Buffalo II - Assembly for the Electronically Bewildered.

[Suffolk Tony]

That's correct James, also 12S output. I considered trying this but the only problem is my computer's a long way from the stereo & it would require a 12M long USB cable.

On the Placid subject, I've noticed that one heatsink's considerably warmer than the other. All four heatsinks on the Placid BP are about the same temperature-wise. Is this normal?

 

[James Evans]

Yes, I think so - I only changed the one side to bolt down to case for heatsinking as the other wasn't getting so hot.

 

[tomek]

Congratulations tomek! Don't those packets just look so damn tempting?

Everything is so well packed & described. I couldn't resist and i have soldered Placid ps today afternoon, but i didn't tested it yet

Tomorrow i will solder the bipolar placid , and then i am visiting my parents for a few days, so first next week i will continue with the Buffalo. I have a feeling, that it will be a great DAC.

 

[flashgo]

I've just wired mine up for co-ax digital input via my iMac into a Teradac USB - SP/DIF convertor & the sound quality over TOSlink is quite a step up, much more apparent than when using my Gigadac.

I'm pretty sure that you can pull TOSlink straight out of your iMac as my Mac Mini is doing it. Apple use a special mini-jack for "headphones" that can be used as either analog or digital. There's a special TOSlink cable that fits (e.g., this one on Amazon). I had noise issues when I connected the Mac via USB, so the optical connection was a good solution.

 

[Suffolk Tony]

I'm pretty sure that you can pull TOSlink straight out of your iMac as my Mac Mini is doing it. Apple use a special mini-jack for "headphones" that can be used as either analog or digital. There's a special TOSlink cable that fits (e.g., this one on Amazon). I had noise issues when I connected the Mac via USB, so the optical connection was a good solution.

Yes, I use this for optical out from my Macs but the Teradac takes the core audio via USB & converts it into digital coaxial (or indeed optical) or 12S and in so doing bypasses the internal processing you get if you use the Mac optical out. It makes quite a difference for the better.

 

[sq225917]

To be honest the mac optical out isn't that great, I always found a decent Async USB to be far better.

 

[flashgo]

OK, Tony & SQ, where can I find out more about this? Can I do a DIY async USB?

I've been comparing the Mac-TOSlink vs. Oppo BDP-83 digital out via 75 ohm – both into my Buffalo II. The Mac doesn't sound any worse, and frequently sounds "better" with HD source material.


BTW, as good as the Buffalo II is, it doesn't excite and satisfy the way my vinyl rig does. I've succumbed to the TPA upgraditis, all to the good, but digital glory stills seems elusive.

 

[MartinC]

I'm using LCDPS to power mine at the moment (with current limiting resistors replaced with wire links). The added advantage of this is it gives you another independent output with which to power mux etc. Tpa have said that lcdps should be fine, as it's overkill to put a shunt reg in front of more shunt regs. Some users have posted that they still prefer the sound of placid powering buff+tridents. Once the high current placid is availble, and funds are available, I'll probably try this as well. Can't resist a tinker!

James/ Tony,

I'm one of those who prefered the Placid powering a Buffalo / Trident over the LCDPS. The Placid seemed to provide more solidity than with the LCDPS even with Tridents installed. If you are using the Placid with the Buff/Trident, you should be able to crank out enough current with the stock Placid, that said, you could add some more capacitance after the diodes as well as use a bigger heatsink if you are worried about heat. My Buffalo doesn't run 24/7 but is in a pretty small case and has to date had no issues.

Regards

 

[Suffolk Tony]

Thanks for this Martin. It's reassuring to know that your Placid's coping! it seems the easiest way to increase the heatsink is to bolt some aluminium 'fins' to the existing one using heat-transferring goo. I might try an experiment later.

Not quite sure about the capacitance increase but I'll try & work that out for myself.

 

[natzev_i]

James/ Tony,

I'm one of those who prefered the Placid powering a Buffalo / Trident over the LCDPS. The Placid seemed to provide more solidity than with the LCDPS even with Tridents installed.
Regards

What I did was to use the Placid to power the analogue part (AVcc module) only and the LCDPS for the Tridents. Thus I spread the currents more evenly and I like the result.
Just my 2 st.
Ivo

 

[Suffolk Tony]

Thanks Ivo - another alternative but I think I'll go for uprating my Placid for the time being & think about another power supply for the MUX/TOSlink.

I've fixed the units on a temporary bit of ply so I can work out where best to place things inside the case -

I'm about to go & fit the Tridents and modify the Placid, the latter by bridging R5, setting the voltage across R8 to 0.50V & modifying the heatsink. As far as I can see that should do the trick.

