Espress0

The Flac page. Has all the info you need.

Might as well make the whole thing. Found this nice site: image.pinout.net which has a lot of wiring schematics. Usb pinouts via google images Here is what appears to be a lemo to usb pinout. Some links on litz braiding. Also some DIY images. And finally some Connectors.

Qvortrup cutting himself off from profits on a $50,000.00 Audio Note UK digital file player? The same people who buy $80,000.00 amps would buy one. There must be some reason. What ever could it be? It may require some sort of original thought & engineering but it could certainly be accomplished by the genius Single Ended Triode designer. Oh, yeah, nevermind... Kondo San would have figured out a digital player. Alas for everyone, he will not be revealing his designs to us anymore. I do know of some progress from an other tube dynasty out East, but nothing to convey, as yet. I do agree that digital file playback of music stored in computer file formats on computer file systems does pose unique problems to overcome through engineering and design. Things like jitter, latency and computational overhead are all involved, and need to be addressed. Just as a finely tuned Redbook CD player has partially addressed the problems of Reed–Solomon error correction and PCM decoding & filtering, so too must the digital player designer make the compromises and choices based on the mechanisms involved. An open minded designer will accomplish these things. Anyway, I want to know about this liquid thing. Perhaps the best music storage lies somewhere in the future.

The object is to recreate a model of an analogue waveform from a digital file. This is done via a hybrid digital/analogue computer system, otherwise known as a stereo. The digital model of the waveform is encapsulated inside multiple layers of file storage, bus architecture, PCM or DSD encoding and multiplexing. These are ultimately expressed as voltage differences in particular sequences and combinations. This must all be transformed in the myriad translations of logic gates, valves, transformers, ac and dc voltages and finally air motion to our ears. It's not so easy. But it can be simple. Expect further progress in areas of codifying and breaking down each step of transformation of the data on it's pathway from digital file. Clock stability and frequency, increased bandwidth for encapsulation, storage and playback. As well as incorporation of latency in a framework of playback. Latency is unavoidable, because time does not happen all at once, but it can be anticipated. In fact incorporated into more accurate playback, if the latency is consistent it can be clocked. Ideally a playback system will be simple, but take into account the myriad problems that have been recognized in these transformations, both ones that have been identified and those that are detected by our very sensitive instruments (ears) but not as yet analyzed & quantized. Certainly most if not all these problems occur at moments of transition & transformation.

Or, more properly, have your digital playback be as dedicated as possible. As simple as needed but no simpler. It's all a work in progress.

suggested price $39? hahaha...

The Fisher, yet to be equaled in my music listening experience.

There are plenty of solid state media players with SPDIF out now. There is the cool looking Micca EP350 G2 1080p which will play just about anything for around $99. Also the QA350 wav player for $220. Finally the Shanling M3.1 Network Music Player around $830. There's lots of new stuff all the time. Plus you can also build or buy a media computer with SPDIF and TOSLink for very little money...

In my youth, I had quite a lot of audiophilia; buying, trading upgrading through a small fortune, which ultimately left me feeling quite unsatisfied & with a lot less money. Then I fell in with a group of DIY single ended triode folks as well as working for a major name in the audio world as a computer consultant. Hearing what both groups had on offer was a revelation indeed, at price points between 500 and 500,000 dollars. Fast forward 15 years and while my quest for musical reproduction is not finished, it is much more refined. I learned valuable lessons from almost all of the audio experiences I've had and in the recent past have come up with my own theories as to solving the various dilemmas imposed by capturing, storing and replaying audio. The internet has been a glorious resource for learning from others experiences without having to spend the money to experience it for myself. This is especially true of the various pro-audio forums contrasted to the audiophile ones. One side spends thousands on preamps and channel strips to alter the sound of the recording to add flavor & tone and mix in or out of the box with AD/DA conversions in between while the other tries desperately to seek some bit-perfect neutrality that allows the 'pure recording' through. Both are quite valid in intent and realization. While I have downsized and limited my purchases in the last 10 years, I still listen to vinyl because a lot of my records are unlikely to be released in digital form, and it sounds so magnificent. I buy at least as many new releases on vinyl in the last 6 months as digital, too. There are still yet better retrieval mechanisms being theorized realized all the time as well, so I keep all the vinyl, the redbooks, DSDIFF, 24 bit files etc. Perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned is that it's all about the feeling and impression one gets from the music when it's played back by our analogue computers, which according to quantum electrodynamics and the entropic nature of time and the universe, is different every time. So I relax and enjoy. It's all good fun.

