I cannot comment on the sound of the Brooklyn DAC, but my take on the design are discreet. Better capacitors for the Phono stage and filters.
The discreet design are a very natural sounding design. The balance in soundstage is very good. But ask pinnocchio ( http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendors-bazaar/274456-ak4490-usb-dac-dsd-support-109.html#post4913071 )
So if you buy my design, a complete design including a box will set you back less than the brooklyn dac.
BR
Sonny
Having both dacs, the AK4490 (with diff/se shield and discrete diff. pre amp) is absolutely no match compared with the Mytek Brooklyn.
No no, I asked Leeuwarden.
Because there is a difference in the signal processing chain between the two dacs. The Mytek is applying significant signal processing before reaching the dac. Then it is continued inside the ESS dac, as usual. It seems to me (maybe did not dig deep enough) that the ESS9018 is used in the classic asynch mode, judged on the presence of the elaborated 100 MHz clock in the design. Means that the internal asynch upsampling is active (with all it's limited computing power..)
Also it's not clear to me how the Mytek elaborates DSD. I fear it is the usual ESS way, converting it to the dac's internal modulators. Remember, there is no way to bypass it in that dac.
The other perplexing fact is the presence of the (looking cheap) OEM switching power supply in the Mytek.
While your dac, Sonny, is simply forwarding all input data to the AKM dac.
And the AKM dac permits to bypass all internal processing.
So I hope that while doing the comparisons, Leeuwarden did use the AKM dac in it's most optimum modality, applying external digital filtering and feeding the DAC in DSD.
And all this, while taking care of the critical data path, that is the USB connection, so I hope decent cables were used there, too.
Not to talk about the influence of the SO used..
Ciao, George
Because there is a difference in the signal processing chain between the two dacs. The Mytek is applying significant signal processing before reaching the dac. Then it is continued inside the ESS dac, as usual. It seems to me (maybe did not dig deep enough) that the ESS9018 is used in the classic asynch mode, judged on the presence of the elaborated 100 MHz clock in the design. Means that the internal asynch upsampling is active (with all it's limited computing power..)
Also it's not clear to me how the Mytek elaborates DSD. I fear it is the usual ESS way, converting it to the dac's internal modulators. Remember, there is no way to bypass it in that dac.
The other perplexing fact is the presence of the (looking cheap) OEM switching power supply in the Mytek.
While your dac, Sonny, is simply forwarding all input data to the AKM dac.
And the AKM dac permits to bypass all internal processing.
So I hope that while doing the comparisons, Leeuwarden did use the AKM dac in it's most optimum modality, applying external digital filtering and feeding the DAC in DSD.
And all this, while taking care of the critical data path, that is the USB connection, so I hope decent cables were used there, too.
Not to talk about the influence of the SO used..
Ciao, George
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I think you're way too hard on the AK4490... I've heard the Brooklyn DAC and although it is quite impressive and very agile for its price point, I didn't fell off my chair. Up to recently I owned a Simaudio Moon 380D Streaming DSD DAC, fully equipped and even though it is a superb DAC (yes better then the brooklyn but not fair to compare as it is almost 3 times more expensive), I highly respect what Sonny has been able to achieve at a price point which is really affordable. Did you try to connect the DAC output to a different preamplifier to hear the difference? I did and I mix and match my stuff all the time. I have the Mirand, BPBP, DCB1, LDR3x v2.1, JC-80 to play with and they all have either very little sound signature and some will add some coloration but in the end this AK4490 is quite exquisite to my taste. This is all subjective of course and it is why we're all here. I have a buffalo II with NTD1 I/V, had the 380D and also another based AK4396 and so far my favorite is still the Mirand DAC with discrete output for its musicality. The Buffalo II is a little more detailed but musicality is numero uno for me and I also find the bass more articulate on the AK.
Anyways, my two cents!
Do
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Very good choice, i use it too, i hope that are really close to the dac board, a good step over is to use Mundorf capacitors!
As final step Joseph K suggested me to add extra capacitors on the dc line on the board side and....yes, it's a really good suggestion!
Last step has been using Hqplayer in dsd256 mode!
Schematics
hi all
i have added the schematics for the outputshields.
now if anyone for a good reason needs the schematic for the ak4490 usb dac they can write me to get it. the old ak4490 usb dac at it present state will not be obsolite but the new dac board will most likely sell in higher numbers as it has additional interfaces.
the new dac board will have an I2S connector.
all signals except the usb port goes through the src4392. the src4392 will resample to 192KHz 24 bit.
through usb it is up to 384KHz and 32 bit
the sources are:
1) spdif through rca
2) spdif through optical
3) i2s
4) usb
hi all
i have added the schematics for the outputshields.
now if anyone for a good reason needs the schematic for the ak4490 usb dac they can write me to get it. the old ak4490 usb dac at it present state will not be obsolite but the new dac board will most likely sell in higher numbers as it has additional interfaces.
the new dac board will have an I2S connector.
all signals except the usb port goes through the src4392. the src4392 will resample to 192KHz 24 bit.
through usb it is up to 384KHz and 32 bit
the sources are:
1) spdif through rca
2) spdif through optical
3) i2s
4) usb
they are more advanced, no doubt about that. But they do not have the luxury of linearity and junction noise which the chosen jfet and bipolar transistors have
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There is no linearity with that 270p cap and output which is extremely sensitive to next stage impedance..