Off Ramp to Ayon Stratos not seeing I2s

[Darren69]

Dear digital brains trust.

 

Got the Off Ramp 4 from here and have been keen to try it out between the Ayon Stratos dac and the ROON Nucleus via I2s (ethernet cable).

 

Allegedly better jitter-wise and smoother. I have been using USB between the Nucleus and dac but I believe this isnt the intent of the Nucleus.

 

But no go, dac does not see the Off Ramp with I2s. It does see it with SPDIF etc, but not I2s.

 

Have searched the internet far and wide and canna find anything of note.

 

Any ideas? Not the end of the world, both coax and USB sound awesome but was keen to try the other connection.

 

Question 2- I assume the I2s is not for hooking the dac into the LAN?

[sakabatou]

A few thoughts

 

I’m not sure about the RJ45 version, but i2s over HDMI doesn’t have fixed standards. Do you know what “pin out” Ayon uses?

 

here is Empirical’s map: (note they don’t mention compatibility with Ayon)

 

how long is your ethernet cable? Shorter will be better for i2s

 

could you be accidentally using a “crossover” cable? Not sure if this makes a difference

 

[Darren69]

7 minutes ago, sakabatou said:

A few thoughts

 

I’m not sure about the RJ45 version, but i2s over HDMI doesn’t have fixed standards. Do you know what “pin out” Ayon uses?

 

here is Empirical’s map: (note they don’t mention compatibility with Ayon)

 

how long is your ethernet cable? Shorter will be better for i2s

 

could you be accidentally using a “crossover” cable? Not sure if this makes a difference

 

Hey Saka! Hope you are well mate.

 

I only know of 'ethernet' cables sorry mate, dont know of any differing versions. Cable is a '10 foot' version of the following-

 

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B006JN6PL0/ref=pe_2361882_283709292_TE_SCE_3p_dp_1

 

The Stratos owners manual shows the following-

 

 

 

The distributor advised the I2s is a proprietary connection for between other Ayon devices but it doesn't state this anywhere in the manual. So either the distributor is correct and the manual is ambiguous or something has been lost in the translation between Australia and Austria. I suspect the distributor is correct (which would be a bit disappointing for such a mega-dac) but I thought I would ask anyhow. There are two I2s inputs on the rear, one I2s and one I2s DOP. I have seen one mention of the I2s DOP being utilised for 'streaming' so I dont know if that means it can be used to add the device to the LAN maybe.

 

Anyhow, for now maybe we just get the I2s itself working or eliminate it from the equation as a proprietary fitting. I just find it strange that it wouldnt see the Off Ramp, I though RJ45 was RJ45... 

 

 

[sakabatou]

That pin out map looks completely different

 

if you have the skill, or know some who can, you might be able to rewire a cable to make them line up. Although the labelling is a bit different.... I’m at the limit of my knowledge though - maybe someone else will chime in 

 

I would definitely go as short as you can though - i2s wasn’t meant for long runs, and shorter  sounds better (to me)

Edited June 26, 2020 by sakabatou

[Darren69]

8 minutes ago, sakabatou said:

That pin out map looks completely different

 

if you have the skill, or know some who can, you might be able to rewire a cable to make them line up. Although the labelling is a bit different.... I’m at the limit of my knowledge though - maybe someone else will chime in 

 

I would definitely go as short as you can though - i2s wasn’t meant for long runs, and shorter  sounds better (to me)

Thank you, I appreciate the input  

 

What do you use through I2s? dac-streamer etc?

 

[sakabatou]

I have the matrix x-spdif 2. It  supports the i2s over hdmi which seems to have 2 dominant standards - PS Audio and Audio GD. The x-spdif 2 can switch pins via dipswitch to match.

 

I’m not actually using it at the moment though

[Darren69]

So these guys reckon they can make me a cable that joins the dots, watch this space- http://www.revelationaudiolabs.com/

[Darren69]

So the above are great to work  with so far, respond quickly to emails and have done me an excellent price on their Prophecy CryoSilver™ Reference CAT8+/RJ-45 i2s Ethernet Digital Link cable with full money back guarantee if the devices still don't see each other.

 

Have paid up as you cant ask for more than that, will see how it all goes...

 

 

[Pops110]

Does the cable come with free spiritual cleansing and forgiveness.