Top-notch DAC.

[Hajime]

Hello there,

I am new to the forums and I have been reading through threads for hours! I'd like to build a DAC that will match the performance of the very best out there and I'd like recommendations on what designs to look at. I'm open to all types of designs. The non-oversampling DACs seem to be the most popular right now and they appear very interesting. I'm also interested in upsampling DACs. My parts budget is ~$900. Please give me any recommendations you can, thank you all for your time.

[zygibajt]

1.Thorsten Adagio DAC.
2.Juka Tolonen DAC (sorry if I spelt the name incorrect).
2.Guido Tent Hi-End DAC.
3.Sheldon Stokes PCM 63 tube DAC.
3.Maybe Pedja TDA1541A DAC which is still i progress I guess.

These are the ones I think of ,but I'm sure there are others ,just don't remember now.

[kittaylor]

I really like the Peter Daniel 3D dac, which can be built for less than $100. It just makes a decent sound with no obvious problems, which is more than can be said of some expensive commercial players

It's simplicity makes it easy to tune to taste with different types of cap and resistors. I think this suck it and see approach, rather than a slam dunk technical solution that beats all the rest, is the key to long term enjoyment.

For your pleasure, here are my experimentations:

http://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showt...&threadid=4869

[Peter Daniel]

I'm glad you like it, it is also my favourite DAC. I was only experimenting with TDA1543 so far, but the results are so good, that I don't feel any need to explore TDA1541 teritory. What you see there, consists a year of research and experimentation. I have plans to release PCB version of that DAC (AC powered) and the protoype can be seen in this thread: The ultimate TDA1543 DAC layout??

[Hajime]

Thank you for your suggestions, I will read up on all of these DACs.

[scottnixon]

Here's my contribution to the blatent spam of this forum www.scott-nixon.com

[Peter Daniel]

Well Scott, it seems like you feel neglected in some ways. Be assured it's not the case. In past I received some e-mails asking about the DAC, and since mine is not ready yet, I was always giving this link: www.scott-nixon.com for people to try

[zygibajt]

Here's my contribution to the blatent spam of this forum www.scott-nixon.com

As far as I know you don't show any schematics on your site,hence those are not DIY DACs.

You sell kits and one have to buy at least PCB to know the insights.

If I'm correct all DACs I pointed are purely DIY projects with schematics posted on each website.Sometimes they offer the chance of buying PCB or some chips ,but one doesn't have to buy anything to know the insights (schematics),and build the DAC.

I belive your designs are excellent but there are many others selling the kits.
This is DIY Audio forum.

Please , correct me if I'm wrong

Bartek

[scottnixon]

You can buy a bare pcb which comes with schematic and stuffing guide.
Or get a full set of parts at the pcb level. It's a decent starting point as a standalone dac and is expandable. If it's not what you want to build, that's okay too. Just poking holes in the sea of spam here at good ol'diyaudio.

[roddyama]

Originally posted by scottnixon
You can buy a bare pcb which comes with schematic and stuffing guide.
Or get a full set of parts at the pcb level. It's a decent starting point as a standalone dac and is expandable. If it's not what you want to build, that's okay too. Just poking holes in the sea of spam here at good ol'diyaudio.

Scott,

If you go to Peter's site, you'll see that he doesn't have a DAC for sale, kit or boards.

You should also know that you are welcome to post a link to your web site or put it in your signature. We provide a button for that purpose as well. As long as you don't have anything illegal on your site and you don't try to sell your products on the forum.