Just upgraded: Hiface EVO!

[Lece]

Although I have not had a chance to test other competing products, I can say that this unit defiantly improved the sound quality of both my Musichall DAC25.3 and the ARC DAC 8. I highly recommend it. The drivers were simple to install on my mac with no hitches.

 

The only reason that I am interested in a power supply is that I believe that an upgrade to a more substantial/clean source can only improve things. Out of the box this unit sounds great. I am using it with a Wireworld Silver Starlight USB and plan on getting one of their digital cables (BNC or AES) when I have had a chance to test which input on my DAC sounds best.

 

[ryhchan]

So finally I finished the moving and have a chance to hook up my system again as well as the hiface EVO the first time even I ordered and received it back in Jan. The first impression was extremely disappointed. I don't know what I did wrong, maybe some experts here can help me out here. I think I know what I am doing...

 

All the connections look well, driver was downloaded a week ago so I assume it is up-to-date.

 

My components:

Mac mini 1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, 60GB HDD, with a NAS storing the music files, all wired network. No wireless. With iTunes and Amarra 2.1

Oyaide d+ USB cable

Hiface EVO with TeraDak power supply

Belden AES/XLR digital cable

EMM Labs DCC2 SE

interconnect to poweramp...the rest shouldn't be the issue as it plays fine with the CD transport.

 

When I tried to play the first song, the music starts, I was happy. But after 10 seconds or so, a weird loud static pink noise which lasted for one second is presented on top of the music. And it comes back every 10-12 seconds.

 

I stopped immediately and performed the following tests:

 

Test 1:

Rewinded the song to the point I heard the noise, and tried to play again, sometimes it happened at that point, sometimes no...and shifted to other points. But it came quite constantly every 10-12 seconds.

 

Test 1.5:

Copied the songs to Mac Mini local HDD. The same.

 

Test 2:

Turned off Amarra. Used iTunes only. The same.

 

Test 3:

Rebooted mac mini. (obvious tactics...) but unfortunately it's the same.

 

Test 4:

Turned everything off, back on. The same

 

Test 5:

Unhooked the mac mini. Hooked up a netbook with WinXP, downloaded the updated driver. Played a song thru foobar, the same. Then used MediaMonkey, the same. Surprise! It should isolate out that the issue shouldn't be caused by the Mac or iTunes or Amarra.

 

Planned Test 6:

Will get a 9V battery home tonite and try using battery instead of TeraDak. Will keep everyone posted.

 

Any suggestion is welcome.

 

Frustrating...

 

[MartinC700]

Can you try hooking up the Evo to your DAC via SPDIF and see if the problem remains? I used my EVO with a Lavry DA11 via AES/EBU and it was fine, but others I think have noted some issues. I don't have the Evo manual here, but believe that there is also an internal switch for configuration of the AES/EBU output that you could look at.

 

Good luck.

 

[ryhchan]

Thanks Martin. You are right. I should test that too tonite.

 

Just checked with the Troubleshooting page from m2tech, and found the following which is very similar to my case:

 

Symptom:

Sometimes, when I press play button, I hear a strong hiss instead of music.

 

Cause:

It’s a bug of the internal microcode found on very early production.

 

Remedy:

Require servicing for microcode update or unit replacement.

 

I just emailed the dealer my situation and waiting for a response. Will see what happens.

 

 

 

[ryhchan]

Just received all the pieces...the Evo, Belden 1800F, Oyaide d+ silver USB, the TeraDak power supply...and also a BNC/BNC word clock cable from Canare.

 

The Evo is hooked up to my Emm Labs DCC2 SE via the 1800F AES/EBU.

 

Once connected, the "Lock" light from DCC2 is on meaning it recognizes the signal from the source right away. (It didn't when I tried to connect the Cambridge Audio DACMagic before) Then I tried to connect the clock cable from DCC2 to Evo and was hoping some miracle...and as expected...out of luck.

 

Again...I don't understand why the company design the clock part that no majority of people can use. Probably they need another product manager to understand more about the market out there. If they are planning to have a new Evo+ or Evo2 that can work with the normal word clock out there, I am willing to give a try for sure.

 

 

 

[Lece]

I added the CI Audio VDC9.0 power supply in place of the stock power supply on my M2Tech EVO and the improvement was instantly noticeable. Everything had added body and clarity; more than likely the result a lower noise floor and additional power reserves. A nice little upgrade for $250 (even if I did have to jimmy rig a proper interface cable to make it work).

 

[Lece]

M2tech is now selling a power supply of their own...

