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Post by LesC on Jan 14, 2016 13:45:34 GMT -6
AES is higher voltage and uses balanced connections, and the AES connectors are considered more secure with better contact than coax, so less likely to have induced noise from nearby devices, but as you say, it shouldn't matter until you get into long runs. Still, AES is considered "pro" and SPDIF is considered "consumer" or "semi-pro", and most companies such as Lynx recommend using AES whenever you have a choice. I don't obsess over it, but I use AES whenever I can and most of my equipment has AES connections, including the Burl ADC, the Dangerous Source DAC, and the RME UFX. Having said all that, I use my SvartBox DAC-ADC, which is SPDIF coax, connected to my RME UFX AES connectors in-and-out. I simply use a short cable with coax on one end and AES connector on the other, supplied by Svart, and it works perfectly. I think that would be true for most modern interfaces, AES or SPDIF coax shouldn't matter. AES uses *differential* connection. Balanced only refers to impedance balancing. You can have a single-ended signal that is impedance balanced and still "balanced". "Differential" refers to the signal having two signals, one with reverse polarity at 0deg phase alignment. And yes, AES is slightly higher voltage, but the receiver ICs don't care. They have Schmidtt trigger inputs, so anything above the lowest voltage trigger point will trigger a "high" transition. They don't care one bit (pun intended) about the difference between the absolute voltages. Also, with differential signaling, the matching of the differential signal timings matter greatly. If one conductor is slightly longer, then they are no longer in perfect phase/time alignment and can result in imperfect summation through the diff-amp receiver. While this doesn't have too much bearing in the real world, the worst case is that the summed output signal is lower in voltage or skewed in time. This is part of the reason most RF systems use single ended signal traces and coax rather than twisted pairs. In the case of requiring differential signalling, the traces are often matched down to the mil (1/1000th"). All said, the differential vs. coax argument is mostly an academic one, unless you're dealing with running cables around noisy sources or long distances. I wouldn't worry about using one or the other. Thanks for the info, I always learn something from your posts!
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Post by mitchkricun on Jan 14, 2016 15:45:00 GMT -6
I ordered my AD/DA on Sept 1st and have had all 4 emails completely ignored. One was a technical question shortly after ordering and 3 in the last month, simply asking for an ETA on my units. If it wasn't for this thread, I would think they took my cash and went out of business...
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Post by properagenda on Jan 14, 2016 15:53:19 GMT -6
Actually, this is exactly what I did initially as it seemed logical. I mean, I set PCM4222 as a master and ran AES out to my interface. Unfortunately, that didn't work. I could not get any signal into my DAW. As far as I can tell, I tried every possible routing scenario and clock input setting within my interface.I would be really surprised if that is where mistake was made. Afterwards, I even emailed Ross and asked him if he actually tested the unit before shipping, and he assured me he did. Said unit was working and sounding great(even though he never explained why the unit which was supposedly build and ready to go didn't get shipped until three weeks after the order date), and that it is highly unlikely AES port is faulty. He also mentioned that PCM4222 AES won't work in slave mode without word clock input. I think that's what confused me, so I started thinking that perhaps in order to get everything to work I would need to slave PCM4222 to my interface, and not the other way around. Now I'm really starting to wonder there actually might be a problem with AES port. Can't think of any other reasons. Could it be a faulty AES input on my interface? It's a break out cable. I know that AES out is functioning properly, so it doesn't seem very likely that AES input of that same break out cable wouldn't be working. I will go through the whole routine again and see if there's anything I might've overlooked during my initial process. I might even have to buy a SPDIF cable just to check if that route will work. Things keep getting more interesting. Either way, this is a learning experience for me, and I greatly appreciate everyone's assistance. What's your interface? There have been reports of interfaces needing rebooting after changing their clock sources to "SPDIF" or "AES", as in someone changes the clock source in the software settings and the unit acts like it took the settings but nothing happens until the interface is rebooted. I use a PCIe interface. RME Hdspe AIO.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jan 14, 2016 17:44:58 GMT -6
I really love my Svartbox
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Post by properagenda on Jan 14, 2016 20:41:01 GMT -6
I get a feeling there was something wrong with the unit. He said it was a wrong order, but I won't be surprised if it was a return of a faulty unit that was "build", but needed to be refurbished prior to shipping out again. Who knows? I do know that unit wasn't shipped until 1/1 or 1/2, so technically it was an overnight delivery can you pull the lid and take a high rez pic of the inside and post it? that would be great, and we can tell you if anything looks suspect, like silicone holding down heatsinks... "facepalm" Unfortunately, I do not have an actual camera, so my smartphone camera is as fancy as I can go. Let me know if you need more pictures.
