I just find it odd that they would put a $25 (Mouser, Digikey price) opamp in your board, and that price is for a single chip so it's $50 just for opamps alone in your DAC. Yours is a built unit with chassis?
I'm using it with a Macbook Pro so no drivers needed. Try to download the Thesycon XMOS usb driver for windows here:
Thesycon - USB Device Drivers for Windows 7,8 and 8.1, Windows CE and Windows Embedded Compact
I'm using it with a Macbook Pro so no drivers needed. Try to download the Thesycon XMOS usb driver for windows here:
Thesycon - USB Device Drivers for Windows 7,8 and 8.1, Windows CE and Windows Embedded Compact
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Thanks a3servo.
I don't think the Chinese pay so much for the chip . They must be buying in bulk and splitting it up between various smaller users. However the Ne5534 has much better slam than the other chips I used. I have not yet tried the LME49710 as I don't have it yet. Maybe I should tell you some tracks I used to test it. I'll check them out. I don't remember them off hand.
The full DAC itself is around $70 ! So they must be sourcing the chips at a much lower price.......can only be fake ? They don't sound bad at all !
I don't think the Chinese pay so much for the chip . They must be buying in bulk and splitting it up between various smaller users. However the Ne5534 has much better slam than the other chips I used. I have not yet tried the LME49710 as I don't have it yet. Maybe I should tell you some tracks I used to test it. I'll check them out. I don't remember them off hand.
The full DAC itself is around $70 ! So they must be sourcing the chips at a much lower price.......can only be fake ? They don't sound bad at all !
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Hi Stu,
My AK4399 DAC9 & 10pin XMOS board are both from minishow. It is the blue XMOS board that has 10pins sticking out on one end and attach it vertically to the socket in the DAC board. I verified with Yao (minishow) that it will work with Mac before I bought it & he assured me it will. It has been working fine since day 1 and was instantly recognized by my MBP without a hitch but found a "popping" issue whenever I move the DAC. It can even handle sample rates up to 384khz.
Did my own research as well, the only reason XMOS boards requires a driver software is because of the XMOS chip. Read the documentation over at the XMOS site and it clearly states that with Mac it won't require any drivers since it is already native to the newer OSX.
Anton
My AK4399 DAC9 & 10pin XMOS board are both from minishow. It is the blue XMOS board that has 10pins sticking out on one end and attach it vertically to the socket in the DAC board. I verified with Yao (minishow) that it will work with Mac before I bought it & he assured me it will. It has been working fine since day 1 and was instantly recognized by my MBP without a hitch but found a "popping" issue whenever I move the DAC. It can even handle sample rates up to 384khz.
Did my own research as well, the only reason XMOS boards requires a driver software is because of the XMOS chip. Read the documentation over at the XMOS site and it clearly states that with Mac it won't require any drivers since it is already native to the newer OSX.
Anton
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Well I tried my xmos board again - I connected it the wrong way round initially and hope this has not killed it. My xmos board is black not blue like a3cervo. I bought it from minishow last august. does anyone else have this same xmos board.
I can not get it to work, borrowed a macbook with Yosemite and it does not recoqnise it.
From what i can tel, xmos chips can be different? Just because it is an xmos chip does not mean it will work with mac? Maybe there are newer xmos chips that work natively but older ones do not?
I really want to get a USB solution for the Dac 9, I love the sound but 96Khz is unreliable through coax for me and forget 192Khz - it just crackles away
Stu
I can not get it to work, borrowed a macbook with Yosemite and it does not recoqnise it.
From what i can tel, xmos chips can be different? Just because it is an xmos chip does not mean it will work with mac? Maybe there are newer xmos chips that work natively but older ones do not?
I really want to get a USB solution for the Dac 9, I love the sound but 96Khz is unreliable through coax for me and forget 192Khz - it just crackles away
Stu
bump... can anyone explain xmos? do xmos versions vary in driver requirement? Are there newer versions of xmos that work better?
