audiopraise AVARICE User manual

AVARICE
User Manual

Avarice – User Manual
rev.1, January 2012
- 2 -
Introduction
IntroductionIntroduction
Introduction
T e Avarice is a device primarily aimed at t e owners of digital to
analog converters, digital amplifiers, digital crossovers and ot er devices
w ic perform digital to analogue conversion, and t erefore rely on a ig
quality of t e incoming digital signal. T e Avarice elps to attenuate and
reject all sorts of interference between various devices, to restore t e time
domain of t e S/PDIF signal (i.e. to attenuate jitter) and to upsample
t e signal up to four times, t us bypassing t e imperfect digital filters
present in any integrated DAC c ip. Connecting t e Avarice into t e signal
pat and setting its signal processing parameters is very simple and intuitive.
Connection
ConnectionConnection
Connection
T e device as one input and one output, and can t erefore be simply
introduced into t e S/PDIF signal pat by placing it between t e signal source
and t e signal receiver. Typical signal sources include CD/DVD players,
satellite or cable TV receivers, multimedia players, PC sound cards, portable
music players, etc. Signal receivers performing DA conversion include stand-
alone DA converters, AV receivers, digital amplifiers, digital crossovers and
t e like. T e diagram below s ows an example of a signal pat employing
t e Avarice. Suitable S/PDIF cables terminated by BNC connectors can be
included in t e packaging of t e Avarice on t e customer's request.
DVD Player
DAC
Avarice
S/PDIF out
S/PDIF outS/PDIF in
S/PDIF in

Avarice – User Manual
rev.1, January 2012
- 3 -
T e Avarice version employing t e optical input may serve as a ig -
quality optical-to-metallic SPDIF converter (TOSLINK -> S/PDIF). T e
improvement delivered by t e Avarice can be particularly significant w en
used to connect an optical signal source, w ic is more susceptible to jitter.
T e Avarice can be fed wit power by t e supplied universal power
source, or by any ot er DC source meeting t e required parameters (see
specification s eet).
LED indicators
LED indicatorsLED indicators
LED indicators
T e current operational mode of t e device is indicated by four diodes
located on t e front panel. T e LEDs lig t up individually or in various
combinations to indicate t e input sampling frequency ranging from 32kHz
to 192kHz, as s own on a sc ematic printed on t e back panel of t e device.
If no input signal is detected, all four diodes lig t up and become slig tly
dimmed after some 30 seconds, so t at t e device does not visually disturb
t e room interior.
Set
SetSet
Settings
tingstings
tings
Various audio signal processing parameters can be user-configured,
using six jumpers accessible from t e front panel. Jitter attenuation is active
at al times, for all input sampling frequencies. It is a result of t e c oice of
circuit topology and cannot be deactivated by t e user.

Avarice – User Manual
rev.1, January 2012
- 4 -
T e effect of t e jumper settings is also s own on a sc ematic on t e
back panel.
Switc 1 – enables (ON) or disables t e upsampling function
Switc 2 – upsampling to 96 kHz or 192 kHz (ON)
Switc 3 – output bit dept value set to 16 bit or 24 bit (ON)
Switc 4 – digital filter c aracteristic #1 (ON) or #2
Switc es 5 and 6 – compatibility setting of t e S/PDIF output
Switc 1 activates 2x or 4x upsampling performed in a single filtering
stage. If t is switc is set to t e OFF position, t e Avarice does not alter
t e audio data – t e position of switc es 2 and 4 as no effect in t is case.
W enever switc 1 is at t e ON position, t e position of switc 2 determines
if two or four-fold upsampling is performed according to t e maximum
output sampling frequency. Switc 4 allows t e user to select one of two
available digital filter c aracteristics.
T e following table contains t e input and output sampling frequencies and
t e corresponding switc settings.
Output Fs
Input Fs S1:OFF S1:ON S2:OFF S1:ON S2:ON
32 kHz 32 kHz 32 kHz 32 kHz
44.1 kHz 44.1 kHz 88.2 kHz 176.4 kHz
48 kHz 48 kHz 96 kHz 192 kHz
88.2 kHz 88.2 kHz 88.2 kHz 176.4 kHz
96 kHz 96 kHz 96 kHz 192 kHz
176.4 kHz 176.4 kHz 176.4 kHz 176.4 kHz
192 kHz 192 kHz 192 kHz 192 kHz
Fs – sampling frequency

Avarice – User Manual
rev.1, January 2012
- 5 -
Switc 3, determining output bit dept , is active at all times. It is useful
mainly for t e owners of so-called non-oversampling DACs or older devices
w ic usually employ a 16-bit word lengt . T e setting of t is switc to 16
bits will ensure correct bit dept reduction of a 24-bit input signal by
applying TPDF dit ering.
Switc es 5 and 6 enable t e user to modify t e structure and certain
sync ronization elements of t e S/PDIF protocol, w ic can ave an impact
on sound (so-called data jitter). Four setting configurations are available in
total, as some S/PDIF receivers may not work wit some of t e available
settings. T e setting combinations ave to be tested by trial and error. Wit
bot switc es in t e OFF position (up) t e output is set to a standard format
compatible wit all receivers.
S ould you ave any questions or concerns, you can contact our
dealers. Alternatively, please contact us on [email protected].

Avarice – User Manual
rev.1, January 2012
- 6 -
Specifications
SpecificationsSpecifications
Specifications
S/PDIF input
S/PDIF inputS/PDIF input
S/PDIF input
•protocol: S/PDIF (IEC958 / EIAJ CP1201)
•type: coaxial, transformer-coupled, 75Ω impedance, BNC connector, optional
version equipped wit TOSLINK input available on request
•format: linear PCM stereo
•supported sampling frequencies: 32/44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192kHz
•supported bit dept : 16-24bit
S/PDIF output
S/PDIF outputS/PDIF output
S/PDIF output
•protocol: S/PDIF (IEC958 / EIAJ CP1201)
•type: coaxial, transformer-coupled, 75Ω impedance, BNC connector
•format: linear PCM stereo
•supported sampling frequencies: 32/44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192kHz
•supported bit dept : 16 / 24bit
Jitter attenuation
Jitter attenuationJitter attenuation
Jitter attenuation
•recovery of t e clock signal using digital PLL
•two-stage re-clocking of t e output SPDIF signal
•t ree data-jitter attenuation modes
•low-noise discrete regulators for t e clock and t e output circuits
Hig
HigHig
Hig -
--
-quality sync ronous upsampling
quality sync ronous upsamplingquality sync ronous upsampling
quality sync ronous upsampling
•proprietary linear p ase Zero Alias digital filters
•33bit arit metic / 67bit accumulator
•2x and 4x upsampling performed in one single filter stage
User settings
User settingsUser settings
User settings
•Zero Alias LPCM Upsampling: on / off
•Zero Alias LPCM Upsampling: 2x / 4x
•output bit dept : 16 / 24bit
•two user selectable upsampling filter c aracteristics
•data jitter attenuation: off / mode 1-3
Power supply and dimensions
Power supply and dimensionsPower supply and dimensions
Power supply and dimensions
•power supply connector: 2.1mm DC jack
•voltage / current rating: 8-15VDC / 1A
•lxwx : 120x78x43mm