Morello 192khz/24bit Asynchronous Usb To

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diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual 1 Introduction Congratulations to your purchase of the Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter. The diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter has been conceived to offer a State of the Art Music Replay from PC sources. 1.1 What is Computer Music Playback? Computer Music Playback is where the computer replaces the CD transport, BUT it does so much more. To set up a Computer Music Playback system is easy: 1. Get your computer set up for music playback. This generally means a dedicated PC and special playback software. The PC does not have to be very powerful, a 2GHz Pentium 4 or 1.7GHz Pentium Mobile suffice. Get a Windows MCE Remote Control and receiver as cheapest and simplest remote control solution. 2. Get a device such as the Morello which outputs SPDIF or AES/EBU digital signals with USB interface. The Morello uses an asynchronous USB connection, where the Morello becomes clock master. So the limits in terms of jitter and sound quality result not from the PC setup, but only from the clock accuracy in the Morello USB SPDIF Converter and the clock recovery in the external DAC. Most USB DAC’s and similar devices are not asynchronous. 'Everyone' is afraid that computer music playback means MP3 mass market sound. That is simply not the case! The MP-3 compressed music standard was designed in a time when a BIG Hard Drive was 20Gb and could only hold 30 or so CD’s without compression, but over 300 as MP-3. Since then much larger (and quieter) hard drives have become common and cheap and lossless compression formats have become the standard for archiving music. The Windows standard was designed for convenience with unwanted poor quality sample rate conversion truncation the cost. If we instead use the ASIO data stream designed for recording studios through one of the suitable music player software packages with a Morello SPDIF Converter we have a setup that matches the best CD-Transport for sound quality, but with the ease of access to large collections that a Computer offers. Everyone starts out a skeptic, but we've done A/B to cd and we are right there with sound quality 2 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual - with 16bit 44khz redbook cd. We have compared the Morello to some pretty over the top hotrodded transports with a variety of DAC's. The Computer Music Playback setup we have with the Morello is at least equal or better than those AND we have our have our graphics bells and whistles – i.e. album coverart and nice interface. Over a 1000 CD’s can be stored on an inexpensive 1TB hard drive without any compression. They can be accessed and played back by the computer with a quality that equals the best of CD-Replay. Digital media can be ripped loss-less and played back bit perfect but it must be done outside the Windows music playback system. Excellent Playback Software for the PC is widely available in both paid for and free software. Without being exhausting, software suited to high quality audio playback on the PC platform are: PayWare: AlbumPlayer; Media Monkey; J-River Media Center; Winamp; XXHighend FreeWare: CMP2 (Cics Memory Player); Foobar2K; iTunes; J-River Media Jukebox; KRISTAL Audio Engine; MediaPortal with ASIO Musicplayer; Winamp Free Diyhifisupply uses: J-River Media Center - www.jrmediacenter.com dBPowerAmp - www.dbpoweramp.com as ripper We buy Music from Linn, HD-Tracks and Reference Recordings amongst others. 1.2 High Resolution Music! All this is compelling enough, but we have not yet touched on the killer applications for computer Audio! Ten years ago SACD and Audio-DVD where hailed as the next generation of high performance digital audio formats and seen by audiophiles as salvation from CD-Sound. Today both formats are essentially dead. Yet the one trick where the Computer Music Playback setup scores highly over CD is the handling and playback of High Resolution Music. This is any music recorded beyond 16bit/44khz, such as 24bit/88khz up to 24 bit/192khz. This covers all current available sampling formats for music release, in addition to CD format rips. These files are 3 to 10x larger than 16bit/44khz and provide much finer musical textures and wider dynamic range. The difference is as clearly audible as the difference between MP-3 and the real CD! Yes, high resolution Music distribution is alive and well on-line. An ever increasing number of websites including downloads from HDTracks, Linn and the Reference Recordings HRx disks offer computer only high resolution Music. And you may already own many 20-Bit recordings on 3 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual CD in the form of HDCD which can be decoded to 24-Bit FLAC Files using dbpoweramp reference. 