Hiface 24/192k USB to spdif converter

**jkeny** · 12-01-2010, 19:27

Originally Posted by lovejoy

I had a look at your mods jkeny. Fascinating stuff. They look a little intricate for my unsteady soldering hand unfortunately, so I don't think I'd like to attempt it myself. I was thinking along the lines of some less invasive surgery - taking a USB lead, cutting out the supply from the computer and putting in my own stable 5V. I wasn't sure how you'd go about the wiring though as I imagine that if you completely isolate the HiFace from the power coming from pins 1 and 4 on the USB port, then the computer won't actually see a device there...

Yes you'll get some benefit from supplying a clean 5V instead of the 5V from USB. It's simple really, I butchered a USB extension cable to do this - disconnect the red 5V wire & put in your clean 5V BUT you MUST leave the black USB ground wire connected & connect your ground to this!

**lovejoy** · 12-01-2010, 20:33

Originally Posted by jkeny

BUT you MUST leave the black USB ground wire connected & connect your ground to this!

That'll be where I went wrong then. I disconnected both red and black from the USB and fed in my +5V and 0V clean supply. I'll give it another go. Thanks very much.

**jkeny** · 12-01-2010, 21:16

!! BE CAREFUL WITH THESE CONNECTIONS - remember wrong connections can ruin your unit!!

**lovejoy** · 13-01-2010, 16:03

Got it working in the end. Thanks for your help.

Tried it with a very simple 7805 regulator from a linear PS. It worked a treat and sounded a little different, but I didn't think it an improvement.

You have me thinking evil thoughts of a nice new case to house the Beresford, the HiFace and separate power supplies all round, but that's for another day, I'm very pleased with how it all sounds for the time being.

**jkeny** · 13-01-2010, 17:11

Originally Posted by lovejoy

Got it working in the end. Thanks for your help.

Tried it with a very simple 7805 regulator from a linear PS. It worked a treat and sounded a little different, but I didn't think it an improvement.

That's not too surprising as 7805 is not a particularly good regulator - try it with batteries to get a flavour of what a better PS will do. You may also have a reasonably good 5V on the USb - what are you running off, laptop, PC?

Remember, also that this 5V then feeds some switching regs in the HiFace & these will limit the improvement you can get from a better 5V

You have me thinking evil thoughts of a nice new case to house the Beresford, the HiFace and separate power supplies all round, but that's for another day, I'm very pleased with how it all sounds for the time being.

Ah, you fell into my evil trap

**lovejoy** · 13-01-2010, 20:36

Originally Posted by jkeny

That's not too surprising as 7805 is not a particularly good regulator - try it with batteries to get a flavour of what a better PS will do. You may also have a reasonably good 5V on the USb - what are you running off, laptop, PC?

I am running from a Macbook Pro, not sure how good the 5V is from the USB, it would be interesting to get a scope on there to see what it's like.

What I might do is knock up another TeddyReg board (I have a few spare) and give that a go to supply 5V. The 7805 was a bit of a proof of concept to see if I could tell any difference, which I could, so I shall pursue it further.

Remember, also that this 5V then feeds some switching regs in the HiFace & these will limit the improvement you can get from a better 5V

Understood. I'm very much anti-switching PS in anything audio, so these will have to eventually go ;-).

**lovejoy** · 14-01-2010, 12:29

Update:

TeddyReg board built and supplying a nice stable 5V to the HiFace.

The difference is not small! Soundstage, imaging and depth have just improved so much that the speakers completely disappear. WOW!

I think I can safely say I can live without going in for the invasive surgery.

**technobear** · 15-01-2010, 20:36

I have a pile of questions for HiFace users

1) Can foobar play CDs inserted into a PC's DVD drive?

2) Can it play them through the HiFace?

3) How does playing a CD compare to playing a file (e.g. WAV, FLAC)?

4) Anyone compared the HiFace to a Transporter (or Squeezebox) yet?

TIA

**Maximum** · 15-01-2010, 22:21

Just put one in to try it, seems to work fine. It took about 3 seconds to read the disc then it was ready. It shouldn't really be any different to using another device with foobar in that respect. Sound quality wise, straight cd seems to work as well as ripped, though this is only after a couple of minutes listening.

**technobear** · 15-01-2010, 22:48

Thanks for that. So the basic mechanism works

Anyone listened critically?

I'm thinking I could potentially by one of these HiFace doohickeys and sell both my CD player and my Transporter.

Any thoughts?

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