I decided to go with this one:
Finished 2496 AK4396 CS8416 DAC with Transformer Case | eBay
It's sold by along1986090 and I got along (no pun intended) very good with him. I asked him if he could sell the item in kit form without any electronic components, only case+transformer+pcb with soldered ICs and connectors and all the details. He agreed and made a nice discount for this, so now I'm waiting for the postman to arrive
This way I can add my own components, probably the ones from the lastest BOM. I got it cheaper, I have all the important parts and I get to solder the passives for the first time, no desoldering (I hope ) I'll update after I get the package
Finished 2496 AK4396 CS8416 DAC with Transformer Case | eBay
It's sold by along1986090 and I got along (no pun intended) very good with him. I asked him if he could sell the item in kit form without any electronic components, only case+transformer+pcb with soldered ICs and connectors and all the details. He agreed and made a nice discount for this, so now I'm waiting for the postman to arrive
This way I can add my own components, probably the ones from the lastest BOM. I got it cheaper, I have all the important parts and I get to solder the passives for the first time, no desoldering (I hope
) I'll update after I get the packagekit ak4396 with 4393 resistors value?
hello, no answer to my previous question. Can someone help ? thanks.
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Hello, just received the kit. I bought it as I red many pages (not the 254!! here. Will start to built it will apply some changes from the BOM after.
Looking at my kit, it is a ak4396, but the R/C kit contains same values as the 4393. In another words the resistors in output of the 4393 are 1k and not 2.4K... Should I update it ? What would be the result for the sound ?
hello, no answer to my previous question. Can someone help ? thanks.
________________
Hello, just received the kit. I bought it as I red many pages (not the 254
!! here. Will start to built it will apply some changes from the BOM after. Looking at my kit, it is a ak4396, but the R/C kit contains same values as the 4393. In another words the resistors in output of the 4393 are 1k and not 2.4K... Should I update it ? What would be the result for the sound ?
My package came today and I am very happy with what I found inside!
First the case, feels very nice, it has a good quality and the finish is great. I opted for the whole kit minus the pcb parts. All the smd parts are soldered on the board and the board itself seems real well made. The kit came with all the needed bits, lots of screws, rca connectors, power connector, fuse with box, about 5 LEDs, some cables, the transformer (feels good, not cheap), on/off switch, power button, some rubber feet etc. the front/back plates came individually wrapped, in fact everything was properly protected inside the package. All I need to add are the caps, resistors, bridge, regulators and op-amp (socket is included as well).
The ebay seller is along1986090 and I've had good communication with him. He made a discount for the parts that I didn't need (and assembly) so it came at a great price (77$ shipped!!! can you get something like this any lower?).
This is a very good deal for me as I want to build this from the ClaveFremen BOM. Btw, thank you Clave for all the work you've done. It helped me alot with starting this project (and probably finishing it )
Of course, I did not test the transformer and the soldered parts but I hope they are ok. Right now I have a shipped order from hifi collective (good tip for us, europeans) and another from Distrelec. All that's missing is the BrownDog adapter and op-amp (I'll try to get opa827)
All in all, good value for money. Happy building!
First the case, feels very nice, it has a good quality and the finish is great. I opted for the whole kit minus the pcb parts. All the smd parts are soldered on the board and the board itself seems real well made. The kit came with all the needed bits, lots of screws, rca connectors, power connector, fuse with box, about 5 LEDs, some cables, the transformer (feels good, not cheap), on/off switch, power button, some rubber feet etc. the front/back plates came individually wrapped, in fact everything was properly protected inside the package. All I need to add are the caps, resistors, bridge, regulators and op-amp (socket is included as well).
The ebay seller is along1986090 and I've had good communication with him. He made a discount for the parts that I didn't need (and assembly) so it came at a great price (77$ shipped!!! can you get something like this any lower?).
This is a very good deal for me as I want to build this from the ClaveFremen BOM. Btw, thank you Clave for all the work you've done. It helped me alot with starting this project (and probably finishing it
)Of course, I did not test the transformer and the soldered parts but I hope they are ok. Right now I have a shipped order from hifi collective (good tip for us, europeans) and another from Distrelec. All that's missing is the BrownDog adapter and op-amp (I'll try to get opa827)
All in all, good value for money. Happy building!
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An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Did anyone manage to use a cm6631 board? Usb is nice as I am trying to use this dac with my imac or ipad mini (with camera adaptor cable). I'd like to be able to connect via i2s and install the cm6631 board inside the case. There's one for sale on ebay that's made for the DAC5/7 series, seems slim and I'd need an USB connector only. The other board is the Xmos one and for that I wouldn't need drivers for mac os. I only have cash for one and would love if my iPad mini could be used as digital transport
Yeah I use a CM6631a board via I2s with this kit and it is really the best way to get the best sound, but keep the links as short as possible, and new Xmos 2 on ebay usb is said to be better but i dont know how much better, only thing that I can say about it is it uses the power from usb to work which could or would induce noise into signal. There is a mod to bypass usb power but i think it will be changed in a next version.
