Not knowing that this thread existed (haven't spent much time here lately), I ordered a DAC last Friday and it arrived today! The USPS sure is fast these days. Anyway, it's only been running for ~2 hours so far but I'm slightly disappointed that there is still a noticeable noise floor. This isn't my main system but was hoping that it'd kill the noise from the motherboard's output. I'll fool around with cables, placement, and different ports later, but for now that's the only issue...running WASAPI and priority via Foobar, lossless and 24/96 files sound great.
Try the UAE23+
The UAE23+ has the USB isolation chip. I have not reverse-engineered that unit because I do not own one. Clean external power can be injected... it has lots of room for mods obviously and there is no better buy on the net for a finished ES9023 with a metal case. I love to mod so I would mod it, but stock it should have lower noise floor than UAE23, though I have no proof.
I might add that I have had best luck with the STOCK UAE23 running it at 78-80% Windows system slider control volume. They do not use the Vreg pin #6 on the DAC chip like the ODAC does [ODAC has 118K to ground there]. No right or wrong, but try taking your gain down from 100% to say 80 in the driver. If you can solder SMD then try 100K-130K ? 0603 ? SMD R on the vacant pins on the the PCB that go to ES9023 pin#6 to GND. I used 100K, love it!!
Un-modded and at 100% gain I would note some "hot" recordings would clip or lose linearity. DO a few things and you end up with a DAC that will blow away big-name old guard... certainly try 80% gain, and the UAE23+ version shipped to USA from USA is a great buy if you think what noise you are hearing is from USB. I am not aware of anyone in the DAC world selling a USB isolated DAC as low-priced as the UAE23+ that is made possible by the choice of the Tenor TE7022 USB receiver. All the newer faster USB setups run at 480Mbps and that is not cheap or as simple to isolate.
I have some Opticis m2-100-03 fiber optic USB isolators around excess PM me if interested, Google them first.
The UAE23+ has the USB isolation chip. I have not reverse-engineered that unit because I do not own one. Clean external power can be injected... it has lots of room for mods obviously and there is no better buy on the net for a finished ES9023 with a metal case. I love to mod so I would mod it, but stock it should have lower noise floor than UAE23, though I have no proof.
I might add that I have had best luck with the STOCK UAE23 running it at 78-80% Windows system slider control volume. They do not use the Vreg pin #6 on the DAC chip like the ODAC does [ODAC has 118K to ground there]. No right or wrong, but try taking your gain down from 100% to say 80 in the driver. If you can solder SMD then try 100K-130K ? 0603 ? SMD R on the vacant pins on the the PCB that go to ES9023 pin#6 to GND. I used 100K, love it!!
Un-modded and at 100% gain I would note some "hot" recordings would clip or lose linearity. DO a few things and you end up with a DAC that will blow away big-name old guard... certainly try 80% gain, and the UAE23+ version shipped to USA from USA is a great buy if you think what noise you are hearing is from USB. I am not aware of anyone in the DAC world selling a USB isolated DAC as low-priced as the UAE23+ that is made possible by the choice of the Tenor TE7022 USB receiver. All the newer faster USB setups run at 480Mbps and that is not cheap or as simple to isolate.
I have some Opticis m2-100-03 fiber optic USB isolators around excess PM me if interested, Google them first.
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I have two of the unisolated ones of this DAC (older and newer version) - both do not have any noisefloor, at least not noticable (not even under amplified conditions). I suspect that the reason if you can hear any noise must be located somewhere else, maybe at the source PC and its power supply via the mains ground.
Well, good news - I got my lazy *** working and discovered that I don't have the same noise issues on my older PC. I have a bunch of old data, music, and movies that I want to gather up so I installed Ubuntu on a spare SSD...it had absolutely no problems recognizing the USB DAC. A tiny hiss from the speakers but not nearly the same problem I have with my main box.
Now to figure out why it exists in the first place and how to remedy it.
Now to figure out why it exists in the first place and how to remedy it.
MMmm, ya right and wrong: the value and function of the resistor is specified in the datasheet ... D'oh!
A word of warning for people with the UAE23+ with analog volume controller. On my system, setting this to anything other than full absolutely destroys the sound.
This DAC is a very significant upgrade over my PCM2702 Bantam DAC, and I had been enjoying it for about a month, feeding my T2 amp. Last week I finally got around to installing my T2 in a decent case (after about 2 years of use), at the same time I upgraded the input capacitors. This process involved removing the onboard pot to make space for the large ampohm caps I wanted to use.
