AudioSector-chip amp kits, dacs, chassis

[Brent Welke]

To Hanzwillem and other using your computer as a source... I have been using the same DAC (you now have) for a couple years now, I bought a prototype from Peter. I listen to it 10+ hours a day.

The point I want to make is that you need to achieve "bit perfect" digital output from your computer before it will sound its best and be as good as a CD player as a digital source.

Without "bit perfect" it loses some sparkle to the music.

How do you know if you are "bit perfect"? You play a DTS file and send it to a receiver that decodes a DTS stream, if it lights up 5 channels you are "bit perfect". I keep an old DTS receiver around just for this test.

A DTS sample file can be found here:
http://www.kellyindustries.com/sounds.html

On a PC you can get "bit perfect" with the $40 sound card found in this thread:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=75844

Once you are "bit perfect" I also recommend WinAMP 5 as a player with MMD3 skin, ASIO, Flac, and Monkey's audio plugins (all free and top notch).

Note with "bit perfect" output you have no volume, balance or tone controls or it couldn't be bit perfect.

[waltona]

Hi Peter,

When do you intend to put details of your DAC kits on your site? They look fantastic. I can feel a Christmas present request coming on.

Al

[Peter Daniel]

I am not completely sure if I should announced the DAC kit info on my site. The commercial version of a DAC is using exactly same board (and sells for $900). This would create a conflict of interest of some sort. So for now, the DAC is only available from this thread, and the info can be found here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...968#post609968

I sold already about 30 of those kits (mostly in Europe)

As to the phono preamp, I have to built few circuits, compare results and tweak the best one. It took me year to come up with a DAC, it should be much less with a phono stage. Some interesting schematics can be found below. Because of great simplicity, all of them can be built p2p using a protoboard:


http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...247#post643247

http://www.users.nac.net/markowitzgd/phonopre.html

http://www.metaxas.com/pages/technology/diy.html

I have almost finished OnoX, so will have a good reference point

[homer09]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel
I am not completely sure if I should announced the DAC kit info on my site. The commercial version of a DAC is using exactly same board (and sells for $900). This would create a conflict of interest of some sort.

Dont you already have a similar "conflict" with your amps? you do sell the premium LM3875 kit for a fraction of the cost of the integrated or amp-1...

[Peter Daniel]

It is not a "conflict", but fulfilling the needs of a different target group. Very few people who buy the amp kits, would be actuly buying the complete amps. Besides, if the kits wouldn't be sold by me, somebody else would be selling them, so for me it's more of a neccessity than actual choice

With a DAC, I still want to be fulfilling the needs of eager diy-ers, but I don't want everybody to know that such kits are availble, as selling complete units is much more profitable. Those who are interested enough, will know where to find them.

The AMP-1 circuit is wired p2p, so there is no conflict with PCBs sold with the premium kits, although the parts being used (and schematic) are basically the same. The Premium kit, that was a basis for the whole GC kits enterprise, was developed initially for AMP-1, and only later posted by me on this forum.

[transducer]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel


I have almost finished OnoX, so will have a good reference point

Peter, what is an OnoX?

[Peter Daniel]

My version of Xono

[transducer]

Okay, will you be selling boards for your OnoX? I'm looking for a balanced phono preamp, and the Ono was always an interesting one. The group buys up until this point for boards have been too expensive for me though

Cheers,
Ron

[Peter Daniel]

I am not sure if I can, after all this is a current PassLabs product.
But the phonoclone looks very interesting and I'm building one as well.

[carawu]

Hello,


a Clone of the Grado PH-1 with one OPA627 per channel is an interesting thing too with even less parts and MM/MC capability.

Carsten