[FredA]

There are Xilinx parts on the center digital (two) and both analog boards. I believe the analog boards only get the latest update. Correct me if I am wrong @FredA.

No.

True, there are xilinx processor on the digital board, true. But no fw for them has ever been available. These are for managing the inputs and for recloking.

The xilinx that can be updated, but for which our friend has the latest fw, are on each r2r (da-7) board, two per da-7.

 

[Whitigir]

I see! Thanks @FredA . These guys servers are turtle speed...takes too long to download their software.

So there are actually 8-Xillints FPGA and 1 Cyclon ? Damn...this is madness

 

[FredA]

Regarding hissing and other defect of that sort on old recordings, the r2r 7 renders them without any mercy. I often notice hissing, distorsion ant other defects that can be heard easily on headphone and also on loudspeakers, but with more difficulty. Those defect are very rare on recent recordings.

I should add on recent quality recordings cause there are still bad ones being released.

 

[FredA]

I see! Thanks @FredA . These guys servers are turtle speed...takes too long to download their software.

So there are actually 8-Xillints FPGA and 1 Cyclon ? Damn...this is madness

As mentioned, choose an archive with just the programmer. This should take a very short time to download. There is one cyclone and 6 xilinx all in all, so 7 processors all in all.

 

[Whitigir]

As mentioned, chose an archive with just the programmer. This should take a very short time to download. There is one cyclone and 6 xilinx all in all, so 7 processors all in all.

It is still madness. Never seen so many FPGA in a DAC lol!

@FredA all r2r7 is shipped with smooth firmware right ?

 

[FredA]

It is still madness. Never seen so many FPGA in a DAC lol!

The xilinx are cheap and powerful. And they allow for implementing better reclocking and input swtiching that introduce less capacitance in the digital signal path, so this help making data transmission more accurate with timing, And it probalby cost less to produce than the previous digital board.

As for the conversion board, they need processing units as well to manage the decoding and switching of the r2r ladders.

 

[Whitigir]

Did they have previous Digital board ? What FPGA did they use

 

[FredA]

Did they have previous Digital board ? What FPGA did they use

See the old Master-7 description page, in discontinued producs. They used a previous generation of Altera FPGA. No Xilinx was used, and there was one spdif receiver per input(!), if i remember correctly plus relays to switch between the inputs. So the new design is very modern in comparison.

Not sure about the relays after looking at the pictures, but the signal path seems more complex.

 

[Whitigir]

God damn it, what in the hell is wrong with this Altera software setup....it keeps being stuck at 4% or 6%, like literally 1 hour that I keep going back and forth

Is there different version for windows 10-64 bits ? This 12.1 version is for windows 7 max

 

[FredA]

There is an update procedure relating to the older dac that can be found here:

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/NOS/NOS7/DSPupdataEN.htm.

The location and orientation of the usb blaster's connector is according this image.

 

[FredA]

God damn it, what in the hell is wrong with this Altera software setup....it keeps being stuck at 4% or 6%, like literally 1 hour that I keep going back and forth

Is there different version for windows 10-64 bits ? This 12.1 version is for windows 7 max

Not sure. But it does not mean it won't work.

And yes the r2r 7 is supposed to be shipped with the smooth fw.

 

[FredA]

For a quick download, follow this link:

https://www.altera.com/downloads/software/prog-software/121.html

The programmer is somewhere in the directories, made a post on this last year.

 

[FredA]

c:\altera\12.1\qprogrammer\bin\quartus_pgmw.exe. You have to start it by hand, the installer creates no shortcut.

 

[Whitigir]

Alright, took me a while to flash to accurate firmware with the 100% green bar ! W00T!

I don’t like 6moon setting. It is probably for some other systems and not mine. I tried it with smooth firmware (stock), and it was neutral, analytical, yet unnatural. Not exactly artificial but just not natural. Then i tried it on accurate firmware, and it gets even worse.

My favorite settings far is NOS-3 as in only Jumper S2 is on, and the rest is not. Probably old NOS as well

Yes, after the accurate firmware, the R2R-7 is no longer hissing. These became sparkling details and trebles extensions juswhat I asked for ! I blame on my system and it crazy capability for details retrieval...anyways. It has been burning in for a few good days now. Time to enjoy a bit and keep On burning in

Especially hissing reduced considerably by dithering jumper (on)

This, I got off amazon prime for the flashing of FPGA. Should be no problem even if Xillints need it

 

[barbas]

Alright, took me a while to flash to accurate firmware with the 100% green bar ! W00T!

I don’t like 6moon setting. It is probably for some other systems and not mine. I tried it with smooth firmware (stock), and it was neutral, analytical, yet unnatural. Not exactly artificial but just not natural. Then i tried it on accurate firmware, and it gets even worse.

My favorite settings far is NOS-3 as in only Jumper S2 is on, and the rest is not. Probably old NOS as well

Yes, after the accurate firmware, the R2R-7 is no longer hissing. These became sparkling details and trebles extensions juswhat I asked for ! I blame on my system and it crazy capability for details retrieval...anyways. It has been burning in for a few good days now. Time to enjoy a bit and keep On burning in

Especially hissing reduced considerably by dithering jumper (on)

This, I got off amazon prime for the flashing of FPGA. Should be no problem even if Xillints need it

Well, it seems you can now start enjoying this wonderful piece of gear...at last. Still wait for improvements as burn-in continues.

I agree, NOS3 gives me exactly all I want form this dac.

Enjoy!