Console player and S/PDIF (Toslink)

rigoletto@ · Nov 26, 2017

I believe that you are mistaken. ECC40 is in my opinion "Philips" and does not have a Soviet analog.

Yes, you are right.

Lamps of GM series (rus. ГМ-xxx) and GU (rus. ГУ-xxx) were used in amplifying technique, speaking in Russian "not from a good life".
These are powerful generator high-frequency tubes, large, not economical, with a very inconvenient voltage and current of heat.
Simply, there were no others. The Soviet industry did very well what the military needs, but poorly and reluctantly to do what is necessary for normal people.

Yes, they are transmitting triodes with thoriated tungsten filament, like 211, 10Y, 801A, etc. GM70 is more or less equivalent (in power) to 211, GU48 is replaceable with 833 or 833A (can't remember exactly), and there is the huge GM100.

Those transmitting valves do great SET amplifiers, but they usually are very expensive to make (and run).

One of the characteristics of valves with thoriated tungsten filament is the huge amount of details, but can easily sound thin if not properly designed.

10Y and 801A are my preferred output valves, but they are low power. 10Y should give you less than 1W (usually 0.75W) and 801A about 4W maximum.

The "infamous" Audio Note Ongaku uses 211. ElRog make 300B with thoriated tungsten filament (well, it is not an actual 300B anymore).

At some point I want to manage get GM100 SET amplifiers (would need to be custom made) just to run sub-woofers, just to see how it will sound. The problem would the gigantic size of the transformers (the NAT one is hybrid).

Cheers! :beer:

EDIT: I think it is too off-topic already.

ogogon · Nov 27, 2017

tobik@ said:
The OSS backend in audio/libao (which is used by audio/flac123) doesn't support 24 bit samples.

cmus should support it fine. I submitted a bunch of patches earlier this year to fix it.

I believe that you need to make a few more patches. Because with CMus is also not all good.
When I use it to play FLAC files with a clock speed of 44100 - everything plays and sings just wonderful.
When I try to play FLAC files with the frequencies 9600 and 192000 - a short, raucous hiss sounds and CMus freezes.

Here's what sndstat writes at this moment, I give information only for my interface:

 pcm3: <Realtek ALC892 (Rear Digital)> on hdaa1  (1p:0v/0r:0v) default

   snddev flags=0x200003e7<SIMPLEX,AUTOVCHAN,SOFTPCMVOL,BUSY,MPSAFE,REGISTERED,BITPERFECT,VPC,PRIO_WR>

   [pcm3:play:dsp3.p0]: spd 192000, fmt 0x00201000, flags 0x2000510c, 0x00000001, pid 1058 (cmus)

   interrupts 1990, underruns 1986, feed 1990, ready 0 [b:65536/32768/2|bs:131072/32768/4]

   channel flags=0x2000510c<RUNNING,TRIGGERED,BUSY,HAS_SIZE,VCHAN_PASSTHROUGH,BITPERFECT>

   {userland} -> feeder_root(0x00201000) -> {hardware}

The audio files are not destroyed - Audacity on my MacMini normally play this files.

What could be wrong? (Adventure continues!)

Ogogon.

rigoletto@ · Nov 27, 2017

ogogon

Have you how to connect using the USB connection? That could narrow the problem due to using the "USB Audio 2.0" driver instead of the Realtek one.

tobik@ · Nov 27, 2017

ogogon said:
When I try to play FLAC files with the frequencies 9600 and 192000 - a short, raucous hiss sounds and CMus freezes.

Send one of the files to me and I'll take a look when I have time.

ogogon · Nov 27, 2017

lebarondemerde said:
ogogon

Have you how to connect using the USB connection? That could narrow the problem.

I apologize, I did not understand the technical meaning of your question.
I now have a computer, it has a built-in sound card, from its Toslink-output optical cable goes to an external DAC.
With God's help, no USB here!

ogogon · Nov 27, 2017

tobik@ said:
Send one of the files to me and I'll take a look when I have time.

They are very large. How can I give them to you?

rigoletto@ · Nov 27, 2017

Your DAC seem to have a USB audio output connection (USB-B). You can use that instead of Toslink, and the DAC will appear as a (external) sound card to the system, it should use the generic USB Audio driver.

EDIT: I see it in HERE, maybe yours could be a slight different version.

ogogon · Nov 27, 2017

lebarondemerde said:
Your DAC seem to have a USB audio output connection (USB-B). You can use that instead of Toslink, and the DAC will appear as a (external) sound card to the system, it should use the generic USB Audio driver.

