[Currawong]

Osx forces updates on you

OT, but this is totally incorrect. I can run any compatible version of OSX/macos on my 2012 mini that I choose, at any time. I do use a Raspberry Pi with a Schiit Wyrd in one set-up though.

 

[FredA]

OT, but this is totally incorrect. I can run any compatible version of OSX/macos on my 2012 mini that I choose, at any time. I do use a Raspberry Pi with a Schiit Wyrd in one set-up though.

The use case was this one: i needed to update an ipad from version 8 to the latest one. For this, i needed a recent itunes, which in turn was forcing me to get Sierra or whatever comes after Yosemite. I am done with Apple computers. I now update and maintain my ipad from a pc running Windows 8 and i will for as long as i am able too.

A pi running volumio beats a mac mini running Audirvana on osx hands down, no doubt whatsoever. And i will soon add a cheap lps which should make things even more in favor of the pi.

The pi has better depth, bass, and is more analog. Been listening to it for three nights in a row until midnight. Can’t get enough of it.

 

[davidnow]

I like pi too and like to play with it, reminds me of the LEGO of my youth I use the RJ45 input and picoreplayer.
I choosed another path though, you might want to explore : to avoid the signal conversion to USB, I pick the I2S from Kali reclocker and feed an I2S -> HDMI audio-gd module, then directly to R2R7. I even added an allo isolator module. Result is quite nice. Kind of quick and dirty Magna Mano streamer though not as refined.

 

[FredA]

I like pi too and like to play with it, reminds me of the LEGO of my youth I use the RJ45 input and picoreplayer.
I choosed another path though, you might want to explore : to avoid the signal conversion to USB, I pick the I2S from Kali reclocker and feed an I2S -> HDMI audio-gd module, then directly to R2R7. I even added an allo isolator module. Result is quite nice. Kind of quick and dirty Magna Mano streamer though not as refined.

I thought of doing this. Ideally, at least two transfos should be used and fancy regulators. The kali has only one clock instead of separate clocks for 44/48 on the f-1, which is a conpromise, i find.

The main idea is to really separate the pre-galvanic side from the post galvanic side. Using many transfos is specifically for that purpose. The output stage (kali+hdmi) should use it’s own transfo and two regulated sources of very high quality. The transfos of course should have their own compartment, Doing all this, you likely match or beat the Mano. I am not sure how many many oscillators there are in the mano. Using two could give it the edge.

Better results can possibly be obtained with the f-1, using the same architecture. Taking care of impedance matching for internal usb transmission and using a 2-3 transfo and several linear sources. So 2 transfos at least, one for the pi and galvanic isolator dirty side (two sources), one source (and transfo maybe) for the f-1 dirty side and a second or third transfo for the f-1 clean side and hdmi module, with again separate sources.

Anyway, again last night, i could not believe how good my setup sounded.

 

[davidnow]

As far as I can understand English, there are 2 clocks on the Kali and you can see them on the picture of the board on the allo website. There are 2 clocks also in the Mano but better clocks than Kali. Some people have managed to change the clocks on the Kali but I think you have to adjust other components.
The Allo isolator needs its own power so I guess the pi will power the dirty side of the isolator and the isolator will power the clean side.

 

[FredA]

As far as I can understand English, there are 2 clocks on the Kali and you can see them on the picture of the board on the allo website. There are 2 clocks also in the Mano but better clocks than Kali. Some people have managed to change the clocks on the Kali but I think you have to adjust other components.
The Allo isolator needs its own power so I guess the pi will power the dirty side of the isolator and the isolator will power the clean side.

You are right, my mistake.The clocks are ndks. They are very good, close to the Crysteks.The power supply quality is very important for the i2s output. You need a separate transfo ideally. And the cabling to the hdmi module has to minimize rise time and interference, and have to be impedance-matched or be kept very short. As said, i would use 2 linear supplies there, one for the Kali, one for the hdmi module.

Another concern is to have the Kali as master. If so, output jitter can be made utltimately low, otherwise, it can't be as good. I don't know about this, i think the pi is the master from the description. If so, the f-1 can sound better because it utilizes asynchronous communication. The 4ps jitter figure sort of confirm my analysis, cause the oscillators themselves have better specs than this.