I thought that I could just use the DAC's pot until I decided on whether to build a separate preamp or not.
On testing the boxed amp, the sound was bass heavy, and seemingly missing large parts of each song I tested it on. Worried that the new input caps were to blame, I put my faith in the semi-mystical "Burn In" period that some specify for new caps and left the amp running over the weekend. This did nothing to improve the sound.
Re-testing the amp with the DAC's analogue volume at max and ALSA controlling the volume, much to my relief, everything is wonderful again. In short, never turn down the analog volume on this DAC.
Kind of wish I had known about the new version with the TCXO upgrade and digital volume control before I bought this version, but it has excellent sound nonetheless.
This DAC is a very significant upgrade over my PCM2702 Bantam DAC, and I had been enjoying it for about a month, feeding my T2 amp. Last week I finally got around to installing my T2 in a decent case (after about 2 years of use), at the same time I upgraded the input capacitors. This process involved removing the onboard pot to make space for the large ampohm caps I wanted to use.
I thought that I could just use the DAC's pot until I decided on whether to build a separate preamp or not.
On testing the boxed amp, the sound was bass heavy, and seemingly missing large parts of each song I tested it on. Worried that the new input caps were to blame, I put my faith in the semi-mystical "Burn In" period that some specify for new caps and left the amp running over the weekend. This did nothing to improve the sound.
Re-testing the amp with the DAC's analogue volume at max and ALSA controlling the volume, much to my relief, everything is wonderful again. In short, never turn down the analog volume on this DAC.
Kind of wish I had known about the new version with the TCXO upgrade and digital volume control before I bought this version, but it has excellent sound nonetheless.
Ok, I do that modification and you are right - the sound is much improved. One mention, I powered the "clock" from an stabilizer LM1117-5. Sun I will get in possession of their power supply unit ( Power supply for SABRE DAC 2 (UAE23+) 200-240V ), and maybe with that I will obtain again an improvement ...
Best regards,
Cristi.
hello everyone, i've a grado sr80 since few days that i use with laptop and sansa clip zip, i would to add a dac/amp and i've considered to combine the hifimediy UAE23 with a little dotI+ that seems to be an optimal ampli for grado headphones Little Dot Amplifiers • View topic - Little Dot I+ Hybrid Headphone Amplifier
linking them witha a jack to rca cable. is this a good choice? i must consider the ua23+ too?
linking them witha a jack to rca cable. is this a good choice? i must consider the ua23+ too?
16tons,
Ihave play FLAC from my laptop and use the SR-80i as well.
1) I added the UAE23: The DAC Awakening ? HifiMeDiy UAE23 (Part 2) - nimophile
2) next, I added the Little Dot 1+: HeadAmping - Little Dot 1+ [Hybrid Headphone Amplifier] (Part 1) - nimophile
3) and then, swap some op-amps and tubes: Op-Amping ? Little Dot 1+ [Hybrid Headphone Amplifier] (Part 2) - nimophile
My PC Audio setup is on the last link. Hope this helps.
very useful thank you very much, any issues with win 7 64bit? is this cable good? 3.5mm Mini Jack Stereo to 2 RCA Phono Cable OFC GOLD 0.5M Short Audio Cable 50cm | eBay
could you tell me if the line out of the dac is gold/metallic? i found one used but as you can see in this image has the line out totally in plastic ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
Other than ODAC ($150), anyone compare the HifiMeDiy Sabre USB DAC to other similar devices such as:
AQ DragonFly($250)
... or the newer ...
HRT microStreamer? ($180)
BTW (and correct me if I'm wrong, of course) ... on this TYPE of device, I don't see much "pure" DIY activity here our forum or other DIY communities (nope ... naked PCB kits and stuffed eBay PCBs from China don't count!). Could it be that at the low $$ these devices are now avail. -- plus the difficulty of SMT/SOP sizes, and economies of scale -- pretty much rule out these USB's in anything other than Eagle-only amusements?
AQ DragonFly($250)
... or the newer ...
HRT microStreamer? ($180)
BTW (and correct me if I'm wrong, of course) ... on this TYPE of device, I don't see much "pure" DIY activity here our forum or other DIY communities (nope ... naked PCB kits and stuffed eBay PCBs from China don't count!). Could it be that at the low $$ these devices are now avail. -- plus the difficulty of SMT/SOP sizes, and economies of scale -- pretty much rule out these USB's in anything other than Eagle-only amusements?
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