 

http://www.m2tech.biz/evo_supply.html

 

[ryhchan]

Just visited hiface website and found they are selling their own clock too...anyone tried this clock? also the power supply?

 

[Wotan]

I have the EVO supply. Nice sound, perfect for the hiFace EVO.

 

[Matias]

To bad the new power supply and external clocks are so expensive, I would gladly buy them for like 1/4 of their asking prices...

 

[ijarvile]

I got interested about M2Tech hiface EVO until I read that SPDIF and AES/EBU outputs are pulse transformed, which is the against the design principles in high end products.

 

If device is designed to reduce jitter why then implement the solution (pulse-transformer based outputs, which do not meet standard 3V->1V) that will introduce the jitter to the final path of a line - output. The downside of using PT´s is mainly hysteresis and jitter.

 

I was seriously considering this product, but implementing a cheaper solutions at the end of a critical path that will have impact to key requirements of the product tells a crue story and makes wondering the design fundamentals and principles.

 

Two candidates left: Steve's Off-Ramp 5 (coming up) and Alpha USB

 

 

[Miska]

I got interested about M2Tech hiface EVO until I read that SPDIF and AES/EBU outputs are pulse transformed, which is the against the design principles in high end products.

 

Because that's how those are done when correctly implemented by the specifications.

 

Transformers offer single-ended -> balanced conversion for the AES/EBU and also provide galvanic isolation to avoid noise leaking to the DAC through dirty ground currents.

 

but implementing a cheaper solutions at the end of a critical path

 

Well, pulse transformers are not cheap and that's why some products skip those. While even the cheaper hiFace (non-Evo) has pulse transformer on it's output.

 

There are bunch of AES papers about jitter and pulse transformers, for the interested.

 

 

[ijarvile]

Miska.

 

Yes, I know and see your point, but it is not that "straight line"

when talking especially AES/EBU and impedance mis-matching (VSWR).

I have read the many papers and been writing myself a few white papers related to the digital transmission and system behavior and optimizations (SW/HW) though at telecommunication side, but principles and fundamentals are the same.

 

Physically separate options would be a beneficial:

 

SPDIF by pulse transformer RCA

 

SPDIF by direct by hi-speed transmitter BNC

 

AES-EBU RS-422 by XLR connector

 

If you measure line with and without pulse-transformer ...you will

get my point.

But I totally understand your point and aspect and we could talk about this the rest of our lives ;=)

Next topic would be SPFIF and AES/EBU and support for 24/192 audio.

Like you know its not either straigth line discussion when talking

digital connections and certain implementations in the industry ;=)

 

 

 

[Miska]

Physically separate options would be a beneficial:

 

Yep, and Evo also adds I2S over CAT-5 and optical over TosLink and ST.

 

What I personally find most interesting configuration is feeding a 24.576 MHz clock back to the Evo from DAC and using I2S or ST optical...

 

Not that standard stuff so much...

 

If you measure line with and without pulse-transformer ...you will get my point.

 

As long as you don't have those nasty ground currents flowing through sensitive clocking circuits in a chain of equipment... Seen too much of that in digital audio equipment.

 

P.S. Now you can also have a "star-clock" by using the Evo Clock.

 

 

[john925]

Not good!

I tried my Apogee Big Ben, Antelope and dCS and I thought I did something wrong. But as Esoteric isn't working on it either...

 

I must admit that I am very disappointed, and I fell somewhat mislead. One of the reasons I bought it, was that it could handle a external wordclock signal. It can, but not a known one it seems.

It is somekind of misleading.

 

One of the other reasons i bought it, is that it sounds good, and that it does! (But would it sound even better with clocking???;-)

 

Thank you!

 

The new Esoteric G-02 can be used for EVO. I used G-02 to output 22.5M/24.5M to EVO, and 44.1/88.2/176.4 or 48/96/192 to D-05. Now D-05 sounds definitely a lot better than before.

[Elberoth]

I got interested about M2Tech hiface EVO until I read that SPDIF and AES/EBU outputs are pulse transformed, which is the against the design principles in high end products.

 

Two candidates left: Steve's Off-Ramp 5 (coming up) and Alpha USB

 

Then the Audiophilleo USB/SPDIF converter is the one for you. It has a fully-differential ECL transformer-free output stage.

 

Audiophilleo1 - advanced low jitter USB S/PDIF processor

 

BTW - I'm selling mine, if you want one (already own too many of those USB/SPDIF converters).

 

PS. Both Berkeley Alpha and Off Ramp also use pulse transformers.