VOLUMIO soundcheck invitation for Hamburg, Germany

[judydudi]

@mruano

Hi, Judy

May I ask you what’s your setup for the Azur 651W? Do you use a preamp? And what speakers?

Thanks and regards,

Miguel

Hi Miguel,
thank you for the interest.
no preamp. only the 8 port rca switch ( dodocus.de/UBox8C-IR.html )
calibrating all devices to the same volume.
2 pairs of loudspeaker. ELAC FS78 and ELAC BS244.3
best. judydudi

[judydudi]

katana THD, DACberry pro+, PecanPI, DAC pro, Mamboberry HD, primo (proto), Khadas, AroioDac in pole postion…

[judydudi]

@Girafenaine

Actually the IQAudio does use the rpi clock, after having asked to IQAudio. I find very interesting that they could reach a very good level without some clock and master mode. Perhaps are these « jitter » issues a bit overestimated by tech-audio-lovers ?
And it could be an idea to test it with kali reclocker if it may tchnically be done, just for fun.

Thanks ! haven’t you had an IQAudio until now ? It is already present in your first checksounds !

Girafenaine

I’m still convinced that iqaudio works in master mode, even though it uses the RPI clock.
ask gordon from iqaudio if kali works. would be interesting.
i have some revisions of the iqaudio board. of course i will have latest version on next soundcheck…
jitter, noise? personally, I have heard in different power supplies no or less difference, but in reclocker …

[judydudi]

@Girafenaine

@judydudi

I’m still convinced that iqaudio works in master mode, even though it uses the RPI clock.
ask gordon from iqaudio if kali works. would be interesting.

About “reclocking” Gordon quickly, kindly answered me that “The pi’s clock works well and allows us to focus on better quality components.” (Without a clock, I believe you can’t have a master mode (as I understand it master mode means : to send your own time data to the rpi - without a clock you don’t have your own time data).

That’s why I find it interesting to wonder whether “reclocking” is so essential for “less than 100 $/£/€ DAC”. IQAudio seems to show that it is more useful to focus on other components.

About a “Kali-IQAudio Pi-DAC pro combination”, Gordon seems to have no idea about it - I understand that he is not convinced with reclocking usefulness, and could be right. So… you could try such a combination, couldn’t you ? It would be interesting to see first if it works, and then how it changes the sound.

Girafenaine

i tried, and kali (a slave reclocker) did not work for me with IQaudio DAC pro.
see : volumio.org/product/allo-kali-i2s-reclocker/
i also tried the OSA isolator and there i only get it works switching DIP on isolator board in slave mode.
best j.

[judydudi]

@allo

Yes. Before you ask,ess9038q2m (but its about implementation not DAC ic)

Name : Revolution .

The output stage is using opa1612 (the best monolitic opamp)
USB input
DSD 512 tested and working perfectly .

Dac is working on synchronous mode with all DPLLs disabled (a la Katana) . No crossover distortion… !!

I have been working with Joe Rasmussen behind the scenes for a while now (he has designed the SQ filter of Katana SQ)
He is a famous modder from Australia that takes hi end DACs and…makes them better .

Revolution incorporates a lot of his work .

We think it will bring the THD+N believers (Right not we are at -115 THD+N I see only 2 dacs in the world measuring better) to agree with SQ ones. We want the new DAC to unite the 2 opposing camps .Designed for SQ and no distortion 20db under hearing threshold… price rather on the lower side. A revolution in every sense of the word

Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to welcome ‘Revolution’ on the next soundcheck.
allo works hard on it and tries to send it on time.
“A revolution in every sense of the word” sounds almost boastful - like the audiophile heaven - we are very excited - and like to be impressed

[mruano]

@judydudi

@mruano

Hi, Judy

May I ask you what’s your setup for the Azur 651W? Do you use a preamp? And what speakers?

Thanks and regards,

Miguel

Hi Miguel,
thank you for the interest.
no preamp. only the 8 port rca switch ( dodocus.de/UBox8C-IR.html )
calibrating all devices to the same volume.
2 pairs of loudspeaker. ELAC FS78 and ELAC BS244.3
best. judydudi

Thanks, Judy

And may I ask, in your opinion, which RaspberryPi + DAC Hat sounds best when connected to the Azur + Elacs?

Kind regards,

Miguel

[SanjeevM]

All the best for the Soundcheck today . May the best equipments sing for themselves !!

[judydudi]

@SanjeevM

All the best for the Soundcheck today . May the best equipments sing for themselves !!