2 Morello Overview We use the Musiland Monitor digital core which is recognised widely as excellent and correct for the cost savings unavoidable in a small sub US $ 100 piece of hardware. In this process we use many of our High Tech Modules also available separately for upgrades in just about any kind of application. To go from a Musiland device to a Morello the Musiland PCB is modified for external power from a linear power supply using our low noise filament supply. This removes the noisy PC derived USB power used in the original Musiland device. The power supply capacitors on the Musiland PCB are upgraded to Sanyo OsCon. These measures make sure all power supplies show the lowest noise possible, for lowest possible jitter. The Musiland PCB uses a simple crystal based clock. While these devices perform adequately, they are improved much by using a suitable high performance clock. Our EZ Ultimate Clock system (clock and power supply) is applied to replace the on-board clock. Our application of the EZ Ultimate Clock in the Morello uses the XTAL emulation which also removes the ground reference for the clock. This means the effects of the on-chip ground bounce (due to the lead frame and the bond wire resistance and inductance) are bypassed, as 4 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual the clock not only has a separate, isolated supply, it also has no ground connection to the audio circuit whatsoever, assuring minimal possible jitter. The ground free XTAL emulation clock injection is to the best of our knowledge a first in any “superclock” and offer a major improvement over the current state of the art. Further the digital output stage on the Musiland PCB is corrected so it offers correct levels and impedances (the original Musiland circuit outputs so low levels that some receivers have problems locking correctly on the signal). This modification requires new output transformers and a new design for output attenuator. Optionally in the Morello Max the digital output stage is completely removed. Instead of CMOS Logic Chips our Digital Tube Stage (DTS) buffers the signal directly from the FPGA digital core. This removes the speed limitations of the CMOS circuitry and produces mucher faster rise and fall times. The Digital Tube Stage uses linear circuitry (not logic switching) with Tubes designed for VHF (Very High Frequency) applications and has it's own clean supplies, so there is no crosscoupling of signals between the digital core and the digital output stage. As a result the Morello retains all the excellent features of the Musiland device but elevates the sound quality to a new level, matching the best that 16Bit/44.1KHz digital has to offer and opening the windows wide for the new high resolution formats. 3 Morello Setup – Getting Started 3.1 Connections The diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter has an IEC main socket which connects to any IEC equipped Mains Cable. For the connection to the PC a USB Type B socket is provided. A pair of SPDIF output sockets, one via a 75 Ohm Canare BNC connector and one via a 75 Ohm Canare RCA connector are for the connection to the DAC. The diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter also contains an optical SPDIF Output that can be used for connection digital AV equipment. 3.2 PC Basics The diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter requires it’s own driver. The Driver is included on the Musiland Driver CD shipped with your Morello. As we use the Musiland Digital Core you can also take advantage of any current future updates offered by Musiland. We will mirror tested updates on the diyhifisupply site. The CD also includes various packages of playback software. 5 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual To get started one of the easiest to use pieces of software is J-River Media Jukebox not included on the CD. If you are new to Computer Audio we recommend you download and install this and actually rip one or two CD’s to a FLAC file for practice before installing the 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB DAC. http://www.mediajukebox.com/ If you already have some form of Computer Audio software installed and in use you can start using this (even if it only hosts MP-3 tracks). 3.3 Installing Driver Software Insert the Driver CD into your PC. Depending on the precise computer settings you may have to run any of the programs as Administrator. On Windows XP this means you Log in as Administrator, you can do so by right-clicking and selecting Run as Administrator in Vista and Windows 7: 6 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual Run the Cleo/Morello Driver from the CD Click next and in the following screen Install again click next. Windows may then display a “Software has not passed Windows Logo Testing” alert: Please confirm “Continue Anyway” at each time this alert appears. Once the installation is finished, connect the USB Cable to the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter and the Computers USB Port and 7 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual connect the Mains Cable to the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter IEC Mains Socket. Switch the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter on. Windows will go through the “Found New Hardware” Process and will again show the “Software has not passed Windows Logo Testing” alert, again confirm this with “Continue Anyway”. 