hun7er said:

Hi,

Where can I download this driver ?

Regards

Click to expand...

The link was posted a few times in this thread .. just search "chodi"

rb2013 said:

 
No drivers issues yet - but can be a bit tricky to install (remove all previous ASIO installs helps)
 
You are dead on about the EI vs toroidal for power line nose suppression. My Bada uses the an R-core for the preamp section for this reason - and separate massive dual toroidals to feed the output devices (they can deliver greater current on demand)
 

 
PS Just noticed Audio-gd offers an R-core trans upgrade for their DI2014 - got to love that company!

Click to expand...

 
Hi and thanks for the very interesting advice.
I have made a very simple test with a line preamp prototype powered first by a toroidal and then by a EI and any other thing unchanged in the circuit.
Switching on the lights of the room sent a loud pop in the speakers with the toroidal and much much less with the EI.  
I guess this is the evidence of better isolation from mains spikes and so on with the EI type.
But i see toroidals everywhere ... so maybe i am wrong.
 
Moreover i am not so sure that a well executed external PS would be so detrimental for the unit sound.
The place left empty by taking out the transformer could be filled with additional caps and thus creating a big filter and reservoir.
The umbilical from the external transformer to the unit could be shielded to avoid any antenna effect. 
Have i said that i do not like toroidal with digital ?
Thanks again.   Kind regards, gino
 
P.S. of course i have both the old U10 and U12 and like them quite a lot.

ginetto61 said:

   
Hi and thanks for the very interesting advice.
I have made a very simple test with a line preamp prototype powered first by a toroidal and then by a EI and any other thing unchanged in the circuit.
Switching on the lights of the room sent a loud pop in the speakers with the toroidal and much much less with the EI.  
I guess this is the evidence of better isolation from mains spikes and so on with the EI type.
But i see toroidals everywhere ... so maybe i am wrong.
 
Moreover i am not so sure that a well executed external PS would be so detrimental for the unit sound.
The place left empty by taking out the transformer could be filled with additional caps and thus creating a big filter and reservoir.
The umbilical from the external transformer to the unit could be shielded to avoid any antenna effect. 
Have i said that i do not like toroidal with digital ?
Thanks again.   Kind regards, gino
 
P.S. of course i have both the old U10 and U12 and like them quite a lot.

Click to expand...

And external PS would be a pretty cool mod.
 
How do you compare the U10 to the U12? 

hun7er said:

   
Hi,
 
Where can I download this driver ?
 
Regards

Click to expand...

Here you go post #35 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/736294/gustard-u12-usb-interface-8-core-xmos-chip/30
 
Give it a try.  What OS are you running?  The U12 will get better with some run time - maybe the clocks need to settle in.  Give it 100 hrs of run time.

Originally Posted by rb2013 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 

And external PS would be a pretty cool mod.
 
How do you compare the U10 to the U12? 

Click to expand...

 
Hi yes i think that PS can make a difference.  Since long time one of the standard mod in cd player was better PS for the clock and the dac circuits (i think they have used even batteries to give low noise and isolation from mains).
 
Regarding the comparison i dont hear big differences in my poorly resolving system with old Tannoy speakers. If i had to buy one i would buy the U12 of course.
I can guess the U12 is the better unit.   Nowadays i am in the middle of some experiments and i am focusing different digital source solutions.
Just for fun i have even tried a cheap chinese Android media player running Android 4.4 and uploaded Usb Audio Player Pro.
It works with U12 very nicely and the sound is very convincing ... unbelievable.
The media player cost around 100 USD (i intend to use as a AV streamer mostly).
I have not been able to hear substantial differences between this media player driving the U12 and a much better pc running the U10.
I read with the greatest interest the reviews here because good headphones based systems could be so much more revealing than an average stereo system.
Headphones are like a stethoscope.
I am experimenting for now.
Thanks again, gino

I'm not using U12 for headphone, and my system is
 
Computer(i.e PC.) ---> U12 ---> Cullen Stage 4 PS Audio DLIII ---> Thorens ITA2000 ---> HGP Ronda Speaker
                                                                                                              or
                                                                                                McIntosh MC275 MK I
                                                                                                              or
                                                                                                  Marantz 9 reissue
 
The additional of U12 has obviously improved the layer of the sound stage for my system. 
 
I connected my DAC directly to my power amp (i.e. abandoned pre-amp.), it has raised the resolution to a much higher level. But, please ensure the output impedance of the DAC match with input impedance of the power amp.
 
 
Regards,

hgpsemaj said:

  I'm not using U12 for headphone, and my system is
 
Computer(i.e PC.) ---> U12 ---> Cullen Stage 4 PS Audio DLIII ---> Thorens ITA2000 ---> HGP Ronda Speaker
                                                                                                              or
                                                                                                McIntosh MC275 MK I
                                                                                                              or
                                                                                                  Marantz 9 reissue
 
The additional of U12 has obviously improved the layer of the sound stage for my system.

Click to expand...

 
Hi just to say that IMHO this is the most telling evidence of digital done rightly.
The bad digital is hopelessly  "flat", bidimensional ...
Thanks for the advice.
Kind regards, gino

ginetto61 said:

   
Hi just to say that IMHO this is the most telling evidence of digital done rightly.
The bad digital is hopelessly  "flat", bidimensional ...
Thanks for the advice.
Kind regards, gino

Click to expand...

I haven't received my U12 yet, but from my experience I agree with you.
 
