[aive]

I tried different jumper settings for months and finally went back to the default settings.  I got better bass and more focused soundstage.  With PLL bypass you need a low jitter source for best results.  YMMV but give them a try!   Never know what you will discover.

Did you find an improvement disabling PLL with OR5? Thought the OR5 has super clocks?

I'm looking to get Ian's i2s FIFO and reclocking board when it becomes available on DIYA and bypass the M7 PLL.

 

[DACLadder]

Did you find an improvement disabling PLL with OR5? Thought the OR5 has super clocks?

I'm looking to get Ian's i2s FIFO and reclocking board when it becomes available on DIYA and bypass the M7 PLL.

With the turboclocked OR5 HDMI I2S and M7 PLL bypass I had less edgy vocals but at the expense of a fuzzier soundstage and slightly less bass. Very slight but noticeable difference.  I ran this way for months and liked what I heard.  Switched back and believe I like the M7 best with all jumpers at default.  Big soundstage and good bass.  But encourage you to give it a try!
 
I have my name on the list for Ian's FiFo and reclocking designs.  Looks interesting but a very long wait.  I was gong to see if I could improve on the OR5 HDMI I2S.  But the lower the jitter source feeding the M7 the better it sounds.  That aspect I have proved to myself many times.     

 

[JAGS]

  I tried different jumper settings for months and finally went back to the default settings.  I got better bass and more focused soundstage.  With PLL bypass you need a low jitter source for best results.  YMMV but give them a try!   Never know what you will discover.
 
On HDMI I2S use the best cable you can afford plus shorter cables have lower jitter.   The best deal I have found on quality cables is a Wireworld Startlight 5.2 (red).  The 5.2 is twice removed from the current 7 series of WW cables and if you can find them heavily discounted.  You can pick up 1-ft Starlight 5.2s for about $40 US.   1-ft is really short if it works for your setup.  Just Google search "wireworld starlight 5.2 hdmi closeout".  The Startlight 5.2 HDMI compares favorably to the Silver Starlight 6.   The Ultraviolet 5.2 HDMI is not as good IMO.   But I use a Ultraviolet USB cable and is plenty good. 

 
Thanks for your HDMI advise, now using 1.2ft cheapest HDMI cable I could find. Will experience what difference it will make. 

 

[DACLadder]

   
Thanks for your HDMI advise, now using 1.2ft cheapest HDMI cable I could find. Will experience what difference it will make. 

With very short HDMI cables you may get good performance at low cost.  But if you run longer HDMI cables you better use the best you can afford.  I liked Wireworld cables as I could find jitter test reports which demonstrated with a given cable family/ type you get lower jitter with shortest cables.  The Master 7 responds very well to low jitter sources.
 
I am currently using a 1.0m Apollo AV house cable (Lightning V2, silver plated wire at $21.45) which looks like it was built by Wireworld.   It sounds very good but my favorite HDMI cable is the 0.3m WW Silver Starlight 6.  The Starlight 5.2 is a close 2nd with virtually identical sound.     

 

[DACLadder]

I'm dissapointed in the USB issue (which may just be an issue with my unit). I've been using USB since I got the unit and I've always thought there was an issue with my ears as the soundstage always seemed slightly left of centre. After switching to SPDIF I'm relieved to find that the soundstage is in the centre and more importantly my ears are fine - trust your ears ppl! Using speakers now btw.

We have all been disappointed with USB32.  Kingwa should scrap that design and work on an improved version. 

 

[JAGS]

To confirm the jumper settings after measuring myself:
 
IPS0:OFF, IPS1:OFF = 8x Oversampling
IPS0:ON, IPS1:ON = 1x Oversampling (NOS with DSP turns on)
Bypass:ON = NOS (DSP Off) 
 
I have measured the 1kHz wave using my BS-Node-I2S to HDMI and it shows a good wave form (No AM wave)
 
For now I leave my settings to the undocumented NOS setting (IPS0+IPS1=ON), -130dB, PLL, DIT, DSP enabled.
Compared to DSP Bypassed there is more spaciousness and depth but like 1x OS as it feels a bit more relaxed compared to default settings.
 
Wondering if the jumper settings for filtering are correct on AGD website now.

