This thread is more about my experience with 1 specific DAC I found on the market than opportunity to start new project from scratch. I didn't found any sentence about this DAC here so if there's any existing tread about the same please move it there and I will delete half of this story 🙂.
Initial plan was to find good sounding DAC capable of 24/192 through toslink for my main stereo under $200 not limited to kit or finished product.
So what this is about? simple 1 board with 3 exchangeable modules with different chip and analog output (so far 3), I know this isn't new idea but it's pretty rare to find such nicely built kit where you can swap modules within seconds (like changing opa) for less than $300 (all together).
Main board is pretty standard similar to Weiliang's and others, what is different is module which contain known chips like WM8741, PCM1794 and AK4399, in case of WM8741 in dual mode.
Some pictures of DAC for start up:
as you can see there's nothing strange and everyone might think another basic Chinese DAC, but you would be wrong.
I'm sure there's more owners of this DAC maybe not knowing there are such options as I found it by accident when I was looking for an upgrade
There are 3 optional modules you can buy, AK4399, PCM1794A and dual WM8741:
Main specification:
receiver: CS8416
input: digital coax + toslink, USB (optional card with 10pin)
input SR: 16-24bit/44.1k, 48k, 88.2k, 96k, 176.4k, 192khz (for both digital in) USB (depended on USB card used)
Input voltage: 15-0-15 + 9-9
VR: LM317T, LM337T, LM7805 + LT1117-5V, AMS-1117-3.3V
jitter: unknown 12.288mhz oscillator
display: input selection, sample freq.
functional buttons: select inputs, mute
WM8741 is supplied with OPA2604AP
PCM1794A is supplied with 3xOPA2134PA
AK4399 don't know but pictures showing OPA2134PA
OPA is most probably depended on seller
I couldn't found anybody who has schematics so can't comment much about other details but if you ask me for something I can read from the finished board I'll try to answer.
As I mentioned I found it by accident when I was looking for an upgrade (USB module) for my 2xWM8741 version DAC so I started with WM8741 and later bought PCM1794 module, for those of you who might be interested to buy all of them please be aware there isn't module with AK4399 available separately (yet, or I couldn't find it) so if you want all of them you have to buy DAC with AK4399 module and buy remaining 2 modules separately. I missed this option so I won't be buying new DAC just because I want only missing module 🙂, instead I bough whole new DAC with 2xAK4399 for comparison.
How did it looked before an upgrade:
Initial sound
To be honest, this was my first Chinese dedicated DAC for stereo so won't be able to tell you how does it stands against other Chinese DACs around, but will post later how does it perform against dual AK4399 we are building up in separate thread. So, I started with 2x WM8741, already at the beginning when I first turned it on it was like night and day comparing it to everything what I had before, nice detailed sound, I can call it natural (not neutral/flat) typical BurnBrown colored sound, 3D soundstage not as wide or deep like you can expect from tubes but reasonable, than I swapped PCM1794A, sound was more forward driven, more neutral across whole spectrum but still nicely detailed, maybe even more than WM8741, at the end of the day when I switched the player off I heard some background noise and crackling coming out of speakers especially with higher volume but this will be sorted in upgrade section. Next I tried swap OPAs between the DACs and some other I had available but couldn't found anything better sounding than 2604 (so far), either it had to much trebles or mids different dynamics but never nicely balanced like 2604, AD797 in dual mode and 4 other OPAs are on the way so once tested will report my findings, I didn't spent too much time with PCM1794A as I didn't have 3 same OPAs available for trial so within next 2 weeks I should receive new batch so will spend more time with this module, anyway in general so far so good and I was pretty happy with my purchase.
Upgrade
due to background noise and crackling in sound I started to look for some tweaks, at the same time I wanted some light upgrade which could little bit refine the sound, first of all I found missing ground/earth cable so I install this, second was supply voltage part of the board, those blue Wishay BC 2200uf/25v had to go together with 3x noname 1500uf/16v, as you can see below, both of them were changed to 4700uf Nover audio grade and Nichicon Audio KA range, I was limited by height of the chassis that's why those types, coming and last upgrade will be golden TCXO 0.1ppm crystal oscillator (beside USB card).