I was comparing the sound quality of my LCD-X's from my various amps and DACs, including the Xonar Essence STX sound card. The sound card is considered excellent value for money with excellent measurements and a very high quality DAC chip. The sound quality was excellent in tonality, but in terms of sound stage it was very bi-dimensional - no depth whatsoever, only width.

ginetto61 said:

   
Hi yes i think that PS can make a difference.  Since long time one of the standard mod in cd player was better PS for the clock and the dac circuits (i think they have used even batteries to give low noise and isolation from mains).
 
Regarding the comparison i dont hear big differences in my poorly resolving system with old Tannoy speakers. If i had to buy one i would buy the U12 of course.
I can guess the U12 is the better unit.   Nowadays i am in the middle of some experiments and i am focusing different digital source solutions.
Just for fun i have even tried a cheap chinese Android media player running Android 4.4 and uploaded Usb Audio Player Pro.
It works with U12 very nicely and the sound is very convincing ... unbelievable.
The media player cost around 100 USD (i intend to use as a AV streamer mostly).
I have not been able to hear substantial differences between this media player driving the U12 and a much better pc running the U10.
I read with the greatest interest the reviews here because good headphones based systems could be so much more revealing than an average stereo system.
Headphones are like a stethoscope.
I am experimenting for now.
Thanks again, gino

Click to expand...

Thanks Gino!  A while ago, back when the Memory Player was all the rage - that playing music files off of a USB stick vs a spinning harddrive would give superior SQ.  I tried and did notice a bit of a difference.  I have begun building new SOTA music servers build on SSD only drives - fanless as well.  I need massive storage capacity so the SSD route is the only viable solution right now ( I started a new thread for that project).
 
Good luck on your experiments.

abartels said:

 
Replacing TCXO with OCXO will be a hell of a job to implement, with a high quality external powersupply (which is VERY important) which WILL receive lots of emi/rfi (which we DON'T want). I wouldn't be too surprised if SQ even degrades with that kind of mod,,,,

Click to expand...

 
If replacing TCXO with OCXO is not a simple straight away job, we might consider replacing U12' TCXO with Rubidium clock, it is because rubidium only got 0.00001ppm.
I've gather some informations as follows:
 
Rubidium atomic clock dedicated power supply board cost around RMB100 each (i.e. excluding postage.),
 

 
 
The upper deck is the rubidium clock; and the lower deck is the dedicated power supply board,
 

 
I've seen second hand rubidium clock is available on ebay and cost around US$215 each (i.e. excluding postage.).
 
With kind regards,

arnotts said:

  I haven't received my U12 yet, but from my experience I agree with you.
 
I was comparing the sound quality of my LCD-X's from my various amps and DACs, including the Xonar Essence STX sound card.
The sound card is considered excellent value for money with excellent measurements and a very high quality DAC chip.
The sound quality was excellent in tonality, but in terms of sound stage it was very bi-dimensional - no depth whatsoever, only width.

Click to expand...

 
Hi as i assume you have another dac to use with the U12 you could also try the Xonar Essence STX sound card spdif out.
Maybe the problem was in the output stage.  
I would like to try a PCI card just to test it as a I/O digital interface.  The PCI bus can give the lowest latency for what this counts of course. 
But i read very mixed opinions even on popular ones.
Most of audiophiles state the professionals do not have ears.  Professionals state that audiophiles do not have brain. 
I do not know who to trust seriously.
Thanks again, gino

ginetto61 said:

  Most of audiophiles state the professionals do not have ears.  Professionals state that audiophiles do not have brain. 

Click to expand...

One not much good without the other

hgpsemaj said:

If replacing TCXO with OCXO is not a simple straight away job, we might consider replacing U12' TCXO with Rubidium clock, it is because rubidium only got 0.00001ppm.
I've gather some informations as follows:

Rubidium atomic clock dedicated power supply board cost around RMB100 each (i.e. excluding postage.),





The upper deck is the rubidium clock; and the lower deck is the dedicated power supply board,




I've seen second hand rubidium clock is available on ebay and cost around US$215 each (i.e. excluding postage.).

With kind regards,

Click to expand...

Good in theory but even more complicated and costly than OCXOs. Those rubidium standard devices only provide one 10mhz clock. You'll have to generate the signal for the 3x gustard clocks from that. Maybe use something like http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/mutec_mc3plus_e.html
Or just use an Usb reclocker with clock input from the rubidium device .. and no gustard.
Or a network player like Soundaware which accepts external clocks. Or ...
All expensive & complex solutions and no guaranteed gains

lieberung said:

Thanks, do you know where the fuse sits?

Click to expand...

Sorry guys, but i HAVE to say this:
 
Please read ALL posts before asking your question, most questions have been answered in previous posts.
 
@Lieberung: I even "photoshopped" a picture to point at the fuse,,,,,, see http://www.head-fi.org/t/736294/gustard-u12-usb-interface-8-core-xmos-chip/645#post_11318547
 
Have fun 

hgpsemaj said:

   
If replacing TCXO with OCXO is not a simple straight away job, we might consider replacing U12' TCXO with Rubidium clock, it is because rubidium only got 0.00001ppm.
I've gather some informations as follows:
 
Rubidium atomic clock dedicated power supply board cost around RMB100 each (i.e. excluding postage.),
 

 
 
The upper deck is the rubidium clock; and the lower deck is the dedicated power supply board,
 

 
I've seen second hand rubidium clock is available on ebay and cost around US$215 each (i.e. excluding postage.).
 
With kind regards,

Click to expand...

Would be nice, but all Rubidium clocks at ebay are of very low frequencies, so NOT the ones we need