Buffalo II - Assembly for the Electronically Bewildered.
- Thread starter Suffolk Tony
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orangeart
KJF Audio Ltd.
Right, finally plucked up the courage to have a look inside my buffalo. All the voltages were where I'd expect them to be. All the tridets and AVVC regs have got all the LEDs on etc. The only thing that was adrift was the DC on the outputs on the legato, one side was fine the other side was miles out and the balanced O/P could not be adjusted below 50.mV although the SE could still be trimmed to 0V - anyway, I digress, back to the no lock problem which is more important.
I took the SPDIF directly to the buffalo rather than the through the 4:1 mux I have been using and switched the dip switch to on. Still no lock. The lock light on the mux does change state with active/inactive inputs when i put that back in to equation, so I guess it's the buffalo itself? There is no mute light on either.
Anyone got any other ideas? Do TP do repairs of damaged DAC boards?
Stefan
I took the SPDIF directly to the buffalo rather than the through the 4:1 mux I have been using and switched the dip switch to on. Still no lock. The lock light on the mux does change state with active/inactive inputs when i put that back in to equation, so I guess it's the buffalo itself? There is no mute light on either.
Anyone got any other ideas? Do TP do repairs of damaged DAC boards?
Stefan
Hi Stefan
You have a Buffalo-II I asume as the Buffalo-III does not take consumer level s/pdif directly, only TTL level s/pdif. This confused the hell out of me for a while untill I found out what the difference was.
Consumer level s/pdif > 0.5 to 0.6 V peak to peak
TTL level s/pdif > 5.0 V peak to peak.
I have a Buffalo-III and have a lock problem which I overcome at the moment by repeatadly cycling the power to my Consumer / I2S converter, after a while it locks.
Like yourself I get the lock led on and no mute light but no sound, I just guess its a lock problem but it may be something else.
In my Gigadac with lots of different psu I did have a problem with the power on order crashing the dac so start-up order can be important but if your using Placids they juice up very quickly and are tried and tested.
I understand Buffalo-II can run without the Tridents and use its onboard supplies so if you have a B-II this could be an avenue to explore.
Of course the data chain is visable if you have a scope but you need in the region of 100MHz bandwith to see them, I could never decode what I was seeing but could always check for pulses.
Edit
You posted whilst I was replying so
Ditching the Tridents and volumite may also reveal some problem areas, it certainly reduces complexity.
Tony
You have a Buffalo-II I asume as the Buffalo-III does not take consumer level s/pdif directly, only TTL level s/pdif. This confused the hell out of me for a while untill I found out what the difference was.
Consumer level s/pdif > 0.5 to 0.6 V peak to peak
TTL level s/pdif > 5.0 V peak to peak.
I have a Buffalo-III and have a lock problem which I overcome at the moment by repeatadly cycling the power to my Consumer / I2S converter, after a while it locks.
Like yourself I get the lock led on and no mute light but no sound, I just guess its a lock problem but it may be something else.
In my Gigadac with lots of different psu I did have a problem with the power on order crashing the dac so start-up order can be important but if your using Placids they juice up very quickly and are tried and tested.
I understand Buffalo-II can run without the Tridents and use its onboard supplies so if you have a B-II this could be an avenue to explore.
Of course the data chain is visable if you have a scope but you need in the region of 100MHz bandwith to see them, I could never decode what I was seeing but could always check for pulses.
Edit
You posted whilst I was replying so
Ditching the Tridents and volumite may also reveal some problem areas, it certainly reduces complexity.
Tony
James Evans
Bedroom Bodger
Stefan, have you tried different sources, and optical as well as coax into the buffalo?
Whilst your all here can I just bump my querry above.
orangeart
KJF Audio Ltd.
Actually no, but on the other hand the mux locks onto the spdif signal ok and the signal from the optical converted would be the same wouldn't it? it tried my bluray player into the mux via optical and again that locks on ok but not the dac.
Stefan
James Evans
Bedroom Bodger
The optical board will output TTL level spdif I think, which may be higher than what you're getting from coax into the buffalo. Worth a go trying optical into buff and see how that goes to see if it's a source level thing. Probably not considering it was working one day and not the next, but worth trying just to eliminate.
