[swedishpat]

Is it only the tube amp that’s made for the 320max or can you use both amps with it?

 

[Z_Showmaster]

Is it only the tube amp that’s made for the 320max or can you use both amps with it?

You can line into PB5 with any 4.4mm source. With something as simple as a dongle DAC, and going all the way up to a DX320 Max as a source.

 

[Whitigir]

Is it only the tube amp that’s made for the 320max or can you use both amps with it?

You can use it with anything, because it is an external stand alone amplifier by itself.

If you asked about the designs of the osprey and it voicing. I am almost certain that the Osprey were made to pair with 320Max as the goals in mind. Because it only makes senses. The 320Max is amazing, but it still lacks the even harmonic distortions that tubes can bring. Since the 320Max is quiet an achievements in engineering feast, having an upgrade as an additional device would make senses

Why did I mention an upgraded ?

Because the Osprey not only having Korg tubes for that harmonic, but also have more batteries for a higher voltage swing than the 320Max. While the 320Max is using 4 packs, which is similar in voltage swing to the C9, or more precisely similar to the 220Max, which makes the C9 as a follower in design, instead. By this view, the C9 is not anymore powerful than the 320Max by raw outputs, but only different in architecture and implementation which includes dual tubes signatures

The Osprey is a definite upgrade due to higher voltage swings by design

 

[swedishpat]

You can line into PB5 with any 4.4mm source. With something as simple as a dongle DAC, and going all the way up to a DX320 Max as a source.

I’ll get the PB5 to give my 320max a tube flavor but I’m not sure the D16 will do anything to improve the 320max since it already has plenty of power?

 

[Z_Showmaster]

I’ll get the PB5 to give my 320max a tube flavor but I’m not sure the D16 will do anything to improve the 320max since it already has plenty of power?

As a digital-input device it would not make much sense to use with the DX320 Max TI for sure – you could and it would be spectacular I'm sure But the D16 is really aimed at people who don't have a dedicated source.

 

[Whitigir]

I’ll get the PB5 to give my 320max a tube flavor but I’m not sure the D16 will do anything to improve the 320max since it already has plenty of power.

The D16 is a very interesting DAC by itself. I am also thinking of the D16 as well, just because it is very interesting

1/ It has R2R design with native direct 1 bit DSD support (at least I think so, from the bits and chunks I gathered by Google)

2/ It is a stand alone DAC by itself with Coax input. Now, why do I mention Coaxial input ? Because Coaxial technically is the best form of digital conducts for audio. It was designed for this purposes instead of universal bus as USB. Furthermore, I have conducted experiments myself, and that, Coax/Spdif have the upper hands on performances VS USB

3/ As a standalone with it own chassis and power sources, you have better crosstalk, less interferences. But if you use it with 320Max, you bypass the amazing ROHM 4X . However, having 320Max and D16, you have 2 very different systems, a sigma delta and then an R2R

I think this is the first portable R2R dedicated DAC with Coax. I could be wrong as I don’t keep up with these as I used to

I understand that you don’t see the usage of the D16 here though. However, PB5 amplifier is definitely an upgrade for the 320Max in technical term

 

[Delitia]

I’ll get the PB5 to give my 320max a tube flavor but I’m not sure the D16 will do anything to improve the 320max since it already has plenty of power?

The d16 is a dac and amp. Not a stand alone amp like pb5. So not much point to combine the d16 with 320max.

 

[Whitigir]

I am confusing myself already between the naming of PB5 and D16 . Does anyone know the meaning behind the naming ?

Possibly

PB5 as in Pinnacle Balanced 5th generation amplifier ?

D16 DAC with 16 whatever ? Oversampling I guess ?

 

[Z_Showmaster]

I am confusing myself already between the naming of PB5 and D16 . Does anyone know the meaning behind the naming ?

Possibly

PB5 as in Pinnacle Balanced 5th generation amplifier ?

D16 DAC with 16 whatever ? Oversampling I guess ?

My guess is Portable Balanced, and the D16 I know to reference its 16 FIR element stage that acts as the low-pass filter decoding the 1-bit stream.

