WORKING: Audigy2 modded for native 44.1kHz output (just on linux for now)

chipwizme · May 10, 2010, 01:46 PM

I modded a SB0350 Audigy 2 ZS by replacing the 24.576MHz crystal with a 22.5792MHz crystal for NATIVE (not resampled) 44.1kHz/88.2kHz/176.4kHz playback through the P16V and 44.1kHz playback/EFX with the DSP. It works great (output only tested so far) on linux with my patch for Alsa. CDs sound AMAZING with the card running at 44.1kHz natively, and I've been noticing ALL SORTS of things in my music that I've never been able to hear before.

Attached is my patch for alsa 1.0.23 (the latest as of 11 May 2010). I tested it with linux kernels 2.6.34-rc6 and 2.6.26.

Any ideas on how I could use a PLL such as the Cirrus CS2000 ( CS2000 Family - Clock Generation and Multiplication/Jitter Reduction Solution ) to make the card lock to other clocks? The EMU1010 does it in the FPGA. Travelrec?

(Eugene, could you PLEASE post a modded kX driver for windows 7 x64 or even make an option to set the clock rate? It's really a simple change to make since the EMU1010 already has a 24.576MHz crystal, especially if you disable the samplerate converter/interpolation. thanks)

edwardar · May 13, 2010, 07:20 PM

Very interesting - I never imagined this could be possible!
A dirt cheap, 44khz native soundcard with full hardware dsp capability - brilliant!
Is this modable by someone with moderate soldering skills, or is the crystal really small?

chipwizme · May 14, 2010, 06:18 PM

Well, I did it using a $10 13/30 watt soldering iron, a roll of 40/60 solder, a tub of flux, a roll of desoldering braid, and a solder sucker... all from radioshack. I got the crystal off of an old soundcard that was in my spare parts bin. The crystal is through-hole mounted, and is quite easy to work with. It took under a half hour to do the basic mod, although my final soundcard also has additional mods such as a grounded metal shield surrounding it, exchangeable crystals, a heatsink on the emu10k2, and the analog side outputs disconnected from the rear jacks (where they end up getting grounded when using a standard 3-conductor eigth inch/3.5mm headphone plug). Ive also made a setup with 3 cards, where 2 Audigy2 cards are clocked from the first card's clock output on AD_EXT. As suggested by travelrec in Adding ADAT support to Audigy2 just connect through a 30 ohm resistor. If you want me to mod your cards, I'm open starting in 1 week which is when exams end, and I sure need the money.

xor_2 · May 20, 2010, 10:59 PM

i think it is too much of a hassle just to achieve placebo

at least on vista/7 where system mixer have ssrc

better thing to have in KX is full unbugged 32bit PCM support and 96KHz frequency. CPU time these days are dirty cheap so there is plenty to spare on SSRC

ps. on stupid XP it is another story though...
ps2. if you want to hear more music details there is always Audigy2ZS Platinym Pro and ofcourse the best of all Audigy4 Pro

chipwizme · May 23, 2010, 04:32 AM

You can disable the vista/7 SSRC in the Services tool in Administrative Tools. also, with the P16V, I am getting 24bit/192kHz analog out. I'm still messing with the alsa sources, but it sounds pretty good.

May 13, 2010, 07:20 PM	#2
edwardar HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 38 Rep Power: 0	Re: WORKING: Audigy2 modded for native 44.1kHz output (just on linux for now) Very interesting - I never imagined this could be possible! A dirt cheap, 44khz native soundcard with full hardware dsp capability - brilliant! Is this modable by someone with moderate soldering skills, or is the crystal really small?

May 14, 2010, 06:18 PM	Thread Starter #3
chipwizme HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 11 Rep Power: 0	Re: WORKING: Audigy2 modded for native 44.1kHz output (just on linux for now) Well, I did it using a $10 13/30 watt soldering iron, a roll of 40/60 solder, a tub of flux, a roll of desoldering braid, and a solder sucker... all from radioshack. I got the crystal off of an old soundcard that was in my spare parts bin. The crystal is through-hole mounted, and is quite easy to work with. It took under a half hour to do the basic mod, although my final soundcard also has additional mods such as a grounded metal shield surrounding it, exchangeable crystals, a heatsink on the emu10k2, and the analog side outputs disconnected from the rear jacks (where they end up getting grounded when using a standard 3-conductor eigth inch/3.5mm headphone plug). Ive also made a setup with 3 cards, where 2 Audigy2 cards are clocked from the first card's clock output on AD_EXT. As suggested by travelrec in Adding ADAT support to Audigy2 just connect through a 30 ohm resistor. If you want me to mod your cards, I'm open starting in 1 week which is when exams end, and I sure need the money.

May 20, 2010, 10:59 PM	#4
xor_2 HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: WORKING: Audigy2 modded for native 44.1kHz output (just on linux for now) i think it is too much of a hassle just to achieve placebo at least on vista/7 where system mixer have ssrc better thing to have in KX is full unbugged 32bit PCM support and 96KHz frequency. CPU time these days are dirty cheap so there is plenty to spare on SSRC ps. on stupid XP it is another story though... ps2. if you want to hear more music details there is always Audigy2ZS Platinym Pro and ofcourse the best of all Audigy4 Pro

May 23, 2010, 04:32 AM	Thread Starter #5
chipwizme HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 11 Rep Power: 0	Re: WORKING: Audigy2 modded for native 44.1kHz output (just on linux for now) You can disable the vista/7 SSRC in the Services tool in Administrative Tools. also, with the P16V, I am getting 24bit/192kHz analog out. I'm still messing with the alsa sources, but it sounds pretty good.