[Steph86]

  My order request to Audio-GD
 

1. DI-2004 with TXCO upgrade
2. Replace RJ45 I2S output on DI-2004 with HDMI I2S output board installed
3. DI-2004 will be used to connect with my existing Audio-GD Master 7
4. NZ Power Cable/Plug
5. HDMI I2S input board with power wire/socket for DIY installation into my Master 7 DAC replacing the current RJ45 input

 
Then you need a short HDMI cable to connect the DI2014 to the Master 7.
 
Note DO NOTt insert or remove the HDMI cable from either the DI-2014 or the Master 7 with the units powered up.

 
My experience of installing the DI-2014 and HDMI
 
So my Audio-GD DI-2014 with installed HDMI output and the replacement HDMI input board for my Audio-GD M7 arrived.
 
Fitting the HDMI input board was relatively easy, only slight hitch was that the existing RJ45 board and its I2S wires had a brown gluey substance holding the plug into the onboard socket. Sharp knife to cut away the glue, then a bit of leverage with a flat blade screwdriver freed the plug from the socket. Putting the new HDMI input board into the M7 took all of 5 mins.
 
Then it was down to loading the Audio-GD supplied USB32 driver onto my JPLAY Audio-PC and hooking the DI-2014 input through my existing Double-Helix USB cable and using a new loaned 1m Wire World Ultraviolet V7 HDMI cable between the DI-2004 output and M7 input. Did this with both DI-2014 and M7 powered down as advised by Kingwa.
 
Frizzup

 
Hi Frizzup,
 
Thanks for your response, this helps me with quite a bit.  Am i right in assuming where you typed "DI-2004 with TXCO upgrade" this should be DI-2014?
What are the overall benefits and sound enhancements from going down this route? Also what's the reason for not being able to connect/remove the HDMI connection whilst the unit is powered up? 
 
Thanks

 

[frizzup]

   
Hi Frizzup,
 
Thanks for your response, this helps me with quite a bit.  Am i right in assuming where you typed "DI-2004 with TXCO upgrade" this should be DI-2014?
What are the overall benefits and sound enhancements from going down this route?
 
Thanks

Yes, sorry I did mean DI-2014
Benefits and Sound Enhancements too early for me to comment. Had the DI-2014/HDMI running for 6 days, burning-in, so have not sat down for a listening session of any duration. May have a view in a couple of weeks. It has improved notably in the last 24hours, less brittle, better staging. More time, further settling-in.
 
Frizzup

 

[Steph86]

  Yes, sorry I did mean DI-2014
Benefits and Sound Enhancements too early for me to comment. Had the DI-2014/HDMI running for 6 days, burning-in, so have not sat down for a listening session of any duration. May have a view in a couple of weeks. It has improved notably in the last 24hours, less brittle, better staging. More time, further settling-in.
 
Frizzup

Cheers

 

[DACLadder]

HDMI Cables - I ran through all my HDMI cables in the past few weeks.  I have a some final thoughts on the flat Wireworld type cables and then will shut up.
 
Cable Lengths - The shorter cables sound best.  I have two Wireworld 0.3m cables - Starlight 5.2 and Silver Starlight 7 and they both sound great.  I can't tell any difference.  The Starlight 5.2, heavily discounted, is 1/10 or less the price of the Silver Starlight 7. 
 
Flexibility - These flat type Wireworld cables are very stiff.   The 90 deg. orientation of the M7 HDMI connector requires a twist in the cable to accommodate assuming the source HDMI connector is normal (Off Ramp 5,  CIA Transient mk II).  That is hard to do with the shortest 0.3m cables.  Requires some pre-bending to attach to the Off Ramp 5 in my case.  The 0.5m cables are much better at making the twist in the short distance required.
 
Also due to the twist these flat cables will stick out the back of you equipment, are difficult to bend, and hard to wrestle in place.  And don't kink them.  The longer the flat cable the more it may extend from the rear it seems. So mounting in tight quarters may be an issue.   See below with the 0.3m WW Starlight 5.2.  For my installation the Off Ramp 5 can only sit at that exact position due to the cable stiffness.  

 
 
WW HDMI cables are directional - Look for the hard to see printed arrow indicating signal direction.   Apparently WW tests each bulk roll of cable before assembly.  The knock offs don't have this directional arrow in my experience.  But I can't tell any difference in sound one direction or the other with the stubby length cables I have.  (Edit: some models don't have arrow markings)
 
Price - The best deals on WW cables are the discontinued cables (5 -> 6 -> 7 latest).  HDMI I2S doesn't utilize Ethernet and other enhanced HDMI features offered in these latest cable models.  Look for used ones as well on eBay.
 
Experiment - Try everything you can get ahold of as far as cables.  Don't take my word for your installation.  You never know what you will discover.  But avoid the snake oil on these expensive cables especially with features you will never use for HDMI I2S.   Start with shorter cables if you can and work your way up through the food chain.  And let us know what you find!

 

[Articnoise]

Today I replaced the RJ45 board with the AGD HDMI on the Master 7 and it was a quick and easy work. The changed board have without any burn in given me a clearer and superior SQ.
 
I didn’t buy any new HDMI cable, instead I use the 1 meter long Supra I had for my DVD player and it seems to do the work very well.
 
Kudos to Audio GD for this inexpensive and wonderful upgrade and to Scott for showing the way by creating his HDMI board!  