 

[DACLadder]

Now that the firmware dust has settled I am really enjoying V2 Accurate 8x OS on not only the R2R 7 (R7) but the Master 7 Singularities as well (both of them!). A few months ago I had way too many equipment changes going on at the same time to make much sense. My head was swimming with more confusion that normal! . I learned my lesson - only one change at a time. Had to go back to "Square 1" with first the Master 7s and re-evaluate each change and upgrade.

Audio GDs R2R DACs seem to be slow shipping compared to their NFB products. Cost is a big factor I am sure. The R2R 7 is wonderful! Great DAC that is extremely versatile in sound character.

 

[Chopin75]

The use case was this one: i needed to update an ipad from version 8 to the latest one. For this, i needed a recent itunes, which in turn was forcing me to get Sierra or whatever comes after Yosemite. I am done with Apple computers. I now update and maintain my ipad from a pc running Windows 8 and i will for as long as i am able too.

A pi running volumio beats a mac mini running Audirvana on osx hands down, no doubt whatsoever. And i will soon add a cheap lps which should make things even more in favor of the pi.

The pi has better depth, bass, and is more analog. Been listening to it for three nights in a row until midnight. Can’t get enough of it.

Interesting, is that improvement when comparing Audirvana running on Sierra without direct mode or with Direct mode on yosemite. I pretty give up on audirvana unfortunately due to lack of direct mode on Sierra and also lack of direct mode on latest Macbooks. There is no way around it so the sound becomes crappy with Sierra and on my new Macbook Pro.
Sorry I may not be good in DIY computers, so how do you get your hard drive to connect to the Raspberry ? Via USB. I don['t see a SATA dock for something like the 2.5' Sata drive. What is the CPU for it, if that applies at all, e.g duo core? i4 or i5 and how much RAM ?

 

[FredA]

Interesting, is that improvement when comparing Audirvana running on Sierra without direct mode or with Direct mode on yosemite. I pretty give up on audirvana unfortunately due to lack of direct mode on Sierra and also lack of direct mode on latest Macbooks. There is no way around it so the sound becomes crappy with Sierra and on my new Macbook Pro.
Sorry I may not be good in DIY computers, so how do you get your hard drive to connect to the Raspberry ? Via USB. I don['t see a SATA dock for something like the 2.5' Sata drive. What is the CPU for it, if that applies at all, e.g duo core? i4 or i5 and how much RAM ?

Google rpi 3b+, you will find the specs easily. I don't remember the brand but the processor is a 4 core and runs at 1.4 Ghz,There is only 1 Gb or ram, no harddrive per se just an sd card to hold the OS. You can attach a usb drive or access a network drive through ethernet or wifi. There are all sorts of possibilities. Setting it up is easy, It beats Yosemite with direct mode using the Volumio sw. The OS is optimized for audio and is very lean, Otherwise, i will still rip my cds on the mac and access the drive attached to the pi using a disk mount through wifi to write the new audio files to it. The user i/f is a web interface you can access via any tablet, phone or computer. It works very well.

 

[FredA]

Now that the firmware dust has settled I am really enjoying V2 Accurate 8x OS on not only the R2R 7 (R7) but the Master 7 Singularities as well (both of them!). A few months ago I had way too many equipment changes going on at the same time to make much sense. My head was swimming with more confusion that normal! . I learned my lesson - only one change at a time. Had to go back to "Square 1" with first the Master 7s and re-evaluate each change and upgrade.

Audio GDs R2R DACs seem to be slow shipping compared to their NFB products. Cost is a big factor I am sure. The R2R 7 is wonderful! Great DAC that is extremely versatile in sound character.

Yes. Agree on all points. Plus it scales up with transport upgrades while i find the Amanero usb input perfectly accepable. The r-8 seems to sell pretty well. The r28 sells well too, and the r2r-11 is a big hit.

[edit] Well in fact, the r2r dacs/combos outsold the Sabre ones during the last reported shipping intervals. So the word is spreading. In its price range, people are starting to realize the r-8 is very hard to beat i suppose as sales are picking up.

 

[batfier]

I received the r-7 front plate kit. The installation should be simple: two wires to route to the digital board section and connect on sockets. Another one for power.

