Using Victor's Oscillator as reference (1kHz, ultra-low distortion analogue sine generator). A quick peek at the APx555B Analogue & DAC Signal Generators @1kHz. And on playing music "for fun"!

Note the 2-pin power connector on the lower left.

As you've seen on the blog over the last year, I've been using the E1DA Cosmos ADC from Ivan Khlyupin for a number of measurements recently (early report discussed here). I remain quite impressed by the performance of this little device with some caveats (lower input impedance, individual unit idiosyncrasies including what "grade" device one has).

While the ADC comes pre-calibrated by E1DA and unless you really want to spend some time playing with it, one should probably just leave it alone. Nonetheless, it's pretty clear that this is the kind of device made by and for audio hardware geeks! ;-) One has the opportunity to use the Cosmos_Tweak Windows program to fine-tune the calibration by changing independent ADC 2nd and 3rd harmonic compensation amounts, SDM integrator setting, and digital filter for the ESS Tech ES9822 chip.

So then, for this post, let's spend some time in the area of calibration and see if we can tweak the ADC using the device above - Victor's Oscillator (US$57) - an ultra-low distortion, 1kHz analogue signal generator which comes pre-assembled and tested from Riga, Latvia. As you can see in the image, there are 2 single-ended RCA outputs, with volume control ranging from 300mVrms (-8.25dBu) to 2.7Vrms (+11.0dBu). Note that a 10kHz version (and other custom versions) can be purchased as well but for typical audio purposes, 1kHz is in line with human hearing sensitivity.

A look IN the Audio Precision APx555 B-Series. Thoughts on price and value in audio products.

From our "RETRO-MEASURE" of a 1980's cassette tape player a couple weeks back, let's make a 180° turn, look at some photos, and chat about "state of the art" performance gear this week!

A reader awhile back had the need to do some hardware work on the Audio Precision APx555 B-Series machine and in the process, was able to take a few photos of the innards, sharing it with me. The B-Series audio analyzer is the latest and greatest audio measurement device from AP. It was announced in December 2018 and here's a nice review from 2019 in audioXpress.

I thank my friend for sharing the images and helping me to understand some of what I'm looking at here. :-) There are no schematics publicly available of course so my comments will be in broad strokes and I'll leave it to the engineers reading this to examine deeper - click on the images for a higher resolution view.

I don't think I've ever seen pictures of the inside of these AP machines online but obviously the Internet is a big place so perhaps I have missed them. There is actually a good reason why you're not likely to see the insides of something like the APx555 - it's a calibrated device. It costs US$30,000+ to buy one of these. You'll be breaking 2 seals if you crack it open, that will also break calibration confirmation, and voids warranty the moment it's tampered with.