There might be several other upgrades possible like tube output stage etc. but I like transistor type of sound so I'm happy with current status.
Sound after upgrade
all above + 3 whole days of burn in process and I was ready to go...
WOW, I don't know if it was due to upgrade, burn in or combination but such a clean, refined and relaxing sound I never heard before (on my gear of course), crackling and background noise gone, I couldn't believe it, for $260 I spent so far?
Buying guide
you can save bit more than I did by buying it through below from Taobao, they are good service provider and I had no trouble to dealing with them, of course you can buy it through other taobao agents based on your experience but I'm bit afraid you won't find it on ebay etc.
whole AK4399 DAC - Soft control display CS8416,AK4399 opa2604 DAC decoder (up CM6631A/XMOS) Item?s description with transport and fees you'll end up somewhere between $170-180
finished board - Soft control display CS8416,AK4399 DAC decoder Board (CM6631A or XMOS module available) Item?s description with transport and fees you'll end up somewhere between $110-120, maybe less, I didn't try it
2x WM8741 module - WM8741DAC????? Item?s description all together around $50
PCM1794 module - PCM1794 decoder DAC module Item?s description all together around $40
Every opinion or review about sound quality of this and that is always subjective and what I like might not be good for you, all is also depended on quality of source and output of your hardware chain so can't guarantee that you will be happy with this DAC as I'm but I may say you won't be disappointed 😉 If you buy all 3 modules times number of available OPAs or different output stages options are pretty much unlimited 🙂
Tested on:
Network transport - Raumfeld connector 2 (flac files stored on NAS)
Integrated Amp - Marantz PM KI pearl lite
Speakers - Focal JMlab 826W 30th anniversary edition
p.s. sorry for my English and composition of this thread, hope it wasn't too bad 🙂
p.p.s. I'm calling my DAC "Horst" 😀
Initial plan was to find good sounding DAC capable of 24/192 through toslink for my main stereo under $200 not limited to kit or finished product.
So what this is about? simple 1 board with 3 exchangeable modules with different chip and analog output (so far 3), I know this isn't new idea but it's pretty rare to find such nicely built kit where you can swap modules within seconds (like changing opa) for less than $300 (all together).
Main board is pretty standard similar to Weiliang's and others, what is different is module which contain known chips like WM8741, PCM1794 and AK4399, in case of WM8741 in dual mode.
Some pictures of DAC for start up:
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.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
as you can see there's nothing strange and everyone might think another basic Chinese DAC, but you would be wrong.
I'm sure there's more owners of this DAC maybe not knowing there are such options as I found it by accident when I was looking for an upgrade
There are 3 optional modules you can buy, AK4399, PCM1794A and dual WM8741:
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.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Main specification:
receiver: CS8416
input: digital coax + toslink, USB (optional card with 10pin)
input SR: 16-24bit/44.1k, 48k, 88.2k, 96k, 176.4k, 192khz (for both digital in) USB (depended on USB card used)
Input voltage: 15-0-15 + 9-9
VR: LM317T, LM337T, LM7805 + LT1117-5V, AMS-1117-3.3V
jitter: unknown 12.288mhz oscillator
display: input selection, sample freq.
functional buttons: select inputs, mute
WM8741 is supplied with OPA2604AP
PCM1794A is supplied with 3xOPA2134PA
AK4399 don't know but pictures showing OPA2134PA
OPA is most probably depended on seller
I couldn't found anybody who has schematics so can't comment much about other details but if you ask me for something I can read from the finished board I'll try to answer.
As I mentioned I found it by accident when I was looking for an upgrade (USB module) for my 2xWM8741 version DAC so I started with WM8741 and later bought PCM1794 module, for those of you who might be interested to buy all of them please be aware there isn't module with AK4399 available separately (yet, or I couldn't find it) so if you want all of them you have to buy DAC with AK4399 module and buy remaining 2 modules separately. I missed this option so I won't be buying new DAC just because I want only missing module 🙂, instead I bough whole new DAC with 2xAK4399 for comparison.