I've never done this, but tonight I'll try.

tobik@ · Nov 27, 2017

ogogon said:
They are very large. How can I give them to you?

Upload them to Google Drive for example and send me a link to it (tobik@FreeBSD.org).

EDIT: Come to think of it the reason it doesn't work is probably because you enabled bitperfect mode, but we'll see...

ogogon · Nov 29, 2017

tobik@ said:
EDIT: Come to think of it the reason it doesn't work is probably because you enabled bitperfect mode, but we'll see...

Yes you are right. After I made dev.pcm.3.bitperfect=0 the system started to play.
And why did bitperfect impede it? And why did not impede at speed 44100?

ogogon · Nov 30, 2017

lebarondemerde said:
ogogon

Have you how to connect using the USB connection? That could narrow the problem due to using the "USB Audio 2.0" driver instead of the Realtek one.

I tried and got slightly different results.

Firstly, I connected a USB module FC-215 on a PCM2704 chip. aliexpress.com/store/product/5V-USB-Powered-HIFI-PCM2704-DAC-to-S-PDIF-Sound-Card-Decoder-Board-3-5mm-Analog/
It was defined as pcm5 and behaved like my built-in audio adapter. In the position dev.pcm.5.bitperfect = 0 played well, and with the value 1 - the hiss and hovered.

 pcm5: <USB audio> at ? kld snd_uaudio (1p:1v/0r:0v) default

   snddev flags=0x200002e3<SIMPLEX,AUTOVCHAN,BUSY,MPSAFE,REGISTERED,VPC,PRIO_WR>

   [pcm5:play:dsp5.p0]: spd 48000, fmt 0x00200010, flags 0x00002108, 0x00000004

   interrupts 11862, underruns 0, feed 11861, ready 0 [b:3072/1536/2|bs:4096/2048/2]

   channel flags=0x2108<TRIGGERED,BUSY,HAS_VCHAN>

   {userland} -> feeder_mixer(0x00200010) -> {hardware}

   pcm5:play:dsp5.p0[pcm5:virtual:dsp5.vp0]: spd 192000/48000, fmt 0x00210000/0x00200010, flags 0x1000110c, 0x0000002b, pid 1031 (cmus)

   interrupts 0, underruns 0, feed 124184, ready 61932 [b:0/0/0|bs:131064/32766/4]

   channel flags=0x1000110c<RUNNING,TRIGGERED,BUSY,HAS_SIZE,VIRTUAL>

   {userland} -> feeder_root(0x00210000) -> feeder_format(0x00210000 -> 0x00200010) -> feeder_rate(0x00200010 q:1 192000 -> 48000) -> feeder_volume(0x00200010) -> {hardware}

Secondly. I connected the DAC itself.
He behaved differently.
In the dev.pcm.5.bitperfect = 0 state, it played normally.

 

pcm5: <USB audio> at ? kld snd_uaudio (1p:0v/1r:1v) default

   snddev flags=0x2e2<AUTOVCHAN,BUSY,MPSAFE,REGISTERED,VPC>

   [pcm5:play:dsp5.p0]: spd 192000/96000, fmt 0x00210000, flags 0x0000110c, 0x0000002b, pid 1033 (cmus)

   interrupts 6272, underruns 47, feed 39957, ready 54696 [b:9216/4608/2|bs:131064/32766/4]

   channel flags=0x110c<RUNNING,TRIGGERED,BUSY,HAS_SIZE>

   {userland} -> feeder_root(0x00210000) -> feeder_format(0x00210000 -> 0x00201000) -> feeder_rate(0x00201000 q:1 192000 -> 96000) -> feeder_volume(0x00201000) -> feeder_format(0x00201000 -> 0x00210000) -> {hardware}

   [pcm5:record:dsp5.r0]: spd 48000, fmt 0x00200010/0x00210000, flags 0x00002100, 0x00000007

   interrupts 0, overruns 0, feed 0, hfree 4608, sfree 4096 [b:4608/2304/2|bs:4096/2048/2]

   channel flags=0x2100<BUSY,HAS_VCHAN>

   {hardware} -> feeder_root(0x00210000) -> feeder_format(0x00210000 -> 0x00200010) -> feeder_mixer(0x00200010) -> {userland}

   pcm5:record:dsp5.r0[pcm5:virtual:dsp5.vr0]: spd 8000, fmt 0x00100008, flags 0x10000000, 0x00000000

   interrupts 0, overruns 0, feed 0, hfree 0, sfree 0 [b:0/0/0|bs:0/0/0]

   channel flags=0x10000000<VIRTUAL>

   {hardware} -> feeder_root(0x00000000) -> {userland}

But in the position dev.pcm.5.bitperfect = 1 did not hang, but started playing slowly, like a tape recorder turned on at another speed.

