Diy China Dac kits

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Goodday,

I am surfing the net in journey for diy dac kit's.

I have found the following:
http://cgi.ebay.com/LITE-Hi-End-Bal...Z3280QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262
This one looks pretty nice to me. As i found trough google the PCM1704 chip is a good chip.

Also i found this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/UPGRADED-24bit-...82628243QQihZ008QQcategoryZ3272QQcmdZViewItem
Looks very nice also; much cheaper but no chassis, remote etc.

I don't have very much knowledge regarding DAC chips etc. so i don't say from my own opinion how good the DAC's preform.

I am looking for a clean, detailed dac that doens't use tubes. So if anyone has any suggestions for another kit I would like to hear that. Also I would like to have your experts opinion!

Thanks in advance,
Best regards,
Fokko Driesprong
 
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Not Chinese, but you might want to take a look at the dac kits offered by Twisted Pear Audio here: http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/news.aspx (Amesbury MA, USA)

I bought a couple of blank COD boards, a single blank IVY I/V board and built them from scratch with mods, and an assembled SPDIF receiver with the Wolfson WM8804. It's by far the best sounding dac I have owned so far. (Zhaolu 2.5A, Assemblage 1.0, PSA Ultralink II)
 
Before buying a DIY DAC, or any used DAC, you need to think about how you will be using it. Most of these DIY kits and used DAC's from the 90's that have been upgraded can not do 24bits. My sat receiver requires a 24bit DAC when viewing HD channels. Switching the reciever into PCM mode won't work. These DIY dac's and upgraded DAC's from the 90's are fine if yo just need something for CD use.
 
Heres the spec's on the pcm2704 chip. note that it does not support 96khz and above and is only 16 bits. For example, This won't work on my media server or my SAT reciever.

////////////////////////////////////////////
* On-Chip USB Interface:
o With Full-Speed Transceivers
o Fully Compliant With USB 1.1 Specification
o Certified by USB-IF
o Partially Programmable Descriptors
o Adaptive Isochronous Transfer for Playback
o Bus-Powered or Self-Powered Operation
* Sampling Rate: 32, 44.1, 48 kHz
* On-Chip Clock Generator: Single 12-MHz Clock Source
* Single Power Supply:
o Bus-Powered: 5 V, Typical (VBUS)
o Self-Powered: 3.3 V, Typical
* 16-Bit Delta-Sigma Stereo DAC
o Analog Performance at 5 V (Bus), 3.3 V (Self):
+ THD+N: 0.006% (RL > 10 k, Self-Powered)
+ THD+N: 0.025% (RL = 32 )
+ SNR: 98 dB
+ Dynamic Range: 98 dB
+ PO: 12 mW (RL = 32 )
o Oversampling Digital Filter
+ Pass-Band Ripple: ±0.04 dB
+ Stop-Band Attenuation: -50 dB
o Single-Ended Voltage Output
o Analog LPF Included
* Multiple Functions:
o Up to Eight Human Interface Device (HID) Interfaces (Depending on Model and Settings)
o Suspend Flag
o S/PDIF Out With SCMS
o External ROM Interface (PCM2704/6)
o Serial Programming Interface (PCM2705/7)
o I2S Interface (Selectable on PCM2706/7)
* Package:
o Lead-Free Product
o 28-Pin SSOP (PCM2704/5)
o 32-Pin TQFP (PCM2706/7)
 
Many of the cheaper DAC's will not work at above 16/48. I've been looking for a USB to SPDIF converter that can do this well for ages. There are a few options that use their own drivers, but most of these are not "Hi-Fi". Many will have high jitter. The Lusiland Lilo III seemed very promising, till I heard it's SPDIF section is one of the worst chips for introducing Jitter.

However, for CD playback from a PC, I have the HagUsb, which is good. I think the NIE USB DAC on Ebay will be similar? It is so cheap, I'm tempted to try it out.

If Musiland had used a different SPDIF chip, it would have been exactly what I was looking for. May be they will make a better model in ther future?
 
I bought one of the Zero 24/192 dacs with h/phone amp...

Ebay Tianyun Zero dac

There's a massive thread on Head-Fi all about this unit. The general consensus is that it is a great dac for the money and the h/phone amp is an added bonus (not up to the standard of more expensive valve h/phone amps but a big improvement over standard h/phone outputs on CD players and amps).

The nice thing is that the opamps can be easily swapped out so the sound can be tailored to suit. I've changed the opamps on mine to OPA627 in the dac and LM4562 in the h/phone amp.

The unit can be used as a standalone dac, dac preamp or dac h/phone amp.

I've only used the h/phone amp output so far but there's no doubt that the unit is great for the money.
 
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