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 14, 2016 21:53:51 GMT -6
can you pull the lid and take a high rez pic of the inside and post it? that would be great, and we can tell you if anything looks suspect, like silicone holding down heatsinks... "facepalm" Unfortunately, I do not have an actual camera, so my smartphone camera is as fancy as I can go. Let me know if you need more pictures. get some compressed air, flip that thing upside down, and blow all the shit out of there, he leaves a friggin mess in all these units, and the debris can jump across leads on the smaller smd parts and short stuff out, another point for shit quality control, otherwise it looks like he took advice and bought the adapter boards with the cooling pad on them.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jan 14, 2016 22:11:16 GMT -6
What the hell is going on in the upper left hand corner in the first pic?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2016 22:48:19 GMT -6
Looks like hot glue, so some stuff soldered directly to the connector does not fall apart during transportation etc.. A.k.a. Behringer technique. Nah, that's actually not all that bad. Hot glue is your friend. If not applied to hot parts...
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Post by properagenda on Jan 14, 2016 23:07:19 GMT -6
Unfortunately, I do not have an actual camera, so my smartphone camera is as fancy as I can go. Let me know if you need more pictures. get some compressed air, flip that thing upside down, and blow all the shit out of there, he leaves a friggin mess in all these units, and the debris can jump across leads on the smaller smd parts and short stuff out, another point for shit quality control, otherwise it looks like he took advice and bought the adapter boards with the cooling pad on them. Thanks for taking a look at it. I'll give canned air a shot. I'll also pick up a SPDIF cable to see if that will make any difference. By the way, did you ever get your order? If I remember correctly you were one of the folks who was waiting for your order for a really really really long time. Plus your order wasn't for a single unit, right? I'm hoping that I didn't confuse you with a different forum member.
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 15, 2016 2:18:29 GMT -6
get some compressed air, flip that thing upside down, and blow all the shit out of there, he leaves a friggin mess in all these units, and the debris can jump across leads on the smaller smd parts and short stuff out, another point for shit quality control, otherwise it looks like he took advice and bought the adapter boards with the cooling pad on them. Thanks for taking a look at it. I'll give canned air a shot. I'll also pick up a SPDIF cable to see if that will make any difference. By the way, did you ever get your order? If I remember correctly you were one of the folks who was waiting for your order for a really really really long time. Plus your order wasn't for a single unit, right? I'm hoping that I didn't confuse you with a different forum member. Nope, you got it right, i ordered just around $4k worth of conversion from Ross in December 2014, he's managed me 3 of the 7 units i've ordered, another is supposed to show up next week, and the rest shortly after that, my order was sizable, and i've been talking to Ross regularly as he tries to climb out this hole he's made for himself, he needs to get a business partner, streamline his offerings, and get some QC guidance, or I think it will only be a matter of time before he folds, in the meantime I can say that he stepped his game up on my rigs, they look nothing like what i've seen in some of his other stuff, and they sound extremely good prior to the improvements i'm going to have done to them.
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Post by plinker on Jan 15, 2016 9:24:30 GMT -6
Note: I haven't read this entire thread, so this might be redundant. RM is bitching about the online complaints he's been getting. From his website: Forum people think we are making millions. Just trying to get this company going and keep the lights on is almost impossible. Sometimes we go for weeks without an order and that slows us down! One or two orders a month with no bank support or millions in google bucks. Arrrggg. We starve. Despite having to overcome many hurdles we are doing everything in our power to get your orders out. No Sales Makes Us Snails. There are a few out there that want to bash this little company out of business. Some of it outright slander and some of the same folks have ripped us off for units. We are not giving up.
