New Small DIY Gigawork Dac?

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Hi End 24/192 DAC DA CONVERTER CS8416+CS8421+CS4398 USB :USD119.99

Gigawork is the dealer in Hong-Kong, the real manufacturer is in GuangZhou China, I have 2 this DAC Board, there are 2 op-amp on it, the one close to DA chip is for buffer, another one is for LPF, if you want to buy this DAC board, you must change the op-amp, but only from NE5532 to OPA2604 is not enough.

I have change op-amp of my DAC1 to OPA2107SM+OPA627SM, and DAC2 to LT1358+OPA627BP, trust me, it's amazing.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
Hi End 24/192 DAC DA CONVERTER CS8416+CS8421+CS4398 USB :USD119.99

Gigawork is the dealer in Hong-Kong, the real manufacturer is in GuangZhou China, I have 2 this DAC Board, there are 2 op-amp on it, the one close to DA chip is for buffer, another one is for LPF, if you want to buy this DAC board, you must change the op-amp, but only from NE5532 to OPA2604 is not enough.

I have change op-amp of my DAC1 to OPA2107SM+OPA627SM, and DAC2 to LT1358+OPA627BP, trust me, it's amazing.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

Where do you get the replacement parts and little boards?
 
Transformer for I/V

Grael,

I'm thinking I might try your transformer mod using these less expensive transformers:

EDCOR - MXL10cs

Do you see any reason why they would not work?

You mentioned a reduction in output when going to the transformers. Have you measured the Vout? I'm afraid of it being too low to drive my amplifier.

Thanks,

Jared
Too bad the smaller Edcor MX tranformers have a rising ultrasonic response as they are wound on 80% nickel and have very low distortion. They might be a little too small as well. I have a problem paying the boutique pricing for Lundahls.
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EDCOR - Browse Series
 
hi,

I have two DAC : One is the LM-DAC3, the "big one", selling on ebay (this tread). My version is without USB, without upsampling.
My other DAC is a PCM1798 small DAC selling by Audiophonics in France.

My source is a computer (you can see it in my signature but it's in French :usd:). The mother board have two SPDIF outputs, they are connected to my two DAC, a 4 x100 Watt t-amp (sureelectronics) and 4 speakers (JMlab DB19 Polyglass).

it's easy to compare the two DAC (same time, same music, same amplifier, same speaker :D) : the audiophonics PCM178 is better (and cheaper).

Do you think this new gigawork PCM1798 can be equivalent or better than the audiophonics ?

I appologies for my english :(
 
Your audiophonics unit looks PERFECT. The parts on that board look exactly like the mods one might perform on the gigawork unit.

Honestly, I think you've got one of the best pre-built 1798 units out there.

Now just mod the output stage by using transformers, tubes, or discrete transistors, and you will have the ultimate PCM1798.
 
From what they said maybe the 11.2896 xtal osc is there as master clock source for the 1798 but in this way you can only cope with 44.1 (mclk @ 256xFs) and 88.2 (mclk @ 128xFs) and so the hint to remove it so the 1798 use the mclk generated from the receiver (cs8416) (they also said you to do some other mods to the board?).
Anyway there is something strange in this because the pcm1798 wants a master clock synchronous to the word clock and i don't understand how it is possible with a free running clock as master clock.

Ciao
Andrea
 
Hi everybody,

my DAC1798 from audiophonics is on order right now... I mainly chose it because of the small size as I intend to fit it straight into my shigaclone.

Is there an advantage of sharing a chassis assuming that I'll try to properly shield the DAC ?

Or should I build an extra unit using spdif/coax for connecting them ?

I remember someone talking about a minium coax-length to work properly..

Anyway, I will have to have a closer look at the unit when I receive it and report here.

Cheers,

Max

EDIT: I'll try again.. Would be great to discuss some possbile tweaks of this DAC, concerning the clock I'll go with 44,1 khz only anyway
 
Last edited:
diyAudio Member

Join Date: Nov 2006

I will post here because it is not 2400 post long, although the answer may be there.
Just got a gigawork up and running. It works when feeding a signal through the coaxial input but I am not having luck with the USB Port. CAN ANYONE HELP ME. Does those switches need to be changed that are on the cs4398 dac board to get sound out of the USB port????????? HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED. Thank you in advance.
 
Big Dac Board?

diyAudio Member

Join Date: Nov 2006

I will post here because it is not 2400 post long, although the answer may be there.
Just got a gigawork up and running. It works when feeding a signal through the coaxial input but I am not having luck with the USB Port. CAN ANYONE HELP ME. Does those switches need to be changed that are on the cs4398 dac board to get sound out of the USB port????????? HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED. Thank you in advance.
You must have the Big Dac Board. You will need to ask on the other thread.
 
diyAudio Member

Join Date: Nov 2006

I will post here because it is not 2400 post long, although the answer may be there.
Just got a gigawork up and running. It works when feeding a signal through the coaxial input but I am not having luck with the USB Port. CAN ANYONE HELP ME. Does those switches need to be changed that are on the cs4398 dac board to get sound out of the USB port????????? HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED. Thank you in advance.

I have the big DAC board and have a similar sounding issue also. I use the optical in so the jumper is in a different position than for either the coax or USB inputs. I power off the DAC rarely, but when I bring it back on I get silence. I power off, move all the switches to the wrong position and then return them to the right position, power back on and the problem is fixed. Bizarre but this has worked the about 5 times I've had an issue.

If this does not help, how can you check the USB signal is good? (Pretty easy with optical input)
 
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