Gustard U12 USB Interface 8 Core XMOS chip | Page 44 | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

gattari · Feb 13, 2015 at 7:53 AM

abartels said:
Yesterday i got my U12, changed the fuse to an audio-grade one and connected thru a regular USB cable with my AudioPC / DAC.

First impressions:
Soundstage has opened up, deeper, wider, more definition, tonal it's more "mature" (has more body), it's just more lively.

I compared with an I2S converter like the Speed Dragon UAU06A (from manufacturer Syba Tech). This tiny thing looks like c..p but,
when u use it with an external, beefy, battery (cut power and ground wires), this little thing sounds fantastic, at least, until now

I'm surely VERY VERY happy with my U12!!! It's burning-in as we speak

Next thing to do:

Replace stock LM317 with Belleson SPJ17 +5V which is pin-compatible (available at Parts Connexion)
Maybe i'll exchange the buffer caps for better ones like Sanyo Oscons or Panasonic FC's,
and of course fiddle a little bit around with a few pieces of 3M AB5100S

Can't wait till it's complete burned-in (normaly about 150 hours),,,,

Where is the fuse in gustard u12? I don't see in the internal photos.....

Inviato dal mio LG-D855 utilizzando Tapatalk

abartels · Feb 13, 2015 at 10:26 AM

gattari said:
Where is the fuse in gustard u12? I don't see in the internal photos.....

Inviato dal mio LG-D855 utilizzando Tapatalk

Flip it upwords on the left side, fuse is inside

rb2013 · Feb 13, 2015 at 11:11 AM

minorisuke said:
Chord Hugo TT is said to accept 384kHz/32-bit via BNC input. I am not sure whether it is still called S/PDIF.

I saw that too and thought it strange. My understanding was the 192k limit on spdif as well. My understanding is BNC/AES only allows a longer length. The issue of concurent clock stream is the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/?title=S/PDIF

Main differences between AES3 and S/PDIF^[4]

AES3 balanced
AES3 unbalanced
S/PDIF
Cabling
110-ohm STP 75-ohm coaxial 75-ohm coaxial or fibre
Connector
3-pin XLR BNC RCA or TOSLINK
Output level
2–7 V peak to peak 1.0–1.2 V peak to peak 0.5–0.6 V peak to peak
Min. input level
0.2 V 0.32 V 0.2 V
Max. distance
100 m 1,000 m 10 m
Modulation
Biphase mark code Biphase mark code Biphase mark code
Subcode information
ASCII id. text ASCII id. text SCMS copy protection info.
Max. resolution
24 bits 24 bits 20 bits (24 bits optional)

rb2013 · Feb 13, 2015 at 11:15 AM

abartels said:
Flip it upwords on the left side, fuse is inside

Did you do the Pannie FC filter cap upgrade too? If so how do you like it?

gattari · Feb 13, 2015 at 11:41 AM

Thx Albartels, I just ordered a Padis, but I'm a bit doubtful that it can make a difference

Anyway I will try

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MINORISUKE · Feb 13, 2015 at 12:04 PM

gattari said:
Thx Albartels, I just ordered a Padis, but I'm a bit doubtful that it can make a difference Anyway I will try

Inviato dal mio LG-D855 utilizzando Tapatalk

I use a PADIS fuse 0.5A, which cost about 20% of U12..... The sound has become a little bit smoother.

conquerator2 · Feb 14, 2015 at 6:14 AM

Well, my U12 either does not go along well with the Gungnir or is defective. It just randomly locks after a random period of time. Cause unknown for now.

rb2013 · Feb 14, 2015 at 10:29 AM

conquerator2 said:
Well, my U12 either does not go along well with the Gungnir or is defective. It just randomly locks after a random period of time. Cause unknown for now.

On both my systems using the U12 with completely different DAC's, running SoX upsampler to 192K on one and 96K on the other - not a single unlock, crash or hiccup. It's been a few months of 24/7 flawless operation.

