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i^2s into Majestic?
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Ash View Drop Down
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    Posted: 29 Aug 2025 at 6:30pm
Seeing as I haven't yet experienced any significant difference in sound quality between S/PDIF and USB, I do wonder if it would be possible to electrically hack the Majestic coaxial input to receive an i^2s signal directly from a PCIe soundcard like a Pink Faun or from a Raspberry Pi HAT such as the Pi2AES 2.0. I guess this is a question for John Cadman or Graham Slee, if either of them see it.

P.S The interconnect would have to be VERY short for this inter-chip format to be viable.


Edited by Ash - 29 Aug 2025 at 6:33pm
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Fatmangolf View Drop Down
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Points: 9695 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fatmangolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Aug 2025 at 5:41pm
Interesting idea Ash.
Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.
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Ash View Drop Down
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Points: 4360 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2025 at 12:52am
I think if there is to be a noticeable audible improvement over USB, i^2s is the only thing left worth trying. USB and coaxial already sound fantastic and I'm not sure if there is any audible gain left to be had.
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Chris Firth View Drop Down
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Points: 1665 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Firth Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2025 at 10:36am
If you have an itch to scratch this might do what you're after
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Fatmangolf View Drop Down
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Points: 9695 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fatmangolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2025 at 9:30pm
Ideal. Thanks Chris.
Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.
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Ash View Drop Down
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Points: 4360 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2025 at 10:01pm
The intention is to bypass SPDIF/Toslink/USB altogether. Skip all of the extra encoding and decoding steps; i^2s straight into the Majestic's decoder chip. It would require a loaned open-case Majestic with a very short cable soldered to the necessary pins on the decoder chip and a male HDMI connector on the other end plugged straight into the digital transport outputting the i^2s signal.

Not even sure whether you'd be able to hear a difference, even if the transports were powered by Graham's 5V 3A Linear PSU.


Edited by Ash - 31 Aug 2025 at 10:03pm
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Fatmangolf View Drop Down
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Points: 9695 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fatmangolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Sep 2025 at 8:40pm
Interesting. I wonder if the open case might affect the sound?
Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.
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