I have searched the net and am left baffled about Dacs, would love for someone to explain i2s and USB and how they work to get digital signal to the DAC.
If my xmos daughter board is just too fussy about drivers then can I simply get a USB to i2s converter and feed into the 10pins where the daughter board connect? Do these USB to i2s converters bring the signal and the clock to the DAC?
cheers Stu
I have searched the net and am left baffled about Dacs, would love for someone to explain i2s and USB and how they work to get digital signal to the DAC.
If my xmos daughter board is just too fussy about drivers then can I simply get a USB to i2s converter and feed into the 10pins where the daughter board connect? Do these USB to i2s converters bring the signal and the clock to the DAC?
cheers Stu
LME49710 vs NE5534
OK, my LME49710 arrived. I expect it to be much better than my NE5534 without any loss of bass slam. Well I expect it to be better because it's a much newer design !
The guitar appeared to sound a shade sharper and cleaner than the NE5534. Voice sounded a bit different. Then the combined voices started and increased in volume and I almost reached out to turn the volume down ! Why was it noisy ? Uncomfortable. Makes me feel like it's too loud ! It isn't playing too loud !
Then I popped in the NE5534 again. Funny, the guitar sounds practically as good ! Then the voices arrived and they sound very good ! No hint of noisiness. No urge to turn the volume down ! Played several tracks and at no time did I feel the sound 'too loud' . Voices are also quite musical. However there seems to be a slight veil on the voice. Maybe a bit more of low end on the voice ? Makes it feel like it's a bit recessed though it's perfectly clean. I would have preferred the 49710 voice if it hadn't been ' too loud (!)' . If you get what I mean. Something wrong there . Maybe the chip needs a supply bypass at the chip ? I am disappointed at this stage !
I have some other soic chips , they can't be tried right now. I will have to try out the supply bypass and also scope the signal. Pity that time is in such short supply !
OK, my LME49710 arrived. I expect it to be much better than my NE5534 without any loss of bass slam. Well I expect it to be better because it's a much newer design !
The guitar appeared to sound a shade sharper and cleaner than the NE5534. Voice sounded a bit different. Then the combined voices started and increased in volume and I almost reached out to turn the volume down ! Why was it noisy ? Uncomfortable. Makes me feel like it's too loud ! It isn't playing too loud !
Then I popped in the NE5534 again. Funny, the guitar sounds practically as good ! Then the voices arrived and they sound very good ! No hint of noisiness. No urge to turn the volume down ! Played several tracks and at no time did I feel the sound 'too loud' . Voices are also quite musical. However there seems to be a slight veil on the voice. Maybe a bit more of low end on the voice ? Makes it feel like it's a bit recessed though it's perfectly clean. I would have preferred the 49710 voice if it hadn't been ' too loud (!)' . If you get what I mean. Something wrong there . Maybe the chip needs a supply bypass at the chip ? I am disappointed at this stage !
I have some other soic chips , they can't be tried right now. I will have to try out the supply bypass and also scope the signal. Pity that time is in such short supply !
OPA134 vs NE5534
Compared the OPA134 vs NE5534.
The OPA 134 is better than the LME49710 in the midrange. I don't feel the urge to turn down the volume. It also possibly has a shade better weight in the bass than the 5534. I also noticed the 'veil' I mentioned in the 5534 was only noticeable on one track when I heard it late last night. Today the French window and other doors are open and the mids didn't sound recessed. Must be the acoustic difference !
However I still think the 5534 sounds better to the ear especially in the mid range with complex sounds. So I'm not surprised that it's still a favourite amongst many manufacturers. So the NE5534 will stay in my DAC9 ! I will some day try out the OPA132 ( which some say is better than the 134 ). The SOIC chip has to be soldered to a BrownDog adapter.
