The computer is like a music server (completed). U2 DAC look at HiFiMeDIY - small, far away Asynchronous DAC

These notes are written real purchases zovnishhnіkh DACіv at our store. We do not publish the names of clients for the protection of personal data. Buying from us that chi іnshiy goods, you can also add your opinion.

Gorgeous cap. Transitions to the new s TEAC UD 501. In the 501st in povnyannі z 505m, the edges of the range are markedly raised by a too thick bass and clear treble. Who has all the same. Bass is strong and textured, treble is accurate. With one and the same cable connection (power cable DH LABS RED WAVE) 501st "whistle" on vocals on bright recordings. When listening to the calarature soprano 501, he played through the door with synthetics. 505s sound natural in the quiet moments themselves. Even more detailed and comfortable, which is absolutely in line with the yoga class. Maє miracle pіdsilyuvach for headphones. Having tried the repair of SENNHEISER HD 650 (300 ohm) I'm going to use it as a whole, and there is still a reserve for thickness. Having matched the sound of TEAC HA 501, for consideration, without taking into account the different power cables installed on them and the interblock, which is connected, sound approximately the same. And then there is an analogous analog attachment working in class A, and then there are digital lancets .... Zagal with headphones tezh "zalіk"! Alone, I respect, the great minus is those that, if the jack is inserted, insults to the line output are automatically turned on. І for the transition of listening to acoustics and back at the headphones, you can gradually insert and remove the jack from the jack, which will quickly lead to the removal of the jack itself and erasing the metalization of the expensive jack. So I continue to win the HA 501 as a headphone supporter.

Having bought a connection of headphones to a Samsung TV, because it has less optical audio output. DAC with optical cable pіdіyshov good headphones work. It's true, if you visit Youtub, turn off the blue light at the DAC and the headphones do not work. For me it’s not critical, maybe I’ll figure it out from cym. Ale rated it miraculously.

DAC to improve the quality of the signal is equal to whether it was a sound card. Vikonaniy is minimalist. Everyday buttons, everyday nalashtuvan. Just practice. Cost inexpensively in Porivnya with alternative options.

A brand new DAC Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 Silver connects to my Onkyo C-7030 encoder via a Kennerton MOF-010 1.5m optical cable. Pіdsilyuvach Onkyo A-9110, acoustics Polk T-50 DAC miraculous, good practice. Fascinating sounding, laying out the musical tvir with instruments, saving the volume and the scene. Wonderful detail. Favorite compositions have gained new depth and clarity. Honestly, without ochіkuvav takoi sprinostі vіd small device... Z nedolіkіv mabut one - sensitive to temperature. Price i in the instruction is assigned. The back of the DAC was installed at a small obsyazі stand for equipment. After 50 hvilin the robots win just swayed. Mabut, spratsyuvav zahist. After usunennya navkolishnogo small space, ganyayuchi yoga mayzhe 6 years old, everything works perfectly. Good CAP. Recommend.

Hello everyone. Since there was already such a p'yanka about Chinese HiFi, and it’s also without money and for chimal prices (for item 18 ymovirno), then you need to take your fate.
This article will be about those, like from the USB output of a computer or a laptop, it will take the same sound from the PCM and DSD formats. Supported by the sound of 24 bit 192 kHz. Bought for my own logs, already two.

At once, the seller has picked up the delivery to Russia (after me, it’s sing-song;)), but by searching for XMOS U8, you can find a bunch of other stores.

I have an English Arcam rDAC DAC with USB input. The DAC in the world is expensive at around £350.

Without regard to patents and laudatory audio murzilok, the sound on the USB input is bad. Z coaxial is not equal, but the potential is still visible.

I live long and happily, the great brother of the PC, having seen his burdens with SPDIF, and I did not know any problems.

However, life goes on, great brother galasuє, as you want to be quiet and calm and virushiv I will get a fanless computer in the mini ITX format.
Somehow, it was like a torento goydal, and then it turned out that the N3150 processor could pull everything, including editing video from the camera 1080/60p. I video audio by itself.

Ale pіdstava - no digital output vzagalі. Cream HDMI.
Yes USB, and if you want to get the best sound around the bells and whistles of Windows, you need a USB audio driver for it. For example, I have installed the Ploytek driver, in configuration file which is spelled PID / VID Arkam. I ASIO yak costless drivers for Foobar and other programs.

