Lynx PCIe AES interfaces: AES16 and E22

Hi guys, I got a AES16 but my Dacs only have spdif inputs, any suggestion? thankss

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sescom-SES-A...64&sr=8-1&keywords=aes+to+coaxial+transformer

^Get this and then a BNC to BNC cable as well as a BNC to Coaxial adapter if you need it.

 

Anyone tried Lynx L22 card? Is it any worse than AES16? I tend to prefer it for SPDIF output. And it's occasionally sold pretty cheap on gearslutz.

 

http://www.lynxstudio.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6203&title=lynx-l22-vs-e22-internal-clock
Seems like many prefer the E22 to the L22 .....but that was not your question
Never mind me then.
Maybe more answers on the Lynx forum though and they're quite quick to reply - even directly from the Lynx people

Edit: L22 is 96khz max sampling frequency.

 

After reading through most of this and the decrapifiers thread I finally bought an AES16e and am using it with the Yggdrasil.
The installation was very easy, but I had to remove one of my graphics cards, as the sound card would've literally touched the second 980TI I ran.
This incidentally also reduced case temps and made the system run quieter.
Not perfectly silent, mind you, which is also one of the reasons a stand alone unit like the Aries would be a better choice for some.
I like to use my computer for work or leisure while listening to music and I'd also like to avoid plugging yet another gizmo into an extension lead.

I was unable to select ASIO in the standard Tidal player, which lead me to try out roon.
Here you can choose from a multitude of outputs and I really like the UI as well.
My buffer size in the mixer is 256.

The sonic improvements to me are not dramatic, but I feel like there is an added sense of cohesion that didn't exist before without sacrificing detail retrieval.
Things like this are always hard to put into words for me and are mostly muddied by a bad aural memory, but I think my current setup could be described as very musical, more so than before.
However, Mark from Electromod suggested that the Yggdrasil takes about 2 weeks to "open up", and I have owned the device for about 2 weeks now - so perhaps this is also due to some sort of burn in, even though I never really experienced that myself with other DACs or amps.

Changeling already mentioned this in this thread, but I would also not recommend paying full price for the card.
I did, but I'm frivolous and have more money than sense - and I don't even have that much money.
On the other hand I would recommend buying the Yggdrasil full price, just to put things into perspective, as I think the upgrade is just that dramatic and even using it with USB produces fantastic results.

 

I found myself switching back to my Singxer SU-1 after a month of critical listening, and hours of direct a/b.
I believe the issue was running the AES16e from my gaming PC (as it sounds like you do too). The nature of a multipurpose PCB hosting many different components is not ideal for the AES16e, the DC power supplied to the PCIE slots is ridiculously dirty.

In my system, there was electric parasites effecting the performance of the AES16e that I could never completely remove.
At some point I'm going to build a PC with no fans and no gfx to see how that works, basically a network streamer type solution.

 

Can you use this adapter instead and avoid BNC to BNC cable?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BNC-Male-Pl...037114?hash=item43c3ef1f7a:g:TPkAAOSweW5VM6vF

 

It's pretty much the same as the adapter I linked. Only problem is that if you don't use a BNC to BNC cable, you're going to have the transformer hanging off of a RCA Coaxial jack on your dac. Probably not a good idea. You could get a BNC to RCA cable, but just make sure it's the appropriate 75ohm version.

 

Alright, I'm at a loss and I would appreciate anyone's advice or opinion. This thing sounds identical to the Toslink out of my motherboard. The Eitr gave the sound better bass extension and impact. Vocals also had more body to them. It seemed like everything was fuller and more smooth, but (what seemed like at the time) with the cost of air or clarity.

Can the quality of power affect the performance of the aes16e? I'm using this in my gaming pc.

 

Yes, it can.
Do you leave your computer ON all the time?

 

No. It gets powered on and shut down twice a day.

 

Are you using the native asio drivers?

 

I'm not sure actually. I installed the V2Setup23a driver because the newest one wouldn't work with my os(WIN7). I've been using WASAPI in foobar and whatever Tidal's exclusive mode is.

 

Well wasapi should be close enough anyway if not identical to asio.

 

Here's what I would advice to do first. Follow above steps.
Then check settings both in foobar and in the Lynx-mixer as well as in windows to make sure you've got a bit perfect chain.
I'm not too familiar with foobar but with jRiver you can easily track if anything is touching the signal.
I'm using the Lynx ASIO driver and it serves its purpose well.

 

I've just retried those steps including switching proms from 1 to 2 for the firmware update. I've now tested drivers 22-1, 23a, 23e, and the most recent 23g. The only one that recognizes the card is 23a. Firmware is 14.1 but the date says May 17, 2000, for some reason. Is that correct?

Foobar, Lynx, and Windows are all set to 24/44 and I still can't discern a difference between optical and the card. I'm starting to think that my pc configuration isn't optimal for it to work properly.

 

Damn, I was hoping it wouldn't come to that. Have I been wrong this whole time to think that it should sound better/different than toslink? Reading the impressions in this and the Eitr thread has made me think it should. Or am I wrong?

 

Depends a lot on your system. If it's not very resolving, you'll hear no difference. If your DAC's RCA input sucks but its TOSLINK input is good, it could be worse. If your DAC is good but amp sucks, no difference. If your DAC is good and your amp is good and your headphones suck, not gonna help. If your DAC, amp, and headphones are great, but your computer has unstable shitty power and noise, the Lynx will suffer.

 

I don't think my set up is as good as a lot of the others here have so that definitely could be a possibility. That being said, There was an immediately noticeable difference between the Eitr and toslink, while I can't hear a difference between the lynx and the toslink. Sounds like it has something to do with the Eitr having its own power supply.

The psu in my pc is an evga supernova g2 750 if that matters. I didn't think it would affect the performance of the lynx considering it reviewed very well on jonnyguru, but it seems to be regardless.

I think i'll order the Eitr again and compare them directly.