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USB to I2S interfaces

vrazji

pfm Member
I'm in the process of building a DAC and was just wondering if anyone has any experience with the currently crop of USB/I2S interfaces?

The ones I'm contemplating are:
- JLsounds I2SoverUSB: http://jlsounds.com/i2soverusb.html
- DIYINHK XMOS 384: http://www.diyinhk.com/shop/audio-k...d256-high-quality-usb-to-i2sdsdspdif-pcb.html
- Amanero: https://www.amanero.com/
- Singxer C-1: https://kitsunehifi.com/product/singxer-c1-ndk/

The first one looks to offer a lot for the money, you can add an oscillator board later on (http://jlsounds.com/oscil.html), different options to power it, isolated.

However the JLsounds board uses an older XMOS module and there seems to be quite a buzz around the newest XMOS' (XU208/XU216), featured in the DIYINHK and also the Singxer.

What bothers me with Singxer is that it is only USB powered (and I'd really like to avoid external power supplies if possible)...

Kinda leaning towards the DIYINHK one. Anyone has any hands on experience?

Also - isolation yes or no? I've read different opinions on it, but that was quite some time ago...
 
Waveio is very, very good:

http://luckit.biz/

You can use it as USB powered or with external ps and waveio has isolated and unisolated i2s connection.

Lucian (the developper and seller) is extremly helpfull.
 
Amaneros are all good. As an alternative the new nanodigi from minidsp offers USB to i2s functionality in XMOS with the added bonus of dsp/crossover capability. I've not tested the USB streaming yet, maybe someone else has?
 
Another vote here for the Wave IO. I've used several of them in various builds and they've always impressed. The support from Lucian cannot be faulted.
 
Totally forgot about the Waveio.

However what bothers me a bit is that the clocks are placed on the un-isolated side of the board and the isolative GMR element apparently adds quite a bit of jitter. If I understand correctly it would be better practice to put the clocks after the isolation (like on JLsounds and DIYINHK isolated boards).

Speaking of Waveio - did anyone compare the isolated and un-isolated I2S connection?
 
Totally forgot about the Waveio.

However what bothers me a bit is that the clocks are placed on the un-isolated side of the board and the isolative GMR element apparently adds quite a bit of jitter. If I understand correctly it would be better practice to put the clocks after the isolation (like on JLsounds and DIYINHK isolated boards).
I can't comment on this, but if you go to DIY Audio you might ask the question directly to Lucian on his dedicated thread.
 
Amaneros are all good. As an alternative the new nanodigi from minidsp offers USB to i2s functionality in XMOS with the added bonus of dsp/crossover capability. I've not tested the USB streaming yet, maybe someone else has?

The issue with the minidsp (depending on your POV :)) is that it will up/downsample everything to 48 or 96 kHz depending on the plugin.
 
I use the JLSOUNDS, amazing result with oscillator board, I was not prepared for such improvement.
I use them with SBooster PSU, amazing combo.

I compared with Amanero and other Gustard, while Amanero is really bad (at least in the Lampizator where it was implemented) the JLSOUND was better than the Gustard also using XMOS.
 
Totally forgot about the Waveio.

However what bothers me a bit is that the clocks are placed on the un-isolated side of the board and the isolative GMR element apparently adds quite a bit of jitter. If I understand correctly it would be better practice to put the clocks after the isolation (like on JLsounds and DIYINHK isolated boards).

Speaking of Waveio - did anyone compare the isolated and un-isolated I2S connection?

I agree on this, I guess you can't have your cake and eat in on one small board. HOWEVER, I have Ian Jin's FIFO and reclocking board on its way to me in the post. Im going to be using this to reclock after the WaveIO to feed my DDDAC. Still trying to work out which crystals I will be using. But that should fix the jitter form the isolator problem from the WaveIO.
 
If I understand correctly it would be better practice to put the clocks after the isolation (like on JLsounds and DIYINHK isolated boards).

This is what sold me on using the JLSounds unit. further, I powered the clocks/ with a 3.3V battery which brought further improvements. I suspect power cleanliness is the most important factor/whatever board you use. Don't rely on USB power for sensitive circuitry.
 
I've actually went for the DIYINHK interface - not the one linked before, but the isolated version... Will report back.
 
Keep us posted,
BTW I'm also waiting a IAN's FIFO, so I would also report about improvement vs JLoscillator board.
 
Keep us posted,
BTW I'm also waiting a IAN's FIFO, so I would also report about improvement vs JLoscillator board.

Please do report about the FIFO.

There is also a slightly cheaper, non-DIY, alternative:
https://www.allo.com/sparky-eu/kali-reclocker.html

Primarily to be used with their RPI DAC, but I gather it could also be used in other DAC builds.

If I recall correctly one of the Allo guys said it is based on IAN's FIFO (or the ACKO FIFO reclocker - I don't remember really), but somewhat more simple/less advanced...
 


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