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M2TECH JOPLIN User Manual

384khz/32bit analog-to-digital converter
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M2TECH
JOPLIN
384
H
/32BIT ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER
K
Z
USER MANUAL
--- PRELIMINARY ---
REV. P
A – 9/2012
r

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  • Page 1 M2TECH JOPLIN /32BIT ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER USER MANUAL --- PRELIMINARY --- REV. P A – 9/2012...
  • Page 2 WARNING: the information contained in this manual are considered to be reliable and accurate. M2Tech reserves the right to change or modify the information any time, without prior advice. It’s up to the customer to ensure that the manual being consulted is the latest version.
  • Page 3 JOPLIN is provided with a very complete set of equalization and filtering options to accommodate all kind of analog signals. We feel that your expectations will be fulfilled by JOPLIN: you’ll hear your analog sources turned into music files or digital streams in a way like never before, prepare for a whole...

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    8.3.8. Low pass (anti-hiss) filter ..................27 8.3.9. MPX filter ......................28 9. Notes on equalization ....................30 9.1. Why equalization is needed for records? ..............30 9.2. List of phono equalization curves available on the Joplin and notes on their usage ............................33 9.2.1. RIAA .........................33 9.2.2. AES ........................33 9.2.3.
  • Page 5 9.3.2. NAB for 9.5cm/s (3¾ ips) and NAB for 19cm/s (7½ ips)........37 9.4. Acquiring with equalization..................37 9.5. Interfacing a cartridge or a tape head..............37 10. Using a power supply different from the standard one..........38 11. Cleaning the unit ......................38 12. Technical Specifications ....................39 Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 6: Unpacking And Placing The Unit

    Should one or more items be missing, please contact your dealer or local distributor. Extract the Joplin from the foam container and place it on a stable base, far from heat sources. Avoid the direct sunlight on the unit. Allow for enough room around the unit for venting.

  • Page 7: Front Panel

    “CLIP”. When in standby, a single led is on at the center of the display area. Its intensity is set by menu. 4) VU-meter. It indicates the peak value for both channels. Left channel is top, right channel is immediately below left channel. Its intensity is set by menu. Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 8: Back Panel

    11) Power supply input. Connect the wall adaptor provided with the unit or any other power supply capable of 15V/500mA. 5.5mm/2.1mm supply jack (female, tip is positive). 12) Ground (chassis) post. When necessary, connect this post to the chassis wire from the source, to reduce hum and noise pickup. Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 9: Remote Control

    Push arrow left and arrow right to choose the value for the selected item. 4) OK. When accessing the menu, push this button to update the current item with the displayed value. Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 10: Connecting And Powering The Unit

    Connect the “A” plug of the cable to a 2.0 USB port of your computer. Connect two interconnects to the analog inputs of the Joplin (Figure 2, 4/5) and to the outputs of your analog source (be it a turntable, a tuner, a tape recorder or even the tape rec output of your amplifier).

  • Page 11: Driver Installation

    6. Driver installation The Joplin is USB 2.0 Audio compliant. This means that no driver is needed with Apple computers, nor with Linux-based PC’s. The latter will need ALSA to operate the Joplin. Windows is presently not compatible with USB 2.0 Audio, so no native support is available.
  • Page 12 In Windows 7, the installation wizard will ask for authorization to start installation. Accept. Then, the wizard will check for system features. At a certain point, it will ask you to connect the Joplin in one of the USB ports (Figure 6). Figure 6...
  • Page 13 Follow the indications and plug the device in one port, then click on “Next”. You’ll be asked to choose the installation directory (Figure 7). After choosing it, click on “Install”. Figure 7 The installation process continues showing the progress (Figure 8). Figure 8 Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...
  • Page 14 “Finish” to complete the installation. Figure 9 To ensure that installation has correctly completed, the Device Manager should be checked. The Joplin will be listed under “Audio, Video and Games Controllers” (Figure 10 on next page). Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...
  • Page 15 M2Tech JOPLIN /32bit ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER REVISION P A – SEPTEMBER 2012 www.m2tech.biz Figure 10 Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 16: Usb Control Panel

    A – SEPTEMBER 2012 www.m2tech.biz 6.3. USB Control Panel A control panel is installed together with the driver, which can be used to optimize Joplin’s USB port performance (Figure 11). More details on the Control Panel’s features in the application note App002.

  • Page 17: Uninstalling The Driver

    Go to the control panel and launch the “Application Installation” utility (Figure 12). Look for the Joplin driver item in the list. Double-click on it to launch uninstalling. Figure 12 The installation wizard, which also handles uninstalling, will show up (Figure 13 on next page).
  • Page 18 M2Tech JOPLIN /32bit ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER REVISION P A – SEPTEMBER 2012 www.m2tech.biz Figure 13 At this point, the wizard will show up the installation progress (Figure 14), up to the end. Figure 14 Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 19: True Plug'n'play Operation With Mac

    ALSA. This means that the driver is already included in the operating system and the user needs not to install anything: just connect the Joplin to your PC with Linux and it will be immediately recognized by the OS and ready to use. ALSA version needs to be 1.0.24 or later.

  • Page 20: Configuring The Computer To Use The Joplin

    Joplin 7.1. Configuring a PC with Windows XP A PC with Windows XP can use the Joplin in two different ways: Direct Sound (DS) and ASIO. The former is suitable for recorders which can’t operate in ASIO mode, while the latter can be chosen (for better performance) with players which can operate in ASIO mode.

