in fact, that's the guy I bought mine from and he claims he does not have anything else. pretty lame; the seller does not even have the right schematic? all too typical of china ebay sellers. they are not involved in technology directly, they simply buy from taobao and resell. they could care less what the function of the board is; they just are salesmen ;(
the schematic I got in pdf form needed 400x magnification to be able to read anything. the chips were not labeled and it was just barely usable, if it were the actual product I bought, that is.
its really a shame that pride is absent from most of these products. really really a shame that people don't care about their own designs enough to do a proper schematic entry (on things that are sold; I rarely draw schematics on my own DIY one-off builds, but if I was SELLING a board, you better believe the schematic would be proper and accurate and actually helpful, too).
weiliang: if you are reading this, please increase the quality level, here. people WANT to buy from you and your stores, but when sellers don't even care if they send the right documentation, you may want to step in and make things right yourself, to save your own reputation.
its really a shame that pride is absent from most of these products. really really a shame that people don't care about their own designs enough to do a proper schematic entry (on things that are sold; I rarely draw schematics on my own DIY one-off builds, but if I was SELLING a board, you better believe the schematic would be proper and accurate and actually helpful, too).
weiliang: if you are reading this, please increase the quality level, here. people WANT to buy from you and your stores, but when sellers don't even care if they send the right documentation, you may want to step in and make things right yourself, to save your own reputation.
I've the correct schematic from minishow but it needs too 400x magnification to be read it, though.
I've been thinking of pulling the trigger on a AK4399 DAC for a while, but I seem to read a lot of reports of problems here.
As of May 2014, what's the best supplier and completed DAC board available? I have a Mac Mini and would want to use the USB interface, so either an included or a stand alone XMOS board (or the like) would be required also.
My amplification is single ended, but I'd consider a dual AK4399 board with a SE output capability.
Grateful for any help here.
As of May 2014, what's the best supplier and completed DAC board available? I have a Mac Mini and would want to use the USB interface, so either an included or a stand alone XMOS board (or the like) would be required also.
My amplification is single ended, but I'd consider a dual AK4399 board with a SE output capability.
Grateful for any help here.
I always recommend decoupling the usb part from the dac part. spdif is a fine audio transport, when done even just reasonably well.
m2tech usb/spdif dongle
and then pick your dac (or change the dac, later, if you want). keep the m2tech since its great and needs no changes, it just plain works (linux and win7; likely mac, as well but I don't know).
dacs change a lot and in a year, a new version of this or that will be along. pick any 4399 build you like and supply your own op-amps and you should be ok.
m2tech usb/spdif dongle
and then pick your dac (or change the dac, later, if you want). keep the m2tech since its great and needs no changes, it just plain works (linux and win7; likely mac, as well but I don't know).
dacs change a lot and in a year, a new version of this or that will be along. pick any 4399 build you like and supply your own op-amps and you should be ok.
Dual AK4399's are single ended. If want to go with dual mono one, you have one option with slight component differences as a kit, mostly filter caps.
I have got the dual version with 4 bigger ELNA filter caps. I just replaced opamp output with a discrete output stage (the CFP output stage by Ray, see the famous marantz cd63 thread). SQ is very good, and the dual DAC board allows for some tweaking as well. So I would recommend the dual version.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/245905-ebay-weiliang-dual-x2-ak4399-dac-lcd.html
for the thread about the dual version
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/245905-ebay-weiliang-dual-x2-ak4399-dac-lcd.html
for the thread about the dual version
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weiliang is a member of this forum, you can PM him. I don't know if he is original designer of these boards, or used self-branding.
His store is:
Enjoy in your hi-fi project, diy tube amp, amplifier diy, amp diy
PS. Anyone can suggest good ADC board based on AKM AK5388AEQ or may be ESS?
Hello, new XMOS support DSD usb card, using on my ES9018 DAC 4 layers board one. XMOS DSD, and new dual AK4399 with AK4118
ak4399 vs es9018
I still wondering about sound comparison and comment between akm4399 vs es9018 seems ak4399 less famous than es9018 (IMO), but it's very interesting DAC.
