[prot]

Good morning to Everyone
Who is using the Melodious MX-U8 USB via its AES out ?  With which dac ?
I have tried both the spdif and the AES and prefer the AES link (cable a cheap Canare from ebay).
I got the impression that the sound with the AES link is more relaxed, less "electric" but still with all the detail in place.
In conclusion ... does the AES connection pay dividends in terms of overall musicality ?
Thanks a lot.
Have a nice day,   gino

The advantage of the AES (at least in theory) is that it's better at sending weak signals over long distances .. think microphone cables in music studios. In theory, if your ddc to dac connection is shorter than 2 meters there should not be any audible differences between aes & coax.

On my u12 I did not hear any diff between aes and coaxial (both ~1m long). But the signal quality depends on a lot of factors: e.g. your Dac's Aes input may be better than the coaxial input. So your mileage may vary considerably and unless you find someone with the exact same gear, their impressions will not be very relevant to your setup.

And btw, Canare makes very good cables which are build to spec (i.e. 110 ohm impedance for digital aes cables) and widely used in many studios .. I wont worry about those.

 

[ginetto61]

 
The advantage of the AES (at least in theory) is that it's better at sending weak signals over long distances .. think microphone cables in music studios.

In theory, if your ddc to dac connection is shorter than 2 meters there should not be any audible differences between aes & coax. 
On my u12 I did not hear any diff between aes and coaxial (both ~1m long).

 
Good afternoon !  thanks a lot for the very kind and helpful advice.
Yes. The cable is 1.5 meter long.  I was reading about a better noise rejection of the balanced connection and about the fact that the AES signal is higher V than spdif and this should lead to a better S/N ratio.   But as you say this could be evident only for long cables in noise polluted environment.
 

But the signal quality depends on a lot of factors: e.g. your Dac's Aes input may be better than the coaxial input.
So your mileage may vary considerably and unless you find someone with the exact same gear, their impressions will not be very relevant to your setup.

 
I have an Apogee Rosetta 200 that i think it is the best one.  Then i have also a Hegel HD10 but without AES input unfortunately. Only spdif.
Then i have also a cheap Behringer src2496 in another place with also AES but i have still to test it.  It is cheap.
I tried the Melodious with the Apogee via AES.  The best sound i have ever got at home. Via spdif the sound was also quite good but still AES sounded more relaxed to me.
Quote:

And btw, Canare makes very good cables which are build to spec (i.e. 110 ohm impedance for digital aes cables) and widely used in many studios .. I wont worry about those.

 
Very good !  i have the cheapest from Canare i guess (i.e. DA202).   Actually i am using it also for analog XLR connections and it works fine also for that.
Thanks a lot again. 
Regards, gino

 

[prot]

Before the U12 thread went funky I had an unaswered driver questions there .. since this is the only active DDC thread maybe you guys can help me.
A few people mentioned a 3.xx Xmos driver for the Breeze. Does anyone know if there is an equivalent XMOS 3.xx driver for the U12? (Latest I know is 2.26)

P.S.
Sorry everyone for my role in the u12-thread story, I certainly didnt want that thread closed. I own & enjoy an U12 and got a lot of useful info from that thread .. including from rb2013 (btw, if you read this maybe you can pm me and I'm sure we can take care of whatever made you so angry.)
Anyway .. hope this thread will live a long life and be much friendlier to people with different gear, ears, experience & opinions.

 

[abartels]

Before the U12 thread went funky I had an unaswered driver questions there .. since this is the only active DDC thread maybe you guys can help me.
A few people mentioned a 3.xx Xmos driver for the Breeze. Does anyone know if there is an equivalent XMOS 3.xx driver for the U12? (Latest I know is 2.26)

P.S.
Sorry everyone for my role in the u12-thread story, I certainly didnt want that thread closed. I own & enjoy an U12 and got a lot of useful info from that thread .. including from rb2013 (btw, if you read this maybe you can pm me and I'm sure we can take care of whatever made you so angry.)
Anyway .. hope this thread will live a long life and be much friendlier to people with different gear, ears, experience & opinions.

 
Can happen, no sweat

 , we're all on a learning curve, that's why we call ourselves human

 
You could try to port the 3.0 driver to the Breeze, change the UID/PID's
 
Regards,
 
Alex

 

[abartels]

Btw, did you guys heard of, and maybe demoed Acoustic Revive RR-777 / RR-888
 
https://www.acoustic-revive.com/english/roomtuning/rr-77.html
 
There's a Patend pending, hmm, just received my own designed pcb's today,,,,,, not sure if they can sue me because I use different schematics, different Chip,,,,,,
 
 


 

 

[abartels]

Just build the Schumann resonator, first listening test is disappointing, no difference at full power, at 7m listening position from my speakers with SR at 2m hight in-between speakers,
but also no difference when SR is sitting next to me on the couch 

 
Will test more this week, but for now it's getting a no go for me.
 
