[evillamer]

Here's how I have modded my M7:
 
3m AB5100S on top of all 8 of the PCM1704 DAC(picture only shows left side, 4xPCM1704)
 

 
 
3M AB5100S on Main DSP and all othe misc chips as well:
 

 
 
Disconnected USB32 cable as shown here:
 

 

[evillamer]

  Cool. 

 and thanks for the tip. I read somewhere that users off the OR5 had some noise issues (if I remember it correct?) between tracks but that EA made a muting mod to fix this issue. 
Whats your impressions of the Hydra ? Any issues or is everything working flawless?

 
I only have the original Hydra X(non +). I only paid like ~USD$680 for it. Really GOOD value for money, as it contains two Femto grade clocks inside along with FPGA and USB 2.0 isolation.
 
Yes there's a very soft click sound when your music stops completely. Nothing harmful or annoying imho.
 
No issues with the Hydra, except Windows 8 will block the zip file of the driver that you download from the Audiobyte website. Sounds best with ASIO, followed closely by WASAPI(Push mode).
 
Although Hydra has DSD512 support, it doesn't work with the non-DSD Master 7. 
 
I feel I2S connection is a must if you want to extract the best performance out of the Master 7. And I am very satisfied with Hydra I2S to M7 Combo. The Hydra X audio driver is very well written(no perceivable system performance impact at all) and doesn't "disappear from Windows" like the M7 VIA32 USB does.

 

[evillamer]

On the topic of USB:
 
If you are not running a dedicated audiophile grade USB Card like SOTM or JCAT or PPA, you need to know that certain USB ports(depending on Motherboard design) on your computer is actually running off a "shared hub".
 
It could be very well that your USB Mouse or Keyboard or USB Harddrive is runnning on the same hub as your USB DAC. This is because ideally you don't want your mouse movements to "interrupt" the data transmission to your dac. Also certain USB Ports are nosier than others, try experimenting plugging to different USB ports to find out which one sounds best.
 
 
Another important "audiophile" tweak is to disable all sorts of USB Power Savings(If you are not running a laptop).
 
google for these two to learn how:
 
how to disable usb selective suspend
 
how to disable usb root hub power management
 
Worth reading and more information:
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/USB_Trouble.htm
 
Also if you want the best sound out of your PC, you have to:
Set PC power plan to "High Performance"
Disable Intel SpeedStep(EIST) & Turbo Boost and Hyperthreading
Adjust EMI Spread spectrum in your BIOS
Use processor graphics for Display instead of High Powered GPU.
 
 
Pretty advance tweak, recommended only if your PC is dedicated for audiophile usage:
Google for: Cad windows 8 audio optimization

 

[ciphercomplete]

It could be very well that your USB Mouse or Keyboard or USB Harddrive is runnning on the same hub as your USB DAC. This is because ideally you don't want your mouse movements to "interrupt" the data transmission to your dac. 

 
Yes, and people forget about this alot.  I have a mouse, keyboard combo on standby if I need them but I never leave them plugged in when I am not using them.  The only usb device connected to my server is the Schiit Wyrd.  
 
You should be able to get away with leaving multiple usb items plugged in if you dedicate one usb bus to audio and nothing else and the other usb bus for other peripherals.  An easy way to do this is to maybe dedicate your usb 2.0 ports for audio and then everything else can use the usb 3.0 ports.  2.0 and 3.0 use separate busses. 

 

[lieberung]

On the topic of USB:

If you are not running a dedicated audiophile grade USB Card like SOTM or JCAT or PPA, you need to know that certain USB ports(depending on Motherboard design) on your computer is actually running off a "shared hub".

It could be very well that your USB Mouse or Keyboard or USB Harddrive is runnning on the same hub as your USB DAC. This is because ideally you don't want your mouse movements to "interrupt" the data transmission to your dac. Also certain USB Ports are nosier than others, try experimenting plugging to different USB ports to find out which one sounds best.


Another important "audiophile" tweak is to disable all sorts of USB Power Savings(If you are not running a laptop).

google for these two to learn how:

how to disable usb selective suspend

how to disable usb root hub power management

Worth reading and more information:
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/USB_Trouble.htm

Also if you want the best sound out of your PC, you have to:
Set PC power plan to "High Performance"
Disable Intel SpeedStep(EIST) & Turbo Boost and Hyperthreading
Adjust EMI Spread spectrum in your BIOS
Use processor graphics for Display instead of High Powered GPU.


Pretty advance tweak, recommended only if your PC is dedicated for audiophile usage:
Google for: Cad windows 8 audio optimization

Thanks for the tips on the system tweaks.
I have the PPA USB card v2. My htpc is buildt on a fanless streacom chassis with m-atx asus mb, intel i5-4570T,
w/ pico with regular psu, not linear or battery (yet). Running win 8.1 and used for streaming movies as well as music playback, but also streaming from Spotify and highres from Wimp. Guess I cant tweak it just for music playback. Really satisfied by the latest USB32 firmware and driver upgrade but cant wait to try out the hydra z on i2s. Together with M7 I use M1 preamp and ATC SCM50 ASLT speakers. Really fantastic sound. No headphones on this rig am afraid.

BTW, what are those pads you have covered the internals of your M7 and why?

 

[evillamer]

Thanks for the tips on the system tweaks.
I have the PPA USB card v2. My htpc is buildt on a fanless streacom chassis with m-atx asus mb, intel i5-4570T,
w/ pico with regular psu, not linear or battery (yet). Running win 8.1 and used for streaming movies as well as music playback, but also streaming from Spotify and highres from Wimp. Guess I cant tweak it just for music playback. Really satisfied by the latest USB32 firmware and driver upgrade but cant wait to try out the hydra z on i2s. Together with M7 I use M1 preamp and ATC SCM50 ASLT speakers. Really fantastic sound. No headphones on this rig am afraid.

