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Amanero
combo 384
19th. July 2018 : 2018 firmware
updated.
Improved on
transparency, dynamic, larger and darker backstage but more
analog sound.
Adjust
the R2R 1 DAC :
Some customers may consider the DAC's sound flavor depend on which
DA chips or parts built in.
But this is not
true. We can adjust the sound flavor to which is we like .
In NFB-7.77,
it had built in the ES9038 Pro chips but its sound just similar to
R2R 7 , had not the Sigma Delta sound .
The discrete R-2R design had the better detail and transparency than
the classis R-2R chips. We are consider in this middle/ low range
price, users may like the sound more smooth and analog , so we
increase the even harmonic and odd harmonic, spend a lot time to
adjust and test the harmonic and frequency band , listen the
sound quality and flavor for finally confirm the parameter..
A lot people may know the
even harmonic , just like the tube design, proper even harmonic
especial 2x harmonic made the sound tube like and smooth .
But a lot people even
some designers don't know the proper odd harmonic especial 3x
harmonic can make the sound lively.
If you like to looking
for the good specs, R2R 1 may not as good as the same price range
ESS9028 Sigma Delta design, but its sound is analog and smooth.
The balance combo always
had the sound more neutral than single ended combo.
If you like neutral much
, you can consider R2R 1 + NFB1AMP .
On the other hand if you want
the sound slight warmer for your listen taste or match with the bright sound
headphones , R2R 2 + C 2 is the choice.
Pros and cons of R-2R
DAC :
Advantages:
1.R-2R will not convert the
clock signal into the output signal.
2. R-2R is not sensitive to
jitter while Delta-Sigma DA is much more sensitive to jitter.
3. The output signal is much
more precise compared to Delta-Sigma DA .
Weaknesses:
1.THD today is extremely good with
Sigma Delta chips; R2R ladders are good too but not as good.
2. Glitches and accuracy of the
ladder resistors are very difficult to avoid and require complex
technology to resolve it.
R-2R basic design in the
market:
The R-2R DAC
is very popular nowadays and available from DIY kits and completely
up to of the shelf high-end products.
In the low range DIY
market, the R-2R design is often based on old technology designed a
long time ago by MSB and only includes basic R2R ladder design and
do not include the wonderful correction design of the original MSB
technology. This design uses data shift registers logic chips in
series mode to convert the data to an analog signal. The structural
R2R technology issues cannot be avoided, and performance is solely
depending on the accuracy of the ladder resistors.
In the High-End of the shelf (finished products)
market, the R2R design is much more complex only to reach best
performance. A basic R2R ladder is simply not sufficient enough to
achieve good performance and sound quality! Some manufacturers are
using shift registers design. A less complex and less performing
design based on traditional logic chips working in serial mode to
correct the ladder.
A far better design switches
resistors in parallel mode. An ultra-fast FPGA controls and corrects
the R2R ladder. The parallel design mode controls every bit
respectively and therefore achieve unprecedented performance. (In
parallel mode only 1 clock cycle is needed to output all data;
serial design mode needs at minimum 8 up to 24 clock cycles) The
parallel design is much more complicated. Once designed properly it
can correct every bit of the ladder. Photo below shows a
design with such FPGA, can correct the unavoidable
imperfections of the R2R ladder caused by tolerance of resistors,
glitches to achieve best performance.
Accuracy of the ladder resistors
(tolerance):
Many people believe the tolerance of
the resistors in the ladder is most important to reach best
performance. Nowadays 24 bit resolution is standard. What tolerance
is needed to achieve 24 bit resolution?
When we look
at 16 bit the tolerance of 1/66536, 0.1% (1/1000) is far not enough,
even a tolerance of 0.01% (1/10000), the best tolerance available in
the world today, still cannot handle 16 bit request correctly; we
are not even calculating 24 bit here!
The tolerance of
the resistor will never solve Imperfections of a ladder. This would
require resistors with a tolerance of 0.00001% and can handle 24 bit
resolution. This is only in theory because the discreteness of the
switch logic chips have already too much internal impedance and will
destroy the impossible tolerance of a resistor.
The solution
is to correct the ladder and not only depend on the tolerance of
resistors. It¡¦s a combination of both: Ultra-low tolerance resistors
controlled by a correction technology using very high speed FPGA are
applicable in in our design.
Importunacy of the FPGA in the R2R 1:
FPGA stands for Programmable Array Logic.
Nowadays the
FPGA is applied in a lot high end grade DACs; like the popular
ROCKNA WAVEDREAM DAC.
The internal
hardware design is fully controlled by complex software. A huge
advantage is the fact the software in the FPGA can easily be
upgraded offering new features or improve the performance. Such
design is much flexible and future proof!
FPGA tasks in the R2R 1
The FPGA in the R2R 1 is responsible for:
1. High performance
SPDIF interface, replacing traditional less good performing SPDIF
interface chips like DIR9001, WM8805 or AK411X,etc.
2. Full re-clocking
process with FIFO design applicable on all inputs. This way the
output data keeps fully synchronized with the clock signal to reject
any jitter.
3. Built in 2X, 4X
and 8X oversampling and digital filters and on top of this 4
different true NOS (only analog 6dB filtering) modes. To completely
configure it to your liking!
Fully discrete real balanced output stages
The
signal last stage is the analog output stages, they can much effect
the whole DAC sound quality.
After d/a conversion by
the R2R D/A modules the analogue signal is transported by fully
discrete matched-transistor output stages.
DC-coupled design with
first class through-hole components. No SMD components are applied.
The high speed special ACSS output stages are non-feedback and
current driven design.
Special because almost
all other designs need to convert the signal multiple times from and
to current or voltage, resulting in less detail and less good
staging.
The output buffers are
single ended FET. Two stages in parallel to reach very low output
impedance. All output stages are in pure class A design without any
(negative) feedback to achieve purest and a real live sound
reproduction.
The 4 OPA opamp¡¦s are
functioning as DC servo, this way no coupling-capacitors are needed
and DC output is automatically biased! Resulting in a perfectly
neutral sound.
There are no relays or
other switches in the signal path after DA modules to perform the
best and purest sound quality.
Heavy power supplies design:
The DAC has the high quality low
noise, low flux leakage, R-cores transformers to supply all digital
parts and the left and right analog boards.
There are in
total 13 group ultra-high speed and ultra-low noise PSUs built in
and applied double stage PSUs technology for remove the power
interrupt ,get much clean power supply.
¡@
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