Been living with the Mytek Stereo192-DSD DAC for a while now, and while it's still breaking in probably, I'll share some impressions. It's very smooth. PCM or DSD, native bitrate or upsampled, the Mytek really conveys all that I hoped for with it's highly accurate internal clock. There is a continuity to music which is lacking in so many other digital / analogue computers. One of the reasons I started down the path of ripped digital files was the exclusion of the error correcting artifacts from laser systems, and after that seeking reduced jitter. Mytek understands this completely & they built that knowledge into this unit. The critical low frequency and low bit information that ties a soundspace together is successfully retrieved and not filtered out of existence as in so many other DACS. It plays well with various sources; USB 2 flac streaming, PCM and DSD via foobar, SDIF3 and SPDIF out of my DVD RA1000, & SPDIF Sony SACD transport . I am still evaluating which source I like best. Certainly foobar is most convenient. I am also fine tuning a linux mpd server. The differences between my previous DSD sources, the DVD RA-1000 and Korg MR1000 are not subtle. The Mytek bests them both by some margin in musicality and revelation. Well recorded & well mastered native DSD material is simply stunning. It's extremely rewarding and pleasurable. On further reflection, one of the paramount virtues is the resolution of timbre and overtone. Musical lines and instruments that were previously occluded, obscured & blended into other instruments playing the same phrasings suddenly yet subtly reveal themselves. Like the flute towards the end of the shine on you crazy diamond intro. Yet while all these subtle detail are revealed, what is even more amazing is the coherency and interplay that the Mytek allows to come through: rhythm, drive & the experience of play between musicians. The only downside so far is all those native DSD SACD's I still have on my to get list... sigh.

because people will pay so much.

Turns out there must have been some odd connection issue or power-on sequencing thing. I removed & reconnected all the wires & restarted all equipment. Now it works just fine. Will let you know how it sounds in a few weeks after break in, but right off I can tell it's going to be something great. Very detailed and true to the original recording. The tascam allows direct comparison with SDIF3 and it's own internal conversion. The levels are a few dB different, but already I can hear a better resolution of my own DSD recordings on the mytek. For the money, nothing can touch it. Which is why I ordered it a year ago

I have 3 cables, 2 for the dsdraw sdif3 stream and 1 for the sync. they are the correct impedance for each. I really haven't had time to thoroughly trouble shoot the problems. DSD displays on the unit, so there is some sort of recognition of the signal. I have to load up the tascam with a variety of dsdiff files to test. Right now there is only a live recording I made on there. Already waited a year, whats a few more weeks.

I have been busy with work since I got mine almost 3 weeks ago. Nothing to report as I got the mytek because it would hook up to my tascam via sdif3, but having problems syncing via SDIF3. It outputs static when decoding dsd and a horrible ultrasonic squeal when there is no stream input. The cats do not like it one bit. ( no pun intended ) Haven't had the timecan't be bothered to hook up any other way. So far, not impressed. Please don't tell me to upgrade the fw or whatever, I will get around to that when I have the time. Most likely after christmas.

I have found the audiogate software to do a wonderful job of joining together the dsdiff files into one big album file, which plays marvelously & uninterrupted. Apparently the edit is a simple one, computationally, and will not degrade sonics. Files sound marvelous and I can playback dsd for days. As to the mytek, mine is still breaking in.