BTW, what are those pads you have covered the internals of your M7 and why?

 
Those pads are cut out of the 3M AB5100S EMI Absorbing Material:

 3M EMI absorbers are near field absorbers that are specifically designed to eliminate noise from a few hundred megahertz to multiple gigahertz frequencies. They work by absorbing the EMI field generated by today's high-speed electronics, eliminating emissions, crosstalk, and oscillations.

 
This is to shield the DAC from RF/Microwave interference and electronics cross-talk as much as possible internally. Cost like ~USD$80 for A4 size sheet. 
 
Crosstalk explained here:
 

 

[DACLadder]

I divorced my Dell Win 7 PC this morning for a Win 8.1 speed demon.  The good... Foobar2000 accesses from a NAS are really quick and lively.  The bad... music doesn't sound as good when piped from the new machine's rear panel USB port  .  But I put the Schiit Wyrd back into service relaying USB traffic and we are back into business with glorious sound.  Thank the digital gods as the Wyrd makes a huge difference in this system.  So will start paying better attention to USB upgrades made by others.

 

[frizzup]

  has anyone tried PPA USB  with LPS for their computers like CAPS?

 
 
Yep, I have PPA V2 USB card in Windows 2012 R2, Philips Audioptimizer, and Jplay, powered by HD-Flex LPS
 
Works well, good upgrade from stock
 
Frizzup

 

[fredrikj]

  Hi evillamer,
are you using "dacladders i2s hdmi kit" or the "Audio-GD i2s HDMI kit" on your M7 with the Hydra?
Yesterday I replaced the RJ45 with the "Audio-GD i2s HDMI kit" by following the instructions on audio-gd homepage and ordered a Hydra Z. Crossing my fingers, hope this works! 

 
Hi lieberung,
 
I have done the same, but I also replaced the USB32 to have two I2S inputs. I also have the Audiobyte Hydra Z, but so far I have not been able to get it to work with the M7. I'm in contact with Audiobyte and progress have been made. At first I got no sound at all since the Hydra is based on 1024Fs clocking while the M7 is max 768Fs. Audiobyte made a couple of firmware iterations that I tried, and I now have sound, but it is with heavy distortion... So it's a work in progress!
 
To try it, be sure to get the latest firmware! I see there's actually a new firmware that I haven't tried, v1.04, so I will give it a try later tonight.
 
-Fredrik

 

[lieberung]

Hi lieberung,

I have done the same, but I also replaced the USB32 to have two I2S inputs. I also have the Audiobyte Hydra Z, but so far I have not been able to get it to work with the M7. I'm in contact with Audiobyte and progress have been made. At first I got no sound at all since the Hydra is based on 1024Fs clocking while the M7 is max 768Fs. Audiobyte made a couple of firmware iterations that I tried, and I now have sound, but it is with heavy distortion... So it's a work in progress!

To try it, be sure to get the latest firmware! I see there's actually a new firmware that I haven't tried, v1.04, so I will give it a try later tonight.

-Fredrik

Doh! That sucks. Not sure what 1024F vs 768F means but anyway thank you for sharing Fredrik. I really appriciate it and hope you will continue to share any progress (or lack of.. "god forbid"). Hope they manage to fix this issue soon. My dealer is expecting next shipment arriving in 14-20 days. Crossing my fingers that it works out for you until then.

 

[fredrikj]

Doh! That sucks. Not sure what 1024F vs 768F means but anyway thank you for sharing Fredrik. I really appriciate it and hope you will continue to share any progress (or lack of.. "god forbid"). Hope they manage to fix this issue soon. My dealer is expecting next shipment arriving in 14-20 days. Crossing my fingers that it works out for you until then.

 
It sure does! Just tried the v1.04 firmware, and it's the same - heavy distortion... I will keep talking to Audiobyte and hopefully they will come up with a solution!
 
Just remember to put a jumper over J22 inside the box, this puts the clock at 768Fs, so that the M7 can recognize it. I don't know if Audiobyte has documented this anywhere yet.
 
-Fredrik

 

[evillamer]

If it seems Hydra Z I2S don't work well currently then what about using other inputs like Coax AES or BNC or Optical(as temp solution)? 
 
Looks like Hydra Z is using the same driver as Hydra X(which works perfectly with M7).

 

[frizzup]

   
It sure does! Just tried the v1.04 firmware, and it's the same - heavy distortion... I will keep talking to Audiobyte and hopefully they will come up with a solution!
 
Just remember to put a jumper over J22 inside the box, this puts the clock at 768Fs, so that the M7 can recognize it. I don't know if Audiobyte has documented this anywhere yet.
 
-Fredrik

Hi fredikj,
 
Had thought of trying an Audiobyte Z as a possible step up from my Audio-GD DI-2014 I2S to my M7. But thought I needed to get another DIY I2S board from Kingwas to make the Audiobyte Z match.
 
I thought the Audio-GD I2S input board that I DIY fitted to my M7 had a different HDMI 'pin in' to the Audiobyte Z HDMI out ?. I recal Audio-GD/Kingwa stating somewhere that his board was set to match the OffRamp 5.
 
Maybe I got the wrong
 
Frizzup

 

[fredrikj]

  If it seems Hydra Z I2S don't work well currently then what about using other inputs like Coax AES or BNC or Optical(as temp solution)? 
 
Looks like Hydra Z is using the same driver as Hydra X(which works perfectly with M7).

 
AES works fine, that's the only other output I have tested. I have not had time to sit down and properly listen to it, but it works fine.
 
-Fredrik

 

[FredrikT92]

Ive bought a Audio GD Master 7 and should get it this week! Very excited! 
Is it really worth getting a Audiobyte Hydra Z or any other interface?