 

[DACLadder]

 
Today I replaced the RJ45 board with the AGD HDMI on the Master 7 and it was a quick and easy work. The changed board have without any burn in given me a clearer and superior SQ.
 
I didn’t buy any new HDMI cable, instead I use the 1 meter long Supra I had for my DVD player and it seems to do the work very well.
 
Kudos to Audio GD for this inexpensive and wonderful upgrade and to Scott for showing the way by creating his HDMI board!  

Welcome to the club of better M7 sound.  Really neat to get an upgrade that has an immediate effect on SQ.  What are you using to drive HDMI I2S to the M7?  Whichever HDMI cable I tried always sounds better than USB32 or RJ45 I2S.  So really no wrong answer here that I have found - yet.

 

[Articnoise]

  Welcome to the club of better M7 sound.  Really neat to get an upgrade that has an immediate effect on SQ.  What are you using to drive HDMI I2S to the M7?  Whichever HDMI cable I tried always sounds better than USB32 or RJ45 I2S.  So really no wrong answer here that I have found - yet.

Thank you I was already onboard on the better Master 7 train with JCAT and OR5 (RJ45 I2S), but the change from this HDMI board is certainly more profound than I expected.
 
Jriver MC 20 – JCAT USB Card – JCAT USB Cable – Offramp 5 with Hynes Regulator + Teddy Prado PSU – Supra HDMI cable - Master 7 – ACSS – Master 9 – Headphones

Have you compeered the AGD HDMI to your board?

 

[DACLadder]

 
Have you compared the AGD HDMI to your board?

No I haven't done this but would be very interesting.  From the pictures both designs appear to be very similar.  Some differences in the type of passive power supply components.  So I will leave the final judgment to others with no stake in the game.  

 

[Guomapi]

I purchased a M7 recently. I heard that DI-2014 mod using battery instead of AC can make a difference.

 

[DACLadder]

I purchased a M7 recently. I heard that DI-2014 mod using battery instead of AC can make a difference.

Is there a link for this information?   I don't see it in the "Audio-gd Digital Interface" HeadFi thread.  Kingwa mentions 5 class A power supplies for the DI-2014 so wondering what, where, and why on battery operation.

 

[aive]

I ended up buying a CRO/DSO to test my DIY amp and ended up finding an issue with my M7 DAC. Initially I thought it was the amp, but it turns out that it is the DAC.
 
When I playback a square wave via PC, the DAC output seems to be over-filtered. By that I mean, it seems that the cut-off frequency on the output of the DAC is too low and is filtering out significant harmonics.
 
Since I can't directly link photos here I'll link to other my posts on other forums (hope its ok):
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/264586-kg-balanced-dynahi-diy-square-wave-ripple-issue.html#post4116429
 
I've tried USB input and optical SPDIF, same issue. The output gets worst when I lower the oversampling frequency to 4x or 1x via the DAC jumpers.
 
Anyone with an oscilloscope able to help me verify?

 

[DACLadder]

I'm sure it is the DSP filtering algorithm or something related.  In the scope capture below using Foobar2000-> Off Ramp 5-> Master 7 single ended output I get a worse looking square wave response with a 0dB signal but backing off to -10dB output the waveform cleans up.  Sampling rate is 48Khz and factory default DSP jumper settings.   Kingwa will have to explain why but suspect the filters were design to reproduce music and not necessarily test signals. 
 
A perfect square wave is the fundamental frequency plus infinite sum of odd harmonics.  A 10kHz square wave reproduced by a DAC has its first odd harmonic at 30Khz which well outside the bandpass filter at 44.1kHz and 48 kHz sampling rates.  So this is why the 10kHz square wave below at -10dB looks like a sine wave.  Can't explain the 10kHz, 0dB output other than perhaps the filter is overloaded.  A 0dB 10kHz square wave signal though is unrealistic in normal use.   
 
Master 7 - 10Khz Square Wave, 0dB, 48Khz, 16bit 

 
Master 7 - 10Khz Square Wave, -10dB, 48Khz, 16bit 

 
Master 7 - 1Khz Square Wave, 0dB, 48Khz, 16bit 

 

[aive]

 
Thanks for taking the time to do the tests DACLadder - I guess I sorta feel better it's not just me now
 
Quote:

  I'm sure it is the DSP filtering algorithm or something related.  In the scope capture below using Foobar2000-> Off Ramp 5-> Master 7 single ended output I get a worse looking square wave response with a 0dB signal but backing off to -10dB output the waveform cleans up.  Sampling rate is 48Khz and factory default DSP jumper settings.   
 

 
Yeh I agree with you - I think there is a filtering issue too. Shot him a query with waveform photos, see what he says...
 
 

Kingwa will have to explain why but suspect the filters were design to reproduce music and not necessarily test signals.

 

 
My presumption is that the measurements would correlate with the DAC's ability/performance for reproducing music. I wasn't expecting to see the "high frequency" attentuation we're measuring because of the DAC's oversampling functionality.... you'd think that with oversampling the filter cut-off frequency wouldn't affect a 1 kHz square wave that much...

 

[DACLadder]

You are correct in that oversampling should improve the square wave response at 10kHz....

 

[Clemmaster]

 
You are correct in that oversampling should improve the square wave response at 10kHz....

How so?
 
Wouldn't the interpolation filter be set at 20kHz all the same?