design question on the Chime/USB

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paba

design question on the Chime/USB
« on: 7 Jan 2006, 09:40 pm »
Hi Jim,

looking at the HagUSB and the Chime and the Clock and Dac....

My guess would be there must be subset or superset of the HagClock inside the HacDac. Then once the HagDac is inserted into the Chime, I was wondering why you don't use that super clean clock to replace the crystal feeding the PCM2704? I understand the modular design and reuse, but when all these modules come together would a little coax run across to also get the clean clock to the USB  input work? I guess the required frequency might not be the same but a quick piece of logic could get us there?

thanks
paba

hagtech

design question on the Chime/USB
« Reply #1 on: 7 Jan 2006, 11:05 pm »
Quote
subset or superset of the HagClock inside the HacDac


Actually not.  I use a special VCXO in the HAGDAC (has to be variable).  I did try to roll my own, but couldn't get enough range.  It ended up turning into a HagClock circuit.  So I spent the money to buy a really good VCXO.

The HagUsb didn't get a special clock for a number of reasons.  First, I wanted to keep PC power and ground isolated from the audio system.  Hence, I run only the S/PDIF output from it through a transformer.  This keeps grounds completely separate.  Two, the HagClock needs +/- supplies higher than 5V to work.  Adding these and then isolating them from audio ground would have been costly.  Third, having a good 12MHz clock does little for the quality of clock spit out by the USB chip.  Too much crud inside the chip between input and output.  Make sense?  A perfect clock going in does not result in a perfect clock going out.  Therefore, my solution to the problem (it's a system issue), was to use the reclocking capability of the HagDac to fix things.  I end up with a super clean low jitter clock right where I need it.  

jh :)

paba

design question on the Chime/USB
« Reply #2 on: 8 Jan 2006, 01:13 am »
Makes perfect sense!, I can appreciate the need to keep the circuit isolated from the PC.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'm still on the fence between a heavily moded CD player trying to do its best at real-time play back, vs bit perfect ripped uncompressed audio made by multiple passes on the disc, played via the USB input. The concept makes sense and the latest DAC chips have impressive specs but I'm still undecided which way to go. Decisions decisions... audio is fun.

cheers
paba