Has anyone managed to fix the occasional nasty 'hash' that crops up while skipping tracks ? It's particularly bad in the DAC7 ! Happens only at the beginning of the track. Sometimes even there momentarily after the music has started.
Compared the OPA134 vs NE5534.
The OPA 134 is better than the LME49710 in the midrange. I don't feel the urge to turn down the volume. It also possibly has a shade better weight in the bass than the 5534. I also noticed the 'veil' I mentioned in the 5534 was only noticeable on one track when I heard it late last night. Today the French window and other doors are open and the mids didn't sound recessed. Must be the acoustic difference !
However I still think the 5534 sounds better to the ear especially in the mid range with complex sounds. So I'm not surprised that it's still a favourite amongst many manufacturers. So the NE5534 will stay in my DAC9 ! I will some day try out the OPA132 ( which some say is better than the 134 ). The SOIC chip has to be soldered to a BrownDog adapter.
Has anyone managed to fix the occasional nasty 'hash' that crops up while skipping tracks ? It's particularly bad in the DAC7 ! Happens only at the beginning of the track. Sometimes even there momentarily after the music has started.
The guys from amanero are contacting me tomorrow, I just panicked because I had a sudden thought that the amanero is 32it and I have a feeling the xmos daughter board is 24bit and wasn't sure if I could just connect to the ak4399 chip through the xmos pinset on the PCB.
Am desperate to get this DAC working, spdif coax no longer works on my board, which I will blame on Chinese quality!
Stu
Am desperate to get this DAC working, spdif coax no longer works on my board, which I will blame on Chinese quality!
Stu
Well, my DAC 9 board undergone to a lot of misuses in many ways, but after the substitution of the component(s) eventually burned it started to work better than before.
Last time yesterday, there was a short circuit that made an LM 317 regulator become quite hot. After the removing of the short, the board is doing again flawlessly.
So, I couldn't say that the Chinese quality is to blame, but that those products are quite reliable and sturdy instead.
Maybe you have some trouble in the digital input circuit of the board. I had one as well, because of inverted polarity in the connection with the RCA on back panel. The green led was weakly flashing and only impulsive noise was at the output.
After the DAC 9, of which I am really satisfied about its sound as well, I tried a pair of L20 amplifiers and a pair of L7, once again being completely satisfied of them for their sound and reliability.
With the L7's I built a mono pair that has been able to beat two 200 watt, 80 kgs each Class A mono beasts of a primary brand, sold on italian market at about 10.000 euros the pair.
My L7s have literally ridiculed those amplifiers, not only for sound quality overall, but for dynamics and power releasing as well.
The owner of those amp and a friend of his just couldn't believe their ears. The mix of amazement and disillusion on their faces was the demonstration of the way they were feeling after having such a hard lesson.
So, IMO, these Chinese products are quite fantastic: their price is so cheap and when they are given an appropriate power supply and some tweak their sound is unbelievable.
@damuffin I have discovered that I can use the 10 pin connector for i2s on the ak4399 weiliang board with amanero (should be similar for jlsounds but can't confirm)
However the xmos board and spdif feed a multiplexer switch which decides which i2s signal is fed to the ak4399. This means a voltage needs to also appear on pin 1 (vbus) so the switch knows the a USB device is connected and then switches accordingly,
Hope this helps
Stu
However the xmos board and spdif feed a multiplexer switch which decides which i2s signal is fed to the ak4399. This means a voltage needs to also appear on pin 1 (vbus) so the switch knows the a USB device is connected and then switches accordingly,
Hope this helps
Stu
Thats a good tip, I was just looking at the schematic and the Vbus is normally provided by the USB 5v input, I didn't know that it operated a switch.
Another tip is to separate the incoming D+D- from the 5v Vbus and GND from the source. My CPU was adding noise until I separated it to a different supply.
Another tip is to separate the incoming D+D- from the 5v Vbus and GND from the source. My CPU was adding noise until I separated it to a different supply.
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