It lives! It breathes! It works! On a chunk of aluminum for now. Coax in via BNC connectors on coax, RCA out. Small coax connects the BNC to the input board. The Touch end of the coax is still RCA. Sounds fantastic right out of the box! B III with Ivy III, Placid HD and HD BP. Got a Legato waiting for assembly to try next. Thinking ahead of the future power requirements I had installed the larger heat sinks on the Placid HD. A Sidecar down the road to import DSD/PCM from a Denon 3910 I picked up cheap. Maybe USB when the hi-res module is available. The Blue Nile/Hats album is a hi-res 24/96 vinyl rip I made.





This is what I was using and while it started as a Music Hall 25.3 it ain't that anymore. (Belleson Super regulators, larger heat sinks, Burson HD op amps, MUR860's, Mundorf MKP coupling caps, etc. The Bursons add a whopping 712% increase in power over the chip op amps). I used the SS out after the mods. SS out bypasses the tube and coupling caps.



On to a nice case now! The BIII deserves it. High marks to TP for offering this in a DIY form.

Edited by user Wednesday, September 5, 2012 5:11:18 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

"Excellent job so far!"

Thanks Russ. It sounds great! And I'm not offended by the 'so far.' I can see so many opportunities to screw something up in the future. ;)

One observation, on the Placid HD, QN1 runs near 20C warmer than QN2 (measured on the sink, 55C versus 36C). Is that difference normal?

Thanks.

Edited by user Saturday, February 18, 2012 3:27:08 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

That's normal.

Inspired by MrMajestic in this thread
http://www.twistedpearau...t.aspx?g=posts&t=992
and assisted by steinholien (thank you!), I finished my Denon DVD-3910 PCM/DSD outputs.

The 3910 has four PCM1796 DAC chips in dual differential mode. I chose the chip in line with the two channel outputs. PCM and DSD share some inputs on the 1796 chip so I only deal with attaching five wires to the audio board in the 3910 and have to switch output between two (PCM and DSD). I only need to output four wires after a switching relay. I snagged the wiring used out of an old backing camera video monitor cable. I saved the shielding foil to reuse in my application re-wrapping it around the wires.

I modified a Sidecar to switch between PCM and DSD outputs. I had damaged it by removing a 20 pin header after changing my build. (I pulled a ring off the trace). I could have made it work but got a new one instead. I removed two relays, inserted a three pin header and jumpered the pins to the appropriate relay pins. I cut the output traces from the relay to the headers at the side of the board.

I used a single long standoff off an existing board to mount the switching relay board. I snagged 5 volts off a video board below. The relay is controlled by a rocker switch mounted on the rear of the Denon. Up is DSD out (relay powered), down is PCM out. The four output wires attach to a Neutrik RJ45 connector.

A question. Since this works with a short 1 meter Cat5 cable, should I happily accept that or install the Teleporters I have ordered? My real question is would the Teleporter improve the sound quality over sending the low voltage PCM/DSD signal over such a long distance?

Edited by user Thursday, March 22, 2012 1:27:44 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

My bad, someone just pointed out to me that my DSD R & L channels are reversed with my current Denon 3910/B III Sidecar configuration. The integration guide shows BIII input D1 as PCM Word Clock. On the Denon 3910 with PCM1796 DAC chip, PCM Word Clock becomes Right channel DSD. On the BIII, D1 is suppose to be DSD left channel. So I need to add a couple more relays to do the DSD channel swap in the 3910.

Currently I am using just one relay to switch between PCM and DSD Bit Clock to the BIII/Sidecar. So SACD R & L channels are flipped.

Edited by user Sunday, June 3, 2012 7:26:54 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

That is very cool! Thank you for the encouragement. I Am very glad you and your friend enjoyed the music.

Cheers!
Russ

No worries. There are no circuit changes between the two, just a couple of cosmetic additions.

1) yes.

2) yes.

A note about this.

You will by necessity be sharing grounds because you are using the same I2S source. So you need to carefully think about your power supplies. Make you sure you tie the power GNDs together at one point - and then wire from that point to the DACs and other modules.

I don't :)

It lives! Well worth the investment in $$ and time!

I do have ~ .25 vdc on the SE out (one at .25, one at .30). Balanced out measure zero vdc. If I adjust SE out to zero vdc, I get .25-.30 back on the balanced out between + and -.

The star ground ring is mounted on a plastic standoff.

It was convenient to connect the Ventus EZ at the balanced out connectors rather than the boards. Is that OK?

Power info, if it matters. An LCBPS fed by its own transformer powers the Ventus EZ's. One side of an LCDPS powers the Sidecar and Teleporter. It uses one of the two secondaries of a 15VA transformer, the other secondary powering a Placid HD for one of the DAC's.

Just an update: I had removed the Ventus EZ's and ran pos and GND from the balanced to single ended out. Zero DC on balanced and SE (RCA) out, sounds great!

Edited by user Tuesday, October 2, 2012 9:11:59 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified