[Wynnytsky]

the latest driver for the DI20 is the same one from 2017 used for the DACs built in USB (which is cool if you want to use both USB ports)

(not sure why headfi thumbnail is 2x bigger than orig screen shot)

may be we does not need Di-20 at all ?

as wonderful as the PinkFaun is, it can only do up to PCM 24/192 (maybe an asio4all driver will do DSD?)
24 192 is great on games, blueray, and all streaming, but if you want your monster computer to upsample to DSD256 and DSD512 then you'll have to use both the DI20 and I2S (that's too high for the other digital outputs).

Even with my DI20HE, my favorite sound is without software upsampling (NOS = non over sampling), and when I do listen to DSD I have my media player down-sample to PCM24192 (a Dirac limitation), so PinkFaun will be perfect for me. But I still don't have an audio computer with PCIe! I'm waiting for AMD to release a Zen3 APU that is 25 or 35 TDP and the single slot on the mini-itx will get the PinkFaun. For a little extra I got two i2s outputs on my PinkFaun so I can A/B dacs.

 

[REAN1MAT0R]

What is this on the bottom ?

 

[FredA]

A PinkFaun with ocxo will not necessarily beat the di. Moreover, the di seems even better with aes/ebu than with i2s. With an audio-gd dac, aes/ebu seems to be the way to go. At least AFAIK now. Time will tell.

 

[Wynnytsky]

I have to agree with @FredA! AES/EBU sounds great driven by the DI20HE
...
I2S sounds a little grainy by comparison.

I think my BNC cable is on the crap side of the spectrum because it's exhausting my ears to the point that I have to retreat to I2S to give my ears a break (my i2s is far cleaner with less embellishment). It's funny cause I2S used to exhaust me and and coax would give my ears some recovery time.

If these first world problems keep piling up I'll need to make a fundme page.

 

[FredA]

I think my BNC cable is on the crap side of the spectrum because it's exhausting my ears to the point that I have to retreat to I2S to give my ears a break (my i2s is far cleaner with less embellishment). It's funny cause I2S used to exhaust me and and coax would give my ears some recovery time.

If these first world problems keep piling up I'll need to make a fundme page.

Leave both connected and come back later to spdif. Initially, i prefered i2s also.

 

[Tango Sierra]

@REAN1MAT0R
That is a Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl phono stage.

https://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/nu-vista/nu-vista-vinyl

 

[jimmychan]

Still find the i2s output of DI20HE to be best SQ for R7.

 

[rsbrsvp]

Can someone explain the value of this device.

My computer like all computers is full of noise and jitter. So this device gets rid of all that and corrects it- great.

However my R7HE if fed direct from my computer does the same. It also has galvanic isolation. It also has reclocking and it also has a regenerative power supply.

In addition- whatever corrections the DI-20HE makes will be at least partially ruined through the HDMI or spdif cable. Every cable damages a little with reflections or added jitter.

The best place to reclock is in the dac itself where there is NO CABLE to harm the corrections which were made. I see no value to doing this process twice...

 

[FredA]

Can someone explain the value of this device.

My computer like all computers is full of noise and jitter. So this device gets rid of all that and corrects it- great.

However my R7HE if fed direct from my computer does the same. It also has galvanic isolation. It also has reclocking and it also has a regenerative power supply.

In addition- whatever corrections the DI-20HE makes will be at least partially ruined through the HDMI or spdif cable. Every cable damages a little with reflections or added jitter.

The best place to reclock is in the dac itself where there is NO CABLE to harm the corrections which were made. I see no value to doing this process twice...

The proof of the pudding is in the listening. Dejittering can’t be perfect and all dacs benefit from some help.

 

[Jackula]

A friend recently lent me his Van Den Hul Flat HEAC HDMI cable to try, vs the Moshou flat 8K HDMI, the VDH was more balanced and a bit faster. I mentioned previously the R7HE treble is a bit fatiguing particularly with Joan of Arc (Jennifer Warnes), no longer the case with VDH as my HDMI. However the soundstage and imaging wasn't as good as the Moshou, probably because they don't make them in 0.5m, so longer cable = more jitter.

Then speaking to Kingwa he recommended me to try his favourite HDMI cable, the WireWorld Chroma7. Kingwa wasn't wrong with his recommendation, the Chroma7 is the best of both worlds, it doesn't sound overly sharp, it has the speed and balance of the VDH and the soundstage accuracy of the Moshou.

 

[Genna]

Can someone explain the value of this device.

My computer like all computers is full of noise and jitter. So this device gets rid of all that and corrects it- great.

However my R7HE if fed direct from my computer does the same. It also has galvanic isolation. It also has reclocking and it also has a regenerative power supply.