I recently posted this question in the diya tp manufactures forum, it got deleted without responce. No idea why
Reposted on TPA site and now have my answere
Firmware 1.0.1 is the latest and was a last minute bug fix hence it being loose and having two.
Tony
Legato 3.1 buffers removed yesterday, just put them back in as I thought it was a backward step even though I was really sure it was the way to go. Will do some more listening to be sure.
Also pushed the button on the second Buffalo for dual mono, the extra DNR is luring so long as the rest can cope with 135dB DNR!!!!!
Tony
Also pushed the button on the second Buffalo for dual mono, the extra DNR is luring so long as the rest can cope with 135dB DNR!!!!!
Tony
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
OK, next step in the saga!
I've received my Wave IO board & connected it up today. I'm using a TP Teleporter to send the I2S signal via CAT6 cable to the receiver Teleporter in the Buffalo so I've mounted the Wave board, Teleporter & its Velleman power supply and a spare HD Placid in an enclosure. The Wave board has the option of using either the USB to power it or an external supply but for some reason, using the Placid doesn't work - the Mac that I'm using as source doesn't recognise it, but under USB power it pops up straight away.
I've E-mailed Lucian because I suspect I need to install a driver. I've downloaded something from his website but there are lots of files and I haven't a clue what to do next!
Anyway, under USB power it works fine and sounds smashing! Bass is particularly fine. I'm getting a very occasional dropout but I very much suspect this is because of the USB power & I'm doing stuff on the 'puter at the same time as playing music.
I'd post a piccy of the setup but Photobucket's on the blink today & won't let me load anything up.
I've received my Wave IO board & connected it up today. I'm using a TP Teleporter to send the I2S signal via CAT6 cable to the receiver Teleporter in the Buffalo so I've mounted the Wave board, Teleporter & its Velleman power supply and a spare HD Placid in an enclosure. The Wave board has the option of using either the USB to power it or an external supply but for some reason, using the Placid doesn't work - the Mac that I'm using as source doesn't recognise it, but under USB power it pops up straight away.
I've E-mailed Lucian because I suspect I need to install a driver. I've downloaded something from his website but there are lots of files and I haven't a clue what to do next!
Anyway, under USB power it works fine and sounds smashing! Bass is particularly fine. I'm getting a very occasional dropout but I very much suspect this is because of the USB power & I'm doing stuff on the 'puter at the same time as playing music.
I'd post a piccy of the setup but Photobucket's on the blink today & won't let me load anything up.
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
Err, yes! No one was more surprised than me!
Rosewind
Lost in Translation
Congratulations! I would indeed like to have you post pictures of your success. I think you may need a dedicated usb "computer" source that is only used for playing music.
I owned an Ayre QB-9 in the past and I know that the Win 7 driver (TUSB ...) "reserved" the audio system in the computer for exclusive use with the QB-9. It is feasible that a driver is needed to do the same with the Wave IO.
Best wishes,
Peter
I owned an Ayre QB-9 in the past and I know that the Win 7 driver (TUSB ...) "reserved" the audio system in the computer for exclusive use with the QB-9. It is feasible that a driver is needed to do the same with the Wave IO.
Best wishes,
Peter
Tony, congrats on getting the Wave IO working. A question: why don't you mount it with the Buffalo, and feed USB directly into your DAC? You wouldn't need the Teleporter then, simplifying the system and reducing jitter.
As to why it's not locking on with the Placid, have you measured the output of the Placid while connected to the Wave IO? Might be drawing to much current and dragging the voltage down. Otherwise maybe there's a config on the Wave IO board that needs setting up right.
There will be a native driver in your MAC - it wouldn't work at all without one! I'd guess dropouts will disappear by increasing the buffer size in the drivers.
As to why it's not locking on with the Placid, have you measured the output of the Placid while connected to the Wave IO? Might be drawing to much current and dragging the voltage down. Otherwise maybe there's a config on the Wave IO board that needs setting up right.
There will be a native driver in your MAC - it wouldn't work at all without one! I'd guess dropouts will disappear by increasing the buffer size in the drivers.
Well done indeed Tony!