 

[James Evans]

Should do.

I know it's only temporary at the moment, but I would try and get the placids nearer the boards, especially the BP one - you should be able to position it so the connecting wires to legato are only an inch long.

 

[sq225917]

Flashgo, maybe the Buffalo renders the small differences invisible by way of its very good jitter handling scheme, it was obvious on my 840c and also on my iBasso D10 headphone /amp/dac

 

[James Evans]

Off topic, but one, what I thought would be relatively minor, change I made yesterday was to double check my placid bp settings into Ivy (interest piqued again due to this thread ). I'd basically just plonked ivy in place of legato and not bothered to change anything, so it was set at +-14.2v ish, and shunting about 250mA per rail!. I changed that to +-15v and shunting about 75mA per rail. A not subtle change. Things seem to have really opened up today - much better instrument separation and things just sound more real. Not sure what the reason would be, perhaps better snr from the slightly higher voltage? Placid under less strain from the lowered current demand?

 

[avr300]

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And stone me, it actually WORKS!!!
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<<< ELECTRO P*RN PICTURE>>>
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As you might be able to tell, I'm dead chuffed!

>>Nice<< setup Tony. Very nice.

As said, wait until you get the Tridents in place. Those are really nice upgrades.

 

[MartinC]

Thanks for this Martin. It's reassuring to know that your Placid's coping! it seems the easiest way to increase the heatsink is to bolt some aluminium 'fins' to the existing one using heat-transferring goo. I might try an experiment later.

Not quite sure about the capacitance increase but I'll try & work that out for myself.

Tony,

One of the changes that the TP boys are doing for the higher current Placid is to add more smoothing capacitance. I don't have the schematic handy but it is the only big cap on the board, closest to the rectifier. I actually use a seperate PS (transformer, QSpeed regs and caps) so have a pretty beefy supply anyway, but there may be some benefit from adding some more on board capacitance.

Scoping the power supply, the QSpeed/Large cap supply setup was a fair amount quieter noise wise than the standard Placid, with less RF noise (which I suppose was diode switching ringing).

Regards

 

[Suffolk Tony]

Hi Martin, it's a Panasonic 1000uF 35V. It it sufficient to up this to the same model 1500uF do you think?

As a matter of interest, I asked a similar question re. the Placid & Tridents on the TP Forum. This from Russ white - "The shorting of R5 is not always necessary. Trying to getting it working without doing that first.

Also the fitting of larger heat sinks might be a good idea, but actually may not be necessary.

Don't look at 500ma CCS current as an absolute. All that you need to do is get it so that the placid is shunting 30-40ma while under load. Measure across R3 to see how much current is being shunted away.

Also always be conservative with Placid output voltage. Aim for about 5.25V, not necessarily 5.5V. There is no penalty for doing this."

 

[Suffolk Tony]

When you do power up the Placid, be careful not to make the common mistake.

When you measure the voltage across R1(2), don't let the probe pin slip and short to ground plane. If done, you will burn the VR1(2) pot.

Oh dear, I think I must have done something like this with VR2! Fitted the Tridents, lowered the voltage (it was 5.53V) to 5.25 & connected up the Buffalo. Everything lit up OK but voltage had dropped to 4.9V so started to adjust VR2 whilst measuring the voltage across R3.

Then I noticed the LEDs had gone out on the Buffalo so switched off, disconnected the Buff & checked the voltage which was down to 3.2V or thereabouts & wouldn't adjust from there. Both LEDs on.

Disconnected Placid, reset the VRs to resistance as per manual but VR2 wouldn't adjust.

Will replacing VR2 do the trick, or might there be something else amiss do you think?

 

[cutting42]

What I did when adjusting the Placids was to solder 6 inch wires to the underside of R3 and R8 so I could clamp the multimeter to the wires without the danger of slipping off and shorting the tracks.

Sorry Tony, might not help in this instance but may assist later.

 

[Bemused]

Thanks Ivo - another alternative but I think I'll go for uprating my Placid for the time being & think about another power supply for the MUX/TOSlink.

I've fixed the units on a temporary bit of ply so I can work out where best to place things inside the case -

I'm about to go & fit the Tridents and modify the Placid, the latter by bridging R5, setting the voltage across R8 to 0.50V & modifying the heatsink. As far as I can see that should do the trick.

Looks good Tony but perhaps more twisting, transformer secondary (lots of big chunks of noise here) and placid outputs.

May be try getting the placids very close t the buffalo.

All the above is a perhaps as I don't have a buffalo yet.