But the sound doesn’t suit me, it’s obvious that there are micro changes in the width of the sound, it’s apparently related to jitter signal to be transmitted and in the world like taverns.
USB cables have been tried different, all ok, certified beyond the 2.0 standard.

What is "jitter".

Jitter (English jitter - tremtinnya) or phase tremtinnya digital signal data - nezazhanі phase and / or frequency fluctuations in the signal that is transmitted. It is blamed on the instability of the generator, which sets, changes in the parameters of the transmission lines in hours and different speeds of the expansion of the frequency warehouses of the same signal.
In digital systems, it manifests itself in the appearance of sudden fluctuations (with a frequency of 10 Hz and more) changes in the expansion of the fronts of the digital signal per hour, which leads to a breakdown in synchronization and, as a result, transmitted information. For example, if the front may turn a little, or “fall apart” after an hour, then the digital signal will lag behind, zsuvaetsya at the moment of the hour - at the moment of the hour, at which time the signal is assessed.

The use of jitter is one of the main problems that are blamed for the design time digital electronics The concept of digital interfaces. Insufficiently accurate jitter distribution can lead to a lot of accumulation during the passage of a digital signal by path i, which is possible, to the point of failure.

And yet eavesdrop, even though it’s quiet, ruh USB bears.
Maybe eating on the board is not as well realized.

And then, a little bit later, the English company XMOS released an asynchronous USB chip on the market, which works with its precision quartz resonators and drivers.
More and more old asynchronous solution - microcontroller from ATMEL company of SAM series, with USB input and I2S (Sound) output. Ale, it’s not allowed to see the finished solution, only like an expansion board.

Installing such an asynchronous USB buffer, which is connected by a coaxial transformer, as I was able to, radically change the sound.
Obviously, the Chinese washed something good, since everyone is now gathering there.

This is a small box, approximately 100 x 68 x 33 mm. The case is standard, aluminium, it looks like there.

Є two options - with standard quartz and thermally stabilized TCXO (Reference quartz oscillators with temperature compensation for frequency control TCXO). Another option is expensive for $15. Okremo Quartz TCXO is available in leather for $15.

Two precision quartz - for the reference frequency of 44100 Hz and the reference frequency of 48000 Hz. 22.579200 MHz and 24.576000 MHz.
Weigh the clarity of the quartz and set the jitter level.

As I understand, the input quartz HLX2L 24,000 kHz.

The first arrival was non-working - there was no sound at the exit. Optical view of the self-luminous chervonim. Having found out that SMD components are all soldered to the misplaced ones, the soldering of the multiplexer to the output NC7SZ157 was critical.

It is impossible to re-solder the part at 6 or 2.5 mm without having to own it.

Opened the dispute, the seller turned up to be amazingly viable, pishov on zustrich.
The first one went back, immediately closing the other one, paying 8 dollars for the cost of the transfer.

Priishov is different. Vіdkriv, having cleaned the type of aluminum shavings.

Coaxial socket CMC (USA).

External rozvyazyuchy toroidal transformer Murata DA101C.
Reconnect PC and DAC.

Chip life on GH16D (don't know, LDO?), Nichicon and 100 uF 25V and Sanyo 47 uF 6.3 input. Denominations are less for the indication on the payment.

Є cіkava microcircuit ATMLH850 flash-memory, but not Atmel.

As an LDO chip, then the inductor at the input is the same filter from the USB input, which is quite competent.

Nalashtovuemo. I have Windows 7-64, it is announced support for XP, 7, 8.
The driver itself does not move, setting 3.34

Drivers
_http://jlsounds.com/drivers.html

We select sound attachment.

І yoga mode.

For foobar, put a double sacd.

I accept

So, my ochіkuvannya came true, pure, perfect sound. There is no stubbornness to the hearing of high volume.

USB Live!

The DAC is alive in my life line block. Rіdniy impulsny - zovsіm motlokh. Brav from which seller.
For a final check, change the lace roses to roses with the Schaffner FN9244-1-06 filter, since ChipDip is not particularly hard on the new one.

Typical filter attenuation
Per CISPR 17; A=50Ω/50Ωsym; B=50Ω/50Ω asym; C=0.1Ω/100Ωsym; D=100Ω/0.1Ωsym

Exhaust transistor at the output-Darlington, diode Schottky at the input and conderi 1000 microfarads each (high).

And for new joy, having bought silver from the seller;) USB cable type Aucharm.