I might remove the sides to get better acces to the front plate screws. But I will delay the conversion to r-7 as a new firmware (altera) is required and is not yet ready in accurate or smooth/accurate version.

I now have a Raspberry Pi in my setup, replacing the mac mini. Bottom line: to my ears, it sounds better. But i made a tweak. I added the ifi ac power on the power distributor feeding the pi (apc h15). This made a difference. Otherwise, my setup is still the same:

Pi (running Volumio, plugged to apc h15 with ifi ac power plugged just next to it) -> Schiit wyrd (fed by apc h15) -> intona -> f-1 (fed by zerozone lps through a balanced isolation transfo) -> r-7 (on isalotation transfo too) -> master- 1 (iso. transfo) -> nord one up monoblocks.

The new raspberry pi (version 3b+) is quite a pocket rocket, with 4 cores running at 1.4ghz. Just an issue with it : the usp ports become real noisy when used concurrently with 100/1000 ethernet, at least that is the latest news, should be fixed with a Volumio software update at some point. I don’t use ethernet. I attached my music drive to the pi with a usb cable. Overall, Volumio is very easy to use and to setup. For someone with some hands one experience like me, at least. For the ethernet problem, a workaround is to limit it to 10/100. I was tempted to get the Allo Usbrige, which should be better but as i have a wyrd and an intona to fix the usb signal. It is less than sure that i would get another upgrade.

So, life is good. Next, i will most likely add a second lps to feed the pi. With the Mac Mini, i would have a sound drop every two hours, i have yet to have one with the pi. Linux-based-optimized-for-audio operating systems are the way to go as far i am concerned.

[edit]

Correction: the problem with the ethernet is it can loose packets when working at max speed. Should be fixed at some point with a driver update. But a single chip still handles usb and ethernet so the usb port could still be noisier than on an allo sparky, not sure as the chip has been updated.

Speaking of the allo sparky, i think i will order one to compare. The cleaner the usb ports, the better the sound of course. With the Sparky, you can order the usbridge board as part of a bundle. As i have an intona and a wyrd, and as the usbridge is basically a usb reclocker, i decided not to get it. If i had decided to get it, i would have taken the wyrd out of my setup because it would have become redundant.

how much soldiering will be required for the front plate change.

changing the back plate seems to be more complicated, as pricing Full vs. DIY differs more.

 

[FredA]

how much soldiering will be required for the front plate change.

changing the back plate seems to be more complicated, as pricing Full vs. DIY differs more.

There is no soldering involved for the front plate as all three cables have connectors attached to them. And Kingwa confirmed there is none. Sometimes, there is glue to scrape off to be able to pull out the existing cables. And doing a proper routing underneath the pcbs of two of the 3 cables could be tricky.

The back plate is a different story. From what i can tell, the xlrs and acss sockets need to be desoldered. And the new board needs to be secured to the chassis, so maybe drilling is needed, i can’t say. Not worth the effort IMHO.

 

[batfier]

There is no soldering involved for the front plate as all three cables have connectors attached to them. And Kingwa confirmed there is none. Sometimes, there is glue to scrape off to be able to pull out the existing cables. And doing a proper routing underneath the pcbs of two of the 3 cables could be tricky.

The back plate is a different story. From what i can tell, the xlrs and acss sockets need to be desoldered. And the new board needs to be secured to the chassis, so maybe drilling is needed, i can’t say. Not worth the effort IMHO.

Good news, Thank you!

 

[batfier]

A direct comparison of the R7 and R8 would be very interesting. The guys at Magna HiFi are on top of Audio GD equipment so maybe they can provide an early impression.

Out of an email conversion with Jos (magnahifi.com). (He is a real nice guy, always very responsive and helpfull and definitely a reason, while I like to get hifi stuff from there)

Please find some of the R7 technical benefits (in comparison to the R8), should contribute to better sound.

• Heavy 4mm thick chassis
  
• 3 PCB's, separated left, right and digital processing board
• Singularity digital processing board
• Discrete Class A power supply
  
• 6 inputs -> Amanero upgradable to Singer F1 USB

 

[fon55]

Do your Gd audio just like my Precision 2 change color, they are not UV resistant.