Raspberry Pi I2S to SPDIF Hat

My guess is it would work. Two small concerns. It looks like the combined cable length would be longer than my short 4" cable. The buffers allow a longer cable than that, but to my knowledge, no one has tested longer cables, so we don't know how long is too long.

The second concern is probably not worth mentioning. I personally don't like to add extra connectors into the signal path if I don't have to. It introduces the possibility of minor signal degradation. Being digital, this probably isn't a problem.

 

In my setup, I'm running a CAT8 (I think) cable that's about 18in with no issues at all (lock, phase, etc.).

 

What adapter board is that? I need one too

 

That's quite an endorsement! I thought the Ambre did a very good job with the Onyx when I had both, better than Pi + 502DAC + Audiophonics LPS > S/PDIF coax > Onyx.

 

Flat soundstage comments between Allo Signature and PI2AES got my attention since I moved to modded hd800, I didnt notice much difference when I use hd650 and stock Verum one.

@Michael Kelly I would like to ask some questions assuming you got the loaner of this dac.


- Can I use a short hdmi cable direct from i2s differrential output for my gustard x26 dac? Or I have to manually wire it.

- Which outputs do you prefer on x26 dac? This might save the cost for extra AES cable, atleast for me.

Will do a comparision when I received PI2AES and moved away from my 450units apartment... the power here mess up my audio nervosa quite good.

 

The Gustard x26 I2S input works with the PI2AES using a standard 3ft HDMI cable.

Michael

 

I forgot to answer the second question as to output preference. The short answer is no preference. Below are the plots for 1Khz THD for Opto, BNC, Balanced XLR and I2S over HDMI. In some ways, this is a great testament to the quality of the Gustard x26, more than anything else. Other DAC's may not give their best on all interfaces. But it does show that with the x26, the PI2AES provides very high quality audio over all of it's interfaces.

OPTO


BNC


XLR


I2S over HDMI

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NCJ1M66/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

That's cool! That's a very reasonable length to work with. Michael and his buffered i2s output are really working nicely.

Now that's an easy way to do it!

In a previous attempt with the 502DAC i2s (unbufferd) outpu, I tried a longer cable and it was pretty sad. So my Pi2AES i2s cable was as short as I could make it. I happened to have some connectors that fit the output header and made what is shown in the photo. I expect it doesn't perform any differently than MisterRogers version, but it shows another approach for those who enjoy crimping.;-)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/exvruaocteansgx/Pi2AES%20Buffered%20i2s.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gbl9f672swgo1ww/Pi2AES i2s cable.jpeg?dl=0

Jac

 

Does anyone really enjoy crimping??

 

Hi guys!

Couldn't make the PI2AES work with Volumio's experimental build. However it turned out that the latest release of Volumio already supports RPi4.

I can confirm that the PI2AES works perfectly with the latest official Volumio version (2.619) on the RPi4 (by choosing the HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro I2S option)!

 

Finally I am also able to connect Onyx with buffered I2S of Pi2AES.
Below is the BoM
1. REXQualis 120pcs Breadboard... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072L1XMJR?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
2. RJ-45 / 8P8C to Screw Terminal... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B9GFJAU?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
3.Monoprice Cat6 Ethernet Patch... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003L1AET2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Thanks to @lehmanhill for helping me out with configuration.

 

And the results are???

Michael

 

It is fantastic. I connected digione signature to COAX of my DAC and compared against it. I feel smoother highs thru I2S. Based on 30 mins of listening.
But digione is powered by an expensive LPS and for Pi2AES with its native power brick to come close or in fact better it, is a major achievement.
Just to have something with AES, I2S, SPDIF, COAX/BNC output and no need to use LPS to get quality output is testament that we can have very good quality streamer at very low cost.
Well done

 

Thru AES of Pi2AES and COAX of Digione signature with LPS, I felt digione has little fuller lower mid and just a little more slam but I'm quite sure it was because of LPS power. But thru I2S the competition is very close. In fact in blind test I may fail. Will report more as I spend more time and switch the power supply.
I have Lifepo4 battery. So I can feed Digione with it and have LPS power Pi2AES and then it will be interesting to see the results. But I feel I2S may come out as winner.

 

Exactly what problem is it supposed to solve? And is it measurable or A/B tested? Ethernet data packets are re-assembled (even when out of order) by the receiving end and the result is not affected by the accuracy of the clock on either end (unless so bad that communication fails). This is not to be confused with AVB which is streaming the real time, multi-channel audio data over ethernet, which is NOT what the etherregen does.

Michael

 

A cursory read of the page @jexby provided will answer that. John Swenson has been working on a test / measure rig to validate / measure the (theoretical) problem, and then their solution. Jury's still out.

 

Then I will reserve judgment until they produce some measurements.

Hopefully they are positive. Or at least clear enough to in sure that folks will be able to make an informed decision.

Cheers,
Michael