Lyra 1 overview
Prism Sound Lyra finally came out, and despite nine months of skipped tickets, the wait is worth it.
The first is the USB part. Prism Sound finally gave up the common XMOS solution (also a British company, mainly designing ASIC), and its designed USB solution is accepted by the majority of recording and audiophile audio companies and applied to products because of its powerful and stable drive. Including dCS and EMMLabs and Weiss big-name companies, but XMOS sound quality has always been criticized, so when Prism Sound started to promote X-Core, everyone was very worried that Prism Sound also used the simple developed XMOS solution. In the end, Prism Sound kept the morals and made SMSC USB PHY + STM32 ARM M4 developed the USB part by itself. The actual sense of hearing is also very powerful, which is much better than competitor products designed with XMOS.
Lyra uses the same main circuit as Oprhues, the DAC chip, op amp, and the most important phase-locked loop circuit are maintained in Orpheus design. Focus on improving the amp part, Lyra uses the high-quality Bourns 50 Series Conductive plastic potentiometer (Note: The faders used in SSL 9Kx and Studer 96x are basically conductive plastic potentiometers/faders), each channel is paralleled with a NE5532A output, which is a big improvement compared to the past .
Lyra software is very much improved and very practical.Lyra allows to synchronize the sampling rate of the source signal of the USB (that is, to track the sampling rate of the played song), without manually resetting the sampling rate.
In Stand-alone (offline) mode, it is very user-friendly. You can set the automatic SRC state in advance. You can also use the synchronous mode (recommended). At the same time, you can route and output high-quality digital signals after PLL. The amp can also respond at the same time, but Which channel to monitor must be set online in advance.
Lyra 1 hardware design
The ADC uses CirrusLogic''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s flagship model CS5381, and the op amps are OPA2134 and MC33078.
The DAC uses Cirrus Logic''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s flagship model CS4398, the op amp is MC33078 and OPA2134 and NE5532A. The amp part uses a separate CS4398 output, the op amp is NE5532A, and the amp driving part is parallel N5532A.
The speech amplifier is a PGA2500 numerical control gain chip; the instrument high impedance is OPA2134, and the instrument and the speech amplifier are multiplexed with ADC..
The USB part uses SMSC USB PHY chip and ST STM32F207 M4.
The main logic and DSP operations use Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA.
The SRC chip is SRC4390.
PLL chip is TLC2933A, integrated phase comparator and voltage controlled oscillator
The main power supply uses a switching power supply. The second-order regulators are LM2941 and LM2991, both of which are LDOs with high response speed.
Lyra 1 online mode application
After the driver is installed, check whether it is successful, find the corresponding hardware in the device manager, and confirm that there is no question mark or exclamation mark.
Lyra 1 control panel introduction
Sample Rate :
44.1k 48k 88.2k 96k 176.4k 192k sampling switch, can be operated when the synchronization source is Local mode; or in any mode with SRC turned on.
SRC : DI / OFF Input sampling rate conversion switch.
FP Meter: Input / Output The front panel level indicator monitors the selection.
LED Level: Max (usually set Max)
Sync Source :
Local / Digital Input. Synchronous switching, local and tracking digital output switching.
Buffer : 83 - 8912 Delay selection.
Lyra 1 ch1 and ch2 correspond to analog output (Line Outs) 1 and 2. That is, USB-Analog mode.
Lyra 1 ch3 and ch4 correspond to digital output SPDIF/OPT (Lyra 1 only has optical fiber). That is, USB-SPDIF/OPT mode.
When Lyra 1 is set to use ch1 and ch2 output, let SPDIF/OPT route the signal from A1/2 to output analog and digital signals at the same time. That is, USB-SPDIF/OPT + A1/2 mode.
Lyra 1 offline mode application (Stand-alone)
Lyra allows offline use, which provides convenience to friends who want Lyra to be pure AD/DA.
The offline mode is recommended. It doesn''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''t matter if the Sample Rate is set to Shenma. Turn off SRC and select Synchronous DI first.
This is the time when Lyra will be automatically synchronized according to the recognized input sampling rate after being offline, the recommended mode for the best sound quality.
SRC mode 1: Sapmle Rate is set to the desired sampling rate, Sync is Local, SRC = DI.
SRC mode 2: Sapmle Rate setting does not matter, Sync is DI, SRC = DI.
Note: When the setting error causes the synchronization to be impossible, Lyra forces the SRC state to be turned on by default to achieve synchronization.
After SRC is turned on, ASYNC in the digital input control bar will be yellow.
Compare Lyra to others
First of all, Lyra can be said that instead of shrinking, there are enhancements and improvements.
JTEST said Lyra''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s phase-locked loop, that is, the clock recovery system is still powerful. (Use only 2.5RMB fiber optic cable test)
This is a DAC jitter test of a famous American brand, which is far away from Prism Sound. (Test using high-performance AES cable)
After instrument measurement, compared with Oprhue, it is confirmed that Lyra has not shrunk, and the parameters have reached the level of its older brother Oprheus.
