Twisted Pear Buffalo Sabre DAC - Page 51 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

nattonrice · #**751** (**permalink**) 06-30-2009, 05:17 PM

Yay! There's an update!
Looking forward to the Ballsie Light

rds · #**752** (**permalink**) 06-30-2009, 05:22 PM

Buffalos are now on sale

qusp · #**753** (**permalink**) 07-01-2009, 05:36 AM

Brian: when do you expect to have the Darwin source selectors back in stock?? is this essential? I plan on using the buffalo almost exclusively with DSD/i2s or coax connections; coax being 99% of the time; at least until I tweak a transport to supply the others. so I can set this internally temporarily and then add joshua tree and darwin later on cant I??

so for the moment it would be, dual mono buffalo, 2 x trannies and volumite, and a modushop enclosure with my own touches. maybe a wood inlay or whole front panel.

DoYouRight · #**754** (**permalink**) 07-01-2009, 05:42 AM

man this is the sex! For balanced I only need one buffalo board dual mono psu right? not 2 dacs?

johnwmclean · #**755** (**permalink**) 07-01-2009, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoYouRight

man this is the sex! For balanced I only need one buffalo board dual mono psu right? not 2 dacs?

Dual psu.

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp

Brian: when do you expect to have the Darwin source selectors back in stock?? is this essential? I plan on using the buffalo almost exclusively with DSD/i2s or coax connections; coax being 99% of the time; at least until I tweak a transport to supply the others. so I can set this internally temporarily and then add joshua tree and darwin later on cant I??

so for the moment it would be, dual mono buffalo, 2 x trannies and volumite, and a modushop enclosure with my own touches. maybe a wood inlay or whole front panel.

If your getting a S/PDIF 4:1 MUX/Receiver Module it comes with its own switch.

qusp · #**756** (**permalink**) 07-01-2009, 12:26 PM

well I was going to add the SMUX later on, can I do without the SMUX initially?? or do I need it right from the beginning. i'm confused as to whether the buffalo has the ability to receive SPDIF directly. the product page seems to suggest it can, but I havent looked at the schematic closely to see if that requires an off-board receiver.

just had another look; it would suggest that I could forgo the smux initially and use a direct coax SPDIF connection until I get the SMUX and therefore other inputs sorted. chances are I wont use another input anyway until I have a tweaked source. although i'm toying with the idea of using AES instead which would REQUIRE the smux to provide this input. is this correct, am I misreading that there is a direct spdif input and therefore a receiver onboard?? or is the offboard receiver such as smux or the simple spdif receiver required for clock recovery and therefore functionality??

I do plan to add an smux either way, but would be cool to be able to just start off with the dual mono buffalo board kit pack with LCDPS, 2 x trannies and a case (with connectors etc.) and have simple direct spdif (coax) only input, no volume and direct output to an amp which provides the volume control. this is just to save on a little money initially, as I have blown plenty already this month on customs and other stuff, but I really want to get one in this round. so if it is imperative that I get the smux straight away i'll do that, but would mean it would have to be housed in a tin for a bit. its either a case or SMUX at this stage; at least for this round as I imagine it will sell out again pretty quick.

sorry for noob questions. by the way, where is the schematic for the sabre32 dac board on the TP site?? I can only find a simple layout with no marking; only the original buffalo has the full schematic from what I can see.

or is that info on the TP forums??

johnwmclean · #**757** (**permalink**) 07-01-2009, 01:43 PM

^^ The Buffalo will except direct S/PDIF and you don’t need a switch for one input. However keep in mind the OTTO 2:1 Switching Module for when you need switching capabilities later, it’s a lot cheaper than the MUX. It also might suit your build since you only want a couple of inputs.

Although this build is centred around the older ES9008 chip, I think it demonstrates what your desiring, one of FallenAngels pieces:

SOLD: Balanced ES9008-based TwistedPearAudio Buffalo DAC! Best DAC chip in the world!

qusp · #**758** (**permalink**) 07-01-2009, 02:03 PM

^^ yeah I looked at the otto, but the buffalo board doesnt seem support AES directly and that is my preferred connection if possible. I want to keep that option open without spending money going in another direction. my fireface outputs AES on XLR and I would like that to be the end result and would still be the only input. well probably coax and AES.

I realize I dont need a switch for one input, just clarifying that the buffalo does indeed accept spdif directly without the need for a separate receiver. you have done that; thanks for that. well that seals it. i'm waiting till tomorrow afternoon to make sure something is in motion and then buffalo is coming home.

by the time I finished building the COD or opus properly it would cost me the same as a simple buffalo build. a little more actually so why not hey. I know once I hear it I wont regret it.

I saw that buffalo of fallenangel's; nice build; I wouldnt personally choose 18AWG jena for wiring the dac up, but very shmick build and I posted in there to tell him so last week. if I wasnt such a tweaker I would have considered getting it myself at the time.

DoYouRight · #**759** (**permalink**) 07-01-2009, 09:04 PM

Yes his builds are beautiful.

I was doing some reading, has anyone been able to sucessfully put ethernet an input/output? I see it does a good job, just don't know how to implement it.

FallenAngel · #**760** (**permalink**) 07-01-2009, 09:20 PM

Thanks guys

qusp: I would recommend NOT using AES/EBU as the XLR connector is nowhere close the the spec'd 110 Ohm rating of the standard and you would get considerably better impedance matching (meaning less jitter, though it's not as much of an issue with the Buffalo) if you use coax S/PDIF with BNC.

DoYouRight: I use RJ45 (standard ethernet connector) for I2S input on my DAC, just wire it correctly and you're good to go. Oh, and you need a transport that outputs I2S.

If you are talking about making the DAC network-enabled, that will be considerably harder, though a very interesting project that I'm sure people would be interested in.

smeggy · #**761** (**permalink**) 07-01-2009, 10:21 PM

Bum, wish I had the cash. I had a listed to the buffalo the other day on a B22 and it was very nice.

DoYouRight · #**762** (**permalink**) 07-02-2009, 01:27 AM

no I just want to have ethernet connection as it would be easier to get 24/192 on ubuntu than usb dongle with spdif. What module has ethernet?

FallenAngel · #**763** (**permalink**) 07-02-2009, 01:47 AM

WOW, that's really out there. Ethernet is a network protocol, NOT in any way an audio standard. May I suggest you read the digital audio primer linked in my signature, it will explain the basic components of a digital audio system.

DoYouRight · #**764** (**permalink**) 07-02-2009, 01:53 AM

I was reading, that it could be used to transport, and replace optical spdif. Let me find the article and link it.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...769#post999769

FallenAngel · #**765** (**permalink**) 07-02-2009, 02:03 AM

Yeah... read that a while ago and I think you are forgetting that this requires programming custom firmware on your own chip (though some have salvaged network routers), installed a ripped up linux kernel and running a web-enabled media player daemon. Of course coding a web page that communicates with it or an output module that can upload files to it will also be required, unless you want the daemon to be smart enough to have access to your local disk and just send it action commands, though that's a little stranger, but still possible.

As I said, this wouldn't be a simple project and would require serious R&D to build.