Hmmm...me thinks he must have read the GS thread. Here's another one, regarding refunds: Bashing and Slamming on the internet will not make the refund process go any faster but exactly the opposite. No Sales does not equal any kind of fast refund or resolution.So, take that you damn forum people!!!
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Post by Johnkenn on Jan 15, 2016 9:29:40 GMT -6
Maybe he shouldn't run a Madoff scheme and use the money someone pays him to fund someone else's order. That's bullshit.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jan 15, 2016 9:34:56 GMT -6
Maybe he shouldn't run a Madoff scheme and use the money someone pays him to fund someone else's order. That's bullshit. It seems to me like he probably waits until he has the money from 10 orders to order his parts supply for those 10, then builds them up and ships. If he's not getting slammed with orders, there is no other reason for the long wait times, right?
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Post by Martin John Butler on Jan 15, 2016 10:10:18 GMT -6
Maybe he shouldn't run a Madoff scheme and use the money someone pays him to fund someone else's order. That's bullshit. I guessed this was the situation a long time back. It's not other people's fault they are frustrated with such poor service. Too bad he doesn't know how to run his small business, he's got a good product people would like to see readily available. I hope Tony gets all of his units before the $hit hits the fan. I know a few small time entrepreneurs, and they kept their day jobs until their business was well on its way.
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Post by indiehouse on Jan 15, 2016 10:31:19 GMT -6
Maybe he shouldn't run a Madoff scheme and use the money someone pays him to fund someone else's order. That's bullshit. Yep, I think you nailed it here.
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 15, 2016 10:34:13 GMT -6
Note: I haven't read this entire thread, so this might be redundant. RM is bitching about the online complaints he's been getting. From his website: Forum people think we are making millions. Just trying to get this company going and keep the lights on is almost impossible. Sometimes we go for weeks without an order and that slows us down! One or two orders a month with no bank support or millions in google bucks. Arrrggg. We starve. Despite having to overcome many hurdles we are doing everything in our power to get your orders out. No Sales Makes Us Snails. There are a few out there that want to bash this little company out of business. Some of it outright slander and some of the same folks have ripped us off for units. We are not giving up.
Hmmm...me thinks he must have read the GS thread. Here's another one, regarding refunds: Bashing and Slamming on the internet will not make the refund process go any faster but exactly the opposite. No Sales does not equal any kind of fast refund or resolution.So, take that you damn forum people!!! i've brought this ^ exact thing to his attention and told him (paraphrase), "do you understand how incredibly off putting those remarks are? nobody is interested in your PROBLEMS, or your FUTURE business, they are interested in receiving what they've paid for in full, months and months earlier, and that includes me Ross!", but for some reason he doesn't seem to get it, he's got some issues beyond not even remotely understanding how to run a business, if his model wouldn't have been so incredibly inept, and just plain wrong, his business would've blown up in a good way. All that said, unfortunately, and sadly, one of his Kids died this past year, it's quite honestly the only reason I haven't gone completely apeshit on him.
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 15, 2016 10:39:57 GMT -6
Maybe he shouldn't run a Madoff scheme and use the money someone pays him to fund someone else's order. That's bullshit. It seems to me like he probably waits until he has the money from 10 orders to order his parts supply for those 10, then builds them up and ships. If he's not getting slammed with orders, there is no other reason for the long wait times, right? yup, i think that's it, but it's totally wrong. The one thing all the parts in these boxes are is, not very expensive, he should have a solid stock, and streamline his offering to 4 products with the most popular connectivity, 2 channel superbeast DAC's, 2 channel PCM4222's, 8x8 AES ADDA's, an 8xDAC's, once that model is up on super solid ground, and time allows, you introduce another product, and so on, he can't be all things to all people, he offers tons of convoluted options that bogg his roll to a halt.
