I am not sure what you are asking? Is it just to compare the I2S signal improvement to feed another I2S Pi DAC?
Are you thinking about using the Hifiberry DAC only for the I2S part and not use the DAC itself? Not sure if that would work, but first the Hifiberry has to get a new driver to even take advantage of the possibility to improve the I2S signal.
So you are wondering which of the two does the best reclocking of the I2S signal. I do not know the answer and maybe someone with either real life experience or deep hardware knowledge can give more details.
One thing to consider though, is the software driver to use that is needed to even get an I2S signal from the Pi. The Kali does not have/need one as it relies on the driver of the board that you put on top. The HB has its own driver as it is also a DAC.
Does anyone knows if there is a generic driver in Volumio to just activate the I2S signal? That could be useful with the Kali
Hi,
Hot topic for me too, as I also wonder if a setup like Pi->Reclocker->“I2S external DAC board” works/make sens.
The answer of the above questions is certainly dependent on the external DAC features and not predictable without test.
May be the Hifiberry driver will help sending data through I2S to ext. DAC if that DAC does not need special controls (I2C).
Would be great to see KALI effect on AK44xx I2S boards sound.
I used the reclocked I2S signals of Hifiberry Dac+ Pro for my Audio-Gd NFB-3 Dac (I exchanged the USB input for an I2S input, Magnahifi did this for me). I connected the Hifiberry Dac+ Pro I2S output to my I2S Dac by using this: magnahifi.com/index.php/nl/w … put-module
The sound is in my opinion very good. I liked and like the Hifiberry Dac+ Pro very much, it is a very good device!
When I read about The Kali I asked myself the same question as pistollero. I bought one and yesterday I exchanged the Hifiberry Dac+ Pro for the Kali. I used GPIO pins 12, 35, 39, 40 (my Audio-Gd dac provides its own MCLK so I don’t need the MCLK from the Kali) and the sound became better in my opionion. There is more rest. The sound is less artificial. More details. More space. Very natural. I can’t give technical details but I think the Kali does the cleaning of the I2S signal better than the Hifiberry Dac+ Pro.
We don’t want to comment on other companies hardware. Hifiberry is a good company and they have been around for a while.
Kali uses an FPGA to line the data and reclocking is done outside (fpga) for the lowest jitter possible. Using a good osciloscope we observed less than 4ps jitter…
To achieve such low jitter we are feeding the NDK oscillators with highly filtered power…using LDOs and low pass filter.
Let me share here what you already know about my experience concerning external DAC connections, via I2S.
The KALI reclocker is indeed a very good I2S generator for external DAC, even with those that needs the clock signal. I’m testing this currently and it works perfecly. Unlike what John posted above, in addition of pins 12, 35, 39, 40, I also used pin 29 MCLK from KALI to connect my AK4495 based board. By doing this, KALI & ex. DAC have same clock (sync), and in theory is better than having different clocks on KALI and DAC (async).
Comming from Mamboberry DAC+ & Kali wich already sounds very good, but works async, the new setup KALI->I2S->AK board* working sync is a huge improvement in terms of sound quality (my personal impressions). Impressive stereo, wider scene. Very realistic feelings. Although not possible to determin wich difference is comming from the DAC temperaments ESS vs AKM or working mode sync vs async or even output stage differences.
You currently use your Hifiberry DAC pro clock to feed the external DAC with MCLK signal, and provide the datas with the other signals. I have abolutely no idea if the I2S signals handling comming from the Raspberry is audibly worse due to missing buffering+flip/flop that Kali provides. I would say Kali offers the best chances for a optimal data transfer and in addition some extra features (voltage regulations, etc). Should have an impact at the end.
PS : as expected Mamboberry/Hifiberry driver is working when using just KALI as I2S generator.
Hi John
Your hardware is designed to be used like this. Mine can only be used in sync. Different brands, different philosophies. But if it sounds good, who cares ! Kali allows both ways. It is definitively a good option to connect an external dac.
Hi,
It’s this one : audiophonics.fr/en/diy-dac/d … 10908.html.
You need to buy in addition the proposed 2x20V transformator, the RCA and some prepared short cables for I2S signals
There is some DIY job, but I like this. It is really not a plug n play solution.
Yes many thanks Pistollero, you gave me in fact the idea of AKM chips. Was waiting a board with the new AK4497 chip but as it is still delayed, couldn’t wait longer and bought this one with AK4495.
Yes, AK board needs it own 2x20V AC transformator. Voltage regulators are on that board. PI/KALI is fed by one separate linear power supply.
I see a not used 5V part on the AK board (intedended for Amanero usb connection). I am thinking now using it to feed the Pi/KALI unit. Ordered yesterday the toroidal transformator and we’ll see by the end of the week if it works.