Looking forward to pics of that.
I think you need to speak to Mr Hynes about hi Mac Mini service
ABout to order the wave board from Lucian, who I have also contacted.
Casework is about to be ordered as well. Not cheap but three large case was never going to be!
Looking forward to pics of that.
I think you need to speak to Mr Hynes about hi Mac Mini service
ABout to order the wave board from Lucian, who I have also contacted.
Casework is about to be ordered as well. Not cheap but three large case was never going to be!
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
I've had a reply from Lucian & he thinks I'm not powering the Waveboard sufficiently. I think he might be right - the HD Placid's voltage has sagged below 5V and I can't seem to get it stable. The shunt current won't go beyond 40 ma.
The Wave board needs 5V/0.6A minimum & the Placid won't seem to get to that. (think I sent you the wrong one Tony!) So I'll need an alternative. I'll need to read through the big thread on the DIY Forum & see what others are using. I wonder if the 317-based Velleman 5V/1A supply might be good enough for this purpose? I made up a high-current Regulator booster which I never used so perhaps I could use that in place of the 317? Advice warmly received...
Anyway, this morning I've reconnected up using a shorter USB cable, removed all other USB connections from the back of the 'puter, and so far the music's been playing for about an hour with only one little hiccup. I've a Mac Mini which I use in our holiday home & I suspect I'll end up using that for music. paul Hynes does a very nice power supply for Mac Minis!
I really don't want the computer near the Hi-Fi and the Transporter works exceptionally well - I'm using 12 Meters of CAT6 cable to send the I2S signal and the whole thing does sound exceptionally good this morning.
Photobucket's working OK today so here's a photo of the Wave board, Teleporter with Velleman PS & Placid -
The Wave board needs 5V/0.6A minimum & the Placid won't seem to get to that. (think I sent you the wrong one Tony!
) So I'll need an alternative. I'll need to read through the big thread on the DIY Forum & see what others are using. I wonder if the 317-based Velleman 5V/1A supply might be good enough for this purpose? I made up a high-current Regulator booster which I never used so perhaps I could use that in place of the 317? Advice warmly received...Anyway, this morning I've reconnected up using a shorter USB cable, removed all other USB connections from the back of the 'puter, and so far the music's been playing for about an hour with only one little hiccup. I've a Mac Mini which I use in our holiday home & I suspect I'll end up using that for music. paul Hynes does a very nice power supply for Mac Minis!
I really don't want the computer near the Hi-Fi and the Transporter works exceptionally well - I'm using 12 Meters of CAT6 cable to send the I2S signal and the whole thing does sound exceptionally good this morning.
Photobucket's working OK today so here's a photo of the Wave board, Teleporter with Velleman PS & Placid -
Hi Tony, to my knowlage USB power is not usualy fed from a super regulator so a 317 based linier (wellman) may be fine but will need a heat sink. They are rated to 1.5 amp.
Series regulators make more sense for high currents as you dont throw (shunt) any valuable mA away.
Both our Placids are the same? HD?
600mA is getting close to the Placid limit, I think you have found out it's at the limit with no reserve for shunting.
Thread below may help
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/forum/yaf_postst2326_Placid-Troubleshooting.aspx
and here
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=2241
Tony
Series regulators make more sense for high currents as you dont throw (shunt) any valuable mA away.
Both our Placids are the same? HD?
600mA is getting close to the Placid limit, I think you have found out it's at the limit with no reserve for shunting.
Thread below may help
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/forum/yaf_postst2326_Placid-Troubleshooting.aspx
and here
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=2241
Tony
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
Thanks Tony. Both our regs are HDs & reading your links it appears I could get this one up to the required output with a fair bit of fiddling so I'll take your advice & go for the 317 reg. instead. Reading some of the info. Lucian sent me he states that the USB power will falter at 24/192. I've got one file & it does drop out every few seconds.
With the exception of the 24/192 file & the one little hiccup the music's been playing continuously without issues for well over an hour now, including quite a lot of 24/96 files.
With the exception of the 24/192 file & the one little hiccup the music's been playing continuously without issues for well over an hour now, including quite a lot of 24/96 files.
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