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Audiosector USB DAC

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RichardMayston

Member
Joined 2009
Peter,
I just want to thank you, I got a friend (Nick Longdon) to get your Audiosector DAC for me, and I love it.
I've put a few shots of this beauty on flickr, with some comments from forums that helped sway me: AudioSector USB DAC on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I was all set to get the DacMagic, loaned one from a shop, but is sounded pretty harsh in the treble. I'm so glad I went with your AudioSector DAC, it is everything I'd hoped for, it sounds superb.
 
H

HKC

Member
Joined 2003
The USB is a very good DAC even compare to my Micro Mega. I am now currently connected it to my iBookG4 laptop via USB but heard it would be better if wire it by firewire since iBook has firewire socket. Would like to know is it possible to modify the DAC from USB to Firewire connection?
 
J

jleaman

Banned
Joined 2002
plus.google.com/photos/104656656065604242634/albums/5725366675475046257?banner=pwa&gpsrc
HKC said:
The USB is a very good DAC even compare to my Micro Mega. I am now currently connected it to my iBookG4 laptop via USB but heard it would be better if wire it by firewire since iBook has firewire socket. Would like to know is it possible to modify the DAC from USB to Firewire connection?
Click to expand...

lots of work!
 
Peter Daniel

Peter Daniel

Member
Joined 2002
audiosector.com
Paid Member
HKC said:
The USB is a very good DAC even compare to my Micro Mega. I am now currently connected it to my iBookG4 laptop via USB but heard it would be better if wire it by firewire since iBook has firewire socket. Would like to know is it possible to modify the DAC from USB to Firewire connection?
Click to expand...

Without special chips and custom programing it's basically not possible. But could it really be that much better? ;)

I've been experimenting with improving those DACs for quite some time now. The results are very promising and I wouldn't do it without an input from a forum member Bobken who spent countless hours tweaking his SPDIF DAC.

Attached pics show my personal SPDIF DAC, which I'm using currently with Shigaclone.
 

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kmj

kmj

Member
Joined 2004
Hi Peter. A few years ago, I think it was, you and Damien Antoniak made a small sized PCB of your DAC with no onboard transformer (regulat SPdif). I have built this one with no premium components buy none the less I am very satisfied with it. A while ago I decided to move it into my preamp and thus saving space. The DAC/Pre-combo works as it should and as a source I am using a small laptop running J River media center and a usb-SPDif-converter to feed it the signal.

I usually let the laptop and preamp/Dac remain switched on and only turn the power amps off. A few days ago I did as usual, stopped the mediacenter and switched the power amps off. The next day the is no music comming out of the dac. The laptop delivers music to my receiver so the digital output is working, the pre works fine and there is no faulty wiring between the DAC and pre. I mesured the output voltage on all the voltage regulators and they are showing correct values also.

So:
Do you have any thoughts of what it is that has gone wrong and perhaps how to check if the rest of the ICs are ok?

I have never even heard on someone getting large power surges exekt with lightningsstrikes over here so the chance of that is quite small.

Kind regards
Ken
 
kmj

kmj

Member
Joined 2004
Peter Daniel said:
So far there were few people experiencing problems with USB receivers during power surges etc.

I assume you have a SPDIF DAC version with USB converter. I would check the DAC with a regular CD transport first.
Click to expand...

I don't own any kind of dvd or CD anymore so I tried an old soundbridge (a mediastreamer) with has workt earlier. This didn´t work either. While I was testing I measured the voltage at the input and output of the regulators and they still show the correct DC voltages. I did however switch the multimeter over to measure AC and it showed around 20VAC at the input of the regulators (2x9V transformer used). It seems that something has, well, gone wrong after all.
 
BoilermakerFan

BoilermakerFan

Member
Joined 2008
Peter Daniel said:
I didn't developed such board neither investigated it any further. If I need balanced output I run it through TVC.

Peter
Click to expand...

Would you put the TVC in the DAC or in the preamp/amp? 1:1 ratio or 1:2?

I have an application where I would want 2-3 SE inputs into a balanced amp, so a 4PDT TOCOS or a relay input selector would route my signal to the iron, but I can't decide what ratio to use.

Have my USB DAC nearly complete. Just finishing the wiring.
 
Peter Daniel

Peter Daniel

Member
Joined 2002
audiosector.com
Paid Member
It all depends on actual TVC. I'm using S&B TX102 set at 6dB gain. I normally use it as separate line stage unit, but also had it built into an amp and it worked fine.

I've been recently experimenting with balanced version of a DAC and for such purpose, to be able to bypass output caps, I'd prefer to use TVC built in into DAC. I will post more info later.
 
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