Opening up XITE

The Sonic Core XITE hardware platform for Scope

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DragonSF
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by DragonSF »

Liquid EDGE wrote:Ok so I did a bit of swapping of cables. I bought cables from amazon, £5 ones that were all gold (thought it would look nice) I'm suspecting these are just poo and don't seem to fit snugly and have fat ends that slightly push at each other when in the ports . Anyhows I switched 1 of the cables to one I had at home for the tv and sound bar (just a simple black small toslink plastic end that fits in nice and snug)..(testing it on output and input) it improved it a lot but still occasional clicking from adat a.
I'm hoping it's just the cables and a bit of dust, as I heard improvement just swapping 1 cable. Need to get some trusted optical cables from a music store and get one of those air blower things. God damn tech, such a diva sometimes to get things set up!!!!! (I really hope it's just that)
If you look at my long thread regarding crackles: Same problem here: Ferrofish A16 crackles on A, mostly not on B. Other ADAT device: no problem. Xite was tested by Gary and A16 was tested by ferrofish. No problems found, they just don't like each other (seemingly).
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by Liquid EDGE »

Got some simpler small ended cables. After blowing air in the ports (from a spray duster can) and spending about half an hour plugging in cables, re plugging. Swapping about etc I seem to have eradicated the pops. So it seems Adat and optical is one touchy way of communicating!

Just need to make sure I don't sneeze near the cables!!!

Effing nightmare!! But it seems sorted, (touch wood)
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krizrox
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by krizrox »

well these are interesting and hopeful responses. Thanks guys! I agree - communication between these two devices seems touchy at best (even with Z-Link). Not sure how that fares for long term reliability. I guess time will tell.

Sorry if you have to move your gear a lot :lol: My stuff is a permanent install until I do some periodic dusting :roll:
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krizrox
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Re: Opening up XITE

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oh one other thing from my end. Those Toshiba TOSLINK connectors on the back of XITE are obsolete and out of production parts. Toshiba has no other replacement for them. After a week of googling and calling around, haven't been able to find suitable replacements from other mfgs. These specific optical transmitter/receiver devices fall into a special category of "Audio" devices that were made for stereo AV equipment (I guess). Probably, TOSLINK is a dead (or dying) technology now that we have HDMI, USB3, MADI, Thunderbolt or whatever else is floating around out there. I mean I assume optical is very alive and well thanks to the telecom companies running fiber all over the world. The Audio side apparently isn't a lucrative market. Maybe there's another reason. I don't know.

There is inventory of the original parts out there but trying to get one or two is proving to be a difficult process. These parts brokers want to sell thousands or millions. Not one or two. I'm getting close to saying screw it and just plug the cable in and jam a toothpick in there and be done with it lol
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by Liquid EDGE »

Adat a pops and clicks came back!!!
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krizrox
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Re: Opening up XITE

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Liquid EDGE wrote:Adat a pops and clicks came back!!!
aww shoot man. I was rootin for ya (for all of us lol). Well.... keep poking away at it. Hopefully a solution will present itself. Once I get this connector repaired I'm going to dive back into the ADAT option myself and see what happens. I'm suspicious about these TOSLINK connectors. But since I'm getting random pops with Z-Link too, it might have nothing to do with connectivity.

In my case, using Z-Link, the problem was always related to A16 channels 9-16 (second bank of channels or ADAT B source). Never with channels 1-8 (ADAT A source). In my case, it might be related to a specific A16 channel (I've been suspicious about the A16, not XITE). Without a second known good A16 to test, I can't tell. It's hard to troubleshoot because the problem was so very random. I can go days without issue and then all of a sudden bam....
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krizrox
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by krizrox »

I have an update related to the TOSLINK connectors. I found a company in Canada that sells/stocks 3rd party replacement TOSLINK connectors. They are not the Toshiba parts. They are slightly different but share all the same electrical and mechanical characteristics of the Toshiba parts. The only difference (as far as I can tell) is they do not use the swinging door or shutter. They use the older style plug-in dust covers. Which, in my opinion, are probably superior to those flimsy shutters.

I ordered a few of each (receiver/transmitter) and should have them in a few days. I will attempt a replacement and then testing to see if they work. I wanted to share this in case anyone else might be in the same boat.

