Assembled-AK4490EQ-II2S-DAC

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Peterma

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Joined 2009
This i just a hobby for me, i can solder or un-solder smd, the seller has gone quiet and wont reply to my emails, looks like its going to go to ebay resolution center, the AKM DAC chips are easy to mod and work with its very lucky we have a choice to aquire these kits, even though there are a few bad sellers there are also a lot of good sellers that i have bought from. I am not against china kits just have a look inside all consumer electronics and you will find a MADE IN CHINA printed there.. except my AYAII ;)
 
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Peterma

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Joined 2009
Yes looking forward to getting one but the aust dollar is very weak against the US so it depends on what happens with this ebay guy who is just a shonk, i have esculated the issue with ebay resolution center, the other thing is i have posted the wrong dac back and that costed another $20 so this dac is starting to get very expensive!
 
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kukynas

Member
Joined 2014
Peterma: first of all do not look for AK4490 version as board with this chip is for now rare to find and for sure none of the Chinese sellers have it available so if any than with AK4495, if any of the Chinese sellers selling board with AK4490 it'll be either fake or version with AK4495, easily to recognized when you look at the output stage of these boards, AK4399 has pretty simple OP stage where AK449X has it more complex, below comparison for your reference, first is fake AK4490 with AK4399 chip and second genuine AK4495, good thing is that these guys usually copying each other so you won't find many differences in OP stage ;)

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.
 
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yilingcheng

Member
Joined 2015
i hook up mine yesterday, felt like searching for the gizmo in a box of cracker jack...

http://www3.telus.net/gagnonma/AK4490.jpg

the chip has 48 legs on it.

the ad827 had a badly bent leg on it, so i replaced it with an ad827AQ

i must have look at it for an hour, trying to figure a way to replace the supply with supereg but i decided to try it stock first.

have to go will share my finding later...

Martin Gagnon
 
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yilingcheng

Member
Joined 2015
ok this thing is amazing, it sound just like my vinyl playback without any noise floor... huge soundstage, no harshness (rumer from HDTRACK) and all of this for the price of a rack of lamb.

I use cheap cans for the test:
http://www3.telus.net/gagnonma/nuforce.jpg

I use lorien waveio hook up to an old i7 920 with daphile on a usb stick,

i told myself maybe anything i hook up to the waveio will sound fantastic...

so i turn off everything and swapt it for my LKS audio MHDA001 with double ESS chip inside, used the single ended output to compare apple to apple...

right from the start on the same track the LKS sound metallic far from an analog lay back sound...

will keep on testing the rig after i put it in a proper box.

Martin Gagnon
 
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a333bt

Member
Joined 2004
yilingcheng said:
ok this thing is amazing, it sound just like my vinyl playback without any noise floor... huge soundstage, no harshness (rumer from HDTRACK) and all of this for the price of a rack of lamb.

I use cheap cans for the test:
http://www3.telus.net/gagnonma/nuforce.jpg

I use lorien waveio hook up to an old i7 920 with daphile on a usb stick,

i told myself maybe anything i hook up to the waveio will sound fantastic...

so i turn off everything and swapt it for my LKS audio MHDA001 with double ESS chip inside, used the single ended output to compare apple to apple...

right from the start on the same track the LKS sound metallic far from an analog lay back sound...

will keep on testing the rig after i put it in a proper box.

Martin Gagnon
Click to expand...
Hi, thank you for sharing.
Me waiting for this:
AK4490EQ II2S DAC Decoder Completed Board | eBay

I have now DIYINHK combo XMOS and ES9018K2M (with AD797). Sounds very good, but not much...

Hope combo XMOS with AK4490 will perform better.

Ariel
 
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a333bt

Member
Joined 2004
yilingcheng said:
my LKS audio MHDA001 is using four OPA1612 soldered to some 8-dip board, i would like to replace them with 8-dip opamp but i don't no which one to use?

i don't think soldering soic is optimal ...

Martin
Click to expand...

Seems that OPA1612 is good choice. But depending of rest of audio chain.

Here is some forum:
The Opamp thread - Page 103

I think upgrading power supplies would help more for good sound.

regards,
Ariel
 
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yilingcheng

Member
Joined 2015
follow up

in my can the AD827AQ kills the OPA1612, most likely because of those badly soldered daughterboard.

The next test will be the AK4490EQ II2S DAC Decoder against the LKS audio MHDA001 with the same AD827AQ opa

So two ES9018 in mono + four AD827AQ against one AK4490EQ + one AD827AQ.

Martin Gagnon
 
Y

yilingcheng

Member
Joined 2015
I listen to the AK4490EQ II2S DAC all day at the office on a balanced tube pre and a classe D sds258 connected with audio quest mackenzie and full range fostex. i had to soldered a rca to xlr cable to hook up the dac to the pre.

so daphile to waveio to dac etc.

The sound is a very relax, big soundstage, sense of accuracy, customer were asking me all day what i was playing...

but there is a 60hz noise on the right side, could be my hack xlr cable, could be the supply, so not perfect.

The second problem i had was the thumb sound everytime i hit play on daphile.
could be the waive io but i don't believe it...

i forgot it is just 30 dollars.

Martin Gagnon
 
A

a333bt

Member
Joined 2004
yilingcheng said:
I listen to the AK4490EQ II2S DAC all day at the office on a balanced tube pre and a classe D sds258 connected with audio quest mackenzie and full range fostex. i had to soldered a rca to xlr cable to hook up the dac to the pre.

so daphile to waveio to dac etc.

The sound is a very relax, big soundstage, sense of accuracy, customer were asking me all day what i was playing...

but there is a 60hz noise on the right side, could be my hack xlr cable, could be the supply, so not perfect.

The second problem i had was the thumb sound everytime i hit play on daphile.
could be the waive io but i don't believe it...

i forgot it is just 30 dollars.

Martin Gagnon
Click to expand...

Thanks Martin for sharing.
Thats good sign, if you could listen all day and nothing disturb :) it seems it is well filtered.
Ariel
 
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