Regards,
 
Alex

 

[prot]

Btw, here's the new must-have device
http://intona.eu/en/products
USB isolator for 2.0 with full 480mbs compatibility. According to various threads it's the new king of Usb .. the CA people are especially wow wow .. but then, those guys are like 'wow wow night&day' about any new device.

Since I never heard diffs from any of the Usb cables & gadgets I ever tested, I wont pay the bill. But maybe someone does and posts a few impressions.

P.S.
the aussies seem to have a similar isolator too but not sure if it was relesed
http://www.silanna.com/usb.html

 

[abartels]

Btw, here's the new must-have device
http://intona.eu/en/products
USB isolator for 2.0 with full 480mbs compatibility. According to various threads it's the new king of Usb .. the CA people are especially wow wow .. but then, those guys are like 'wow wow night&day' about any new device.

Since I never heard diffs from any of the Usb cables & gadgets I ever tested, I wont pay the bill. But maybe someone does and posts a few impressions.

P.S.
the aussies seem to have a similar isolator too but not sure if it was relesed
http://www.silanna.com/usb.html

 
USB isolation indeed is important, tested several options when designing my dac, and yes, it sounds very different, isolation is the way to go for.
Wil inquire at Silanna if they have it available.
 
Thanks for the link,
 
Regards,
 
 
Alex

 

[ahendler]

with my MacBook Pro to Melodius to Master 7 a jitterbug, Disruptor and Regan. The jitterbug made no change in sound. The disruptor no change. The Regen with an external power supply a very small but noticeable change. Tried thi Intona galvanic isolator and it is a very noticible improvement in sound. I tried the Regen after the Intona and it made the sound worse. The Regen into the isolater again improved the sound a little more. I recommend the Intona very much
Alan

 

[prot]

USB isolation indeed is important, tested several options when designing my dac, and yes, it sounds very different, isolation is the way to go for.
Wil inquire at Silanna if they have it available.

Thanks for the link,

Regards,


Alex

Isolation is surely very important but since I never heard any diffs or Usb noise I assume my Dac is very well isolated. According to the specsheet it uses a m2tech 2.0 Usb interface.

Good luck with the aussies, that looks like a serious semiconductor company .. would be cool to have the first Dac with full usb 2.0 isolation.

 

[abartels]

  with my MacBook Pro to Melodius to Master 7 a jitterbug, Disruptor and Regan. The jitterbug made no change in sound. The disruptor no change. The Regen with an external power supply a very small but noticeable change. Tried thi Intona galvanic isolator and it is a very noticible improvement in sound. I tried the Regen after the Intona and it made the sound worse. The Regen into the isolater again improved the sound a little more. I recommend the Intona very much
Alan

 
Thanks Alan, that is exactly what others also experienced!! The Intona obviously surpasses the SQ of the Regen.

 

[abartels]

 

USB isolation indeed is important, tested several options when designing my dac, and yes, it sounds very different, isolation is the way to go for.
Wil inquire at Silanna if they have it available.

Thanks for the link,

Regards,


Alex

Isolation is surely very important but since I never heard any diffs or Usb noise I assume my Dac is very well isolated. According to the specsheet it uses a m2tech 2.0 Usb interface.

Good luck with the aussies, that looks like a serious semiconductor company .. would be cool to have the first Dac with full usb 2.0 isolation.

 
Silanna is a Semiconducter manufacturer, they don't have complete solution.
 
I am not redesigning my DAC with built-in usb isolator since this technique asks for seperated psu design(s).
In the future it could be an option when deciding to design a complete input pcb (USB) with isolation. But, for now I chose the option to include an "off the shelve design".
 
It makes it very easy to exchange with a newer version when available. In this regard I also chose for the DAC pcb I used. If AK4497SEQ is available, AK4495SEQ can be replaced with it.

 

[prot]

Silanna is a Semiconducter manufacturer, they don't have complete solution.

That also sounds like an opportunity, doesnt it? You can use the Silanna chip(s) to build your own Usb isolator with proper clocks, regeneration, etc.

Btw, the 'recommended' setup at CA nowadays seems to be PC - Intona - Regen - DDC - DAC .. of course with a clean LPS for each one of those. That's a lot of money and a giant pile of cables and headaches .. and a sign of a pretty serious USB paranoia which needs a better product to adress it

 

[MINORISUKE]

A new chassis:

 

 

[m0reilly]

USB paranoia 

haha, indeed. if it's not one thing it's another...what's a mother to do...