[KESM]

Anyone own or demoed the mini version of this DAC? aka LKS Audio MH-DA004 Mini DAC

 

[rettib2001]

I'm still on the hunt for a way to get an i2s feed into the 004 without usb being involved at all (I'm currently using a modded singxer and the on-board amanero board).

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...-transmitter-i2s-dsd-dop-to-hdmi-p-13982.html

The above product, connected to its corresponding reclocking board seems great but as per usual the setback seems to be the pinout arrangement which doesn't match lks's as it's setup for ps audio/audio gd.

Question aimed at the more technically minded subscribers of this thread: how difficult would it be to modify to the appropriate pinout?

 

[xiamen]

I'm still on the hunt for a way to get an i2s feed into the 004 without usb being involved at all (I'm currently using a modded singxer and the on-board amanero board).

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...-transmitter-i2s-dsd-dop-to-hdmi-p-13982.html

The above product, connected to its corresponding reclocking board seems great but as per usual the setback seems to be the pinout arrangement which doesn't match lks's as it's setup for ps audio/audio gd.

Question aimed at the more technically minded subscribers of this thread: how difficult would it be to modify to the appropriate pinout?

The Sonore Signature Series Rendu has ethernet input and i2s output. But even Sonore is moving away to usb based setup with their new offerings. I feel usb has come a long way and I don't know you gain much by trying to avoid them. Often it's a 2 edge sword. The pink faun i2s pcie for example is limited to 192k pcm and cannot do native dsd. A lot of reclocking cards has usb in their architecture anyway, and even if not you wonder with a cheap one like the one on audiophonics whether it's using good components.

 

[b0bb]

I'm still on the hunt for a way to get an i2s feed into the 004 without usb being involved at all (I'm currently using a modded singxer and the on-board amanero board).

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...-transmitter-i2s-dsd-dop-to-hdmi-p-13982.html

The above product, connected to its corresponding reclocking board seems great but as per usual the setback seems to be the pinout arrangement which doesn't match lks's as it's setup for ps audio/audio gd.

Question aimed at the more technically minded subscribers of this thread: how difficult would it be to modify to the appropriate pinout?

You will need to connect pin 14 of the HDMI connector to ground.
This gives you PCM only playback.

LKS follows the PS-Audio layout if you are outputting PCM except the master clock connection is not needed.

 

[rettib2001]

Thanks for the replies.

Perhaps I should stop focusing too much on i2s.

The solution you suggested b0bb doesn't seem to hard to put in place but I really need to be able to use DSD upsampling (the recent addition of the EC modulators in hqplayer are really something).

Even with the recent firmware the amanero board makes an alarming 'pop' when sample rates are changed, having recently changed my speakers I can't take the risk.

I'll turn my attention back to the Singxer su-1 and implement a few of the absorbtion tweaks mentioned earlier in the thread to optimize it a little more.

 

[MartinWT]

If it helps, I was focussing on I2S playback but problems with the lack of muting finally killed it for me (thumps at start and end of each track), together with hearing what the Mutec MC-3+ USB reclocker could do in my system.

Now I feed USB to the Mutec, which is a fantastic reclocker, and then AES to the LKS. This setup sounds better than I2S ever did, and thankfully the AES input is properly muted.

 

[b0bb]

If it helps, I was focussing on I2S playback but problems with the lack of muting finally killed it for me (thumps at start and end of each track), together with hearing what the Mutec MC-3+ USB reclocker could do in my system.

Now I feed USB to the Mutec, which is a fantastic reclocker, and then AES to the LKS. This setup sounds better than I2S ever did, and thankfully the AES input is properly muted.

This is one of the reasons I consider the LKS I2S implementation sub-par.
The other major gripe is the Pin14 DSDOE hack which makes it incompatible with more than a few USB to I2S boxes (U16, Matrix etc)

Singxer appears to be the only manufacturer willing to address the LKS I2S quirks.
Initial versions of SU-1 on the MH-DA003 also had very similar muting and thump issues you described.

Current SU-1 boxes are considerably more refined but not perfect, I still get occasional howling and screeching sounds as the SU-1 flushes its audio buffers when a track is stopped and restarted.
This happens with DSD512 or DSD256 on my 004.

The SU-6 has largely fixed these issues described above, there is still minor clicking sounds when the sample rate basis (44k/48k) is changed.
I have been using the SU-6 for about 2 months.