In addition- whatever corrections the DI-20HE makes will be at least partially ruined through the HDMI or spdif cable. Every cable damages a little with reflections or added jitter.

The best place to reclock is in the dac itself where there is NO CABLE to harm the corrections which were made. I see no value to doing this process twice...

I start streaming music files with a Macbook or LattePanda (Win10 Singleboardcomputer) too but to avoid noise and jitter I bought finally a streamer bridge because I want a clean signal and my previous experiences says that a fish always starts to stink on the head and not on the tail. Since yesterday a proud R-7HE and HE-1 owner and yes, as next a DI-20HE is on my list.

To your question about the benefits of the DI...you are right saying the R-7HE does the same but I I explain it by another example. At the airport or concert we don‘t need the various points for tickets, luggage or security check also. It‘s possible to handle everything with one gate...can you imagine the additional effort to be accomplished, especially when an irritated, stressed and aggressive group of tourists appears (bad usb signal)? This is your situation with only the R-7HE fed directly from your computer without a external help from the DI. I prefer the actually situation at the airports or concerts with separated gates that ensure a more pleasant and unstressed process. I believe the R7 HE also and this is why I read more and more about a better SQ with a DI.

 

[PLGA]

Can someone explain the value of this device.

My computer like all computers is full of noise and jitter. So this device gets rid of all that and corrects it- great.

However my R7HE if fed direct from my computer does the same. It also has galvanic isolation. It also has reclocking and it also has a regenerative power supply.

In addition- whatever corrections the DI-20HE makes will be at least partially ruined through the HDMI or spdif cable. Every cable damages a little with reflections or added jitter.

The best place to reclock is in the dac itself where there is NO CABLE to harm the corrections which were made. I see no value to doing this process twice...

Well, that's what I thought also and then, but as Fred said, the proof is listening. I've got a different idea when I tried them, so I started investing on DDC, digital cables and software.

First I've got the computer connected directly, via USB, to my R8 DAC (with isolated Amanero USB input). Then, I tried the Wyred4Sound USB Reclocker (RUR) and it made a nice difference, then the RUR improved with a LPS, then I've got the Gustard U16 and it was another good step up, then the SOtM SMS-200 Ultra Neo (wich is also VERY good) and then the DI-20, wich is GREAT, even with few hours of burning time. Next step, I will try Curious Evolved USB cable between the SMS-200 and the DI-20. Even better power cables made a nice difference on my digital gear.

With out wanting to know all of the technical issues on computers, jitter, clocks, noise, etc. for me computer USB signal is crap, may be with some few exceptions, wich I havent heard.

 

[Wynnytsky]

@Jackula my first i2s cable was a 0.3M WireWorld silver starlight 5.2 10.2gbps. I think it was only $50 on ebay so I think I got B-stock. The heft of this cable is impressive but to this day it is the worst digital interconnect I've ever used (worse than monoprice hdmi), so if anyone wants it you need only pay shipping. Assuming I got a bad apple I wouldn't mind trying WireWorld again but first I'd like to give Belden's 28awg bonded HDMI wire a chance for $20.

I found this an interesting read -- sure enough I don't see AudioQuest or WireWorld in the list.
https://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/where-does-hdmi-cable-come-from.htm?hdmidept
The interconnects and speaker connects I bought from here some years back didn't win any points with me so I'm not expecting much from the HDMI.

BTW
I've got the first one and I sure like it. Series 8 just came out...

​

 

[Wynnytsky]

Curious Evolved USB

I've had 3 of the 0.2m yellow ones. The best thing about them is how much zing they add, which is immediately evident, and the next best thing is how fast+easy they sell. But nobody could live with those little guys. Now I see the shortest length is 0.8m so I'm very curious to hear your day1 and day30 impressions.

The w4s recovery has been good to me. It's the only thing I bought-sold-bought.

investing in audio -- makes me smile every time I hear it
More like our education was the investment and these wires are the dividends.

 

[PLGA]

I've had 3 of the 0.2m yellow ones. The best thing about them is how much zing they add, which is immediately evident, and the next best thing is how fast+easy they sell. But nobody could live with those little guys. Now I see the shortest length is 0.8m so I'm very curious to hear your day1 and day30 impressions.

The w4s recovery has been good to me. It's the only thing I bought-sold-bought.

investing in audio -- makes me smile every time I hear it
More like our education was the investment and these wires are the dividends.

Yes, investing in audio! I have to stop so I can feed my kids!

Thank you for your opinon on the Curious USB cable. This company is very good with customer service (so far so good). They have made me a 0.4m long cable with a 90 degress twist on one end to fit exactly between my SMS-200 and my DI-20. The cable its coming in the next weeks. My expectations are high, we'll see.