What can I say. Precisely the sound is not louder for USB2.0 certifications, and as for me, the sound comes out even better in the entire range. Don’t make me sleepy to test, that one is not needed. Ale cable on the right is thin. $18 per meter and $15 per 0.5 meter.
Fashionable Supra USB cable for $40.

So, two amplifiers Arcam 9 and 9P in bi-ampling mode, triple-smoog acoustics B&W P5, acoustic cables VDH The Wind, Audioquest Indigo, coax Monster Cable M850.
And so, I can feel the difference in sounding cables, my path does not allow.

Tse look around NOT ABOUT CABLE for 1000 rubles,
but about the asynchronous buffer on XMOS.

Somebody is not sensible. :)

In the rest of the world, more and more people will use the USB interface to get sound from the computer. Infinite success of such a method of connecting a computer to a sound system through an external DAC is supported by the release of digital-to-analog converters, which are expanding, equipped with the so-called "asynchronous USB".

And it's not just a fashionable congestion of lovers of digital sound, but a really serious way to get a digital dzherel (to get a high-yield, for singing minds) from a computer + DAC.

It's true, it's invisibility to bring power: why do high-end music servers/digital programmers install their own S/PDIF (RCA, BNC, optical) and AES/EBU (XLR) digital inputs, and why not the popular USB interface? ? We will try to clarify the food situation.

The main vіdminnіst vіdminnіst vіdminnіst standards z'єdnannya computer and DAC, S / PDIF і AES / EBU, on one side, and USB - z іnshoy, lie at the method of data transmission. For the first time, the data from the computer behind the auxiliary interface are transmitted to the DAC in a seemingly uninterrupted stream, which in that case looks like a stink after a software program. In another way, depending on the protocol for transferring data via USB, the data stream is split into packets, and then it is already transferred to the USB DAC input, for which I am guilty of re-booting an uninterrupted stream before digital-to-analog conversions.

Data packets that are transmitted via USB data, data crim, audio information, also have configuration, control and status information.

Specification of the universal sequence USB bus appointed different types synchronization for the hour of transmission of information from the host (computer) to the peripheral add-on (at times - to the DAC). At the first stage, using a USB port for sound output from a PC of a wide range of ranks is an adaptive type, technically connected with microcircuits of the PCM270x series of the company Burr Brown (Texas Instruments) from the USA.

However, this type of USB connection was not able to provide a high level of sound quality, but the shards of jitter increased. In addition, converting with a USB input based on a PCM270x chip, which operate in adaptive mode, could work with sampling rates no higher than 48 kHz and a bit depth of up to 16 bits, so they could ensure the clarity of a CD, but not a high bit rate.

After a number of stages in the development of digital audio transmission technology via USB in 2004 by a rocicompany Wavelength Audio(USA) released the first digital-to-analog coder (DAC), which was a type of asynchronous transmission. The transformation and necessary yoga robots under the name of Streamlength were expanded by Gordon Rankin. Three times, the asynchronous type of work with the USB interface has established itself as the main one for transmitting a music signal from the computer to the DAC, and the Streamlength software for asynchronous USB is being used in rich high-power DACs, including such companies as Ayre, Aesthetix, grace design, Berkeley Audio design that in. In today's time, most digital-to-analogue converters that are available, equipped with a USB interface for connecting with a computer, follow this principle.

On the view of an adaptive, asynchronous type of work and USB-interface for sound transmission, we are technically perfect, because with this implementation, it’s not enough to transfer packets of data from the computer to the DAC, but it doesn’t work Zvorotniy zv'azok with a computer in such a rank, schob keruvati process of transferring data. The computer and the DAC work at the same time as the device is connected.

Tsikavo, which is an asynchronous USB bug on the basis of the TAS1020B microcircuit, was released immediately after the PCM270x was guessed. USB controller TAS1020B with an integrated circuit with a USB transceiver, a microprocessor, a memory buffer and an I 2 S interface for connecting to a digital-to-analog converter chip. Like an example in fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a DAC based on the TAS1020B USB controller.

In this DAC scheme with asynchronous USB, the clock generator of the sampling rate is in the optimal place - without a middle order with a digital-to-analogue converter chip. This allows you to secure the operation of the converter from a larger accurate generator, without relying on an unstable clock signal from the computer. Such a scheme for distributing a high-current generator, with a number of other features of the asynchronous USB type, ensures the lowest level of jitter i, obviously, highest quality sound. In adaptive-type ports, in asynchronous USB, jitter is reduced by two orders of magnitude (100 times!).