HQPlayer is one of the very few players able to upsample, apply room correction and output playback to DSD512 and have the end result that is an improvement over the original.

2 channel DSD512@24MHz is just under 60Mbit/s.
I2S is the only thing with high enough bandwidth to accept this.

DSD512 on the Amanero is still a work in progress.

 

[rettib2001]

If it helps, I was focussing on I2S playback but problems with the lack of muting finally killed it for me (thumps at start and end of each track), together with hearing what the Mutec MC-3+ USB reclocker could do in my system.

Now I feed USB to the Mutec, which is a fantastic reclocker, and then AES to the LKS. This setup sounds better than I2S ever did, and thankfully the AES input is properly muted.

I'm not too surprised by your results.

If it weren't for needing the ability to upsample I'd have looked at other solutions.

In fact I've been using a Nvidia Shield tv with a lpsu and a glass optical cable and it sounds more 'natural' that usb playing back the same redbook files.

 

[xiamen]

I'm not too surprised by your results.

If it weren't for needing the ability to upsample I'd have looked at other solutions.

In fact I've been using a Nvidia Shield tv with a lpsu and a glass optical cable and it sounds more 'natural' that usb playing back the same redbook files.

The new hqplayer ec modulators are really resource hungry. My i7 8700 with 1660 ti can upsample only to 128k.

 

[rettib2001]

The new hqplayer ec modulators are really resource hungry. My i7 8700 with 1660 ti can upsample only to 128k.

That's what I keep reading yes. I'm building an i9 9900k for upsampling duties and using a nuc as an endpoint, both running under audiolinux.

 

[littlexx26]

I wonder if 9900k still enough for the task

 

[xiamen]

I wonder if 9900k still enough for the task

Enough to upsample to 256k. For 512K, you need a CPU with turbo frequency of 8MHz. Neither Intel or AMD has come up with that yet.

 

[Xoverman]

This is one of the reasons I consider the LKS I2S implementation sub-par.
The other major gripe is the Pin14 DSDOE hack which makes it incompatible with more than a few USB to I2S boxes (U16, Matrix etc)

Singxer appears to be the only manufacturer willing to address the LKS I2S quirks.
Initial versions of SU-1 on the MH-DA003 also had very similar muting and thump issues you described.

Current SU-1 boxes are considerably more refined but not perfect, I still get occasional howling and screeching sounds as the SU-1 flushes its audio buffers when a track is stopped and restarted.
This happens with DSD512 or DSD256 on my 004.

The SU-6 has largely fixed these issues described above, there is still minor clicking sounds when the sample rate basis (44k/48k) is changed.
I have been using the SU-6 for about 2 months.

HQPlayer is one of the very few players able to upsample, apply room correction and output playback to DSD512 and have the end result that is an improvement over the original.

2 channel DSD512@24MHz is just under 60Mbit/s.
I2S is the only thing with high enough bandwidth to accept this.

DSD512 on the Amanero is still a work in progress.

Hello it's been quite long,
Bobb, can you please report the sonic differences you experienced in the last 2 months between the SU-1 vs SU-6 using i2s ?

I use a SU-1 myself. I olso experimented a little with some mod's.
1. Installing Sorbathan feet, and setting it on a concrete stone. ( sonic improvement )
2. Filling the SU-1 with quartzsand. ( big sonic improvement )
3. Remove the sand and installed ss7805 and SS1117-3.3 from sparkoslabs.com ( same sonic improvement as SU-1 with sand )
4. Fillid the SU-1 with quartzsand again . ( big sonic improvement over just the ss7805 and SS1117-3.3 )

I didn't try the RF sheets jet, that's the next experiment.

 

[Xoverman]

Hi, maybe some one has an idea using HQPlayer and NAA.
does’ anyone have good experience up sampling DSD64 (SACD) to DSD512.
I can’t find any combination that sounds better then bypassing DSD directly to the DAC ( es9038Pro ).
Sending DSD directly to the DAC has better Transients, and deeper soundstage.
Up sampling PCM to DSD has a big Sonic impact . Everything is improved with PCM.

My Chain:
PC ( Rayzen 7 3800x ) ---USB---> iFi Micro ---USB---> Singxer SU-6 ---HDMI---> DAC ( L.K.S Audio MH-DA004 Dual ES9038pro ) ----> Accuphase E-470

 

[Lennym]

FWIW I am using JRiver to upsample all pcm files to 352.8 and 384 with very nice results.