ezDAC v.1.5 Builders Thread

[6h5c]

Originally Posted by PJN

Ray,

Thanks so much for your kind offer. A little shipping would be a small price to pay considering all the time I've invested in this project so far. I'll give it one more going over this week to see if I've missed anything obvious. If I can't get it going I'll email you privately for mailing directions.

PJN

No problem, it is not too difficult for me to check a board like this, since i've already built a few. Just let me know when you are done with it, and i'll be happy to take a look at it.

Ray

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by PJN

Mikel_ann,

I agree with you, my soldering is messy, this was my first experience with using SMD parts. My eyes aren't what they used to be and I found working with such tiny parts challenging. I will be taking up Ray on his kind offer after I give it one last try.

PJN

I feel your pain. I failed at least three times trying to build my last ezDAC. Then I tried using the toaster oven method, and I got it to work the first time. I haven't touched my ezDAC since then, and haven't tried to build another one.

[BrianL]

I've found that as long as the lead spacing on ICs is 0.5mm or larger, I can solder by hand with a fine tip on a Metcal or similar soldering system and using very fine solder. If you bridge a couple pins you can fix with solder wick. The best thing to do is to solder diagonally opposite corner pins and once the device is located properly (and legs not floating off the board in solder) to solder down the othe two diagonals. Then solder the rest of the pins.

I find using strong magnification essential; more is needed now than 15 years ago, but even then fine pitch stuff is next to impossible to do with the naked eye.

[PJN]

Hi all,

I did take Ray up on his kind and generous offer to take a look at my board and he was able to get it singing in no time. He discovered that I had screwed up one of the pads on a cap feeding the reciever and had a loose pad on the reciever. Thank you Ray, I could have never found those faults myself.

So now there is one more EZDAC in the world. My build is the bog standard, single PSU. But so far my impressions have been very favorable. It easily sounds significantly better than the modified DVD player it is replacing. Much more relaxed with very good imaging and detail. I'll let it burn in for a few days and try to do a head comparison against the opus DAC from twisted pear audio that I built last year. They have very similar features. Next moves will be to add a separate PSU to separate the digital and analog sections, and add CRDL and CRDR. I'll report back with my impressions of these changes.

PJN

[ezkcdude]

Cool! I definitely am interested to hear about the addition of the diodes. I don't think anyone has implemented those yet.

[6h5c]

Originally Posted by PJN

...So now there is one more EZDAC in the world...

That's good news! I guess it survived the trip across the ocean

Ray

[mikel_ann]

Hi PJN glad to hear that.

Have fun with it. I had a chordette gem here for a few days and
found the ezDac has a lot more detail.

regards Mikel

[PJN]

Hi Ray,

It made it back over the pond in one peice, it was delivered this past Friday. I think it may well be the most extensively traveled EZDAC out there.

Evan,

I have the diodes in my parts bin so I think I'll pop them in first, before the additional PSU. First I want to get a good handle on the unmodified DAC's performance so that I can tell if there is a difference.

PJN

[paulb]

Originally Posted by ezkcdude

Cool! I definitely am interested to hear about the addition of the diodes. I don't think anyone has implemented those yet.

Diodes mod? Is this from earlier in the thread and I missed it?

[6h5c]

It took almost two weeks then. That's amazing, considering the fact that they indicate 4 to 8 working days... But it's singing now!

Ray