Very impressive mods b0bb!
A few questions:
1) Accusilicon AS318-B-100, where can this component be purchased from? This part is not available anywhere from what I searched.
2) Is anyone using I2s or is it best to use the upgraded Amanero USB in stock form and simply upgrade the power supply as noted? The Ebay link to the power supply board that was posted is dead, here is a link to the same
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274403969704
3) b0bb, are you a dedicated headphone user or is this DAC being used in a 2 channel setup? I'm curious as I would think the audible differences with these changes would seem to be more noticeable in a more critical listening headphone environment
3) Is the better route, USB or I2S? Do the all the mods listed, other than the upgraded power supply to the USB, pertain to improvement in the I2s chain as well?
4) I am not too familiar with HQ player but I thought I saw someone say they enabled this on the Sonictransporter and didn't need a separate PC? I am a set it and forget it kind of person, is it as simple as checking off a couple of boxes in the sonictransporter to enable HQplayer or is it more involved?
My current setup is ROON Sonictransporter I5>Sonore Ulratrendu>Ultradigital I2s>LKS>Anthem D2V Pre>Emotiva XPA-1L>B&W Nautilus 803
I was using the USB originally but was limited to DSD128 with ROON which is why I added the Ultradigital to the mix. The Ultradigital allowed me to go up to DSD256. Now I see that if I were to update the firmware on the USB, I could have accomplished the same thing.
I work at a company that assembles electronics printed circuit boards so I am fortunate in that regard to have the pro's with the proper equipment do mods. The B&W 803's are very transparent so I'd like to remove the glare and brightness whichever way I can. Tighter bass and more punch is what I am after. Would the 950x crystal be the better choice for me or the Accusilicon?
Thanks to all for contributing to this amazing thread!
1)
Accusilicon 100MHz AS318-B availability has become very limited, Magnahifi stills sells them
https://magnahifi.com/audio-gd-accusilicon-as318b-100mhz-femto-clock-upgrade/
CCHD950X is readily available from the usual suppliers (Mouser, Digikey, Arrow, Farnell etc)
2 and 3)
USB vs I2S really depends on whether your specific setup is quiet enough RF wise to outperform SPDIF.
Given your description of the bright sonic presentation, I am thinking that RF noise is affecting your DAC.
The Amanero is pretty good, bested by the Singxer SU6 and then only with very careful isolation of RF noise and preparation of the music source
SPDIF performance is the the baseline.
If you are prepared to do the work on I2S, it gives the best performance, however be aware the LKS has
zero RFI protection on the I2S input.
USB input is isolated, unfortunately LKS leaves the jitter removal caused by the isolator to the 9038, this overburdens the 9038 especially the DPLL
My source preparation for low noise operation is thus:
- It starts with a FCC Class B certified machine running the audio endpoint to keep below 1mV conducted noise for the music player
Forget about DIY unless you can afford FCC style EMI testing for your specific box configuration.
- Separate the player and audio renderer into different machines.
- Drive down the remainder of noise with the SU6 taking care to break the chassis ground conection between the SU6 and the PC
- Use a minimal Linux install (no X11 GUI, all non essential processes removed) as the audio player, the one I use has a memory footprint of 256-350MB when running
This reduces the non audio activity on the machine to its absolute minimum.
Linux kernel is a low-latency build.
A PC going full bore can easily send 100A (100W@1V) of current into the ground planes creating a lot of ripples as it interacts with the non zero ground plane impedance.
No amount of filtering and isolation can fix this, the recourse is to reduce the number of active processes.
The biggest CPU hog on Windows is the GUI and associated background processes
Getting rid of the GUI on Windows requires expensive options like Server Core, that is almost 2/3rd the cost of the LKS004.
(A lot of people overlook the fact that the CPU is the single biggest noise source in the system)
I recently bought a new DDC, Singxer SU2, this is a Windows only device, running Win10 20H2 with Fidelizer and the Singxer ASIO driver
There was little sonic difference between it the Amanero and the SU6.
(This is one of the reasons a few have questioned the usefulness of the more expensive SU6)
Switching back to barebones Linux made the differences between I2S (SU6) and USB (Amanero) much clearer.
SU6 vs SU2 differences not obvious on Win10, benefits of SU6 only weakly felt on Win10 eg bass slam is mildly hinted at on Win10.
On Linux SU6 was clearly ahead, bass was very fast and hit with an impact that neither SU2 or Amanero could match.
SU2 un-officially runs in DSD mode on Linux about the same level as the Amanero.
Similar performance to Linux can be expected Win Server Core 2019 or Nano Server from Windows Server 2016.
Neither has the GUI and can be configured to run very lean.
Performance overall was pretty poor on Windows Desktop versions (Home/Pro) , bass was lacking and fast transients smeared, cymbal clash was quite painful to listen.
String quartets were a wooden affair lacking musicality.
In this situation, SPDIF/AES is actually a better option as
@MartinWT mentioned especially if one is using a single box for playback and audiorendering.
LKS put some effort in isolating the SPDIF inputs.
This however limits the DAC to 192kHz sampling/DSD64 at best, the full potential of the LKS is not realized here.
It boils down to whether you can get RF noise down on I2S and USB such that performance exceeds what you get on SPDIF
(AES is just SPDIF on a differential transport)
4)
I do the initial baselines on 3 sets of headphones, Sennheiser HD800, Stax SR009 and Audeze LCD3F.
The results are directly translatable to my speaker listening environment.
My speaker setup:
Martin Logan Summit powered by Aragon Palladium 1Ks Monoblocks, differential/balanced drive to MLs.
Bass is handled by an old school Velodyne HGS18 with analog motion feedback on the cone, this is one of the very few subwoofers that can keep up
with the MLs and not muddy the sound with lots of DSP help from HQPlayer
The room has the necessary acoustic treatment (early reflections, DSP assisted time alignment via HQplayer)
I generally do not discuss the results of speaker listening due to the fact that the room exerting a large influence on the presentation.
It also depends on how tightly the acoustic environment is controlled
5)
I have not used sonic transporter with HQPlayer
I would suggest you consider using a NUC which is FCC certified or one of the audioendpoints like the uRendu or SMS200
Ultradigital is closely related to the Singxer SU1, check the metal shells on the usb inout and HDMI output are not connected.
If they are connected you might want to experiment taping the over the metal shell of the USB connector going into the PC
Before you spend time and effort on the hardware mods see if you can clean up the RF noise environment per the above.
The success criteria is a sonic improvement over SPDIF.
), I notice that HQP has a more liquid, brighter sound and Foobar has a darker, heavier sound , thicker. So, in the face of the terrifying multiconfiguration of HQP filters, could one of you please tell me which you think are the most suitable filters in search of a thicker, fuller, darker sound in this impressive HQP ...? Thanks for your opinion. Greetings to everyone from Spain ....