  • Page 21: Configuring For Asio With Windows Xp

    7.2. Configuring a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 A PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 can use the Joplin in four different ways: Direct Sound (DS), Kernel Streaming (KS), ASIO and WASAPI. DS is suitable for recorders which can’t operate in Kernel Streaming mode nor with WASAPI;...

  • Page 22: Configuring For Direct Sound With Windows Vista Or Windows 7

    Open control Panel and select Hardware and Sounds. Under Audio, click on Manage Audio Devices. The following windows will appear. Click on the “Recording” tab and select “M2Tech Joplin” as predefined device. Then, click on OK. Figure 18 7.2.2. Configuring for Kernel Streaming with Windows Vista or Windows 7 As for Windows XP, Kernel Streaming has no standard setting in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

  • Page 23: Configuring For Asio With Windows Vista Or Windows 7

    7.3. Configuring a Mac Go to System Preferences and select Sounds. The following windows will appear. Select “M2Tech USB 2.0 Audio In” for input as indicated in Figure 19. Figure 19 Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 24: Configuring The Joplin

    Joplin Joplin The Joplin is a very versatile unit, with plenty of features to tailor its behaviour to the source being used and the music program being played back. To configure all the features and parameters, a menu can be accessed from both the front panel controls and the remote.

  • Page 25: Parameters Meaning And Choices

    8.3. Parameters meaning and choices 8.3.1. Input gain The Joplin is provided with an analog front-end which gain can be set to 0dB or to any value between 10dB and 65dB in 1dB steps. 0dB means that an input voltage of 1.7Vrms produces and output of 0dBFS (that is the full dynamic of the ADC).

  • Page 26: Sampling Frequency

    Thus, the choice of the sampling frequency is a trade-off between disk usage and quality. On the other hand, when using the Joplin to drive a digital amplifier, a DAC or a streaming player for real-time playback, the best choice is always the highest sampling frequency possible.

  • Page 27: Equalization Curve

    8.3.5. Equalization curve The Joplin has been conceived to be used with a wide variety of different sources: tuners, recorders, turntables. Some of these sources require an equalization to enjoy their sound. The Joplin is provided with a wealth of equalization curves to satisfy even the most requiring vinyl collector or reel-to-reel tapes enthusiast.

  • Page 28: Mpx Filter

    The MPX filter does this by cutting away a very narrow band around 19kHz (Figure 21). It presence is quite inaudible, but the effect on the overall sound can be surprisingly good. Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...
  • Page 29 M2Tech JOPLIN /32bit ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER REVISION P A – SEPTEMBER 2012 www.m2tech.biz Figure 21 Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 30: Notes On Equalization

    Presently, all records are cut using the RIAA curve (Figure 22), which has been proposed as a standard back in 1954. Both low frequencies amplification and high frequencies attenuation for playback are clearly visible. RIAA playback curve Figure 22 Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...
  • Page 31 LP’s. Not only LP’s are equalized: equalization was used for 78rpm, too, as well with great variety of choices. A good phono preamplifier, or an ADC suitable for direct phono acquiring as is the Joplin, should allow the vinyl collector to choose the right curve for each LP pressed before 1954 (but it’s known that many recording companies adopted the RIAA curve years after the...
  • Page 32 Figure 24 shows the relative level versus frequency of the music on a Decca FFRR record when it is played through a RIAA phono input of a modern amplifier. Equalization of the signal of a Decca FFRR record being amplified by a RIAA phono stage Figure 24 Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 33: List Of Phono Equalization Curves Available On The Joplin And Notes On Their Usage

    Actually, it can be seen that some labels used the same curve as other labels (e.g. Mercury used the same curve as Capitol), so the curve set provided with the Joplin is the one which covers almost all the labels producing records between 1925 and 1954.

  • Page 34: Angel (Ang)

    Most of the great recordings of the stereo era (after 1954) were also produced in mono and used to make the mono LP’s cut using the FFRR curve. 9.2.9. MGM The famous entertainment company also produced LP’s during the mono era using her proprietary curve. Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 35: Nab

    LP’s after losing the format war against Columbia, so it’s difficult to say which curve was used for a certain record. The Joplin offers three choices, based on record’s year of cutting. RCA1 is the oldest. The newest, RCA Orthophonic, is the one on which the “New Orthopohonic”...

  • Page 36: Decca Ffrr 78Rpm (Dec)

    Same thing can be done with the Joplin, connecting the playback head of a tape recorder to its analog inputs (eventually via an impedance adaptor), adjusting the gain as required and selecting the appropriate equalization curve for the tape being played back.

  • Page 37: Ccir/Iec For 9.5Cm/S And 19Cm/S (3¾ Ips And 7½ Ips) And Ccir/Iec For 38Cm/S (15 Ips) (Iec1 And Iec3)

    9.5. Interfacing a cartridge or a tape head The Joplin has an input impedance of 47 kOhms, that is a standard value that fits all line- level sources and also MM cartridges. On the other hand, MC cartridges and also tape heads may need a different load impedance.

  • Page 38: Using A Power Supply Different From The Standard One

    Should the user decide to use another power supply, the specifications listed in section 12 must be observed. 11. Cleaning the unit The Joplin should be cleaned with a soft, damp cloth. Do not use alcohol or other cleaning liquids to avoid damaging the unit. Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

  • Page 39: Technical Specifications

    200x55x210mm (w x h x d, with connectors and feet) 360x120x260mm (w x h x d, box) Weight:..........1.7kg (ADC only) 2.5kg (box) * USB only. ** 32 bits are provided on USB output only. Copyright © 2012, M2Tech Srl...

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