ackoDAC based on ES9018

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Hi Jkeny,

for sure, well the 1v2 analogue reference for the chip could indeed be quite important.
i'm not sure I worded that last post very well. i'm sorted for regulated PSU's for voltages from 5-25vdc and with some changes of reference and trimming, as well as taking the supply for the opamp (on the reg) from before the pregegulator, should get down to 3v3 which will just leave the 1v2. but i'll probably just use my higher voltage regulated PSUs, which are a mix of coffin's mini gold, the TP LCDPS/LCBPS/PLACID BP, a variety of flavors of superegulator (SSR01/02, JSR01, JSR06) from peranders 'sjostromaudio' as well as likely trying out using his rectifier bridges. i've been busy amassing a boatload of regs while I waited for this to be ready. I of course also have some of the salas/iko PCBs pre-ordered etc.

basically the idea will be to try all of them out for the 3v3 as well as acko's, but using my PSUs and likely using ackos 1v2 while giving the salas/disco a go as well later when I get some free time. the 'losers' will end up with the best second place offerings (or simply better suited) on a COD PCM1794A based dac for the workshop driving some small active monitors and the battery powered portable B32v2->4 x AD797->Discrete diamond buffers (so chosen and bought due to the simplified input voltages) will be with me during the day driving my custom IEMs, HD600 or woody Denon D2000 balanced with volumite for volume and i2s->ASRC for input from a modified cowon X5L. I found a really cool tiny balanced connector from neutrik, the minicon connector system and bought some panel mount and inline for the headphone connection.

DIYAUDIO addictive?? well they say the first step is admitting you have a problem
 
Hello, my name is John & I have a problem :)

Ah yes, it's a while since I looked at the Sabre datasheet & I was thinking that the 1V2 was just for digital core voltage, forgot about the analogue VDD_R & L. Indeed they are important, sorry for the mix-up.

You will be a great source of information re various PS on the various chips. Looking forward to your evaluation!
 
Hello, my name is John & I have a problem :)

no **** you do :D your as bad as I am

Ah yes, it's a while since I looked at the Sabre datasheet & I was thinking that the 1V2 was just for digital core voltage, forgot about the analogue VDD_R & L. Indeed they are important, sorry for the mix-up.
:D man, no reason to apologize, but yeah I actually think those voltages could be key to high performance with this build

You will be a great source of information re various PS on the various chips. Looking forward to your evaluation!

yeah well i've certainly put in the hours and dollars to make a chip in building all of the regulators on the planet ;) even considered a tube rectifier for a bit of fun. hopefully these builds will sate my addiction for a little while. if excucuted well I can see an ackodac->D1B1 or QRV08 x 2 with lightspeed being pretty hard to beat for a while to come. in fact I could see any 'upgrades' past that point being pretty much inaudible. then its time to build myself a set of full bore chipamp or class D active monitor/active crossover system as I think transport, source, line/pre and buffer/headphone amp listening will be taken care of (should bloody well hope so) I can get 200khz to the ackodac, I wonder if any higher is of any use other than for XO. I make/record some music myself in logic pro and with some hardware synths on my mac, so I can produce content that uses all the bits no problem, actually some of my analogue modeling plugs will go much higher so its not a question of upsampling things to death and simply taking up more disc space..

you still going with transformer coupling? other ideas for output/buffer?
 
Respect Acko for the project but i still don't understand is 8ch version available? And how the control is made? without datasheet i can't make control myself.I understand that your control board with dip switches is a must,but i don't see that(for selecting modes and so on..).
I have my audio system with four stereo pairs of I2S. And i want 8ch dac,use it's master clock to slave may system,and want to have control over dac settings to make the system work.
So is this product useful for me? Please explain me.

Thanks
 
actually decided against the lightspeed; after more research it seems its not as ideal as it sounds and causes distortion of not insignificant levels. no point building an uber high resolution dac only to destroy that at the pot. I think i'll just stick with the uC for volume.
8 channels I think is doable, but not with the one board unless you do the programming of the uC yourself. I know acko is working on the micro, but not sure what plans he has for 8 channel mode. there is definitely an option for dual mono using 2 boards. you will at very least need to use 4 boards as there is only a stereo pair of analogue outputs.

all will become clearer in the next couple of weeks
 
8 ch dac

Respect Acko for the project but i still don't understand is 8ch version available? And how the control is made? without datasheet i can't make control myself.I understand that your control board with dip switches is a must,but i don't see that(for selecting modes and so on..).
I have my audio system with four stereo pairs of I2S. And i want 8ch dac,use it's master clock to slave may system,and want to have control over dac settings to make the system work.
So is this product useful for me? Please explain me.

Thanks

Hi Shokoladas,

The DAC project uses the ES9012 chip that puts out 2 channels(stereo) only but can connect up to 8 stereo sources (spdif/aes-ebu via spdif interface modules) and the MCU can be used to select any one at a time. A convenient feature if you have multiple digital sources to play with.

