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ES9018V2 Board with dual ES9018 and I2S

Sebbyp said:
Why not look at doing the buffalo - proven design with loads of support on a couple of forums.
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I did seriously consider it. I am so-so with a soldering iron. I thought that perhaps building the power supply and IV myself might be a step too far. I am quite sure that I can cope with this board and the TPA transporter for I2S and then an amenero USB-to-I2S with another transporter in another box.
 
had the same idea - but my research is that the I2S internal connection is very sensitive to even length of connecting wire and that each channel was to be equal length - any research into this?

was thinking of buffalo III but I think twisted pear is OOS at the moment....goal is to do an affordable DAC that can handle DSD over USB
 
Yes, that's about right.

I2S is a proprietary Philips format, designed to connect their chips together at board level. It is a very good solution because the data and the data clocks are separated - but because it was designed as a pcb-level solution between chips it really is not suited to transmission beyond 6" or so. There are no convenient driver chips available for offboard longer lines and the like, you'd have to roll your own.

That is not impossible, but certainly not diy-by-numbers either.

OTOH if you wanted to pop a very modern dac inside the case of an old CD player based on a Philips chipset or at least one that used the I2S standard from the decoder chip - possibly quite easy ;)
 
Hi Martin

These drive I2S via LVDS sender and receiver which is good for up to 100Ft.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/twisted-pear/201106-introducing-bit-teleporter.html

I use them to keep my USB I2S card next to my PC (yup PC based but if you wanted to use a CD player SPDIF input for the DAC it may be easier) and have my DAC and sound system 20Ft or so away so a convenient set up (pushes the price up a little also).

you could add an SPDIF-I2S board to the DAC that you've posted above which may sound good or maybe not.

i've not had a listen to that one so can't comment SQ wise:):).

They work pretty well in my WaveIO/BuffaloIII set up.

Hi Smoothquark

From what I’ve read the ESS9018 is pretty fussy about the PSU’s feeding it so that’s worth thinking on IE needs a good one to get the best out of it.

Also the cost of the unit you posted?

For my part I have a BuffaloIII and unless that unit you've posted above is waaaaay cheaper then it I’d go for the Buff and maybe ask for help with the soldering side of things.(it really is a wonderful DAC IMHO. maybe if you could find a member nearby who has one then a listen may be possible)

To be honest most of the build is plug and play with only the BalSE/Legato OP stages to worry about.

there is a great Buffalo build thread right here in the DIY section.

if you do go for the board you've posted do let us know how it sounds.

i'm sure people will be interested in your thoughts:cool:

Just a few thoughts.
 
LVDS is a good way of doing it.

I don't see the point of conversion to or from SPDIF though - chucks any advantage away; keep it I2S all the way for preference.
 
The board costs about £300 from an ebay seller. Not had a response from the seller or the original japanese site. The board layout looks familiar but I cannot recall where I have seen that design previously. Perhaps one of the reference ones? Much cheaper than a buffalo dual mono. Perhaps it is too good to be true!
 
I am just about to jump on the bandwagon for the Amanero - what DIY DAC board would you guys recommend with little assembly? I'm okay with soldering but wouldnt say I'm an expert.

Looking for something that is wife friendly and grounded/isolated. Would love a solution where the Amanero (USB -> I2S) is coupled to a DAC board with DAC socket so I can swap DAC chips. Wishful thinking perhaps.

martinclark - are there any 'hacking' projects involving older DACs that can be hacked so the I2S input of the DAC chip is isolated and I can hook the Amanero to it? what I'm looking for is a DAC that can receive/host the I2S
 
The AckoDAC is about which doesn't require any serious assembly. Just plop it into a case.

Also before you buy an Amanero look at a WaveIO. Apparently meant to be better and he is doing a GB on DIYA for an additional board that is meant to improve it even further.

http://luckit.biz/new/product/waveio/
 
smoothquark said:
The board costs about £300 from an ebay seller. Not had a response from the seller or the original japanese site. The board layout looks familiar but I cannot recall where I have seen that design previously. Perhaps one of the reference ones? Much cheaper than a buffalo dual mono. Perhaps it is too good to be true!
Click to expand...

At that price it looks expensive having what looks like standard implementation of 317 regulators. Only six regulators? maybe there are some DPak regus I can see scattered around.
If the regulation is so simple then it seems wise to expect some pretty standard (bottom of the line) IV conversion, not sure if some of the DIL packages look like they are on adapters also, again warning signs maybe.

A Sabre 9018 with good implementation and careful regulation can truly sing, is this a good implementation?

Edit
Some far eastern board can be low quality, fine if you just want to wire it up and use it as is, but can be very problematic if you try to improve it.
Probably be wise to expect some pads to lift when undergoing surgery.
 
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