Dodamo, you need a special driver to work with asynchronous USB signals higher than 96 kHz / 24 bit from a PC equipped with Windows OS. For computers Apple to support the USB Audio Class 2.0 specification, this driver is not needed.

First DACs Wavelength Audio With asynchronous USB, they could convert VR signals with a sampling rate of up to 96 kHz and a bit depth of up to 24 bits. Nowadays, digital-to-analogue converting devices are being released, including those for per-button sound recording, which support frequencies up to 384 kHz and a bit depth of up to 32 bits, which is the best format for professional digital sound recording. In the meantime, the rest of the hour, more and more digital music recordings are being made in the DSD format, the signals of which can be fed to the DAC also via the USB port. Recently, in 2012, the DoP standard (DSD over PCM) is a method for transferring DSD audio over additional ICM frames, especially for digitalization. Description the rest of the version 1.1 according to the English standard. lang. can know .

DAC converters offer a wide range of attachments with asynchronous USB variant of 3 yew. rub. to astronomical prices with seven-digit numbers. In order to be aware of the difference in the transformation of various technical and price levels, we can try to determine how much we can confirm the DAC, so we can say that we can see the sound of a truly high accuracy. Significantly, there are such characteristics associated with the USB input interface:

1. High-capacity USB-controller chip.
2. Wikoristannya galvanic decoupling.
3. USB Audio Class 2.0 specification compliance.
4. High current clock generator with low jitter.
5. Vicoristannya yakіsno vykonanyh drayverіv.
6. Finished the eating plan. Rozdіlnі stabilіzovanі vіnії zhivlennya for USB-controller, converter and analog lanceugіv, and more shortly with an okremim transformer for skin z them.
7. High-yield digital-to-analogue converter microcircuit.

Obviously, all at once the characteristics are improved only in the most advanced (and often expensive!) DACs. However, it can be said that even if the conversion is not possible with such characteristics, it is unlikely that you can see a high-pitched sound great computer via USB connection. What can be added, that the circuit, which works for the adaptive type, can be “over-engineered” by the inaccurate DAC with asynchronous USB. Until then, some of the brewers are continuing to redesign adaptive USB.

3. USB Chi S/PDIF?

And now, moving on to the power of our site's newest ideas, it's possible that the USB connection can compete with traditional options for the clarity of sound, it seems positively new. So, a high-energy DAC with asynchronous USB can in principle be safe low rіven digital signal jitter and high accuracy in sound. Food moves from a practical plane, but itself: what is the vision for an amateur boom sound– convert the original PC to a pair with an asynchronous USB-DAC, or choose, for example, a music server and connect it to (maybe more affordable at a price) converting via S / PDIF or AES / EBU?

Vidpovіd tse nutrition requires knowledge of a specific situation, tobto. Some devices for listening to some types of files (VR or equal to the quality of a CD) will be blocked, and you can choose one or the other option.

For the butt, we compared two sounding options for the music server "PC Audiophile II" - when connected via S / PDIF and asynchronous USB - when paired with a Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus DAC.

The connection is connected to an additional USB cable, on one end of the most important rose type A (connected to the dzherel), and on the other - type (connected to the DAC). We have tried a little, as a pair of attachments with a USB Audio Class 1.0 configuration, as it does not require drivers to support signals up to 96 kHz / 24 bits. Front it was necessary to carry out new patching foobar2000 software program. For what reason, after the server was upgraded, that reworking at the computer program was pressed on File > Preferences > Playback\Output and at the end device chose a row that allows you to connect via USB. It’s not easy to fix, if you can once hear the music.

Somehow we didn’t get sick, because the sound of the server that permuting could not be zarahuvat to the sound creation of high accuracy.

Now let's move on to a more thorough, asynchronous type of robotic DAC DacMagic Plus using the ASIO or WASAPI protocol. For this, it is necessary to switch the digital-to-analogue converter in the USB Audio 2.0 mode for receiving audio signals up to 192 kHz / 24 bits and to select a suitable audio driver, which can be obtained from the Center for Support on the website Cambridge Audio. You can also know there report description In addition, how does ASIO and WASAPI speed up in which mode? Want to describe on English language, it is reportedly illustrated, among other things, for connection with the foobar2000 engraver.