 

[evillamer]

To confirm the jumper settings after measuring myself:

IPS0:OFF, IPS1:OFF = 8x Oversampling
IPS0:ON, IPS1:ON = 1x Oversampling (NOS with DSP turns on)
Bypass:ON = NOS (DSP Off) 

I have measured the 1kHz wave using my BS-Node-I2S to HDMI and it shows a good wave form (No AM wave)

For now I leave my settings to the undocumented NOS setting (IPS0+IPS1=ON), -130dB, PLL, DIT, DSP enabled.
Compared to DSP Bypassed there is more spaciousness and depth but like 1x OS as it feels a bit more relaxed compared to default settings.

Wondering if the jumper settings for filtering are correct on AGD website now.

You should email your findings to audio-gd@126.com

Kingwa is very prompt and will update his website.

 

[aive]

  I have measured the 1kHz wave using my BS-Node-I2S to HDMI and it shows a good wave form (No AM wave)
 

 
Try with a higher wave frequency, e.g. 20 Khz.

 

[JAGS]

   
Try with a higher wave frequency, e.g. 20 Khz.

 
Yes..you are right...tested with 10, 16 and 20kHz and all look good via I2S input. No problem.

 

[aive]

Yes..you are right...tested with 10, 16 and 20kHz and all look good via I2S input. No problem.

Nice. I look forward to getting my i2s on!

Will retest the IPS0 ON and IPS1 OFF test later today to determine OS rate. I thought it was 8x but I can't actually remember and that is annoying me lol...

So went back and redid measurement with IPS0 ON and IPS1 OFF (which is meant to be 1x OS as per the manual):
 

1.  
2. As you can see, there's 16 samples/steps per period, which is 4 x OS (sorry, no idea how I came up with figure of "8x" when I first did the test). You'd expect to see only 4 samples per period if it was NOS (10 kHz sine wave @ 44.1 kHz sample rate).

 
With IPS0 ON and IPS1 ON:

1. 
2. Same test .wav file - 4 samples per period = NOS.  

 

[aive]

  With the turboclocked OR5 HDMI I2S and M7 PLL bypass I had less edgy vocals but at the expense of a fuzzier soundstage and slightly less bass. Very slight but noticeable difference.  I ran this way for months and liked what I heard.  Switched back and believe I like the M7 best with all jumpers at default.  Big soundstage and good bass.  But encourage you to give it a try!
 

 
Odd, I'd of expected more from the OR5 with M7 PLL bypassed (given the price and claimed specs of the OR5), but there may be a number of other factors involved so who knows... I'm hoping Ian's FIFO will improve things but won't know till I remeasure.

 

[decapitate85]

   
Did you install the XO board into the Master-7 and did you notice any difference? 

 
no, actually I didn't. Anyway I wanted to install it on the DI-2014 since I have PLL disabled on M7, but when I opened the DI-2014 the one installed inside of it seemed much better and decided not to proceed. It is now waiting on the shelf to be installed on another eletronic device.

 

[JAGS]

Kingwa confirmed: 
1x OS jumper setting is IPS0:ON and IPS1:ON
8x OS jumper setting is IPS:OFF and IPS1:OFF

 

[DACLadder]

  Odd, I'd of expected more from the OR5 with M7 PLL bypassed (given the price and claimed specs of the OR5), but there may be a number of other factors involved so who knows... I'm hoping Ian's FIFO will improve things but won't know till I remeasure.

I did jumper experiments for months and it is just my preference.   From what I remember jumper changes from stock warmed the sound at the expense of smearing the soundstage and less bass.  Very slight but noticeable changes.   With PLL bypass I am still using a cable to deliver clocks to the M7 which introduces jitter.
 
You scope captures are very interesting.  How are the other jumpers set besides oversampling?   Looks like the image filtering is set much higher than 22.05Khz for 44.1kHz sampling rate.

 

[evillamer]

For those interested in tweaking/improving your AGD DAC, this guide is explains the technical stuff and is not too "engineer-english":
 
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/diginterf1_e.html
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/diginterf2_e.html
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/jitter1_e.html
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/jitter2_e.html
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/jitter3_e.html