asio (kludgy but works)
• DSD file from 2L (DSD64 which is 2.8MHz)

How do I know it is playing DSD?

foobar says so:

And of course, the display says so 🙂 :

I coded “DSD” long, long ago but this is the first time it shows up 🙂 :-). The code reads the status register in the DAC and reports whether the stream is SPDIF, PCM or DSD. So according to the Sabre32 DAC it is receiving a DSD stream. If I measure the DSD pin in the Amanero board, it should read 3.3v.

The sample rate says “44,099 Hz” (44.1KHz) because this is the frequency of the DSD stream divided by 64, which is the same as the bit clock for 44.1KHz PCM. I think I should revise the code and show 2.8224 MHz instead.

Well, there is no going back now… Many thanks for posters at the Amanero thread in diyaudio for getting foobar to work with the Amanero board which does not yet support ASIO. And also Javier over at rockgrotto. The kludgy part is having asio4all output to the Amanero board and having foo_dsd_asio output to asio4all.

FOOBAR2000 SETUP

There is an excellent and detailed guide at rockgrotto. Here I just give the outline on how to set up foobar.

After installing foobar2000,

From the foobar2000 website, download:

• WASAPI output support 3.0 or newer (optional)
• ASIO support 2.1.2 or newer

From the Super Audio CD Decoder website, download:

• foo_input_sacd-0.6.1.zip or newer. Gives you “foo_input_sacd” (SACD decoding plug-in) and “ASIOProxyInstall-0.6.0.exe” which gives you “foo_dsd_asio” (DSD asio output plug-in)

From the ASIO4ALL website, downloadg

• ASIO4ALL 2.10 or newer

Note: there is a DSDIFF Decoder 1.4 plug-in in the foobar website which is not used in this configuration.

In foobar -> preferences you will see the following (I also downloaded the HDCD decoder, but it is not necessary for DSD):

Double click on ASIO4ALL to launch the control panel. If you don’t see the control panel it is minimized on your task bar. Configure ASIO4ALL by selecting the Amanero board. ASIO4All will work with all the output devices in Windows 7 since they all conform to the WDM driver architecture. Click on the little icon to highlight it.

Now configure foo_dsd_asio by selecting ASIO4ALL as the ASIO driver (if the Amanero board supported ASIO, it would show up here). This is the kludgy part: output to Asio4All which outputs to the actual device.

Note the DSD Playback Method settings: DoP Marker 0x05/0xFA. “DoP” means DSD over PCM. Marker 0x05/0xFA means use the marker (for DSD) as specified in the proposed “USB Link for DSD Audio via PCM Frames” open standard [link][link]

Note also that the SACD plug-in can also convert from PCM to DSD. There is a discussion here about that feature: [link] and also at the code repository [link]. You can convert PCM material to DSD64 or DSD128 on the fly. In my aging ThinkPad T60, the conversion on the fly takes 20% or processor load. Below it is set for no PCM to DSD conversion.

Select the output device for DSD:

Configure the SACD plug-in for DSD. If you configure for PCM it will convert DSD to PCM:

Here it is converingt DSD to PCM. Here is setting for PCM conversion at 88.2 KHz:

And in this setting, the DAC would be receiving PCM (“I32” means PCM input set for 32-bit I2S)

OBSERVATIONS

DPLL

The DPLL is alive and well when using DSD. It must lock to the incoming clock. The unlocks are there but they don’t “sound” the same: rather than a “skip” of the music, they sound like a “hiss”, like a burst of white noise, when the DPLL looses lock.

For DSD-64 files (2.8224Mbit/s) settings “Lowest” and “Low” do not work. Once in a while you will get a burst of “hiss”. Had to use “Lowest-Medium”.

After having stable play of DSD with “Low-Medium”, I then played a 192K track and it experienced unlock. Switching back to the DSD, it also experienced unlocks (hiss). After upsetting the DPLL, it seems to take some time to stabilize again. This means that for multi-format, multi-sample-rate, the only practical setting for the DPLL is “BEST”

Input connections in BII

The reason why both I2S and DSD works is due to the way the inputs to the Sabre32 chip are configured in BII. For this to work on BIII, they inputs need to be configured the same way as in BII and the switch to input remapping enabled. In addition, the output of the USB interface board must corresponds to the BII input arrangement both in I2S and DSD mode.

