Did you try any other DDC's besides the SU-6? Trying to finalize my purchase. It's right around my price range, but also considering X-SPDIF3 and the offerings from Gustard, Audio GD, Mutec, etc. Ty.
That are very impressing mods you've done ,Yesterday I installed a LT3045 module ( of course with an 22µF CAP ) as an exchange vor the Analog Devices 3.3V LDO regulator on the USB input side of the SU-6. The effect is very interesting, and unexpected. I thought it would bring even more focus, but instead it brought blackness. It took a lot of fussiness from the highs. You also get the impression of calmness and quietness inside of yourself.
It’s like being intimae and alone with the artist in an absolute silent room. Very strange.
A first and very easy step in this direction was the 100µF Polymer CAP right beside the USB connector.
Has been said many times that SMPS might add noise to the mains which permeates other items.
True. That said, I’ve had all of these items connected to a Shunyata Denali conditioner with high quality, shielded AC cords, all of which I’d think would minimize SMPS pollution.
Except the Taitien VCXO, there has two Accusilicon VCXO, do you have idea both of them reference to 10M clock when external 10M clock is enabled?
@bb0b, I suppose the DDC core reclock received data, so the jitter of input data signal cannot be decreased by reclock?Mod to improve performance of the SU6 by replacing the 3 galvanic isolators
Sonic improvements
1) Reduces the grain in the preentations, sibilants greatly reduces
2) Removes edginess of the sound, snare drums on the SU6 no longer breakup into a mess.
3) Able to keep the various elements of the track (vocals, percussion, strings) separated when things get busy eg orchestra, pieces and EDM tracks with lots of overlaid tracks
4) Greatly improves bass depth and slam
5) Much smoother midrange
These are the 2x Texas Instruments ISO7641 data isolator for the data from the XMOS chip
This is the Silabs Si8620BB for the reference clock signal from the FPGA to the XMOS
The existing isolators have 2 specific issues that can be improved
1) High jitter about 300ps
2) Noisy, data is sent over a modulated data carrier. This adds additional RF noise to the clean side.
This creates a bottleneck that limits the performance of the SU6 interface.
The replacements:
1) 3x less jitter, pulse jitter about 100ps
2) Uses different isolation transport, Giant Magneto-Resistive (GMR) vs capacitive, data carrier not required. Much less noise to deal with.
3) Better dielectric isolation, 6kV vs 4kV for the data isolators
Device is the IL717V for the data and IL711-3 for the reference clock, both from NVE Electronics.
Not sure what you mean.
SU-6 reclocks the data, this is the case of the Singxer ones, I have (SU-6, SU-2, SU-1 and F1). You will have to check if other manufacturers do this.
How does the SU-6 compare to the Hermes sound wise?
I've owned the U18 and heard no perceptible improvement when paired with the Gustard R26. From the measurements I've seen online, it doesn't do a very good job of reducing jitter/noise which is basically the core function of a DDC. So either the R26 handles noise & jitter well internally with help from its low noise K2 clock synthesizer or the U18 is really only beneficial with units equipped with poor internally clocking.
