Hdmi to rj45. Have I screwed my DAC?

[JimFarrell29]

Hi folks. A plea for advice, but feel free to explain to me how much of an idiot I am. I needed a hdmi to rj45 cable for I2S. The good folks at Vinshine gave me the piniuts and I made the cable. It didn't work and I realised I had wired two of wires incorrectly. BCK- to pin 5 rather than 6, and LRCK+ to pin 8 rather than 9.
Obviously it didn't work and I rewired it correctly. It worked but with distortion and pops. However that distortion is now also on the HDMI port as well. Other inputs are fine.
Could my mistake have damaged all the I2S inputs? I have never heard of such a thing, people try hdmi cables with the wrong pinouts all the time and they just don't work.
Of course it could just be a coincidence, or related to a recent firmware update.
The DAC is a Denafrips T Plus. No comments about overpriced DACs and audio fools please. Unless you really must.

 

[JimFarrell29]

Oops. Clarification. The work was done at the HDMI end, so when I mention pin numbers it is HDMI pins.

 

[JimFarrell29]

Last clarification. Pins 5 and 8 are marked ground at the HDMI side, which was at the source.

 

[Chrispy]

I have no particular idea, but what is the overall purpose, let alone value, of this "shortcut"?

 

[JimFarrell29]

I have no particular idea, but what is the overall purpose, let alone value, of this "shortcut"?

Okeydoke.The T plus has three I2S inputs.one HDMI and two RJ45. I want to connect a Jay's Audio cd transport and a streamer. Both have I2S over HDMI but not RJ45. So if I want to connect both devices via I2S, which I do, I need one HDMI to HDMI cable, and one HDMI to RJ45 cable. Which, as far as I can tell, no-one makes, or if they do they probably charge an arm and a leg. So it cos me about £15 to build one.

Yes, I could connect with AES/EBU or USB or Toslink, but I happen to like I2S.
Why ? Because I just do, and I can. Or, erm, I could. Now, you may wish to tell me I2S is no better, and you may well be right. But I worked pretty hard all my life following the science so that when I retire I can ignore it and do stuff just because I feel like it.

Now be a good chap and toddle off and don't come back until you have a useful answer for me.


(At this point I would add a wink emoji if I could, denoting my lack of seriousness and generally friendly intentions). I can !

 

[bachatero]

It shouldn't have caused the distortion, as both interfaces are digital and a broken connection would just cut off the data or introduce packet loss which would cause dropouts.

 

[Chrispy]

Okeydoke.The T plus has three I2S inputs.one HDMI and two RJ45. I want to connect a Jay's Audio cd transport and a streamer. Both have I2S over HDMI but not RJ45. So if I want to connect both devices via I2S, which I do, I need one HDMI to HDMI cable, and one HDMI to RJ45 cable. Which, as far as I can tell, no-one makes, or if they do they probably charge an arm and a leg. So it cos me about £15 to build one.

Yes, I could connect with AES/EBU or USB or Toslink, but I happen to like I2S.
Why ? Because I just do, and I can. Or, erm, I could. Now, you may wish to tell me I2S is no better, and you may well be right. But I worked pretty hard all my life following the science so that when I retire I can ignore it and do stuff just because I feel like it.

Now be a good chap and toddle off and don't come back until you have a useful answer for me.


(At this point I would add a wink emoji if I could, denoting my lack of seriousness and generally friendly intentions). I can !

LOL toddle off. If you could toddle properly you wouldn't even need to propose such a question, but I was just trying to define it more out of curiousity. Good luck.

 

[JimFarrell29]

LOL toddle off. If you could toddle properly you wouldn't even need to propose such a question, but I was just trying to define it more out of curiousity. Good luck.

Thanks. Appreciate it.

 

[JimFarrell29]

It shouldn't have caused the distortion, as both interfaces are digital and a broken connection would just cut off the data or introduce packet loss which would cause dropouts.

Thanks. That's what I figured, and now the distortion is there using a standard hdmi to hdmi cable as well. So my faffing about with the cable seems like a red herring. I updated to the latest firmware a week or two ago, but have been using AES since then, so it's possible the update caused the issue and I have only just noticed it. I just wondered if my messed up wiring could have caused a short or a tiny surge affecting the input board, but that seemed extraordinarily unlikely.

 

[JimFarrell29]

Update. The excellent Vincent from Vinshine tells me it is likely the firmware and has given me instructions to adjust the pin configuration of the DAC to fix it. So that is a relief. At least potentially.

 

[JimFarrell29]

So problem solved. In case anyone else encounters this, there are 8 settings for I2S on Denafrips DACs. In binary they go from 000 to 111. The default is 000, but the firmware update had changed the setting to 111, causing distortion. Changing it back to 000 solved the issue and now my improvised cable and the regular HDMI cable work fine.

 

[JimFarrell29]

If anyone is interested in making their own cable here is what I used. I'm sure Cat 5 or 6 cable would be fine. Probably any old ethernet cable lying about the house. With I2S shorter is better, I understand, so cut it to your minimum length. plus a few cms for wiring purposes and wire breakages - ethernet wires are pretty delicate.

I attach the wiring diagram for the Denafrips/ Ps Audio pinout.