[John O.]

John O. can you please send me a PM with details/cost of your I2S cable builder, in case they could make me one?
The NSD upgrade I2S cable is EUR1050 after discount!

Rosgr63 I am also using the NSD transport. The biggest cable improvement came for going from the stock CAT5 network cable provided with the NSD pair to a DIY silver cable. The NSD set-up uses a common ground, so only 5 connections are made. The cable is easy to make:

28 ga. soft annealed silver (6N)
26 ga. teflon tubing
Two RJ45 plugs
RJ45 crimping tool (Radio Shack or other)
Techflex & heat shrink to finish.

I add braided copper shield to mine (I had the parts and makes the cable more durable). My finished cable is 1 meter in length.

Depending on where you source the parts, the whole thing can be put together for less than $75 and 1-2 hours of time.

Later, I upgraded the connectors to high grade 5 pin DIN and bypassed the RJ 45 - Note: this added significant cost & had least impact on sonics, but I like the idea of a more solid connection.

The improvement this cable made in my system was clearly audible - IMHO, YMMV, etc,etc.

 

[rosgr63]

Fallen Angel don't get me wrong, I am not disputing the pros of I2S over SPDIF.
I am just stating what I found out in my system.
I believe a cable in the simple version mentioned by John O would improve the SQ

 

[reverendo]

Hi there,
still relatively new to this forum.
I recently purchased the NSD 192MkII and am loving it, though now I'll have to upgrade the rest of the system....

I am using it with the Squeezebox Duet Receiver and the info regarding the NSD only accepting 24/192 over I2S is very valuable, since I was seriously considering modding my SBR to output I2S.
I am under the impression that I'm subutilizing my DAC, since I'm not using what most people consider to be it's best feature, the I2S input. I would even consider switching to PC Audio if need be in order to get the most out of it.
Empirical Audio's Off-Ramp seems way too expensive and now I'm trying to consider other options.
I'll be waiting for John O.'s considerations regarding the TeraDak-X + Metronome, since both together are still rather inexpensive compared to the EA Off-Ramp.
Does anybody have other ideas? Is the difference between the inputs worth investing? Is there any way I could use my SB, even if I had to mod it? Maybe the modded SB + Metronome would be the way?
Any input would be great.
Thanks in advance
best regards
André

 

[dvmis]

Quote:

PIN : Definition
8 : Bit Clock
7 : Bit Clock Ground
6 : Data
5 : Data Ground
4 : Left/Right Word Clock
3 : Left/Right Word Clock Ground
2 : Master Clock
1 : Master Clock Ground

I can confirm that this PIN definition is correct for NorthStar 192K DAC. I have sucesfully connected it to WaveIO by Lucian USB card and sound is very sweet over my Plinius amplification. In addition NorthStar I2S plays all frequencies from 44.1 to 192 - there is no issues except when switching frequencies I need to turn the input port on and off. Any questions let me know via forum.

 

[taiquanhui]

Hello, sir
How can I confirm the pins number you indicate from 1 to 8?

 

[taiquanhui]

PIN : Definition

8 : Bit Clock

7 : Bit Clock Ground

6 : Data

5 : Data Ground

4 : Left/Right Word Clock

3 : Left/Right Word Clock Ground

2 : Master Clock

1 : Master Clock Ground

Hello, sir, thank you so much, but could you please tell me how you define pin numbers crom 1 to 8, which is pin number 1?

 

[FallenAngel]

Hello, sir, thank you so much, but could you please tell me how you define pin numbers crom 1 to 8, which is pin number 1?