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Post by indiehouse on Jan 15, 2016 10:54:02 GMT -6
Note: I haven't read this entire thread, so this might be redundant. RM is bitching about the online complaints he's been getting. From his website: Forum people think we are making millions. Just trying to get this company going and keep the lights on is almost impossible. Sometimes we go for weeks without an order and that slows us down! One or two orders a month with no bank support or millions in google bucks. Arrrggg. We starve. Despite having to overcome many hurdles we are doing everything in our power to get your orders out. No Sales Makes Us Snails. There are a few out there that want to bash this little company out of business. Some of it outright slander and some of the same folks have ripped us off for units. We are not giving up.
Hmmm...me thinks he must have read the GS thread. Here's another one, regarding refunds: Bashing and Slamming on the internet will not make the refund process go any faster but exactly the opposite. No Sales does not equal any kind of fast refund or resolution.So, take that you damn forum people!!! i've brought this ^ exact thing to his attention and told him (paraphrase), "do you understand how incredibly off putting those remarks are? nobody is interested in your PROBLEMS, or your FUTURE business, they are interested in receiving what they've paid for in full, months and months earlier, and that includes me Ross!", but for some reason he doesn't seem to get it, he's got some issues beyond not even remotely understanding how to run a business, if his model wouldn't have been so incredibly inept, and just plain wrong, his business would've blown up in a good way. All that said, unfortunately, and sadly, one of his Kids died this past year, it's quite honestly the only reason I haven't gone completely apeshit on him. Thats awful. Sorry to hear this.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jan 15, 2016 11:00:00 GMT -6
The site also has this quote...
Contact via snail mail? Really? Can you imagine sending this guy a letter because your unit is defective? Corresponding via the USPS and letters? Get real.
This is 2016, if you can't do business on the web, you're sunk. An email explaining a delay or anything goes a long way.
...perhaps a spell check before posting on your business website too.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jan 15, 2016 11:11:57 GMT -6
My Super Beast Two is still rockin' here. Yes, I did have to replace the wall work 1/2 wave psu design with an on-board torrid power transformer full wave design, but that did remove all the background hum and noise. It wasn't that much work as I do this crap all day here anyway. I also mounted Linear Tech LT1086 and LT1033 regulators to the rear chassis with extended heatsinks, they run very cool now. Ross said he's looking into doing that but uses the wall wort 1/2 wave design to avoid electrical safety cert's and their cost.
I used a grounded AC cable and tied the audio ground to chassis at one point. I lifted the S/PDIF jack input ground from the chassis and used a Canare isolated 75 ohm RCA connector to impedance match the source.
I'm not a fan of the BurrBrown OPA1611/12 opamp sound for conversion, those are colored "rock" sounding chips to my ears. I used Chip-Quik and removed them for the Analog Devices ADA4898-1/2 opamps, a far superior sound. Lastly, the audio path resistors were changed to non-ferrous Dale CMF50 metal film resistors. They are small and tacked to the SOIC pads easily. That made a difference almost as much as the opamp swaps. Most don't believe a resistor can make that much difference, but they do.
Now it sounds elegant, as good as the best I've ever heard. Run the Bricasti M7 though it and hear how good that box really is too.
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Post by indiehouse on Jan 15, 2016 11:27:17 GMT -6
My Super Beast Two is still rockin' here. Yes, I did have to replace the wall work 1/2 wave psu design with an on-board torrid power transformer full wave design, but that did remove all the background hum and noise. It wasn't that much work as I do this crap all day here anyway. I also mounted Linear Tech LT1086 and LT1033 regulators to the rear chassis with extended heatsinks, they run very cool now. Ross said he's looking into doing that but uses the wall wort 1/2 wave design to avoid electrical safety cert's and their cost. I used a grounded AC cable and tied the audio ground to chassis at one point. I lifted the S/PDIF jack input ground from the chassis and used a Canare isolated 75 ohm RCA connector to impedance match the source. I'm not a fan of the BurrBrown OPA1611/12 opamp sound for conversion, those are colored "rock" sounding chips to my ears. I used Chip-Quik and removed them for the Analog Devices ADA4898-1/2 opamps, a far superior sound. Lastly, the audio path resistors were changed to non-ferrous Dale CMF50 metal film resistors. They are small and tacked to the SOIC pads easily. That made a difference almost as much as the opamp swaps. Most don't believe a resistor can make that much difference, but they do. Now it sounds elegant, as good as the best I've ever heard. Run the Bricasti M7 though it and hear how good that box really is too. Jim, could I send you my unit? Please?
