[PlanetCCRMA] Problems with a quite complicated audio system

[Mark Knecht]

Michele,
   If I understood the setup correctly (and it sounds like a fun
setup!) then possibly there is an oversight. Where is the clock for
the modified SACD player coming from?

   It sounds as if you have 3 spdif OUTPUTs from the SACD player
giving you 6 audio channels. However I don't see a spdif input so I do
not understand how the player is getting sync'ed to your ADI-8 Pro.

   I would think that in this case, if you want to play a CD from this
unit and have the sound be correct you need to tell the HDSP 9652 to
sync to the Zsys and you need to tell the Zsys to sync to the SACD
player. The SACD player will be the master and everything should be in
sync.

   I am a bit unclear what the "RME HDSP 2496" is. What card is this?
I don't recognize it. Is it setup to sync to the SACD player?

   Anyway, probably I've misunderstood the system. It does sound
somewhat complex. Probably it would be better if everything was driven
by word clock inputs, but again, without a word clock input on the
SACD player it would be out of sync with everything else.

Hope this helps,
Mark

On 6/19/05, Michele Spinolo <michele.spinolo@tin.it> wrote:
> Dear guys,
> 
> I am writing here because I have some problem with my setup.
> It is composed by:
> 
> -Linux based audio workstation (Fedora Core 3 with PlanetCCRMA, RME
> HDSP9652)
> -Z-sys z-8.8a lightpipe digital detangler
> (http://www.z-sys.com/pp_routing.html#z8)
> -RME ADI-8 Pro
> -A modified SACD/DVD-A/DVD/CD player which is capable of outputting 6 (5.1)
> discrete PCM channel (for SACD a DSD->PCM conversion is performed,
> converting DSD to 24bit/88.2Khz PCM signal)
> 
> On the workstation AlmusVCU is running, which is used as a real-time
> convolver.
> The system is connected as follows:
> 
> modified SACD/DVD-A/DVD/CD player-->(3 s/pdif cables)-->Z-sys z-8.8a-->(1
> ADAT cable)-->RME HDSP 2496 ADAT 1 input-->(1 ADAT cable from ADAT 1
> output)-->RME ADI-8 Pro ADAT input
> 
> the clock signal is generated internally by RME ADI-8 Pro (48Khz), which is
> connected by word clock BNC cable to RME HDSP9652, which is setted in slave
> mode.
> Z-sys z-8.8s does not have an internal clock, so this is provided through
> its input 1 by ADI-8 Pro ADAT output; the Z-sys unit is also setted with SRC
> ON, so it resample all incoming signal to 24bit/48Khz (48Khz is provided by
> ADI-8 Pro) on output.
> 
> Now the problem is the sound is very crappy, similar to what you can hear
> when DAC is not synched with source signal: switching SRC to OFF on Z-sys
> unit provides an even more crappy sound.
> 
> I tried all different clock routings I can think to, but never solved the
> problem: does anyone can provide some general (I know it will be hard to
> "get into" this setup) rules for clock signal routing in setups like mine?
> I also tried to play music directly in the audio workstation sending it to
> RME ADI-8 Pro (AlmusVCU allows this) and everything sounds fine, so I think
> the problem is given by Z-Sys unit.
> 
> Thank you very much in advance to everyone who will reply!
> Michele
> 
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