Having installed the driver and installed the software program for ASIO, as indicated in the description, including the creation server. It suddenly dawned on me that the sound is much better, lower USB mode Audio Class 1.0. Having listened to digital recordings of various genres and formats (FLAC, WAV; from 88/24 to 192/24), we pass once again to the assessment of the work of two devices via coaxial S / PDIF with the same musical material, as well as the same work via USB . We carry out a spate of sessions between breaks.

As a result, we had an unambiguous idea that, regardless of those that, in the asynchronous USB and ASIO mode, two devices proved to be more appropriate, the same pair of "PC Audiofil II" and Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus, with respect to the same ASIO protocol, but via S/PDIF output (from Infrasonic Quartet cards), it sounded better. Tse turned, zokrema, at the widest and deepest musical stage, degenerate from the most obvious instruments of the mav exactly indicative of the rosemir and the exacerbation of the excerpts will repeat, scho vodokremlyuvav yogo in the other instruments. The sound of rich instruments, for example, piano, cello, saxophone, a little more precise, as we can imagine, the tonal balance and more guessing the sound of a live viconnanny. We will not take into account the same sounding of the double bass - it is better articulated. At different robotic attachments, through the USB connection, the springiness and accuracy of the sound of low frequencies was improved.

How can visnovki be made from the described porovnyannya? First, regardless of current asynchronous USB technology, the sound of a particular DAC can be reduced when connected via a coaxial S / PDIF input, and not USB. І, in a different way, competently choosing and adjusting a computer on the basis of professional sound card(Pay a digital output) you can see such a digital signal, which, for a high-power digital-to-analogue transformation, allows you to take an original sound.

Bagatyoh, it’s possible, to sing loud power - what’s better than digital sound: uninterrupted data flow through S / PDIF type data (chi, for example, AES / EBU) chi packet transmission via asynchronous USB? We are trying to think of such an idea that accepting offensive options allow you to reach a high-pitched sound. All lie down in order, what kind of music server and what kind of DAC wins. On the other hand, different virobniks produce anonymous music servers, including the high-end class, such as through S / PDIF or AES / EBU, they see the exact signal with minimal jitter. On the other hand, use a DAC, an asynchronous USB interface of some kind, such a low level of jitter, which is important to avoid. The sound (unfortunately, the price) of such digital-to-analogue conversions is also high equal.

The development of technology will show which of the options will be better in the future. It is possible that another type of connection will be victorious, while it is still at the stage of distribution. Let's live well.

4. Laptop

In the rest of the rocks at the exhibitions of audio equipment high quality at the warehouse of audio systems, more and more often you can play laptops, like vikoristovuyutsya like a sound. From one side - it’s handy, from the other side - it’s constantly supporting the world’s wildest trends in development information technology. And how good is the sound?

Deyakі vvazhayut, scho vikoristannya in a laptop autonomous battery allows, by analogy with other audio components, to improve the quality of the sound. Unfortunately, there is nothing. First, independent of the type of eating, electronic circuit laptop, as well as a PC, itself є zherelom necessary computer pulse synchronizing signals at different frequencies (for the processor, RAM, USB interfaces, Wi-Fi, etc.) ) . For the most part, miniaturization of a laptop should be made to the point where, on one side, there are overlaps, and on the other side, not the most optimal (for sound) circuit solutions and components are vicorated. Therefore, take into account the yakіsny sound from the introduction of an analog phone digital output(S/PDIF and HDMI) don't go into it.

It is no longer possible to output a digital audio signal via USB output and connect it to a DAC equipped with a high-performance interface, which works in asynchronous mode.

However, there is no single way to increase the signal strength, which can be seen from small-sized computers. In the rest of the hour, the wide spread of the nabuli USB-S/PDIF converters, which allow transferring a digital signal from a packet form to a stream for a distant transformation behind the help of an external DAC. And now, power up, what do you need such a transformation, like using a DAC with a USB input, including, with an asynchronous mode? However, not all DACs can still come in and not all “can” work through USB as well. In addition, an important factor is portability and convenience, especially if you use such a device at once with a laptop.

The USB-S/PDIF converter doesn't just convert one form of digital signal to another. Vіn maє y іnshu important function: working in the asynchronous transmission mode, the converter has its own clock pulse generator, as in the DAC circuit, described above (div. Fig. 2). The difference between the two devices lies in the fact that in the DAC the signal after the USB controller is on the digital-to-analog conversion, and in the converter - on the S / PDIF interface, and then - on the DAC.