 

[swedishpat]

The D16 is a very interesting DAC by itself. I am also thinking of the D16 as well, just because it is very interesting

1/ It has R2R design with native direct 1 bit DSD support (at least I think so, from the bits and chunks I gathered by Google)

2/ It is a stand alone DAC by itself with Coax input. Now, why do I mention Coaxial input ? Because Coaxial technically is the best form of digital conducts for audio. It was designed for this purposes instead of universal bus as USB. Furthermore, I have conducted experiments myself, and that, Coax/Spdif have the upper hands on performances VS USB

3/ As a standalone with it own chassis and power sources, you have better crosstalk, less interferences. But if you use it with 320Max, you bypass the amazing ROHM 4X . However, having 320Max and D16, you have 2 very different systems, a sigma delta and then an R2R

I think this is the first portable R2R dedicated DAC with Coax. I could be wrong as I don’t keep up with these as I used to

I understand that you don’t see the usage of the D16 here though. However, PB5 amplifier is definitely an upgrade for the 320Max in technical term

R2R is interesting for sure! Now I’m tempted to get both!

 

[Z_Showmaster]

It's a discrete resistor DAC for sure, but does not function in the conventional R (2R) manner when thought of technically. It's definitely a DAC that doesn't employ DAC chips but it works by filtering 1-bit DSD.

 

[Whitigir]

It's a discrete resistor DAC for sure, but does not function in the conventional R (2R) manner when thought of technically. It's definitely a DAC that doesn't employ DAC chips but it works by filtering 1-bit DSD.

Please tell us more of how it differ from the conventional R2R

I came by your website here, and it appears that the real decoding is the FPGA while the Resistors ladder is for filterings instead. If so, then this is a hybrid between FPGA and resistor ladder, which makes it even more interesting. Definitely the first of it kinds
https://zeppelinandco.com/products/ibasso-d16

 

[hongky]

It's a discrete resistor DAC for sure, but does not function in the conventional R (2R) manner when thought of technically. It's definitely a DAC that doesn't employ DAC chips but it works by filtering 1-bit DSD.

Is it the same with Cayin N7 ?

 

[Whitigir]

Is it the same with Cayin N7 ?

somewhat similar with the exception of it being a standalone solution as an external DAC with the Uniqueness of FIR filters and 16x elements. This is not a conventional feedback loops either. I am not sure if the N7 employs Fir filters.

I just checked from N7 thread and the posts from @Z_Showmaster here

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cayin-n7-a-voyager-of-unexplored-frontier.966860/post-17423106

I couldn’t find the discussions of whether or not the N7 is employing Fir-Filters for 1 bit stream (not the quantization sampling), while the D16 as @Z_Showmaster mentioned about using 16 elements for Fir filters

 

[Z_Showmaster]

Is it the same with Cayin N7 ?

Both of you are on to something in discussing D16's DAC. To begin differentiating R-2R from a 1-bit resistor low-pass filter I think we first have to discuss PCM as a multi-bit format (>1-bit) whereas DSD is always a single 1-bit format.

Therefore, with a multi-bit PCM format we begin dealing with MSBs and LSBs, with Cees Ruijtenberg and Jeff Zhu holding particular patents treating each differently in their R-2R DACs. Whereas with 1-bit DACs we're only ever dealing with two states of a single DC element at one time: 1 or 0, on or off. DSD's key is its simplicity and lack of error.

The most concisely comprehensive explanation between conventional R-2R for PCM and a 1-bit DAC I've found has been cited here.

The concept of the D16 is fundamentally the same as N7 in that it decodes all digital to analog as DSD. How D16 treats the incoming bits via DSP is fundamentally different. All formats, including DSD, is processed in very high-rate DXD like PS Audio or Mola-Mola or EMM Labs (explaining the presence of their digital volume controls) before conversion to analog. N7 does not pre-process DSD. Only PCM is converted to DSD – DSD passes straight through unaltered without SRC or upsampling on N7 and RU7.

I couldn’t find the discussions of whether or not the N7 is employing Fir-Filters for 1 bit stream (not the quantization sampling), while the D16 as @Z_Showmaster mentioned about using 16 elements for Fir filters

This is my interpretation, not information. D16 is different to the way N7 works, yes, and I believe D16 use the 16 hardware FIR filters low-passing 1-bit at intervals of one clock cycle between each, run by their new FPGA 2.0 algorithm first described in DX260's presentation. We are probably seeing much more accurate waveforms produced as a resort because of how each stairstep in time is plotted a lot more precisely.