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Buffalo II - Assembly for the Electronically Bewildered.

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Ok, touched up all solder joints and put legato back in. Voltage dropped to 13v. The SE fizzling is still there, but only really evident with my ear to the speakers, as is a mains type hum. Balanced is still giving me occasional rustling and pops. Haven't tried it with coupling caps in the balanced lines yet (really don't want to!) Don't get the hum or any other noise with ivy. Too late to try and play music so will wait until tomorrow to test more.
 
Have swapped out the 1w resistors, and replaced the opamp with metal can version. Still the same. It can only be heard with my ear to the speaker on left channel, right is more pronounced - there's a definite constant crackling static kind of noise from both tweeter and woofer. Haven't tried balanced yet. Still, music plays and sounds good. Be nice to get rid of all the noise though.

Edit: quickly cap coupled balanced output to give it a test. Left channel pretty damn quiet, right channel had rustling at switch on but seems to have gone very quiet now. Hmm.

Edit 2: I'm using the socket for the opamp. I wonder if that's causing issues - will have to remove it and test. For the moment SE sounds better than cap coupled balanced, but need to get rid of this buzz.
 
James,

Since you have noise on both SE and balanced, my gut feel is that the problem lies before the opamp/buffer. - Perhaps a bad transistor or cap? Mains hum is also rather odd if it's coming from the Buff/Legato and doesn't happen with the IVY.Can you try freeze spray on the circuit, that may allow you to isolate the fault.
 
Hi Martin

The noise on balanced vanished after switch on - I sat listening to nothing for a while and no noise was evident, even with my ear up to the speaker, so not sure what's going on. I suppose this is where a scope would be handy ! Music emanates. It's a very transistory kind of electrical buzz I'm getting on SE, if you know what I mean. Very very obvious with SE, the balanced rustling was different and as I say, appears to have gone. I'll try removing the socket first and solder opamp direct to pcb. I don't really want to get into pulling transistors and caps out as I'll inevitably knacker something!

I might try pulling the psu jumpers and just supply the balanced stages and see what I get.
 
ok, it's not the opamp socket then...

Symptoms, SE, same on both channels, slightly louder on one. Low hum, sounds like psu noise, and buzz from tweeter, again psu noise is suspect. I wonder if there's an issue with my placid that's only showing itself with legato. Placid HD is on order so I'll be able to test that in a few weeks hopefully.
 
Suffolk Tony said:
I'm currently using a Teradac USB - SP/DIF & i2S convertor with my iMac -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Taralab-Nativ...ultDomain_0&hash=item2560cabf29#ht_6262wt_907

It really works a treat, although mine came with a very good 9V transformer too for not much more money; for some reason Gigaworks don't list it here. I'm not one to use hyperbole but it really does "blow the optical connection away"!
...
It's just better in every way flashgo. More detailed, clearer, better bass etc. Highly recommended.
Click to expand...

I just received and installed the Teradac USB converter. I'll be damned. I'm a vinyl snob, but this digital sound is good. It's not that there's more of anything, but the sound off the Mac Mini is much more natural with more clarity and finesse. I've still got the optical connection going, so I went back to it and was surprised by how muddy it sounded in comparison to the Teradac. Thanks again Tony (& Si) for pushing the USB converter over the Mini's optical out.

So now I need a couple of recommendations:
1) a USB cable that holds tight
2) a Hi-Def music player for the Mac. I'm using Songbird, but it has it's clunky moments.

Cheers
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Glad you like the Teradac flashgo. As far as music players go, you can lash out on Pure Music, which integrates very well with iTunes, or there's Audiovarna which is free & to my ears sounds just as good although doesn't integrate with iTunes. I've been using Fidelia, which is pretty cheap and you can use iTunes as your library, so works with the Apple remote app. for iTouch/iPhone/ipad.

Pure Music & Fidelia do trial versions so you can try all three & see which one you prefer.

PS, did you get the separate 9V power supply for the Teradac?
 
Anybody tried Teradac USB-SP/DIF&I2S connected with I2S to Buffalo ?

It could be probably the BEST solution.
 
I agree tomek. Not tried it because my computer & Teradac are too far away from the DAC & it isn't easy to bring them closer together.
 
Suffolk Tony said:
PS, did you get the separate 9V power supply for the Teradac?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's twice the size of the Teradac. I'll have to replace the red LEDs, though. They're blinding and don't go with the Naim green....

I2S is an interesting possibility, but I know nothing about how to implement it. The TPA MUX 4th input is I2S, so should I use an RJ-45 connector and a short length of Ethernet cable? Is there a guide somewhere on how to implement this with the Buffalo and TPA modules?

P.S., thanks, Tony, for the leads on players. The iTunes integration would be a real plus.
 
Gentlemen,
Did you order or plan to order the buffered or non-buffered Legato 3.1 version?
Am I right to think that if Legato's buffer is used one can skip the B4 or similar unity gain pre-amp from the equation?
I suppose though the discrete B4 may sound better than the integrated one?

Ivo
 
FYI
I asked the designers the same question about the additional unity gain buffer (B4) necessity to work with buffered Legato 3 and here is their reply.
Russ: "No you will not need it, and even better, because the (Legato's) buffer is in the feedback loop distortion will be reduced".
Brian: "No, not really, but you do still have a unity gain active buffer, just not discrete as all the transistors are mounted in the same package. You get the advantages of tight thermal coupling and better matching."
Your comments, please?
 
I don't think the B4 would add anything useful to the digital playback chain. Legato can drive whatever stuff you want.

The case where a B4 might be useful is if you have other sources - like phono, tuner, cassette, and you want a buffer for those.
 
Well, I'm certainly digitally bewildered. I've got a weird issue with the new TeraDak USB to S/PDIF converter. Occasionally, it'll drop out for a fraction of a second. Sometimes it's fine, and other times it's unlistenable due to stuttering. I suspect a USB issue associated with the 2009 Mac Mini because:
  1. The optical digital out straight into an S/PDIF receiver on the Buffalo never stutters.
  2. It seems to start after some USB mouse clicking.
It is not a function of overall CPU activity. Both CPUs can be 100% occupied with an mp4 conversion, and sound can be perfectly smooth.

The TeraDak USB is plugged directly into the Mini and doesn't go through a hub.

Another issue with the TeraDak is that sometimes it doesn't appear on the Sound Preference Pane until the USB cable is unplugged and replugged.

This is a long shot, but could there be some sort of ground issue that's messing with the USB? The Mini and TeraDak are on separate circuits.
 
It's just probably not a very well designed thing, clock lock is probably weak with the receiver working on the edge of the specification. it could be a ground issue, does it have any isolation of the USb 5v line internally?
 
Sorry, can't help with this one flashgo; mine's (and a pal of mine's) never had this problem. The first thing I'd check is the USB cable - I've had a couple of duff ones recently, one of which was a so-called "Premium" one.
 
My m-audio transit occasionally stutters as well, and that's on a pc that gets used for nothing else. I was considering the teradac one as an alternative. I may go back to looking at the MF one. Could always be network, although everything's wired here.
 
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