It is necessary to note one feature of the USB-S/PDIF converters - most of them are powered by 5 Volts, which should be connected to the computer. And tse, unfortunately, to produce negative consequences for the sound of the sound, to that through the dart of life, that grounding is transmitted to the cross. It is also necessary to ensure that the S / PDIF interface also introduces some additional jitter, which can be increased through a non-standard food.

We have tested a copy of USB-S/PDIF converters. It can be said that they give the sound better, lower at different times than the best output of the laptop. However, this sound cannot be recognized as high, so as to evaluate its characteristics, like the depth of the sound stage, microdynamics and detail.

It is significant that special USB-adapters are used, which are connected to the input of the converter and subdue the signal, giving the converter the ability to take the energy out of a different, less dzherel. One of the applications of such an adapter is BPM (Battery Powered Module - Russian: battery life module) of an Australian company Elijah Audio(In the photo angry). The BMP twist gives a real, sensible sound like a sound, once again confirming the whispers about those that are overstepped, which are blamed on USB-S / PDIF converters as a result of the sound of a laptop, strongly influencing the sound.

From the other side, there are also converters that can make a powerful, high-yielding block of life, which will show miraculous results of work. However, the number of such converters is not small, it can cost 1900 dollars. USA, and blame for reasonable power: why not get a yakіsnіshiy DAC with asynchronous USB instead of using an expensive converter?

Another way to get sound from a laptop is to install a small-sized DAC that connects to the USB output and can go to the headphones. Here the retailers achieved marvelous results in terms of miniature outbuildings. It's enough, like a butt, to point the DAC Audiio Quest dragonfly ta M2Tech HiFace USB DAC is shown below in the photos. Moreover, the rest processes signals up to 384 kHz/32 bit!

In a word, for sound reproduction from a laptop, there is a great selection of various outbuildings, many of which, regardless of miniature, can bring rich satisfaction to music lovers for their sound.

Visnovok

At this hour, to see the sound from the computer, they beat different ways that attachment, which allows you to achieve the necessary corystuvache results in different price ranges.

However, if we talk about the exact creation of sound from a high-rise building, looming on the horizon an uncompromising quality of sound, then, in our opinion, we can see two ways of taking away such a sound:

a) streaming signal from the S/PDIF (or AES/EBU) output of a high-end sound card/digital output card (div., for example, our projects PC Audiofil I, PC Audiofil II and PC Audiofil III);

b) a burst signal from the USB output (or IEEE 1394) for an hour of operation in asynchronous mode with a high-power DAC or an external sound card.

There is no music without a DAC, like yours music files take care of the digital view. You may not know how the government stinks, but most of us today are accepted by one digital-to-analog converter, more like a DAC or DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter).

The stench vbudovuetsya in such an outbuilding, like computers, tablets, smartphones. DAC is the fundamental basis for decoding sound digital music, transforming it back into an analog signal, which is almost like a building to the human ear.

No matter what, I’ll add a digital signal to a digital signal - tse CD or Blu-ray player, DAB (digital radio), TV set-top box, game console Or a music player, you need a DAC to convert the sequence of zeros and ones back into an analog signal, first lower to convert it to output.

Traditional pidsilyuvachi do not pidsilyuyut and guchnomovtsi not dvoryuyut digital signal and your ears can't hear it. The stench catches less sound whistles. Without a DAC, your digital music collection is not worth it. It is simple to dial "0" and "1", which is only necessary for robotic digital devices. In short, DACs play a big role in the process of creating digital music.

However, a serious problem is those that are introduced into most of the presented devices in DAC microcircuits can often not achieve a high level and can not always ensure the highest possible quality of the digital original. At the link, we blame the idea about the need to replace the DAC, in order to transform the music archive of digital music and efficiently take the maximum output from your audio system.

Sounds, like we feel today, like music, language, the noise of the great place and the sound of the trumpet are transmitted as sound whiffs and are consumed in our ears by the constantly changing analog signal.

One of the first ways to save analog recordings were the prototypes of the latest vinyl records, and later the tape-recording lines appeared, but there was also a slight noise when the sound of these formats was broken. First of all, becoming a novelty CD, Sony and Philips wines in the 80s of the last century and having created a digital revolution in the process of storing musical recordings.

Digital audio is similar to analog audio. Digital music files, as a rule, are created by the method of pulse-code modulation (ICM) or PCM in the English abbreviation, which is created by a path of a constant, strictly periodic analog signal amplitude.

Then, the value of the amplitude is encoded by the double number (set 1 and 0), and the bit depth of this number is often called the bit depth. The time interval between the clocks is determined by the sampling rate.