3.4 DAC settings / DAC control panel ASIO Once the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter is fully recognized by Windows the following Icon will appear in the system tray: Double clicking on this Icon gives access to the Control Panel for the settings for diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter. This is the Control panel for the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter. Make sure that the output is set to Line and all sliders are set to 100. Lower volume settings will not offer bit-perfect playback! 8 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual The Advanced Section contains the ASIO settings. Set as shown here: Using the maximum number of ASIO Buffers makes sure playback is least likely to be interrupted by software glitches on the PC. The diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter will play both any music or sound played via the Windows Sound System and via ASIO. The windows sound system signals come via the section called WDM in the control panel for the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter. Windows Media Player and iTunes play music via the WDM windows sound system. Most other music playback software allows the use of ASIO. ASIO Playback via the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter is reliably bit-perfect, meaning the PC will not change the bits send to the DAC. If you use ASIO capable playback software (recommended) you may wish to mute the WDM channel to avoid have any system sounds played back through your HiFi. 9 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual You then need to set your playback software to stream audio via the ASIO Interface. This is shown on the example of the settings in J-River Media Jukebox. In the output mode setting screen select the Musiland Monitor Series (USB) and set the buffering to the maximum available. Other software will have similar screens and settings that operate in a similar way. Please apply the appropriate settings. 3.5 DAC settings / DAC control panel WDM When using playback software that uses the windows sound system you need to leave the WDM channel enabled. Set all volume sliders to maximum and make sure that SYNC is selected on the WDM channel. The diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter can normally offer bitperfect playback even using the Windows Sound system. However there are no guarantees. The following guide show how normally bitperfect playback can be achieved. 10 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual In order to attain bit-perfect playback with the windows sound system it is essential that NO other sounds (be they windows sounds, sounds from other software including anti-virus software or audio from a web-browser) are played. For starters set the sound scheme to “No Sounds”. In the Control panel sounds section, as shown above to the left. Then check via the volume control button on the Audio section of the control panel and make sure that all volume controls in Windows own Mixer panel are set to maximum. If the computer has been used for anything else, except music playback it is best to reboot the PC before playing music. Do not use any other software while playing music. This should produce bit-perfect playback. In this case no settings in software are needed. 3.6 Testing Playback Select a track in your playback software and press play. Show the control panel for the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter. Check that the signal meters show signal on the input channel and the output channel as shown below. 11 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual Once you confirm the signal is present on the output (like in the above screenshot), connect the output cables from your diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter to your DAC and you are ready to play music. 3.7 Switch On Sequence In order to correctly have the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter recognised by the PC it is necessary to first turn on the PC and wait for it to have booted into Windows. Only then should the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter be switched on. As alternative, we have also found that switching the diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter on first and waiting for a few seconds before powering the PC works as well, this depends somewhat on the exact PC and it's USB Ports. 4 Technical Data Major characteristic BNC SPDIF output RCA SPDIF output USB2.0 high speed transmission 24bit/192KHz Digital output Digital output PCM/Dolby Digital/DTS format ASIO Support Output sample rate manual settings Drivers support Windows XP/2003/VISTA/7 system 32&64Bit Morello Max. Tubes Digital output Tube: Output level: Output impedance: SNR: Frequency response: E88CC (Tesla) as standard 0.75V PP 75Ω 140dB (20Hz～20KHz)：+0/-0dB Digital output Dynamic range: SNR（A weighting）: Frequency response: 140dB 140dB 20Hz～20KHz）+/-0dB Other Dimensions ( case ): Weight: Power Supply: Power Consumption: 260 x 240 x 80（mm） appx. 2Kg 115V or 230V AC nominal (+/-10%) < 20VA 12 diyhifisupply® Morello 192KHz/24Bit asynchronous USB to SPDIF Converter User Manual Interface One BNC SPDIF Digital output (stereo) One RCA SPDIF Digital output (stereo) One Tos-Link optical fiber digital output One B-type USB input interface Product Accessory One USB Cable Drivers CD Registration card 13