|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
84.152.232.88
In Reply to: RE: comparing I2S vs. AES3 with Gustard U12+X12 posted by Ugly on September 29, 2016 at 12:39:11
Good observation and /or wise pondering.
Whatever the cause,the sound is decidedly different,less so now than before,and still clearly in favor of the AES3.
As I listen with ML Vantage electrostats in a small room with a wooden floor and lots of damping,I prefer to keep on enjoying the resolution offered by the speakers.This resolution gets lost if the highs are rolled off.I should be able to get a handle on the relative merits of the respective cables within a few days.
Follow Ups:
Interesting results, I think this is the first I read a preference of AES over i2S... what length cable is the i2S ?
I don't know how much merit there is to the argument but at least one manufacturer feels the need to add isolation on the I2S on their version of xmos USB to I2S.
Though I'm wondering if the goal is removing the nonideal electrical response of a poorly laid out i2s bus, then putting the isolation physically closer to the dac end of the cable rather than the processor end of the cable would be more optimal in dealing with emi problems related to the i2s cable and board traces electrical lengths and loop areas.
It is important to keep the I2S cable as short as possible. My HDMI cable is .3 meter
Alan
I can relate to this.My Viablue S-900 hdmi,which carries I2S between a U12 and an X12, is 4 meters long.It sounds like a quality cable-only that it is clearly attenuating highs above 8000 or 10000 cps.Resolution is affected(soundstage,etc.) sound has no "edge"-otherwise very similar to the AES3 cable,which seems to be quite good-D110 by DH labs terminated by Mark Tunis.Reading up on the subject of HDMI cables,I was aware only of the need not to surpass 5 meters,but was not aware of the need to keep the cable as short as possible.The trigger was pulled too early,as I was itching to compare the AES3 already in place with the I2S which most claimed to sound better than AES3.
The I2S cable is rolling off the highs somewhere between 8K-10K.The AES3 does not seem to be rolling off the highs.Other than that(Mrs. Lincoln,how did you enjoy the show?)the 2 cables seem to be treating the lows and mids quite similarly.I should know in a few days if the I2S cable burns in more and opens up in the highs.
Both are 4 meters.I was able to make do with 50 cms. between the PC and the digital interface,but the interface is in another part of the (small) room,and I need the 4 meters.The system is a resolving one with ML Vantages,and a good 600 WPC amp,DPA double run of Black sixteen speaker cable,triple electrical filtering,a Tortuuga clone(Abacus Audio) passive pre with Teddy Pardo PS.I am totally surprised at the quality of audio available by using a PC. The AES3 cable is D110 cable from DH Labes terminated by Mark Tunis,the I2S is an HDMI cable from Viablue(S-900).I had previously used simple HDMI cable and the Viablue is noticeably better.The D110 is more open in the highs compared to the Apogee Wydeye that I previously used.
Thanks for the reply... I am not an EE, but my understanding is that i2S needs be as short as possible.. Although the HDMI version allows longer lengths than the RJ45 version, it seems from my casual reading that 1M is the maximum length normally suggested.. I have used 1M HDMI i2S OK when I was testing some configurations, but currently use a 0.3M from Wireworld.
Not sure if that is the cause of the roll-off you are experiencing, but it seems the AES would be the better option if you require the 4M cable length..
Yes, the I2S cable, both RJ45 and HDMI need to be very short I use a wireworld HDMI cable which is .3meters between my Singzer and Master 7
Alan
Thanks.I also did some casual reading in order to enable others' experience to guide me in assessing whatever behavior the new cables would exhibit.The length considerations reported on by most posters had to do with the I2S struggling with the 1s and 0s when one exceeded a few meters,with resultant dropouts and quirky behavior.If there were only a way to shorten the distance between the digital interface -a U12 and the X12 DAC,but that would mean rearranging the room in such a way that any forward,backward or sidewards motion would be hopscotch or leapfrog,and for the time being,that is not an option.Actually,sound using the AES3 cable is surprisingly good and much more than I could have hoped for from a PC.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: