raindrop hui DAC kits, good?

[50AE]

I'm looking to buy a good USB DAC in the 80-160$ USD range, that is DIY friendly and upgradable. I might buy for it a Wave IO board in the future.

I found out the raindrop hui's dac, are they good for the money?

For example The WM8005 / 8xTDA1543 - DAC TDA1543 8 0U WM8805 DAC Kit | eBay

Or this: DAC TDA1541 WM8805 1 0UI Multi Input | eBay

Or something else from another seller?

The most important I want from the DAC to deliver is musicality! Stage and dynamics, the presence of music in my room and naturalism. If needed, details could be sacrificed a bit.

 

[Stixx]

Have you searched Diyaudio?
There must be many threads and comments about raindrop's stuff...

 

[abraxalito]

I've had experience of one or two - in general, no not musical as supplied but have decent components and can be redeemed with modding - grounding and power supply improvements in the main. As to whether they're good for the money - yeah they are. But for little money don't expect great sound.

 

[JLOP]

Hi Abraxalto, i use the AD1865 NOS SRRP from Raindrop after my WaveIO board and have to say I am very very pleased with sonics and build.
See websites from PTSoundlab and Lampizator for tweaks. It should be possible to connect bot boards via I2S but a little bit tricky ( left or right justified words).
Jean-Louis

 

[abraxalito]

As to whether they're good for the money - yeah they are.

I've just seen this thread : http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/212416-8x-tda1543-wm8805-dac-taobao-ebay-soon.html so would like to take back my recommendation of Raindrop Hui's boards. It seems the PCB material has been changed since I bought mine to something cheaper and almost unmoddable. Avoid any Raindrop Hui boards with white PCBs.