A New Take on the Classic Pass Labs D1 with an ESS Dac - Page 162

nattonrice · 14th January 2013, 05:37 AM

The USA -> AU mail system experienced massive delays for the month of December.
I get packages from one supplier frequently and they take roughly 5 days to arrive.
This time it was a month and a day...

bigpandahk · 14th January 2013, 06:12 AM

IT's great news, finally, I see the light to finish my long-lasting project.

hochopeper · 14th January 2013, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigpandahk

IT's great news, finally, I see the light to finish my long-lasting project.

You think that is a long project, ask qusp how long he's been working on his DACs!

nattonrice · 14th January 2013, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hochopeper

ask qusp how long he's been working on his DACs!

Do not take advice from this man

hochopeper · 14th January 2013, 06:59 AM

For the record my personal opinion is that any project that doesn't take at least a year isn't any fun! Or you haven't made the project big enough!

bigpandahk · 14th January 2013, 07:17 AM

My initial budget for this DAC project was $1,000 but now already exceed $4000 - still not finish. Using NTD1 was advised by qusp and it cost

qusp · 09:00 AM

A year? lol $4K? lol

besides i've built the equivalent of 4-5 entire balanced ESS dacs, to keep 'only' 2, but about to either add one of Ackos ES9016 units, which will actually work with the NTD1 as well, since the electrical characteristics (voltage and current output) are identical; or just finish the design for my own dual 9016 dac.

the ES9016 is just the 9018 Die without DVDD_L/R and DVCC_T pins being brought out, must be just generated internally from one of the other supplies. everything is the same, you can treat it just like 9018 but get slightly lower performance with less power supply fiddling/cost. i'm amazed it hasnt been taken on more readily. its not much cheaper as a chip (~15USD less) but will work out quite a bit cheaper to build a finished dac with. It should have exactly the same sound sig, has the same modulator, same everything as far as I can tell.

bigpandahk, if you budget for your dac initially was 1000, it was an unrealistic budget, like many who set out to build an ESS dac you didnt account for everything. I also strongly advised you against building dual mono (which tends to push the price up a touch...) and youve burned a dac or 2 along the way, added the fifo, long and varied arduino stuff. sorry but its all on you buddy

even with dual NTD1 that should be ~25% max of the total cost even with the upgrades

its all good, but please dont put your expensive decisions on me. I think you'll like the result, but I also think you would have enjoyed the result of a single dac just as much. the ES9018 chip is already designed as dual mono in a single chip if the PCB and power supply is right ie. not to the datasheet or some other dacs on the market that followed it.

@ opc: no worries mate, indeed now you see why I try to always use express from Canada, it often causes this kind of worry.

@ hochopeper: indeed mate, lateral fets are in the house as well!

bigpandahk · 14th January 2013, 01:31 PM

Totally agree that $1000 was an unrealistic budget, but for someone knew nothing about digital audio, all I knew was a BIII DAC + PSU + case = $1000 lol

I like the result very much although it's not final yet. Looking forward to listen to the power of the NTD1.

Other than the expensive advice, you save my life (money) several times. In this several months, I learnt a lot and enjoy a lot

tkwou · 14th January 2013, 05:18 PM

Hi is there anyone interested in pcb and components. I have an original pcb and smd component kit from Owen and a set of matched quad FET's from qusp. I just never got around to doing the project and my eyesight is not good enough to work in smd anymore.

pinnocchio · 14th January 2013, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkwou

Hi is there anyone interested in pcb and components. I have an original pcb and smd component kit from Owen and a set of matched quad FET's from qusp. I just never got around to doing the project and my eyesight is not good enough to work in smd anymore.

PM sent

14th January 2013, 08:49 AM	#1617
qusp is choosing a less facetious title... diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia	A year? lol $4K? lol besides i've built the equivalent of 4-5 entire balanced ESS dacs, to keep 'only' 2, but about to either add one of Ackos ES9016 units, which will actually work with the NTD1 as well, since the electrical characteristics (voltage and current output) are identical; or just finish the design for my own dual 9016 dac. the ES9016 is just the 9018 Die without DVDD_L/R and DVCC_T pins being brought out, must be just generated internally from one of the other supplies. everything is the same, you can treat it just like 9018 but get slightly lower performance with less power supply fiddling/cost. i'm amazed it hasnt been taken on more readily. its not much cheaper as a chip (~15USD less) but will work out quite a bit cheaper to build a finished dac with. It should have exactly the same sound sig, has the same modulator, same everything as far as I can tell. bigpandahk, if you budget for your dac initially was 1000, it was an unrealistic budget, like many who set out to build an ESS dac you didnt account for everything. I also strongly advised you against building dual mono (which tends to push the price up a touch...) and youve burned a dac or 2 along the way, added the fifo, long and varied arduino stuff. sorry but its all on you buddy even with dual NTD1 that should be ~25% max of the total cost even with the upgrades its all good, but please dont put your expensive decisions on me. I think you'll like the result, but I also think you would have enjoyed the result of a single dac just as much. the ES9018 chip is already designed as dual mono in a single chip if the PCB and power supply is right ie. not to the datasheet or some other dacs on the market that followed it. @ opc: no worries mate, indeed now you see why I try to always use express from Canada, it often causes this kind of worry. @ hochopeper: indeed mate, lateral fets are in the house as well! Last edited by qusp; 14th January 2013 at 09:00 AM.

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14th January 2013, 05:37 AM	#1611
nattonrice diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Sydney	The USA -> AU mail system experienced massive delays for the month of December. I get packages from one supplier frequently and they take roughly 5 days to arrive. This time it was a month and a day...

14th January 2013, 06:12 AM	#1612
bigpandahk diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2009	IT's great news, finally, I see the light to finish my long-lasting project.

14th January 2013, 06:59 AM	#1615
hochopeper diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia	For the record my personal opinion is that any project that doesn't take at least a year isn't any fun! Or you haven't made the project big enough!

14th January 2013, 07:17 AM	#1616
bigpandahk diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2009	My initial budget for this DAC project was $1,000 but now already exceed $4000 - still not finish. Using NTD1 was advised by qusp and it cost

14th January 2013, 01:31 PM	#1618
bigpandahk diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2009	Totally agree that $1000 was an unrealistic budget, but for someone knew nothing about digital audio, all I knew was a BIII DAC + PSU + case = $1000 lol I like the result very much although it's not final yet. Looking forward to listen to the power of the NTD1. Other than the expensive advice, you save my life (money) several times. In this several months, I learnt a lot and enjoy a lot

14th January 2013, 05:18 PM	#1619
tkwou diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Vancouver	Hi is there anyone interested in pcb and components. I have an original pcb and smd component kit from Owen and a set of matched quad FET's from qusp. I just never got around to doing the project and my eyesight is not good enough to work in smd anymore.