The Amanero board pin assignment is compatible with the way BII assigns its inputs in I2S and DSD as such:

• I2S DATA becomes DSD1 in DSD mode
• I2S CLK becomes DSD clock in DSD mode
• I2S FSCLK becomes DSD2 in DSD mode

Seems to be a “standard” way of configuring I2S and DSD outputs. The EXA device also has similar configuration [link]

Here is the input configuration of BII with DSD input (click for larger)

Here is the input configuration of BII with I2S input

UPDATE (11/17/12)

The DSD channels are swapped with respect to the PCM channels [link] and both channel arrangements are “standard”. This means that this “automatic” switching works, but the DSD channels (or PCM channels) need to be swapped. The wiring can obviously be swapped with a relay, but then it is not “automatic” anymore, and you now have a relay in the signal path.

The solution is to swap the DSD channels in the foobar player. I’ve documented the procedure here: [link]

Hifiduino with VFD Display

Mr. AR2 (diyaudio, http://www.burningamp.com) has implemented the code for his BII DAC but this time with a very cool looking VFD display. The display used is a drop-in replacement for the 20×4 LCD and requires no code modification. In addition, the superb photos you see here (click for larger photos) are by themselves a work of art. Mr. AR2 is a professional photographer.

Digital portion is housed in older Proceed case that I gutted and placed my parts inside. I used their PS for pre regulation, and than added the rest of my parts. I am using Arduino Uno to control DAC and I used VFD display. VFD display is fed by separate regulated 5V since it takes 250 – 300 mA. That is the existing one shown on the front panel board. VFD is Noritake CU20045 – UW5J which is from their series as direct LCD replacement, pin to pin.

Proceed had a lots of parts that I could use and I wanted to preserve their front plate with all moment switches and LEDs. So I made the opening to protrude VFD screen in the place where there was original screen, and I paced a another board on the back of that. That is where I positioned Arduino and did all connections for rotary encoder, IR diode and switch.

This implementation is part of the project I have been working on last several months. It uses Titan USB to I2S converter. Titan is manufactured by LightHarmonic better known for their  DaVinci DAC. It provides multichannel output at 384 kHz and it sounds just astonishing. For now I am using Buffalo 2 as DAC, but planning to drop in ACKO DAC with ESS 9012.

In the analog output I use Legato 3 and suppling it with Shunty regs from separate case. Two cases bellow are the ones I made – modified and they house power supply and analog buffers with transformers and analog volume control. My volume control is passive relay controlled, and as I am typing this I am listening to the system. I have to say I cannot hear the difference between volume on Sabre compared to volume in analog. Your programming works really well and volume and remote are working exceptionally.

I truly enjoyed these pictures. Check out his work.

XMPlay – The iTunes Companion

One of the drawbacks of iTunes (at least in Windows) is that all tracks are played at the sample rate set in Quicktime. If you have a high res file, you have to change the sample rate first in Quicktime. And if you have a collection of high res files at different sample rate, then you’ll have a real good time switching sample rate on a per track basis.

I came accross a minimalist music player called XMPlay. It is a real small download and it requires no installation. It plays AIFF format straight out of the box as well as WAV.

For full iTunes compatibility you can download the ALAC plug-in and the AAC plug-in. For compatibility for many hires download sites, also download the FLAC plug-in.

You also download the WASAPI plug-in so that the player can work in Exclusive mode. Since the player requires no installation, you just put all the files you download in the same folder.

Enable Exclusive mode and set “Use Source Resolution” as shown in the following two screen captures.

Since I am using the Musiland USB interface, in order to allow automatic sample rate change (even though in Windows Vista/7 the Auto SR option is not available) you set it to 192KHz as shown below

That’s it. When you play a song, the sample rate will automatically switch to match the source sample rate. How do I know? If it weren’t for the Sample Rate display of the Buffalo II DAC, It would had been very difficult to figure that out…

You can even put the player and a collection of tracks in an SD card and play out of it!

NOTE: iTunes can also play through WASAPI but it cannot operate in exclusive mode, only in shared mode