How did it looked before an upgrade:
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.
Initial sound
To be honest, this was my first Chinese dedicated DAC for stereo so won't be able to tell you how does it stands against other Chinese DACs around, but will post later how does it perform against dual AK4399 we are building up in separate thread. So, I started with 2x WM8741, already at the beginning when I first turned it on it was like night and day comparing it to everything what I had before, nice detailed sound, I can call it natural (not neutral/flat) typical BurnBrown colored sound, 3D soundstage not as wide or deep like you can expect from tubes but reasonable, than I swapped PCM1794A, sound was more forward driven, more neutral across whole spectrum but still nicely detailed, maybe even more than WM8741, at the end of the day when I switched the player off I heard some background noise and crackling coming out of speakers especially with higher volume but this will be sorted in upgrade section. Next I tried swap OPAs between the DACs and some other I had available but couldn't found anything better sounding than 2604 (so far), either it had to much trebles or mids different dynamics but never nicely balanced like 2604, AD797 in dual mode and 4 other OPAs are on the way so once tested will report my findings, I didn't spent too much time with PCM1794A as I didn't have 3 same OPAs available for trial so within next 2 weeks I should receive new batch so will spend more time with this module, anyway in general so far so good and I was pretty happy with my purchase.
Upgrade
due to background noise and crackling in sound I started to look for some tweaks, at the same time I wanted some light upgrade which could little bit refine the sound, first of all I found missing ground/earth cable so I install this, second was supply voltage part of the board, those blue Wishay BC 2200uf/25v had to go together with 3x noname 1500uf/16v, as you can see below, both of them were changed to 4700uf Nover audio grade and Nichicon Audio KA range, I was limited by height of the chassis that's why those types, coming and last upgrade will be golden TCXO 0.1ppm crystal oscillator (beside USB card).
There might be several other upgrades possible like tube output stage etc. but I like transistor type of sound so I'm happy with current status.
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.
Sound after upgrade
all above + 3 whole days of burn in process and I was ready to go...
WOW, I don't know if it was due to upgrade, burn in or combination but such a clean, refined and relaxing sound I never heard before (on my gear of course), crackling and background noise gone, I couldn't believe it, for $260 I spent so far?
Buying guide
you can save bit more than I did by buying it through below from Taobao, they are good service provider and I had no trouble to dealing with them, of course you can buy it through other taobao agents based on your experience but I'm bit afraid you won't find it on ebay etc.
whole AK4399 DAC - Soft control display CS8416,AK4399 opa2604 DAC decoder (up CM6631A/XMOS) Item?s description with transport and fees you'll end up somewhere between $170-180
finished board - Soft control display CS8416,AK4399 DAC decoder Board (CM6631A or XMOS module available) Item?s description with transport and fees you'll end up somewhere between $110-120, maybe less, I didn't try it
2x WM8741 module - WM8741DAC????? Item?s description all together around $50
PCM1794 module - PCM1794 decoder DAC module Item?s description all together around $40
Every opinion or review about sound quality of this and that is always subjective and what I like might not be good for you, all is also depended on quality of source and output of your hardware chain so can't guarantee that you will be happy with this DAC as I'm but I may say you won't be disappointed 😉 If you buy all 3 modules times number of available OPAs or different output stages options are pretty much unlimited 🙂
Tested on:
Network transport - Raumfeld connector 2 (flac files stored on NAS)
Integrated Amp - Marantz PM KI pearl lite
Speakers - Focal JMlab 826W 30th anniversary edition
p.s. sorry for my English and composition of this thread, hope it wasn't too bad 🙂
p.p.s. I'm calling my DAC "Horst" 😀
all planned upgrades pretty much done, TCXO oscillator installed, USB card installed, dual HDAM module installed, I'll leave it for few days to burn in and over the weekend compare it with 2xAK4399 I just finished, latest pictures below...
temp image upload
free photo upload
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
temp image upload
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
free photo upload
Looks great. Thanks for sharing. I just received this DAC (bought it from ebay) and am going to change the capacitors to 3x UKA1C332MHD and 6x EEU-FC1E472.
