[FredA]

Yep. If one wants i2s on a pi, he has to get a i2s board. Something like this :

https://www.audiophonics.fr/fr/dac-...pour-raspberry-pi-spdif-i2s-tcxo-p-15821.html

 

[XavierP56]

When I meant option b) it was with an audiophonics i2s board of course. Will I notice a huge imporvement over USB ? Is a good power supply needed or a simple USB 5V 3A power adaptor enough since my R7HE21 has isolators on HDMI input ? Thanks.

 

[PhMZ4]

If you want a decent solution for a PI with an I2S output then look at these iancanada products that will provide you with the best one can get out of a PI as of today, as the other Audiophonics board is quite limited in terms of clocking:

The FIFO reclocker hat:
https://www.audiophonics.fr/fr/dac-...ifo-pcm-32bit-768khz-dsd1024-dop-p-14758.html

And the HDMI I2S output hat on top:
https://www.audiophonics.fr/fr/dac-...i-emetteur-i2s-dsd-dop-vers-hdmi-p-15196.html

As a power supply you should be good with the Allo Shanti and its two independent rails:
https://www.audiophonics.fr/fr/alim...eaire-regulee-double-5v-3a-5v-1a-p-14009.html

 

[FredA]

When I meant option b) it was with an audiophonics i2s board of course. Will I notice a huge imporvement over USB ? Is a good power supply needed or a simple USB 5V 3A power adaptor enough since my R7HE21 has isolators on HDMI input ? Thanks.

If you have the 2021, the usb is tough to beat. Going with a Allo usbrdige sig trough usb certainly is better than a pc. The best is to do pc - > usbrige sig - > dac

 

[Currawong]

The Kitsune SU-1 I have here seems to be better than the USB, but not dramatically so. I do wonder what one of the newer/better models would be like though, such as the DI20HE.

For people waiting for the review of the R27HE, the TLDR is: Being an AIO, it's not quite as good as dedicated units -- the DAC isn't quite as clean as a TT2, and the amp isn't quite as good as my Studio Six, but I could happily listen with TOTL cans out of it exclusively. The SU-1 and HQPlayer push it just that bit further into delicious listening. The nice thing is being able to run it straight out of the wall without a power conditioner.

 

[FredA]

The Kitsune SU-1 I have here seems to be better than the USB, but not dramatically so. I do wonder what one of the newer/better models would be like though, such as the DI20HE.

For people waiting for the review of the R27HE, the TLDR is: Being an AIO, it's not quite as good as dedicated units -- the DAC isn't quite as clean as a TT2, and the amp isn't quite as good as my Studio Six, but I could happily listen with TOTL cans out of it exclusively. The SU-1 and HQPlayer push it just that bit further into delicious listening. The nice thing is being able to run it straight out of the wall without a power conditioner.

Not bad for a combo. Being compared to 6k dac plus 4k amp. The dacs and amps normally improve during the first 3 months at least. This has been my experience with audio-gd so far.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

If your gear is all Audio-GD, it should be regular HDMI, without change in pins layout. Ask the seller.

You should say audio-gd. It matters if you play dsd.

Well, my understanding is they should just give me a regular HDMI cable and I seriously doubt they make custom cables for every combination of DACs and DDCs on earth, so my point was the ad is too suspicious and I'm not going to take a chance. I'll try the aliexpress seller instead if I can ever log on....

 

[FredA]

Well, my understanding is they should just give me a regular HDMI cable and I seriously doubt they make custom cables for every combination of DACs and DDCs on earth, so my point was the ad is too suspicious and I'm not going to take a chance. I'll try the aliexpress seller instead if I can ever log on...

It possibly the same seller. A complete hdmi cable will cost more normally (a greater number of twisted pairs is needed).

 

[gimmeheadroom]

It possibly the same seller. A complete hdmi cable will cost more normally (a greater number of twisted pairs is needed).

Sure, if everybody made hundreds of varieties. But since HDMI cables for HDMI outnumber HDMI cables for IIS by probably billions and billions to one, this just feels like a scam.

 

[FredA]

Sure, if everybody made hundreds of varieties. But since HDMI cables for HDMI outnumber HDMI cables for IIS by probably billions and billions to one, this just feels like a scam.

It is no scam. An i2s cable requires only 5 twisted pairs and at least one ground line. The Audio-gd version won't play dsd with a Gustard setup. Pcm will play fine. Using pure silver makes the number of lines the determining factor to the price.

 

[jimmychan]

There are only four variants of i2s hdmi cable for DACs. I got two for my Audio-gd DAC.

 

[XavierP56]

Well... Got my https://www.audiophonics.fr/fr/dac-...pour-raspberry-pi-spdif-i2s-tcxo-p-15821.html
(Took this one because R7HE reclocks the inputs, did not see the point going with IanCanada more expansive setup)

Setup: R7HE21 in NOS mode.
HDMI Cable: Basic one
Optical : Basic cable.
Power : USB Adaptor 3A, powering both RPI3B + Audiophonics card
Software: RooPiEEE setup as HifiBerry+

It works. Is it better than USB ? Different. Less highs which is not a bad thing on my system
Not much of a difference between Optical vs I2S.

Wondering if I should:
- Upgrade the HDMI cable ? Since Optical sound the same, not sure.
- Upgrade the power supply to have a dedicated power supply for the audiophonics card.
- Do nothing.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

It is no scam. An i2s cable requires only 5 twisted pairs and at least one ground line. The Audio-gd version won't play dsd with a Gustard setup. Pcm will play fine. Using pure silver makes the number of lines the determining factor to the price.

We're gonna have to agree to agree

What I'm saying is, given normal HDMI cables are 99.9999999999% of all HDMI cables, variant pinouts are more expensive to make even though there are less lines.

A normal HDMI cable is what I want, so I have doubts, seems like buying from some ad that offers 1,000 permutations of pinouts is too risky and also, they probably expect us to pay extra to subsidize the costs of weird pinouts for the 100 people who want to run an Audio-gd DAC off a Gustard. Etc.

There are only four variants of i2s hdmi cable for DACs. I got two for my Audio-gd DAC.

Ok, well, a plain HDMI cable works. And that's what I want to buy.

 

[XavierP56]

What is puzzling is that HDMI is LVDS symetrical design which should be more immune to interferences.
So it's strange we need better HDMI cable than the basic ones...

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Basic ones work fine in many cases. But it makes sense if you want one made with some level of attention and good materials it will cost extra.