Dummies Guide to Pi2AES! Throw away your PC or laptop.

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by purr1n, Jan 29, 2020.

  1. AukePauke

    AukePauke Acquaintance

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    Thinking of buying a HoliAudio Cyan 2. It seems to me that the i2s input should be the best.

    i2s pin out is HoloAudio spec. Similar to PSaudio however left and right channel is swapped for DSD content.

    I have a Pi2aes for a long time its the rev p3

    • DIFFERENTIAL I2S OUTPUT – A DS26LV31 Differential Transmitter is used to drive the I2S Bus via LVDS over a standard HDMI Connector. Rev. P3.x supports GD Audio, Rev. P4 support PS Audio.
    What could i do to make this work?

     
  2. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    where is that quote from?
     
  3. AukePauke

    AukePauke Acquaintance

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  4. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    i'm not seeing anything like a manual. But in any case, the cyan is a DAC so that means the I2S is an input port not an output. Our streamer is an output and it can support the two major pin outs.

    Also, most of the Holo DAC's support the ability to switch the pin outs into different modes. If you can get your hands on the manual for your device, then perhaps that will answer your questions.
     
  5. Grover Gardner

    Grover Gardner New

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    Loving my Mercury V3 but a heads up that the coax jack is a bit delicate. I have a somewhat stiff coax cable and managed to flex the coaxial RCA jack a bit too much. I was able to pull the board out and touch up the solder connections, but maybe something sturdier that can be secured to the back plate is an option for future revisions?
     
  6. AukePauke

    AukePauke Acquaintance

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    Here is the manual. Its very short. It seems that the cyan 2 can't switch pinouts.
    My hope is that there are hdmi cables with different pinouts on each side. But i haven't found them so far.

    https://www.kitsunehifi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Cyan2_User_Guide.pdf
     
  7. Grover Gardner

    Grover Gardner New

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    Update on the RCA coax output. Still experiencing intermittent dropouts. Using the BNC with an adapter, which sounds just fine.
     
  8. Grover Gardner

    Grover Gardner New

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    Never mind. It appears. to be a cable issue.
     
  9. Grover Gardner

    Grover Gardner New

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    ...and it wasn't that, either. I chose the wrong driver in Gentooplayer. :confused:
     
  10. econaut

    econaut Almost "Made"

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    Has anyone tried or knows something about sound differences between RPi 3 vs RPi 4 when using a Pi2AES?

    I have read that there's a difference when using USB out from the Pi, but don't know if it matters when using a HAT. For many it probably won't, but I'd like to know for the last 1-2%.
     
  11. AukePauke

    AukePauke Acquaintance

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    Hans made a video years ago about the difference between rpi 3 and 4.

     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2025
  12. Grover Gardner

    Grover Gardner New

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    I ordered a new Mercury V3 and it arrived today. The SPDIF output isn't working at all, either with Ropieee or Gentooplayer. I have emailed Michael about it. I thought I had broken my first one but now I'm not sure. It will only output 44.1 from the SPDIF. A nyone know what the problem might be?
     
  13. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    Support update 1/7/25 - Mercury V3 DAC units shipped prior to 1/7/25 had an incorrect resistor populated. This created a low voltage on the SPDIF output that might prevent a reliable connection with some DAC's.. For units shipped prior to this date the best solution is to use a BNC to RCA adapter (see here) on the AES (BNC) output instead. Contact us for more detail.
     
  14. Guidostrunk

    Guidostrunk Acquaintance

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    I get 44.1 from AES and honestly. There's nothing wrong with what I'm hearing. Is there a way to get a higher output? I know that 16/44.1 is supposed to be cd quality?
     
  15. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    We test them to 192Khz, but your DAC may or may not handle that even on AES (BNC or XLR))
     
  16. Guidostrunk

    Guidostrunk Acquaintance

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    Gungnir 2? It's probably the AES. I know the usb does more. Honestly though. I'm really happy with what I'm hearing over AES and am not going to stress over it. I tried the Unison via mercury and to me regardless of the bits the aes sounds better to me.
     
  17. decompositions

    decompositions Facebook Friend

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    that's more of an os/upstream thing but ideally you'll just output the native of whatever your songs are (16/44.1 in most cases), gungnir 2 (and the other multibit schiit dacs) all use their own special sauce filter to oversample internally anyways unless you run yours in nos mode. if I remember right you're using volumio, so I assume you aren't using nos with hqplayer or something which means this shouldn't be an issue for you. you can google the mega combo burrito filter if you want to find more info about the oversampling filters in schiit multibit gear.
     
  18. Guidostrunk

    Guidostrunk Acquaintance

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    Appreciate the reply brother. Yeah , I've had a ton of schiit gear over the years and do know about the filter. So I'm assuming that the 16/44.1 must be the native output of the mercury 3 , or Tidal then. I'm running volumio streaming Tidal.
    On the Gungnir 2 , I played around with all the features and prefer all of it off. So yeah no nos for me lol.
     
  19. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    FYI there is no "native" output from Mercury. It would be set by the software playing the file (volumio) or the file source (tidal).
     
  20. econaut

    econaut Almost "Made"

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    Many thanks. I know Hans but haven't folIowed his videos for some time. I will switch my 4B for a 3B+ then. I have both.

    A follow up on tinkering with the PI2AES:

    In my case the Pi has to run Wi-Fi (bedside rig, no network cables).

    So I wonder if it would be a good idea soundwise to "outsource" the Wi-Fi from the Pi.

    For example like this: Wi-Fi repeater* with RJ45 socket > copper ethernet > PI2AES

    Maybe adding an iFi LAN iSilencer in between.

    Any thoughts welcome :)

    * I would need to find a device with external power and use a low noise (L)PSU for it, though, I just realized.
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2025

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