I would check your cable

hgpsemaj · Feb 14, 2015 at 11:05 AM

I pair my U12 with 'Cullen Stage IV PS DLIII' or 'Geek Pulse' DAC for several weeks, it works so smooth and never give me any trouble. Please note I use FooBar and SOX Upsampler.

sbgk · Feb 14, 2015 at 12:10 PM

installed driver on a win 8.1 machine and it installed as a speaker in playback devices. Has anyone managed to get it to install as a digital device ?

Managed to install Chodi's driver and it installed as aa speaker as well.

maybe doesn't matter if using asio, but affects wasapi and ks.

abartels · Feb 15, 2015 at 6:07 AM

rb2013 said:
Did you do the Pannie FC filter cap upgrade too? If so how do you like it?

Hi RB2013,

That picture is not mine, i suppose it's yours

I am still waiting for my Pana fc's to arrive, ordered them on ebay.

I will write a review when i replaced the bc's.

In the meantime i placed some 3M AB5100S on the chips, also on the chips of my dac.
Sounds indeed better, more black, bigger and wider soundstage

Next week i will order a Belleson regulator, including some Sanyo OS-Con's to replace the 330uF caps

abartels · Feb 15, 2015 at 6:13 AM

sbgk said:
installed driver on a win 8.1 machine and it installed as a speaker in playback devices. Has anyone managed to get it to install as a digital device ?

Managed to install Chodi's driver and it installed as aa speaker as well.

maybe doesn't matter if using asio, but affects wasapi and ks.

On Server 2012R2 it does indeed also install as speaker in playback devices, but it works like a charm, i use JPlay and use it with KS.
I suppose it doesn't matter how it presents itself within playback devices, as long as it works and all settings are correct.

I can use the tool to set the buffer, everythings ok.

sbgk · Feb 15, 2015 at 8:13 AM

abartels said:
On Server 2012R2 it does indeed also install as speaker in playback devices, but it works like a charm, i use JPlay and use it with KS.
I suppose it doesn't matter how it presents itself within playback devices, as long as it works and all settings are correct.

I can use the tool to set the buffer, everythings ok.

thanks for the info. if you can play a system sound or other track at the same time it means it's not got exclusive access to the device and must be using the mixer.

For better sq it should be bypassing the mixer.

abartels · Feb 15, 2015 at 8:19 AM

sbgk said:
thanks for the info. if you can play a system sound or other track at the same time it means it's not got exclusive access to the device and must be using the mixer.

For better sq it should be bypassing the mixer.

I only use it with JPlay and KernelStreaming (that is defintely WITHOUT windows mixer).
My AudioPC runs on Server 2012R2 in CORE mode, so it is not easy for me to look at the settings now because i would have to revert from CORE to GUI mode.
I can see in JPlay settings on ControlPC that JPlay uses KS.

If you use KS mode (kernelstreaming) then you bypass mixer, it's straight from kernel.

sbgk · Feb 15, 2015 at 9:21 AM

abartels said:
I only use it with JPlay and KernelStreaming (that is defintely WITHOUT windows mixer).
My AudioPC runs on Server 2012R2 in CORE mode, so it is not easy for me to look at the settings now because i would have to revert from CORE to GUI mode.
I can see in JPlay settings on ControlPC that JPlay uses KS.

If you use KS mode (kernelstreaming) then you bypass mixer, it's straight from kernel.

you would think ks=exclusive, but get same thing using wasapi. in ksstudio it has 3 nodes a dac node, a mute node and a volume node, so maybe it's implemented in hardware

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	AES3 balanced	AES3 unbalanced	S/PDIF
Cabling	110-ohm STP	75-ohm coaxial	75-ohm coaxial or fibre
Connector	3-pin XLR	BNC	RCA or TOSLINK
Output level	2–7 V peak to peak	1.0–1.2 V peak to peak	0.5–0.6 V peak to peak
Min. input level	0.2 V	0.32 V	0.2 V
Max. distance	100 m	1,000 m	10 m
Modulation	Biphase mark code	Biphase mark code	Biphase mark code
Subcode information	ASCII id. text	ASCII id. text	SCMS copy protection info.
Max. resolution	24 bits	24 bits	20 bits (24 bits optional)