 pcm5: <USB audio> at ? kld snd_uaudio (1p:0v/1r:1v) default

   snddev flags=0x3e2<AUTOVCHAN,BUSY,MPSAFE,REGISTERED,BITPERFECT,VPC>

   [pcm5:play:dsp5.p0]: spd 96000, fmt 0x00210000, flags 0x2000110c, 0x00000001, pid 1032 (cmus)

   interrupts 6135, underruns 0, feed 6134, ready 73026 [b:9216/4608/2|bs:131064/32766/4]

   channel flags=0x2000110c<RUNNING,TRIGGERED,BUSY,HAS_SIZE,BITPERFECT>

   {userland} -> feeder_root(0x00210000) -> {hardware}

   [pcm5:record:dsp5.r0]: spd 48000, fmt 0x00200010/0x00210000, flags 0x00002100, 0x00000007

   interrupts 0, overruns 0, feed 0, hfree 4608, sfree 4096 [b:4608/2304/2|bs:4096/2048/2]

   channel flags=0x2100<BUSY,HAS_VCHAN>

   {hardware} -> feeder_root(0x00210000) -> feeder_format(0x00210000 -> 0x00200010) -> feeder_mixer(0x00200010) -> {userland}

   pcm5:record:dsp5.r0[pcm5:virtual:dsp5.vr0]: spd 8000, fmt 0x00100008, flags 0x10000000, 0x00000000

   interrupts 0, overruns 0, feed 0, hfree 0, sfree 0 [b:0/0/0|bs:0/0/0]

   channel flags=0x10000000<VIRTUAL>

   {hardware} -> feeder_root(0x00000000) -> {userland}

In all cases, was played the same sound file in 24bit/192k format.

Ogogon.

rigoletto@ · Nov 30, 2017

tobik@

Can it be related with some buffer not being enough?

ogogon

Assuming you did all tests using CMus, could you test using something else?

multimedia/ffmpeg maybe?

audio/musicpd + audio/ncmpcpp would be perfect because is know to work, but at cost of taking some time to setup.

ogogon · Nov 30, 2017

lebarondemerde said:
tobik@

Can it be related with some buffer not being enough?

And how can I look at the sizes of the corresponding buffers and change these sizes?
Are you referring to system buffers or application buffers?

rigoletto@ · Dec 1, 2017

You could try to tweak: hw.snd.latency and hw.snd.latency_profile to see if will help. See sound(4)

tobik@ · Dec 10, 2017

I tried the files you uploaded (though I only downloaded 1% of them) and they play fine for me. Cmus' OSS backend needs to be fixed to actual check the sample rate the system sets and refuse to play files when it's different instead of simply playing them. Normally OSS guarantees that it can be resampled, but in bitperfect mode that assumption breaks. But besides that I can't see any problems in cmus itself.

Snurg · Dec 10, 2017

OT:
1. What does "DAC" mean in this context?
2. ECC 40 is a German tube afaik. I had many of them decades ago in my spares store.
3. If you happen to need German tubes, look if you can get "Valvo" manufactured. (Nowadays hard to find and very expensive)
This is the best German manufacturer in my and my friends' personal experience.
You can almost compare Philips <> Valvo tubes like normal russian tubes <> military version.
I quite often threw away tubes I considered as inferior (Philips, Siemens, Telefunken and lower) just to have only a few really good Valvo tubes of each type in my storage past then...
Many of them I put them into the fireplace - it is fun to watch the tubes shrink when the glass gets soft. Sometimes the results were really funny.

rigoletto@ · Dec 10, 2017

I quite often threw away tubes I considered as inferior (Philips, Siemens, Telefunken and lower) just to have only a few really good Valvo tubes of each type in my storage past then...

Please don't to that. Sell them, or send to me.

You still can find ECC40 from Valvo around, not that expensive, at least not like old WE valves.

If you manage to find a WE300B, you can easily sell it for at very least US$4K.

And there is a huge market for Telefuken tubes, specially the Diamond marked 6463.

Snurg · Dec 10, 2017

lebarondemerde, of course I won't do that nowadays.
That was in the 1980s when I was schoolboy. Past then many old stuff (radios, TV etc) from the tube era were dumped on the streets and I picked the best stuff of that, repaired and sold much things and kept the very best for me.
Sadly in the late 1990s burglars visited my home and the boxes with my good tubes were gone