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

[Horio]

Originally Posted by qusp

looks like you just missed another one :| if you ar4e dead keen and prepared to go to the trouble, I suppose its possible that you could get a batch PCB with opc's permission and help. they are pretty cheap these days for one off boards, well you would probably end up with 2 or 3. wouldnt be as high quality as ours, but should do the job. totally hinges on opc though and your willingness to go above and beyond

that being said, knowing how good this design sounds with the sabre, after feedback and impressions of this PCB come in, I would not be surprized if there was another run

I'm going to bet that there will be a second run on these boards after the impressions come out. I've got a couple other projects on my slate right now, so I can hold off on my ESS Sabre build for a bit.

I will definitely be watching closely to see what you guys think!

[TheShaman]

Originally Posted by Horio

I'm going to bet that there will be a second run on these boards after the impressions come out. I've got a couple other projects on my slate right now, so I can hold off on my ESS Sabre build for a bit.

I will definitely be watching closely to see what you guys think!

+1

[qusp]

guys, as you know i'm moving house this coming week and as of Tuesday I wont have internet access until Thursday, thus I want to take care of this resistor order tomorrow or monday. Those of you who have contacted me about this but have not paid, please do so in the next 24-36 hrs, preferably today so I dont have to worry about chasing it up tomorrow. anyone who is interested in TX220Z Zfoil power resistors for the 400R that has not contacted me, this is your last chance and those who have contacted me but need more information, please dont hesitate to ask me; I will happy clear it up for you and supply the datasheet if you have not seen it.

hopefully opc will be posting his pics of the built up boards and supply me with tuning and matching information so I can confirm a price for the fets.

[qusp]

some of you guys paid something extra towards shipping above the stated 35 a piece and some didnt because those who paid early paid when I still thought Stephen was getting 8 and price would be very slightly lower. when all is said and done and I hear final word back from him I will even it out with the payments for fet orders OK?

[stephen1212]

I apologize to all and especially qusp for any confusion I may have caused to the group buy of the TX220Z resistors.

At this time I think I will wait the 18 weeks to get Ohmite TN15P400RFE from Mouser at 4.71 each and the price drops to 3.56 with 25 pieces. the tempco is +/- 50 ppm so not as good as the worlds best but not bad for 1/10 the price. In fact it occurs to me that we could parallel two of these perhaps one on either side of the heat sync to make up 200 ohms in order to keep thin film in both positions. These are 1% rated at 15 amps.

It looks like many others will be listening before I will. I look forward to your discoveries.

stephen1212

[Nikola Krivorov]

Originally Posted by qusp

some of you guys paid something extra towards shipping above the stated 35 a piece and some didnt because those who paid early paid when I still thought Stephen was getting 8 and price would be very slightly lower. when all is said and done and I hear final word back from him I will even it out with the payments for fet orders OK?

I just sent a PM, please have a look.

[opc]

Hi Guys!

Where to start... it has been a very hectic week. My board is finally finished, and I fired it up for the first time this afternoon. It took WAY longer than I was hoping, but it was definitely worth it! I've been at work longer than usual, so I only had a few hours a night to actually work on it. I'm now enjoying a nice glass of Lagavulin 16yr and listening to some great music!

The good news first:

The entire PCB is perfect, and the whole thing sounds absolutely incredible. It's dead quiet, the bottom end is stunning, and it's noticeably better than the very good Analog Devices reference DAC I have as a backup. I really like it, and I'm sure everyone here will too!

The bad news:

I ordered one wrong capacitor (wrong package size, I ordered a 1210 when I needed a 1206) so I'll need to place one more DK order before I ship out boards and kits. Now that everything is up and running, I'll start shipping on Tuesday when the new caps get here. I also completely messed up the zener diodes on the input node of the circuit. I have no idea what I was thinking, but I put them in parallel instead of in series. I guess that's what happens when you add stuff at the last minute without checking it. Right now I'm running without any, but I'll be making a little tee-pee with two series diodes on one of the pads. Anyone wishing to use the protection zeners will have to do the same.

I'll do my best to go back and answer any questions, so here we go:

Gebi:

Good question! I don't think I ever posted the actual size.

X = 4.75"
Y = 8"
Z = 1.75"

You could shrink the Z dimension if you use 1" tall heatsinks instead of the 1.5" ones suggested, and buy 25mm tall caps. If you do this, you'll end up around 1.3". The heatsinks will run pretty hot though, probably around 60-70 degrees.

gogu and THKL:

I've updated the list to include gogu. I'll need to get shipping money from gogu unless both boards are going to qusp.

Horio, Nikon1975 and TheShaman:

There are still a few people unpaid, so you might still luck out. I'll let you guys know.

Iloveswan:

I had never heard of the FQA34N20, but it could be a good fet. Perhaps you could send a few to qusp and he could measure their TC and compare it to the FQA32N20C. He'll have the whole test setup done for matching the fets he has. Could be an easy thing to check.

qusp and Pierre:

I'll get you guys your totals tonight for sure. Sorry for leaving you both hanging! qusp, I'll send you the info for matching fets either today or tomorrow.

That should be pretty much everything answered. Several more people have paid, and I'd like to thank everyone who has. I've attached an updated list, which is slowly narrowing down to only a few unpaid:

DaveM
Slartibartfasst
tkwou
damohpi

If you four could all please get in touch, I would appreciate it. I'll try to send you all notes tonight as a reminder.

Pictures of the build to follow!

Cheers,
Owen

[qusp]

nikola, been emailing you all day, I have probably sent 6 emails, received 2 from you that didnt seem to indicate you having seen any from me and replied promptly to both of those too with no response. something is up with your email account for sure, my spam filter did not catch any, there is nothing in there from you. just sent you a PM too, will see if you get that.

also need to hear from habsrock93, got a PM earlier and replied but have not heard back from you and need to hear today, really need payment today, because tomorrow is going to be moving chaos and I dont have time to be chasing anything up again until thursday and cant be doing that. so need solid arrangements or i'm afraid my hands are tied I have to make the order without you. heard back from stephen and its a nogo again.... how is your wife mate?, in my country they say a womans prerogative is to change her mind just joking mate, but sure has been confusing.

[qusp]

great opc, hehe loving the sound of the cute little tipee haha. I dont know that I will be fitting any of the zeners anyway, guess i'll see. looking forward to the pics!!

stephen I had a crazy idea already to do the same for the 200R with the Zfoils, but do not think that even I will do something so careless with my money. though it does seem that going over the actual dissipation that it would be possible to run the Zfoils in all 8 positions (but using 12 resistors . I still think the 400R gain resistor is the most deserving, but for the commited.....

[opc]

Hi Guys,

I've attached a few pictures from the build...

I'll start a new thread with build tips, and I'll probably re-post these pictures there for reference.

There are a few tips that I picked up along the way, but I'll save those for later.

Enjoy!
Owen