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USB to I2S converter for PS Audio Perfectwave DAC?


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Has anyone successfully built a reasonably priced asynchronous USB to I2S converter following PS Audio specs for connecting a PC to the I2S input of the Perfectwave DAC? The goal would be to be able to avoid the PS Audio Bridge altogether and potentially get sound quality equivalent to the Perfectwave Transport and Perfectwave DAC combo.

 

I know that Sonore lists the PS Audio specs on their website but that is clearly focused on pointing out compatibility of their music server with the PWD. Thanks.

 

Esau

 

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Am not aware of any currently available USB-I2S converters which offer the PS Audio format LVDS (balanced) output for I2S.

The most likley person to make such a device would be Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio. His Offramp 4 with the turboclock option, modded to provide a PS Audio format I2S output should provide optimal performance for the PWD.

Note, that for best performance, the PWD takes its masterclock from the I2S stream (running in Native mode), so the clock performance of the USB-I2S would need to be very good to perform at the top level. The Turboclock option with the Offramp 4 offers very good clock performance. This level of performance will not cheap though-but as has been proven, interface performance is critical to ultimate sound quality.

 

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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Before the bridge was released I inquired with PS audio about such a device. They had this under development but ditches the project because of commitment to the bridge architecture (big mistake IMO - offering optional architectures never hurts).

 

I then inquired with Rick Cullen (wyred4sound) and steve nugent (empircal audio), and both were amenable to custom building one. The bridge came out and nothing came of it, but it could very well either one of these guy is still interested in doing this. The pinout diagram of the PS audio I2S interface is in the public domain.

 

Frankly, the bridge and eLyric are pretty stable and I personally would not bother with the converter approach anymore at this point.

 

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Thanks for the replies barrows and edorr. I might just wait out the promised november release of eLyric with fully functional gapless software. I still, however, toy with the idea of a usb to I2S converter since wireless PWD is supposedly still not up to the level of the Perfectwave Transport into the PWD. Also, the Perfectwave Silent Server(due out in the first quarter of 2012), the Bridge and the wireless dongle likely cost more altogether than the price of a converter. I am having a music server PC built for use in my listening room with another DAC and it might be kind of neat to use it with the PWD as well. The upside would be the ability to run other software like JRiver Media Center with the PWD.

 

Esau

 

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