Lyra1 audition declarationPrismsound lyra 1
I’m sorry to all friends who follow Lyra. This audition report has been postponed until now. The prototype has been in my house for almost a month. It’s not difficult to write, but I don’t want to draw a conclusion soon. After all, it is a product of Prismsound. When I first brought Prismsound Orpheus and DA2 into civilian households years ago, it caused a lot of fluctuations. But these two are relatively high-end products, especially DA2 is a Master-level decoder, and now this Lyra 1 is the cheapest product in the Prismsound family.（Although the price is really not cheap）, But what is the quality? Has the sound quality diminished? Can USB replace FireWire? These are the questions I heard before.
Since my current system is very different from a few years ago, all impressions of Orpheus and DA2 cannot be the reference standard for Lyra1. First introduce my current reference system:
Monitor speakers: Dynaudio acoustics M3
Pre-stage: AMEK BCII mixer
Post-level: Audio Research Classic 60
Digital playback system: MAC10.6 system Amarra+iTunes 11 player
Digital interface: BrainstormDCD-8 Firewire interface with sub-clock
Digital upconverter: DCS 927SRC 176.4 DUAL AES
DA decoding: Weiss Medea
It looks a little dizzy, right~~~~ Let me briefly introduce my digital file playback system:
I currently use the 10.6 Snow Leopard system and use iTunes to play. The reason is that iTunes is currently the most powerful media file management system. Not only can it effectively manage a huge amount of audio files, but it can also have multiple classification indexes for easy search. The unique AIFF file can load the cover picture in the file, and you can see the cover of the album when you hear the file. Use the currently popular iPad Remote free software to remotely control playback and retrieval. Amarra is a plug-in for iTunes. It can play files based on iTunes or play files by itself. Its characteristic is that it can pre-read the play files into the memory and realize the source code playback. The playback of iTunse is re-encoded in 48K mode, so The best playback sound quality can be obtained through Amarra.
BrainstormDCD-8 is a professional clock distributor, and it has a 1394 Firewire interface. The interface technology is exactly the same as TC. It has dual AES output and is compatible with 44.1K.—192K digital output. DCS927 is a sampling frequency converter or SRC developed by DCS for the recording studio in the early years. I used it here for upscaling, converting the 44.1 signal into 176.4 dual AES and outputting it to the Weiss Medea decoder. The purpose is to give full play to Medea''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s dual AES decoding performance. .
I won’t repeat the hardware introduction of Prismsound Lyra 1. You can see that although Lyra 1 is the cheapest interface in his home, the weight in your hand is not light at all, and heavier than I thought. It’s better than TC24D and RME FF400. These half-U machines are big. It was late on the day I took it home. I immediately connected the machine to the system and downloaded the latest MAC driver on the official website. It was installed smoothly and sounded out. That night I used the well-known SENNHEISER HD580 as an audition. Another difference is that the headphone output drive capability of this interface is very strong. When the knob is halfway, the 580 is already fully pushed, and I can feel the sound of Orpheus that I remembered in less than half an hour. The silky high frequency and the plump and fluffy low frequency are secretly happy. Then I went out to work, and the machine was plugged into the computer and turned on for almost two weeks~~~~~ It’s a burn-in~~~~ TT don’t scold when you see it~~~~
Anxiously jumping TT several times urged to get back the DEMO machine, I always excuse me by not being at home~~~~Let me listen carefully for a while~~~
In the week after returning home, I listened carefully to the direct decoding output of this interface in the system. Most of the music was made of classical music, interspersed with jazz and slow rock. My first impression of the direct analog output of Lyra1 is that the intermediate frequency density is solid, and the two ends will not extend too much, which is somewhat close to the impression of DA2. This is slightly different from the impression of the output of the headphone amplifier with HD580, which may be 580. The coloring is slightly heavier than that of Dynaudio speakers. The high frequency output of the amp is more transparent, but the low frequency is not as clean as the direct analog output. The headphone output sound is like Orpheus, and the analog output is like DA2. This evaluation is really a bit weird. , I then invited two enthusiasts to my home, and listened to Lyra by the way. Indeed, Lyra’s analog output plays piano sounds more thick and condensed than my reference digital system, and the reference system’s sound will be wider and wider. We also experimented with Lyra1’s optical digital output to Weiss Medea decoding. The same conclusion is that Weiss’s sound is quite different from Lyra’s style. Weiss has the unique flexibility and high-frequency dyeing of Swiss equipment, while Lyra has British equipment like Prismsound. Introverted and rigorous, the mid-range is more thick and dense, the sound field is not very wide but not cramped. The friend I invited uses the Weiss DAC2 as an audio file for playback. Although the price of DAC2 is higher than that of Lyra, he I prefer the sound of Lyra1, but I don’t really accept Lyra’s appearance~~~ Haha, no way, audiophiles have a different aesthetic from ours. I personally like Prismsound’s small level lights and large knobs~~~
This audition essay is by no means the final evaluation of Lyra, because there is a higher Lyra2, this model can play the clock, there can be more room for improvement. I have tried many USB ports before, but I was very disappointed, but Lyra finally gave me a good answer. Prismsound, which is strictly forbidden, has produced an excellent USB audio port, and the sound is never lost to the Firewire port. Of course, the price is also very high. The interface design of Lyra is much more complicated than other USB interfaces.