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Post by indiehouse on Jan 15, 2016 11:33:37 GMT -6
My Super Beast Two is still rockin' here. Yes, I did have to replace the wall work 1/2 wave psu design with an on-board torrid power transformer full wave design, but that did remove all the background hum and noise. It wasn't that much work as I do this crap all day here anyway. I also mounted Linear Tech LT1086 and LT1033 regulators to the rear chassis with extended heatsinks, they run very cool now. Ross said he's looking into doing that but uses the wall wort 1/2 wave design to avoid electrical safety cert's and their cost. I used a grounded AC cable and tied the audio ground to chassis at one point. I lifted the S/PDIF jack input ground from the chassis and used a Canare isolated 75 ohm RCA connector to impedance match the source. I'm not a fan of the BurrBrown OPA1611/12 opamp sound for conversion, those are colored "rock" sounding chips to my ears. I used Chip-Quik and removed them for the Analog Devices ADA4898-1/2 opamps, a far superior sound. Lastly, the audio path resistors were changed to non-ferrous Dale CMF50 metal film resistors. They are small and tacked to the SOIC pads easily. That made a difference almost as much as the opamp swaps. Most don't believe a resistor can make that much difference, but they do. Now it sounds elegant, as good as the best I've ever heard. Run the Bricasti M7 though it and hear how good that box really is too. I actually have a Superbeast and Superbeast 2. I'd like to ask if you would take these on as jobs to get these guys up on your bench to do your thing. You would make my day!
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Post by plinker on Jan 15, 2016 12:44:09 GMT -6
I'm not trying to appear jekyll/hyde in this thread, but I will reiterate that my experience (three years ago) was fine:
1. ordered the DAC with full knowledge of lengthy turn-around time 2. two months later emailed RM to ask when the unit would be ready 3. three days later RM responded that it would be about another month 4. one month later a fine DAC was delivered
I use it for my HiFi, and it sounds great! It stays on about 12 hours/day.
I'm sorry for all those who are having bad experiences. Perhaps, things at RM headquarters have gone awry since my purchase. His web-page rants certainly don't give me a warm fuzzy.
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 15, 2016 14:36:33 GMT -6
yes, there is NO doubt that his rigs sound really really great, if you are willing to wait, to spend a marginal amount of cash on top of the purchase going the extra mile to clean them up(still way cheaper than units sounding far inferior), they are just killer at any price, ross has to get some credit for his design and layout, both matter, and they sound awesome! Yes i may have taken a gamble on him, but i'm not stupid either, i dotted the I's and crossed the T's, short of him dropping dead, i'm going to ultimately end up with an insane sounding 32 channels of JW/dandeurloo modded Super beasts feeding my stupidly great sounding console, and at less than 1/2 the cost of a pair of Avid 16's that would NOT compare sonically.
The wait has been somewhat rough in terms of stress, but I still feel decent about my decision, knock on woot 8)
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jan 15, 2016 17:08:33 GMT -6
yes, there is NO doubt that his rigs sound really really great, if you are willing to wait, to spend a marginal amount of cash on top of the purchase going the extra mile to clean them up(still way cheaper than units sounding far inferior), they are just killer at any price, ross has to get some credit for his design and layout, both matter, and they sound awesome! Yes i may have taken a gamble on him, but i'm not stupid either, i dotted the I's and crossed the T's, short of him dropping dead, i'm going to ultimately end up with an insane sounding 32 channels of JW/dandeurloo modded Super beasts feeding my stupidly great sounding console, and at less than 1/2 the cost of a pair of Avid 16's that would NOT compare sonically. The wait has been somewhat rough in terms of stress, but I still feel decent about my decision, knock on woot 8) m Of course you would have had the Avids in hand months ago! The statement above from Ross makes it really hard to root for the guy! It's time for him to dig deep into his pocket spend some cash catch up , build them right and watch the orders come in! Or at least get Tony's out the door!
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