A full 8 channel version using the 9018 chip is in the works but this will be another project. If you need further information about your specific needs please feel free to post or contact me (PM :))

Thanks and regards, Acko
 
Build Progress

DAC board mounting and matching PSU shown. A single bipolar PSU can power the entire DAC for a basic setup or better still multiple PSU modules for each of the DAC supplies as required.
 

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looking great mate!! just what I needed to see, I know its close but its easy with someone with the attention span on a gnat such as myself to become distracted with other projects and spend money where I shouldnt. best I go all out on this build. and get it a case that is deserving of it.
 
Support

Thanks everyone for all the feedback and comments. I will be updating with more details on how to put things together to get a complete system. Lots more assembly and testing being done at the moment to get this ready for release.
Special thanks to Jkenny (John) who helped to co-design the DAC module. John will help with support for nearby regions and is looking at battery psus and usb audio receiver for this DAC. Also appreciate the contributions of 'Qusp' who will be assisting with IV stages as well as detailed tests/comparisons with other DACs. Hope to hear his objective comments. So this project has become a truly collaborative effort and we plan to take this right up to a finished 'product' that would rival the best of commercial offerings!

Now on the main DAC module the design is modular from ground-up with various options. The DAC board has only the Sabre chip and we decided not to crowd it psu, mcu etc, leaving the chip to roam around freely. The layout is therefore simple 2 layer with all straight connection for signals and power. Also, all the power lines to the chip are brought out for independent supply feeds. So you have:

AVCC_L (3.3V)
AVCC_R (3.3V)
AVDD_L (1.2V)
AVDD_R (1.2V)

DVDD (1.2V)
DVCC_T (3.3V)
DVCC-B (3.3V)

VOSC (3.3V)

All supply lines are decoupled close to the chip with COG ceramics with additional Polymer filter caps for noise suppression.

The Analog supplies requires ultra low noise regulators for best performance.
I have shown a number of regulator modules that has been specially designed for this DAC. They will plug in directly. Will provide details on these soon. If you prefer you could also use others like Paul Hynes super shunts:
High performance regulators for Sabre DACs

Note: only the Analog supplies (and VOSC) are critical. The digital ones will do alright with LT1763 IC regs or similar, so there can be some cost savings here. You will need matching PSUs to feed the regulators.

There is an on-board mounting for an smd XO like Crystek 950 series and the frequency option will be based on source. If feed is from standard 44KHz 16 bit CD audio then a 40-50Hz on is sufficient. For 192Kz, requires 80MHz. If you are planning to play around with DXD audio then consider the maximum 100MHz option to give up to 500KHz capacity. There is an option to pipe in an external Master Clock instead. The smd coax connection (marked CLK under X1) and will take the Hirose connector/cable assembly (PNCL331-0452-5).

Hope this helps. More updates to come.

Regard, Acko
 
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excellent mate, looking forward to running it through its paces. buying some O-Netics trannies too from another member by the looks of it.

also this looks rather interesting
VIA Vinyl EnvyUSB 2.0 Audio Controller - VIA Technologies, Inc.

the Via 'Envy' USB 2.0 audio receiver/controller. will do 8 channels of 24/192; has i2c, i2s, spdif and too many other functions to name. its an audio/visual product from the ground up, designed for hidef production systems. I have emailed them requesting the datasheet and spec.
 
excellent mate, looking forward to running it through its paces. buying some O-Netics trannies too from another member by the looks of it.

also this looks rather interesting
VIA Vinyl EnvyUSB 2.0 Audio Controller - VIA Technologies, Inc.

the Via 'Envy' USB 2.0 audio receiver/controller. will do 8 channels of 24/192; has i2c, i2s, spdif and too many other functions to name. its an audio/visual product from the ground up, designed for hidef production systems. I have emailed them requesting the datasheet and spec.

I think that's made more for home theater receiver, external sound card or other consumer products than audiophile DACs Since it uses PLLs etc. No mention of asynchronous transfer.
 
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and that matters how? it has the capabilities we need for multichannel hardware with the interfaces/formats all covered. who gives a toss if it has asyncronous transfer or not is they can get all the bits there on time without any missing the bus. as far as i'm concerned async is simply another buzz word. provided jitter is under control (yet another buzzword) and there is a means of communicating this clock to the dac well, I really dont mind how its done. async has its place yes, it sells units quite well and it does allow a high quality external clock to be substituted, but the need for this is largely to do with the fact that the clock in the signal is bad. if the embedded clock is of high quality what does it matter if we have to use it? sure i'll wait till I know more about it before I make a judgement call, but so far it sure sounds very interesting
 
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apologies for some snippy comment above, was not meant to be personal, but I just get a little annoyed when things are discounted because they arent in keeping with the latest audiophile trends. just as the mass market is manipulated by the large scale marketing strategies, as is here in many cases where we are led to believe that if something doesnt have all the magic boxes ticked its dismissed. personally I find the biggest ut off with this is that it will most likely end up being a heavily controlled device due to having blueray support
 
probably the Hirose because it fits and is the right part for the job. i'm sure its as close to 75ohms as possible, but the connector has to be soldered to the board, so it wont be perfect. it never is. perhaps you could look up the datasheet for the part number? i havent used it before O I dont know for sure
 
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