Thank you SanjeevM!
Yes, we did the Soundcheck. We had four listeners.
Thanks to all listeners - They all had to realize that such a soundcheck - comparing 8 devices - is real work!
Also i was pretty glad to welcome Volker here, an employee of a berlin radio station.
I still have work to do and will report more later …

[judydudi]

It was interesting. After the first run, we agreed that all boards sound (very) good and the differences are small.
That’s why it’s so much work.
So we could not sort out any that would not sound good. I asked which device we want to take in a second round for a closer examination.
We chose Dacberry pro+, PecanPi and AroioDac.
In the end, the PecanPi was the winner. He was most liked by three of the four participants.
Claudia said: “PecanPi was not the best in every sound discipline but overall I would buy the PecanPi”
PecanPi plays warm (but not muddy) and emotional.
Second place and most liked by one of us was the AroioDac.
AroioDac played precise, balanced, a bit to cool, less bass than the PecanPI.
We all agreed that Dacberry pro+ is in 3rd place.
He plays lively, pleasant and musical.
After evaluation of the questionnaires, the first three places were followed by the Mamboberry HD+ Crystek. Then iQaudio DACpro & Khadas Generic tone board. After that, primo & allo Katana THD.

All Devices were played with allo 5V3A or player shipped psu.
Volumio 2.619 was used for every device, same playlist as last time.
That’s it for now! Thanks for all support.

[orchardaudio]

Thank you for arranging these sound checks.

I hope to get you the BOSC amps in the future to try out:
www.orchardaudio.com/bosc

[judydudi]

I had wondered why primo and katana landed this time on the last places.
I think now Katana needs more than others a good power supply to exploit his potential. (like allo shanti LPS)
The primo I had the same power supply as the last time used. Therefore, I think that the primo (a Tinkerboard player) image 2.619 was not optimal.
We missed at primo a little deep in the sound.
Next soundcheck we will play same devices, but with Ultra Low Noise Linear Power Supply - many thanks to osaelectronics for supporting the soundcheck with the ULPS1225A Dual LPS!

[judydudi]

@orchardaudio

Thank you for arranging these sound checks.

Thank you.
In fact, I’m just beginning to really appreciate the device (PecanPi). You know, I missed hardware volume level control via gui. But in addition to the sound quality I like the steel case very well. It is PI4 capable and equipped with XLR.

[SanjeevM]

@judydudi

I had wondered why primo and katana landed this time on the last places.
I think now Katana needs more than others a good power supply to exploit his potential. (like allo shanti LPS)
The primo I had the same power supply as the last time used. Therefore, I think that the primo (a Tinkerboard player) image 2.619 was not optimal.
We missed at primo a little deep in the sound.
Next soundcheck we will play same devices, but with Ultra Low Noise Linear Power Supply - many thanks to osaelectronics for supporting the soundcheck with the ULPS1225A Dual LPS!

It seems that the Isolator (and the factory supplied PSU) brought the Katana perf down. Had the isolator been removed the sound might have been more dynamic, and may have moved Katana ahead amongst its nearly equal competitors.

[judydudi]

@SanjeevM

It seems that the Isolator (and the factory supplied PSU) brought the Katana perf down. Had the isolator been removed the sound might have been more dynamic, and may have moved Katana ahead amongst its nearly equal competitors.

Remove isolator? Interesting point. I will try that out at the next soundcheck in november! thanx

[Dester]

Hi Judy, were you able to try DACBerry pro+ without osa isolator? It would be interesting to know its influence on this pretty good result …

[judydudi]

@Dester

Hi Judy, were you able to try DACBerry pro+ without osa isolator? It would be interesting to know its influence on this pretty good result …

Hi Dester,
thank you for your interest. nice to see how many people out there are participating the soundcheck.
Are you ok, when i use on next soundcheck DACBerry pro+ without osa isolator?
It would fit, because I would like to omit him at the katana too.

[mruano]

Thanks indeed for this effort, Jens - it is extremely helpful. Too bad I am not in Hamburg!

A couple of questions, if I may:

1.- From the pictures that you have posted, it would appear that all the ‘visible’ HATs are mounted on RP3s - or are they RP3+s? No RP4s in sight that I can tell. Ant reason for that?

2.- You seem to be using a very nice acrylic case for the AroioDac. If this correct, do you know where to get such case?

Thanks again and best regards,

Miguel

[SanjeevM]

RPI4s run hotter than a RPI3 or 3+. That’s one of the disadvantages. I’m trying to find out whether there is an improvement in sound.

[orchardaudio]

@SanjeevM

RPI4s run hotter than a RPI3 or 3+. That’s one of the disadvantages. I’m trying to find out whether there is an improvement in sound.

I can tell you that with the PecanPi, the Rpi 4 offers zero improvement in sound quality. I recommend to all of my customers to use the 3B.

The 3B is the coolest running of the Pis and has plenty enough power for any audio streaming tasks.

[mruano]

@orchardaudio

@SanjeevM

RPI4s run hotter than a RPI3 or 3+. That’s one of the disadvantages. I’m trying to find out whether there is an improvement in sound.

I can tell you that with the PecanPi, the Rpi 4 offers zero improvement in sound quality. I recommend to all of my customers to use the 3B.

The 3B is the coolest running of the Pis and has plenty enough power for any audio streaming tasks.

Thanks for the advice. Would that be a plain 3B or a 3B+?