When recording a standard CD, 44,100 times per second (44.1 kHz) are played. The code is recorded for saving in double format with an accuracy of up to 16 bits. When recording audio tracks with a high bit rate, the bit depth is up to 24 bits, with a sampling rate of 192 kHz, or other values.

Seemingly, digital audio data can be encoded with different bit sizes and sampling rates, and then different file formats with different compressing levels to change the compression. Ale, regardless of how the stench is going on, the DAC robot works to recognize everything and translate it as accurately as possible from the double format, so that it gets as close as possible (as far as possible) to the analog original.

Newly used okremiy DAC?

It is true that modern digital audio devices may have a DAC, but also, obviously, not all DACs are the same. Converters of a low class can bring in unimportant noise through the environment of vicarious microcircuits. The stench cannot support all data transfer speeds, without seeming to have additional effects through the synchronization input (jitter or trembling effect).

The loss of synchronization is shown as a timchas obstruction. Precise hourly intervals (timings) are extremely important in the process of receiving digital music stream and, as the stench is not visible (as a rule, through a rotten digital clock scheme) suffers from the clarity of the sound.

Problems associated with second synchronization can be blamed on the transmission of a digital signal and are especially unsafe if the signal is transmitted between two devices. Therefore, in the rest of the years, the asynchronous DAC is widened, as if the clock frequency was high.

The clock generators of the largest high-power DACs, as a rule, can be more stable, lower temp, which are installed in the middle class of PCs, so the sound will be significantly better (for other equal minds).

Vihіdny material determines the quality

Obviously, in order to maximize the performance of the new DAC, you need to start with the selection of a good looking material. Do not check for miracles, so you can help convert music in MP3 format, 128 Kb/s. Indeed, reducing the decoding of such an over-the-top compressed audio signal can be more obvious.

The optimal result, s like on a CD and video, can be seen when compressing files without embedding FLAC, WAV or ALAC (Mac) files in PCM or DSD format.

DSD chi PCM?

Format DSD or Direct Stream Digital is an alternative to PCM and a list of splits for Super Audio CDs (SACD discs) Sony and Philips like the 90s.

This format, which is richly sparsely compressed, is significantly modified in PCM (pulse code modulation). Here, for coding, pulse-width modulation (PWM) is used, less single-bit coding is performed, and yet with a significantly higher sampling frequency - 2.8 MHz for DSD64 and 5.6 MHz for DSD128.

Superechki about those, like systems of coding, are more likely to continue viruvati and dosi. To do this, it’s easy to show that you’ve changed the music in the DSD format, you can change it, which DAC, which you choose, support DSD, don’t forget.

Which DAC to choose?

DACs are available in different forms and dimensions, they are concerned about functional and interface capabilities. So you need to understand in the first line, as you will yogo vikoristovuvatimete. I choose from urakhuvannyam vartosti, as you want to contribute.

Compact DAC for USB port wink at portability at a reasonable price, the stench is handy at vikoristanni. Size varies according to the standard, which is inserted into the port USB module to the intestinal expansion unit, which is connected via a USB cable.

Most of the time, the DAC does not run on the power supply, taking the necessary power out of the USB port. So the DACs can make a meaningful world with a simple dial-up of interfaces. Є jack for headphones and, possibly, a line output for connecting active acoustic systems or other audio equipment class Hi-Fi.

If you need more connection options and there is no need to convert, then choose a floor block. The stench, as a rule, is bigger outside the world and suffices for life, but often uses additional digital and analog audio inputs, as well as from USB for connecting to a computer. To give respect to the presence of a driver for earphones, as it is necessary, because not all transformers can do yoga.

Nareshti, є DACs, yakі specially rozrobleni for vikoristannya at the warehouse of the great home audio system. The stench, as a rule, can have even more inputs, including such low-quality inputs, like AES / EBU, and it has an expanded set of capabilities, supports the entire range of music formats in a high capacity, or secures the connection via Bluetooth for transferring music to your smartphone from your streaming device. tablet.

And deyakіt navіt mаyut vlasny regulator of the density, so the stench can be vikoristanі as well as the front pіdsilyuvach.

Visnovok

Despite the absurdity of the subway transformation from analog to digital and from digital back to analog form, we don’t get the vinyl revolution and happen to be satisfied with digital sound. Nadto is a convenient digital form of recording and transmitting audio recordings, both for home music and in professional equipment.