I thought you already have build many and listen dac, could you give a comment for this dac 4399 ? or which one the best in your honest opinion, as newbie and limited budget I can't try all kind of DAC
satrio
I still wondering about sound comparison and comment between akm4399 vs es9018 seems ak4399 less famous than es9018 (IMO), but it's very interesting DAC.
I thought you already have build many and listen dac, could you give a comment for this dac 4399 ? or which one the best in your honest opinion, as newbie and limited budget I can't try all kind of DAC
satrio
I haven't heard both ES9018 and AK4399 either, but I made my choice in favor of the AK4399.
After some investigation here on the board and elsewhere, I noticed that in general people were enthusiastic about the sound of the AK4399 DAC (surprised perhaps) and that the sound of the ES9018 wasn't that much talked about, but instead a lot of technical enthusiasm.
Also implementations of the ES9018 output stage are not as simple as can be done with the AK4399 with its SCF outputs : Better no (or two single) opamps than 6 opamps for I/V conversion IMO. Also in the Buffalo DAC a lot of hi-tech regulators, output stage, clock etc etc. From a technical point of view very nice, but quite costly ($) and complex as well.
I believe the analog stage after the DAC chip is very important to preserve the best out of the DACs' specs, so I chose to set my focus on that.
But I agree, if someone has both DACs, preferably from WeilLiang, I would be interested as well in his/her findings when comparing the two, of course.
Just my 2 cents...
After some investigation here on the board and elsewhere, I noticed that in general people were enthusiastic about the sound of the AK4399 DAC (surprised perhaps) and that the sound of the ES9018 wasn't that much talked about, but instead a lot of technical enthusiasm.
Also implementations of the ES9018 output stage are not as simple as can be done with the AK4399 with its SCF outputs : Better no (or two single) opamps than 6 opamps for I/V conversion IMO. Also in the Buffalo DAC a lot of hi-tech regulators, output stage, clock etc etc. From a technical point of view very nice, but quite costly ($) and complex as well.
I believe the analog stage after the DAC chip is very important to preserve the best out of the DACs' specs, so I chose to set my focus on that.
But I agree, if someone has both DACs, preferably from WeilLiang, I would be interested as well in his/her findings when comparing the two, of course.
Just my 2 cents...
I also had same considering like you were,because seems it's lower budget than implement ES9018.
let's wait comment from people had experience with both of this chip.
I have just received the v1.1 es9018 dac and have started posting my initial thoughts here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...diy-es9018-hi-end-usb-dac-18.html#post3930824
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...diy-es9018-hi-end-usb-dac-18.html#post3930824
Any word on whether people like the sound of this better than JDSLabs ODAC? After it's all said and done, it is going to cost me about the same. I'm building a small desktop amp. The inside will obviously be tight on space. Both ODAC and these designs are going to be quite large if I mount internally, and will significantly increase the size of my chassis. If I do a standalone DAC, ODAC has an external trafo making it smaller on my desk, these kits are quite large as standalones. Thoughts? Opinions? Would be buying with the XMOS 10pin USB card.
If anyone saw this show up over in the 4396 post, sorry, deleted. Cant keep them straight.
If anyone saw this show up over in the 4396 post, sorry, deleted. Cant keep them straight.
not sure about the 9023 chip. there was a really crapy ESS chip on the 'audio widget' and we all found out that it does not deal gracefully with gibbs issues (levels very close to 0db that, when sustained, cause overflows and clipping or worse, phase inversion!)
then we tried a TI budget chip and THAT also had the same problem!
I've given up on budget dollar-dac chips. they suck and they seem to require some db of atten (digitally) BEFORE the dac chip. that pretty much removes them from any serious consideration.
the high end ess chips are totally different. but the budget ess chips are crap and not worth using, imho.
then we tried a TI budget chip and THAT also had the same problem!
I've given up on budget dollar-dac chips. they suck and they seem to require some db of atten (digitally) BEFORE the dac chip. that pretty much removes them from any serious consideration.
the high end ess chips are totally different. but the budget ess chips are crap and not worth using, imho.
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