DAC Question.

[Dxvideo]

Hi all,

May be you'll find that question very stupidly but;
I have a cheap DVD Player (100$) And as usual its audio quality is very bad.
I dont want to buy an expensive CD or DVD player for music listening.
I dont want to make a DIY CD Audio Player also.
The question is; if i buy (or make) a hi quality DAC board and connect to my DVDs SPDIF or TOSLINK output, may i have a real HIFI CD Player? Means; are there differences on digital outputs of hi-fi and low-fi devices by meaning of sound quality?

Thanks in advance..

[sandstorm33]

I've been looking at The same issue. Much depends on the player itself. I have a Sony and more or less decided to improve the analog portion which imediately follows the DAC. You should try to secure a schematic of your unit so you can identify the many components and perhaps judge their worth. I've done this sort of thing before on an older vintage Magnavox and it worked out fine.

New DAC cards are not cheap and may or may not be the issue. Do the cheaper mods first ie. power supply capacitance and improved regulators . You should also be fairly competent with soldering and desoldering and have enough knowledge to follow the schematic. What make is your unit??

[ianpengelly]

I think this thread belongs in the digital section

[Dxvideo]

Originally posted by sandstorm33
I've been looking at The same issue. Much depends on the player itself. I have a Sony and more or less decided to improve the analog portion which imediately follows the DAC. You should try to secure a schematic of your unit so you can identify the many components and perhaps judge their worth. I've done this sort of thing before on an older vintage Magnavox and it worked out fine.

New DAC cards are not cheap and may or may not be the issue. Do the cheaper mods first ie. power supply capacitance and improved regulators . You should also be fairly competent with soldering and desoldering and have enough knowledge to follow the schematic. What make is your unit??

In fact i dont know anything about my DVD except it plays all medias.
Do you say; on an optical output, there may be mechanical or power supply caused noises? And may have differences between an expensive and cheap CD Players digital outputs by meaning of audio quality?
I surprised too much!
And i guess thats true; this message should belongs to digital topic. However i dont know anybody from digital!

[ianpengelly]

Posting a message like this will allow you to meet them! I am sure there are people that browse this whole site that you know and like.

Just in answer to your question though, I have a Tag Mclaren DAC20 that I have my Audiolab CDM transport plugged into and my Maranatz DVD player. When I bought the CDM it was to replace a CD67SE and it made quite an improvement, even the girlfriend could hear. Anyway, the point is that the DVD player sounds very good through the DAC and is much better than through the DVD player's phono outputs. So it would be worth trying a DAC as an easy way to upgrade the dvd player for cds for cd playback.

Consider looking through the digital section for easy upgrades for cd players, such as adding damping to the case and upgrading the power supply, both of which would bring improvements to both your dvds and cds.

Do you have an AV amp? If not then use the DAC for movies as well, it works like a charm!

Consider trying to find a cambridge audio DAC as a cheap and easy solution if you don't fancy building your own.

Ian

[Dxvideo]

Dear Ian,

I havent got any AV Recevier but have a GC (my own design).
I am still working on a preamp project for it. After your advices, i decide to buy a DAC module. But Cambridge Audio looks some expensive (150Pounds). What do you say about the Zaholu 2.0 DAC based on CS8416 and CS4398? Its very cheap one.. (59$)
http://www.diykits.com.hk/dac.html

Thanks a lot for your reply,

[ianpengelly]

I don't have any experience of the DAC kits to be honest, but there is loads of info from people "in the know" in the digital section.

I was thinking more of finding one of the Cambridge Audio dacs or a DACmagic on ebay, I sold mine for about £80, Though it sounds like the kits you have found are very cheap! The DAC-in-a-Box looks very tidy for the money, don't know how they sound.

If your dvd player is cheap, get some self adesive bituman sheets and strip the player down and coat all the surfaces (I plan to do this with my chip amp and preamp) being sure not to get in the way of components and needed holes. Cheap and chearful and should make the player a bit happier, plus you'll get more benefit from your DAC!

[ianpengelly]

Have you looked at this thread?

Chinese DAC in a Box: CS8416 / CS4397

[Dxvideo]

Yea... I found it in that threat.
And i found another one;
http://us.hifidiy.net/list.asp?classid=15
There are three alternatives. One with one TDA1543 and another with four TDA1543 (upgradable to 8) and a precision one with TDA1541 and tubes...
But i must confess that i coulndt understand why they use four TDA1543??

[abid_rehan]

Well building a DAC is one thing but if you only change the analog section particularly the output op-amps instead of 4588 if you could use something like OPA4134 etc there will be a mrked improvement in the sound quality.
Otherwise regarding DAC I think digital section would be better to discuss this matter, in fact this has been discussed there under Cheap DVD player.
Cheers