USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8

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-ol-

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USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« on: 14 Sep 2015, 01:08 pm »
Hi everybody,

the new Nuprime IDA-8 looks quite tempting to me... but in detail its given specifications are rather unrevealing I must say! Examples?!

Sure:

- 2x100W power, but measured how? (i.e. at which distortion levels?)
- FPGA-based USB-input... okay yes, that´s really nice, but which chipset is used (XMOS?)? I am still using a Squeezebox Touch which supports a variety of USB-inputs (at least with the EDO-plugin), but just not all of them. Further information would be great!
- Is the USB-Input powered by the 5v-rail of the attached device or by the internal power supply of the amplifier? I am using a USB-cable with an integrated power supply for the receiving unit.
- What´s the impedance of the analogue input?
- Does the amplifier still use a feedback loop like the IA-7 where no-load conditions were an absolute no-go?

Any further information would be great, then I could decide if trying the amp would make any sense to me! Also a picture of the inside of the amp would be veeery nice to look at - I have found nothing anywhere?

Thanks a lot,
Oliver

P.S.: I hope it is okay to open a new thread for this, I thought these questions might be interesting for some others, too.

rustydoglim

Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #1 on: 19 Sep 2015, 03:38 am »
We have the tradition of being very conservative and rely on our esteem reputation  :thumb:
Our products are generally rated the best in class.  Just go ahead and take my word for it. Just kidding.
We measure at 1% THD for max power rating which is industry standard for audiophile products but many companies do not follow that anymore and instead use 10% THD.

All no load condition does not apply to NuPrime amp. We have redesigned to get rid of that requirement.
We just uploaded the inside photo of IDA-8: https://picasaweb.google.com/106836432394752820607/IDA8
The USB is off course powered by internal power supply, this is a high-end product.

IDA-8 is the most advanced integrated amp on the market. Can anyone point to another competing product at this price range?
We have been using XMOS USB decoder chip.  I am not sure if there is any change lately.  Generally we don't talk about the specific implementation.

-ol-

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #2 on: 19 Sep 2015, 08:27 am »
Hi Jason,

thanks for your insightful reply and uploading the photo!

Please don´t get me wrong, but I do not fully concur with what you´re saying: Especially the USB-chipset does matter... and I am not referring to the typical audiophiles´ blablabla´ "A surely sounds better than B!". It´s just a question of compatibility since not all chipsets do support different OSs in the same manner (or the other way round). In my eyes it´s an absolute no-go to not clearly state "We´re are using chipset XY (until further notice) in our product", because then for me as a customer it´s impossible to figure out if for example my Linux-based computer network might work with it or not. If it´s still XMOS there shouldn´t be any problem, though.

And you´re right, the IDA-8 specs look second to none in its price-range, from my Nuforce experience of the past (happy owner of IA-7 V3 & P8S/ST8.5) I can also confirm you´re not building & releasing BS but all this wouldn´t matter in case I just couldn´t access certain key features (i.e. the onboard DAC of the IDA-8) due to compatibility issues.

Maybe in those Amazon times I just should order one, try it out for myself and sent it back in case it doesn´t work. But I don´t like this idea as a whole, call me conservative, sorry ;)

Just saying, all the best,
Oliver

giordy60

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #3 on: 24 Sep 2015, 09:17 pm »
converter which mounts the ida 8?
9018 or 9016?

giordy60

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #4 on: 3 Oct 2015, 08:00 pm »
nobody knows that chip-dac mount ida-8 ?  :roll:

avta

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #5 on: 3 Oct 2015, 08:30 pm »
deleted

rustydoglim

Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #6 on: 7 Oct 2015, 07:50 pm »
Sorry, very busy. I will try to get some info for the USB chip and DAC chip.

JackD

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #7 on: 7 Oct 2015, 09:02 pm »
It uses the ESS 9010k2m per a message to me from rustydoglim in May.

giordy60

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #8 on: 8 Oct 2015, 12:07 pm »
why it is not declared by nuprime?

srb

Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #9 on: 8 Oct 2015, 02:23 pm »
why it is not declared by nuprime?

Probably for the same reason that was given in the Nuforce circle in 2009:

"We do not disclose anything internal and we wipe off the label on most critical chips.
Disclosing what's inside could be misleading and confusing to many users. Two vendors could achieve very different result in audio quality even if they use the same DAC. There are so many other factors involved."

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=71475.msg671832#msg671832

rustydoglim

Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #10 on: 8 Oct 2015, 04:14 pm »
We have other designs that make a DAC sounded good so disclosing the chips use (unless it is for driver compatibility etc but still doesn't make sense because we don't officially support Linux for example) without explaining the surrounding design doesn't make sense.

giordy60

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #11 on: 8 Oct 2015, 05:39 pm »
from fans of nuprime I say that not list the major components of an electronic not lead anywhere.
(My personal opinion)

rustydoglim

Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #12 on: 12 Oct 2015, 12:11 am »
This statement in the feature list has a lot more to do with the sound quality than any variations of the 9018 DAC chips:
"NuPrime SRC IC chip provides FPGA processing with ultra-low jitter and distortion"  - this is the FPGA implementation of switch resistor preamp.

-ol-

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #13 on: 12 Oct 2015, 08:00 am »
We have other designs that make a DAC sounded good so disclosing the chips use (unless it is for driver compatibility etc but still doesn't make sense because we don't officially support Linux for example) without explaining the surrounding design doesn't make sense.

Okay, so you don´t support Linux... thanks, that was it for me, the IDA-8s´ internal DAC is then useless for me, whatever chipset you´re using! If I may ask: Are there any specific reasons why you do not care about Linux users?

giordy60

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #14 on: 12 Oct 2015, 02:33 pm »

"NuPrime SRC IC chip provides FPGA processing with ultra-low jitter and distortion"  -

just out of curiosity, FPGAs are used in the Cyclone IV or that of the Stratix IV?
and to those GMAC / s work?
thank you

rustydoglim

Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #15 on: 18 Oct 2015, 03:58 am »
Okay, so you don´t support Linux... thanks, that was it for me, the IDA-8s´ internal DAC is then useless for me, whatever chipset you´re using! If I may ask: Are there any specific reasons why you do not care about Linux users?

We care about any sales. But if the chip set supplier doesn't provide the device driver, we don't have the resource and expertise to develop one.  We know for sure that some version of Linux works without the device driver but we don't have the expertise to figure out which version of Linux works.

rustydoglim

Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #16 on: 18 Oct 2015, 04:00 am »
just out of curiosity, FPGAs are used in the Cyclone IV or that of the Stratix IV?
and to those GMAC / s work?
thank you

FPGA is just a common term for programmable chip. For very high end preamp design we use switch resistors, but for IDA-8 we use FPGA to achieve the same design objective.

mv

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #17 on: 21 Oct 2015, 12:37 am »
FPGA is just a common term for programmable chip. For very high end preamp design we use switch resistors, but for IDA-8 we use FPGA to achieve the same design objective.

So, are you using an ASIC that you have designed?

rustydoglim

Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #18 on: 27 Oct 2015, 08:21 pm »
FPGA can be considered an ASIC.

Mike6743

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Re: USB Chipset Nuprime IDA-8
« Reply #19 on: 7 Nov 2015, 09:39 pm »
Can anyone answer whether a USB 3.0 cable would make a difference vs USB 2.0 from PC to DAC, especially with high rate DSD256 files?
In other words, will the IDA-8 downgrade a USB 3.0 stream to 2.0 speed?