Obviously, digital sound is nothing more than a copy of the analog original. A copy, as if in the past century, it was made incomplete and victorious for the sake of utilitarian, higher education purposes. And yet, the sound quality of the best sounds of today's audio technology to the ear of a music lover is approaching the best analog sounds. I will not leave the role of those who play digital-to-analogue converters, which will give them the opportunity to enjoy the maximum possible musical recordings in high-density formats.

• Support modes: 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz, 16 and 24 bits
• Entry: USB
• Come out: audio 3.5 mm confusion with optical
• Day off: 2.1 Vrms at 4.7 kΩ input, 1 Vrms at 30 Ω input
• Dynamic range: 112 dB

Design

The starry look of U2 is namingly minimal. I'll be true to my name in the plan, that the retailers made a dribnose serial production. The U2 does not have a box, the wine comes with a large bag of puffy polyethylene. The body is a small rectangular parallelepiped, on one end of which there is a short USB cable for connecting to a computer, on the other - a 3.5 mm output for an audio signal. This rose will serve as a socket for an optical output, which allows the U2 to be used as a USB to optical converter. At the rose I will add a light-indicating robot.

Zagalom, the design is simple, without frills, but with the improvement of the marginal price compact size chop here stupidly. Tim more than varto shows that the internal vykonannya DAC is on a high level, soldering yakisna, they didn’t save on details (I’ll build it at the borders of the budget, obviously).

Sound

For listening to vicorists, the following was granted:

• Apple MacBook Pro 15″ early 2011
• Decibel as a player
• Recordings in lossless formats
• Audio GD NFB-6
• Headphones: Fischer Audio TBA-04, VSonic GR01

ESS Saber 9023 is a practically self-sufficient chip. It doesn’t require folding strapping (when it doesn’t include bazhannym rozrobniki), to that at the set up of the DAC on it - it’s not a smut. The U2 retailers didn’t care for the whole world. In the role of the USB interface, the SA9023 chip, type SAVITECH, was chosen (after zbіg іndexіv, this chip cannot be related to the microcircuit of the DAC itself). The role of the generator has a 27 MHz resonator with a PLL1705 microcircuit. The design of the DAC has a circuit without separate capacitors at the output, which is also beneficial to the sound.


Windows cores can be speeded up with ASIO drivers, developed by SAVITECH.

The best thing in the situation with this outbuilding is that it’s not worse for a lot of expensive decisions, but for those who want to get around. Nasampered, for whom the merit of a good DAC is that controller, for a friend - for a competent circuit design solution.

The “out of the box” sound of the U2 is more detailed, closer to colder, but without over-excessive over-highs. The sound is rich in that lightness, although the bass plays badly. The sibilance is weak, the background noise is due to the quality of your USB output (see below about the filter). The stock in terms of thickness is a sufficient number of not tight earmuffs. The good DAC will join with different subsidiaries, for the sake of your own transparency, it is practically not practical to make a sound picture.

Modification

In order to discover the new potential of U2, I corrected yoga for an additional upgrade to a well-known master. In the course of the additional DAC, having recognized the rich changes:

• removing tantalum capacitors from the analog path and replacing them with high-capacity electrical
• the filter and yogo components were replaced by omissions, and the amplitude of the output signal of the troch was changed to achieve greater detail
• implemented as a food processor for the DAC microcircuit
• part of the capacitors is shunted with ceramics

Since this modification could not fit in the outer case, for the capacitors, open the holes in the roof and the entire DAC was tightened with heat shrink. Looking viishov trohi artisanal, but the increase in the quality of the sound is too true.

After the modification, the sound of the player becomes not so pronounced cold, the bass drive is added, so that the sound of the DAC is more musical. The sound becomes “big-planned”, the scene becomes more voluminous, the instruments are getting better.

USB filter

So U2 lives in USB, and small plugs do not allow you to implement a serious live filter, the sound of the DAC to lie in the implementation of the USB bus on your computer. To solve the HiFiMeDIY problem, a simple yet efficient isolator is proposed. Vіn vykonanyy in the same form factor as U2, only replace the audio jack on the new USB sockets. If you turn yoga up in front of the DAC (you can’t use U2 for it), you can noticeably increase the brightness live USB and improve the sound.

Visnovki

Even an inexpensive addition with a great potential. Don't let me bless you even a simple ovniy looking, for your modest price This small building DAC will please the vlasnik with an indestructible sound.