I thought I'd share a photos of my dac...in progress.
Just waiting for case...
Mostly diyinhk stuff here, ultra low +/- 12/15v supply for the discrete op amp (sparkos labs dual), 3.5/5v ultra low to power the ak4490 dac, and HiFimeDIY i2s/DSD Isolator. DAC power transformer picked up on ebay!
HDMI input will be supplied by my Gustard u12.
That's it for now.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Just waiting for case...
Mostly diyinhk stuff here, ultra low +/- 12/15v supply for the discrete op amp (sparkos labs dual), 3.5/5v ultra low to power the ak4490 dac, and HiFimeDIY i2s/DSD Isolator. DAC power transformer picked up on ebay!
HDMI input will be supplied by my Gustard u12.
That's it for now.
Im following. Got also Sparkos dual op-amp and it lifted ebay wolfson dac to next level. My Gustard unfortunately had to go back to warranty check due to constant freezing. When it worked it was great: like relaxed but still detailed sound.
AKM AK4490 -- a Delta-Sigma sorority queen?
The "new" ~$5.00/ea. AKM AK4490 DAC chip is interesting.
More info from the official AKM site is here:
AK4490EQ--AKM - Asahi Kasei Microdevices
"High-end" headphone DAC/amps (TEAC) and Astell&Kern's latest $3k model 380 DAP are among the heavy-hitters using this chip (or two, dual-mono / diff. arrangement in the A&K?).
An eBay seller lists this "Assembled AK4490EQ II2S DAC board support 32BIT 768K decoder" for $30 (no tax and free Ship):
Hmmm ... wonder how this compares to the TDA1387 parallel DAC some (here on DIYA, I'm afraid) have been so ... uh ... cultish about.
Anyway, back to this chip and the kit-board eBay offering from China. They seem like easy, drop-in devices (PS, I2S, output) for CD player mods. Would be interesting if some of you multi-bit fanatics would succumb to breaking out your treasured NOS TDA1541A DACs, or Philips CD-650 ... throw in one of these boyz ... and report back results.
AKM seems like an honest company--one with a respectable history in audio, and genuinely interested in "2-CH premium DACs".
AKM, like AD, ESS, Crystal, TI [it's certain these mega-corporations are aware of the subjective criticisms/debates of classic multi-bit vs. delta-sigma.], could have invested in pure multi-bit R2R topology, and made it cost-effective ... but they stuck with Delta-Sigma.
Delta-freakin'-Sigma
Delta-Sigma
Implementation usually triumphs DAC architecture. Or did you forget about the Counterpoint DA-10 with swappable DAC modules?
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Delta-Sigma rules ... so time to join the sorority gurlz...
The "new" ~$5.00/ea. AKM AK4490 DAC chip is interesting.
More info from the official AKM site is here:
AK4490EQ--AKM - Asahi Kasei Microdevices
"High-end" headphone DAC/amps (TEAC) and Astell&Kern's latest $3k model 380 DAP are among the heavy-hitters using this chip (or two, dual-mono / diff. arrangement in the A&K?).
An eBay seller lists this "Assembled AK4490EQ II2S DAC board support 32BIT 768K decoder" for $30 (no tax and free Ship):
Hmmm ... wonder how this compares to the TDA1387 parallel DAC some (here on DIYA, I'm afraid) have been so ... uh ... cultish about.
Anyway, back to this chip and the kit-board eBay offering from China. They seem like easy, drop-in devices (PS, I2S, output) for CD player mods. Would be interesting if some of you multi-bit fanatics would succumb to breaking out your treasured NOS TDA1541A DACs, or Philips CD-650 ... throw in one of these boyz ... and report back results.
AKM seems like an honest company--one with a respectable history in audio, and genuinely interested in "2-CH premium DACs".
AKM, like AD, ESS, Crystal, TI [it's certain these mega-corporations are aware of the subjective criticisms/debates of classic multi-bit vs. delta-sigma.], could have invested in pure multi-bit R2R topology, and made it cost-effective ... but they stuck with Delta-Sigma.
Delta-freakin'-Sigma
Delta-Sigma
Implementation usually triumphs DAC architecture. Or did you forget about the Counterpoint DA-10 with swappable DAC modules?
Delta-Sigma rules ... so time to join the sorority gurlz...
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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Hollowman,
The AK4490 from Ebay I bought one myself, I suggest you give it a pass. It has very smooth performance/sound maybe a little more detail, that's all nothing spectacular from this DAC chip.
I still prefer my AK4396 over this AK4490. Both were fed from the same XMOS adapter and playing mainly CD resolution tracks, i.e. at 16bit 44.1Khz.
The AK4490 from Ebay I bought one myself, I suggest you give it a pass. It has very smooth performance/sound maybe a little more detail, that's all nothing spectacular from this DAC chip.
I still prefer my AK4396 over this AK4490. Both were fed from the same XMOS adapter and playing mainly CD resolution tracks, i.e. at 16bit 44.1Khz.
more progress...
Got the case for it, it's partially hooked up. Need to connect the i2s to the dac and the jacks to the dac.
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.
Got the case for it, it's partially hooked up. Need to connect the i2s to the dac and the jacks to the dac.
There's a reason for that. Look into the matching required to get beyond 10-11 bits of precision out of a resistor ladder and it quickly becomes apparent why delta-sigma is used in precision DACs. It's not that the manufacturers won't develop precision processes. It's that they're up against a pretty hard wall of physics.
Tom
The "new" ~$5.00/ea. AKM AK4490 DAC chip is interesting.
More info from the official AKM site is here:
AK4490EQ--AKM - Asahi Kasei Microdevices
"High-end" headphone DAC/amps (TEAC) and Astell&Kern's latest $3k model 380 DAP are among the heavy-hitters using this chip (or two, dual-mono / diff. arrangement in the A&K?).
An eBay seller lists this "Assembled AK4490EQ II2S DAC board support 32BIT 768K decoder" for $30 (no tax and free Ship):
Hmmm ... wonder how this compares to the TDA1387 parallel DAC some (here on DIYA, I'm afraid) have been so ... uh ... cultish about.
Anyway, back to this chip and the kit-board eBay offering from China. They seem like easy, drop-in devices (PS, I2S, output) for CD player mods. Would be interesting if some of you multi-bit fanatics would succumb to breaking out your treasured NOS TDA1541A DACs, or Philips CD-650 ... throw in one of these boyz ... and report back results.
AKM seems like an honest company--one with a respectable history in audio, and genuinely interested in "2-CH premium DACs".
AKM, like AD, ESS, Crystal, TI [it's certain these mega-corporations are aware of the subjective criticisms/debates of classic multi-bit vs. delta-sigma.], could have invested in pure multi-bit R2R topology, and made it cost-effective ... but they stuck with Delta-Sigma.
Delta-freakin'-Sigma
Delta-Sigma
Implementation usually triumphs DAC architecture. Or did you forget about the Counterpoint DA-10 with swappable DAC modules?
Delta-Sigma rules ... so time to join the sorority gurlz...
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Was it the dac with the industrial dac chips 20 bits modules with Black Gates around ? Was said to sound very good !
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