I am not sure about the oscillator though. Could you please tell me if there is any advantage in upgrading the existing 12.288mhz oscillator to the TCXO one?
I would suggest nichicon KW series for analog and pan EEU-FM for digital section, I think oscillator it self won't give you sufficient improvement, better to focus on swapping regulators for start 😉
Thank you for the suggestions. I'll go with Nichicon KW then. Unfortunately, I was not able to find Panasonic's FM 4700uf 25v capacitors, so I guess I'll stick with EEU-FCs for the digital section.
By the way, could you please provide a link to the TXCO oscillator that you used in your DAC?
By the way, could you please provide a link to the TXCO oscillator that you used in your DAC?
Why would you choose that osc? No information about its performance on that page. Play Lotto much?
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//
I am having a weird issue with this DAC and was wondering if somebody had any suggestions. Sometimes the DAC acts as if there is no sound coming from the computer (i.e. the display reads "show DAC" instead of "PCM: 192K LOCK") in the middle of 30+ minute long Skype calls. The only way to get the sound back is to either reset the power or cycle through the DAC's inputs (USB->Optical->Coaxial->USB).
Does anyone have any suggestions?
P.S. While I am not sure exactly what could be the reason for such behavior, I doubt that this is an issue with Skype or my computer since I've never run into this problem with any of my other DACs.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
P.S. While I am not sure exactly what could be the reason for such behavior, I doubt that this is an issue with Skype or my computer since I've never run into this problem with any of my other DACs.
I would like to thank the original poster again for creating this thread and sharing his modifications.
Here is the list of modifications that I've done:
1. Added ground cable.
2. Modified the CM6631A USB board to take power from an external power source instead of USB:
I used LM7805 to step down +9V from the transformer to +5V. I then disconnected the +5V connector from the USB board and used the +5V out from LM7805 to power the said board.
This particular modification seems to have eliminated the audio problems that I was previously having with this DAC.
3. Replaced the 12.288mhz oscillator with a 12.000000mhz one by Allen-Bradley.
4. Replaced six 25V 2200uf capacitors with United Chemi-Con EKYB250ELL822MMP1S (25V 8200uF).
5. Replaced three 16V 1500uf capacitors with Panasonic EEU-FR1C472L (16V 4700uF).
6. Added a few ceramic capacitors in parallel.
So far, I am really enjoying the sound of this DAC. It clearly beats my oldish Creative X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB sound card. I also like the fact that it has optical and coaxial inputs, which can be very handy.
P.S. The pictures are attached.
Here is the list of modifications that I've done:
1. Added ground cable.
2. Modified the CM6631A USB board to take power from an external power source instead of USB:
I used LM7805 to step down +9V from the transformer to +5V. I then disconnected the +5V connector from the USB board and used the +5V out from LM7805 to power the said board.
This particular modification seems to have eliminated the audio problems that I was previously having with this DAC.
3. Replaced the 12.288mhz oscillator with a 12.000000mhz one by Allen-Bradley.
4. Replaced six 25V 2200uf capacitors with United Chemi-Con EKYB250ELL822MMP1S (25V 8200uF).
5. Replaced three 16V 1500uf capacitors with Panasonic EEU-FR1C472L (16V 4700uF).
6. Added a few ceramic capacitors in parallel.
So far, I am really enjoying the sound of this DAC. It clearly beats my oldish Creative X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB sound card. I also like the fact that it has optical and coaxial inputs, which can be very handy.
P.S. The pictures are attached.
Attachments
I recently bought lots of cheap, quality electronic devices from Taobao using a Taobao buying agent called Superbuy. Superbuy has no service fee, and the customer servers are professional and I can well communicate with them. To be honest, Superbuy customer service is one of the few that do not make me mad. On a negative side, Superbuy’s shipping fee is relatively expensive especially the China domestic delivery rate.
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