DIY DAC recommendation

[Rightbrained]

Hi everyone.
I want to try a DIY DAC and would like recommendations on a cheap kit that will produce decent results.
I have done quite a few DIY speakers , crossovers , subs , remote turn on relay switches , etc but I am a total noob at electronics on this scale.
I am not afraid to mod and have decent soldering skills so I want to start relatively simple and learn a few things as I progress .
Any advice and recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks..

 

[Bill Fuss]

I'm not sure what you're looking for, a completed dac board to build a stand alone unit with, or an actual kit to mount all the pieces yourself. All the new stuff uses SMD devices which are tiny and require very good soldering skills. The cheapest route is the Ebay stuff, the CS4398 boards are pretty good and very inexpensive.

Bill

 

[Fenris]

Try looking at:

http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/LAMPUCERA/CD DAC Lampucera lampizator.html

and this thread:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=137976&perpage=50&pagenumber=1

for modifying a cheap Chinese DIY DAC. If you want to do most of the soldering yourself, I'd look at a Twisted Pear kit:

http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/

 

[Rightbrained]

Thanks for the info guys. I will go do some reading now.
I dont particularly want to assemble all the components on the PCB , just want the ability to upgrade and tweak.

 

[Rightbrained]

BTW Fenris ,
I am in Lower Alabama as well.

 

[GabrielM]

OK, this DAC is simply good, however on this two schematics ( "lampization" ),

here:

http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/LAMPUCERA/MAX/IMG_5143.jpg

and here:

http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/LAMPUCERA/MAX/IMG_5144.jpg


You can see - all electrolytic capacitors - all of them are inversely connected (!).

Please watch out for correct polarity on this two schematics.



Author of these two diagrams has been informed of this "mistake", long time ago (yes, he answered for my message), but he unfortunately do anything yet with that mistakes.

If someone (beginner) - wants to make his audio system exactly according to these schemes, then i supposed, he will probably found nasty surprise, when the power switch will be turned to "ON" position...

So, please again - watch out for correct capacitors polarity on these two schematics.

Regards,

Gabriel

 

[Rightbrained]

Gabriel ,
Thanks for the heads up !

 

[kevinkr]

Take a look at the stuff offered by Twisted Pear Audio, good stuff. I'm using their WM8804 based spdif receiver and some of their bare boards (CODs and IVY) which I modified to suite my somewhat different design..

Link here: http://www.twistedpearaudio.com

 

[glt]

I'd second TwistedPearAudio kits. The only part requiring soldering is the power supply. The other boards are already finished.

 

[Rightbrained]

seems like twistedpear has a lot of followers.
Thanks guys.