Here is the PDF tech spec and company info

http://www.sys-concept.com/toslink_rece ... oncept.pdf

Price each was $5 USD. Shipping cost was rather high, but I was just glad to find anything remotely similar that could be ordered in small quantities.
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by Liquid EDGE »

DragonSF wrote:
Liquid EDGE wrote:Ok so I did a bit of swapping of cables. I bought cables from amazon, £5 ones that were all gold (thought it would look nice) I'm suspecting these are just poo and don't seem to fit snugly and have fat ends that slightly push at each other when in the ports . Anyhows I switched 1 of the cables to one I had at home for the tv and sound bar (just a simple black small toslink plastic end that fits in nice and snug)..(testing it on output and input) it improved it a lot but still occasional clicking from adat a.
I'm hoping it's just the cables and a bit of dust, as I heard improvement just swapping 1 cable. Need to get some trusted optical cables from a music store and get one of those air blower things. God damn tech, such a diva sometimes to get things set up!!!!! (I really hope it's just that)
If you look at my long thread regarding crackles: Same problem here: Ferrofish A16 crackles on A, mostly not on B. Other ADAT device: no problem. Xite was tested by Gary and A16 was tested by ferrofish. No problems found, they just don't like each other (seemingly).
Oh well. :( Looks like I'm just going to get a ada8200
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krizrox
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Re: Opening up XITE

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hmm bummer. I might be inclined to look at the MOTU 16A or some other product as well. Would be nice to have something else in just to compare against.
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garyb
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by garyb »

if it just won't behave, use a bnc cable and be done with it. jmho
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Re: Opening up XITE

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That will be my last hope try!
Thanks g
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by Liquid EDGE »

Do both in out Bnc wordclock ports need to be plugged in
Is Xite-1 default master?
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garyb
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by garyb »

it's default slave.
no, only one bnc cable is required.

set the A16 to bnc master, the ADAT ports will transmit and receive audio as usual.

if you need it, the files to switch the XITE to be able to use wordclock as master are below.
you need to rename the file(PulsarConfig_XITE-Master.pep) to the same name as the original file(PulsarConfig.pep), and replace the original file.

both master and slave versions are included in the zip.
Wordclock-XITE.zip
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Liquid EDGE
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by Liquid EDGE »

Thanks a lot. Fingers crossed it sorts it out.
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krizrox
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by krizrox »

I'm also going to look into this... although... um... not sure Z-Link would benefit from an external word clock. I might be mistaken but I thought Z-Link had it's own built-in word clock or synchronization protocol. I'm willing to try anything though. Once I get the connector fixed I'll spend some time trying various things.
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garyb
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Re: Opening up XITE

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won't change anything with Z-Link...
DragonSF
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by DragonSF »

Liquid EDGE wrote:Thanks a lot. Fingers crossed it sorts it out.
Don't hold your breath. I tried to setup A16 as master and Xite as BNC slave: no behavior changes: Port B is fine enough, A has crackles without end at S/R > 32K.
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Re: Opening up XITE

Post by Liquid EDGE »

I won't hold my breath.

Not that I have ever used or set up wordclock sync I did a quick search. What's all this t and terminator chat all about? It's fine to get a Bnc cable that just goes on about video and cctv etc on the packaging?

"I'm not familiar with your gear but you will probably just need 1 BNC cable, 1 'T' and 1 terminator. (make sure to use a 75 ohm cables and terminator, not the 50 ohm ones that are . . .or rather were used a lot for computer 10-baseT networking.)

The main thing for you to worry about / find out is if the unit you are going to slave has auto-termination or not and if so, is it defeatable? read on . . .

Connect one BNC cable directly to the master unit's word clock output (no T or terminator) and then connect the other end to a T that should be connected to your slave unit's word clock input. Attach a terminator to the free end of the T.

If your slave unit has auto-termination and you can't turn it off, skip the T and terminator and just plug the cable from the master unit right into the slave's word clock in."

Krizkroz.. sorry man I'm sort of hijacking the thread.

Thanks for sharing the pics and the compatible optical Adat replacement ports!
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garyb
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Re: Opening up XITE

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you don't need a t or a terminator. just be sure that the cable is 75ohm...
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krizrox
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Re: Opening up XITE

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Liquid EDGE wrote:I won't hold my breath.

Krizkroz.. sorry man I'm sort of hijacking the thread.

Thanks for sharing the pics and the compatible optical Adat replacement ports!
Perfectly fine. I'm learning a few things myself. That's why I started this thread. I have to echo DragonSF's sentiment though. I think I've been down this road before. I don't want to be a pessimist until I've tried again, but I spent a lot of time trying to chase down these bogies to no avail. I had none of these problems with my original Scope PCI cards. They were solid as a rock.

Lets not give up. A am hopeful a solution will present itself.
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