Hi chaps, I hope it isn't against the rules to post about this. I've designed a couple of PCBs which can be easily used to upgrade the Mini2496 DAC. I've built a website with a shop on it where I will sell the populated PCBs. The website is geared around using them with the Behringer DEQ, DCX and SRC but the DACs are the same as the Mini2496. Behringer Mods
I've made two circuits - One is intended as an output PCB and has floating balanced outputs which are good if you might use single-ended too, as it can give the noise rejection of a balanced connection on a single-ended line. It has 118dB S/N and 0.00005% distortion. The other circuit was designed as an input PCB for ADCs, but it actually also makes a great output PCB if you don't want floating connections. It has 123dB S/N and 0.00003% distortion.
I've been really lucky to have access to a Rohde & Schwarz UPV audio analyser (about £22,000!) to develop and tune these, so the figures are accurate.
Again my apologies if it is cheeky to post this here, but it does make upgrading these DACs very easy.
I've made two circuits - One is intended as an output PCB and has floating balanced outputs which are good if you might use single-ended too, as it can give the noise rejection of a balanced connection on a single-ended line. It has 118dB S/N and 0.00005% distortion. The other circuit was designed as an input PCB for ADCs, but it actually also makes a great output PCB if you don't want floating connections. It has 123dB S/N and 0.00003% distortion.
I've been really lucky to have access to a Rohde & Schwarz UPV audio analyser (about £22,000!) to develop and tune these, so the figures are accurate.
Again my apologies if it is cheeky to post this here, but it does make upgrading these DACs very easy.
I got the original BOM from "along" seller on ebay and L1 and L2 are stated as ferrite beads. As I got all the parts already I was wondering if I could use these ferrite beads recovered from an old computer motherboard. They are dual beads and seem the right size but I have no idea about their specs. I saw that most beads are rated at 30-50 ohm at 25mhz. Should these be ok? I'm planning on assembling the board tonight.
Attachments
I mounted the pcb into the case, connected everything and worked! Now, my setup is as follows. Computer - FastTrack Pro via spdif to DAC - ta2020 amp - speakers. My problem is that I bypassed the ta2020 pot and was using the pot from the FastTrack Pro device. Now, on spdif I have no control on the volume. It's maxed out and FastTrack does not respond to any volume knob. I now have to set the volume from computer and things are going crazy. Firstly I think that I have toooo much gain. It sounds much louder than before now but it maxes out very fast. I will go back to the amp and restore the pot connection as it's crazy with software volume control. New apps that open are maxed out by default and it scares the living s**t out of me. Is there anyway to lower the gain of the DAC? Analog output of FastTrack Pro that was perfect for me had 1.2V rms. I remember that my amp started to distort at about 3 o'clock (tested with oscilloscope on different frequencies sine wave). So that was more than enough.
Audirvana/iTunes on Mountain Lion. I can use the software volume only. Seems like spdif does no support volume control on my FastTrack Pro device. I have to revert the potentiometer on my amp.
I could set the gain from the ta2020 amp. I could replace Rf to set back the gain to the one I had before. Anyone done this on ta2020 chip? Now I have 20k/20k on Rf/Ri. I can go for Rf=7.5k and that would give me about 8.9V RMS for 10W on 8ohm speaker.
I could set the gain from the ta2020 amp. I could replace Rf to set back the gain to the one I had before. Anyone done this on ta2020 chip? Now I have 20k/20k on Rf/Ri. I can go for Rf=7.5k and that would give me about 8.9V RMS for 10W on 8ohm speaker.
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I took a look at Audirvana and tried to compare its driver features to JRiver Media Center, which offers several output options. It appears your program defaults to core audio but possibly could use the Avid driver. Both my M-Box 2 and Delta drivers have very flexible controls that JRiver can access. There is a new Mac beta of JRiver that may be helpful.
I will report that I tried something similar with both the M-Box and a Lexicon Omega and found everything was just too hot. I had to eliminate the external sound cards and feed the DAC directly from the S/Pdif out and/or the 2-pin header on the motherboard (PC) to get the correct levels. Does your Mac hardware have any direct digital out ?
I will report that I tried something similar with both the M-Box and a Lexicon Omega and found everything was just too hot. I had to eliminate the external sound cards and feed the DAC directly from the S/Pdif out and/or the 2-pin header on the motherboard (PC) to get the correct levels. Does your Mac hardware have any direct digital out ?
It does have optical output. It is hidden inside the headphone connector. I'll need an adapter for that.
My plan is to get an USB-i2s card for this DAC but I have no idea how will I put it inside the case as it's pretty crowded already and the i2s connection needs to be as short as possible.
I will have a look at JRiver
My plan is to get an USB-i2s card for this DAC but I have no idea how will I put it inside the case as it's pretty crowded already and the i2s connection needs to be as short as possible.
I will have a look at JRiver
That adapter looks nice and seems it would fit inside the case. What voltage are you feeding it? Needs to be rectified or AC would work?
As I know more gain means more noise. So I'd love to lower the gain of the DAC instead of using a divider network inside the amplifier to reduce the signal level. I tested the DAC and it outputs 2V rms. I'd like it to be 1.2V rms max. Does anyone know how I could achieve that without messing up the sound? I don't know how to adjust that from the op-amp.
As I know more gain means more noise. So I'd love to lower the gain of the DAC instead of using a divider network inside the amplifier to reduce the signal level. I tested the DAC and it outputs 2V rms. I'd like it to be 1.2V rms max. Does anyone know how I could achieve that without messing up the sound? I don't know how to adjust that from the op-amp.