DIY Dac PCB's

pjpoes · 18th February 2005, 12:03 AM

I am looking for a place with a DIY DAC design of sorts and also has PCB's available, if possible. I swear I saw a sight once that had what I was looking for, but now I cant find it, anyone know of any?

Also, are there any DIY all discrete Dac designs. I think I have seen latter dac systems implemented in a complicated fully discrete manner, and always wanted to try one.

KT · 18th February 2005, 02:05 PM

Here's one site that offers boards, kits, and fully built units.

http://www.scott-nixon.com/dac.htm

I've built the DacKit and I enjoy it very much. I'm in the process of building a TubeDac+, too.

The kit is an incredible value. Great stuff!

KT

pjpoes · 18th February 2005, 04:39 PM

I may be writting this unit off too much, it looked overly simplistic and used lower quality dacs. Honostly I dont know too much about Dac design, but I was hoping for something more. Infact, I would love a design for a dac that would allow complete replacement inside my universal player, so it could decode all formats. But even if not, the DAC it has to be better than is pretty good. I own an Audio Alchemy DDE V3.0 of which I have replaced and upgraded every passive component. I also upgraded the power supply to one that uses better quality parts, more capacitance, better regulation, and a bigger transformer. However as of late I have not been happy with the sound and thought that, rather than spend a lot of money on a new DAC of so so quality, I might be able to build one of much better quality. If I find nothing I like better, I will go that route.

I wish that Sound Board guy, who mounts his stuff on wood blocks, would offer his designs up as DIY designs and sell PCB's, I like his DAC designs.

threefff · 30th March 2005, 09:58 AM

Hey Pjpoes,

have you ever come across this one:
http://www.quadesl.com/dac.shtml

This guy hase published a dac in Positive Feedback Magazine (Vol. 5 #1, Vol. 5 #3) and has developed one high end dac too.

The design seems somewhat old and the chips seem hard to get, however.

Cheers
Thomas

pjpoes · 31st March 2005, 12:52 PM

I have not seen that one and I will look into it. Old always bothers me for two reasons. One is that the parts become hard to get, but my second problem is that usually old Digital is not a good thing. It seems to be my experience that unlike most analogue formats that hit their peak quite a while ago, Digital is still struggling to find its own. Digital did not start out the best, and has not been the best yet, still trying to find the decoding type and style that will give it the ultimate in performance. The result is that every new generation actually seems to offer improvements in sound, more so than you see with say, record players. THe Best from 1990 for instance would struggle to compete with the average of today. That's not true of Record players, preamplifiers, amplifiers, etc. Its a big part of why I wanted to build my own, I figured I might be able to get a somewhat modern design, but also be able to use the best parts in the output stage, as that seems to influence sound a great deal. I figured it might please me longer than other's have.

Thanks anyway though, and I will look into it.

pooge · 31st March 2005, 02:48 PM

have you looked at the Rakk Dac?

Rakk Dac

pjpoes · 31st March 2005, 03:38 PM

Thanks, yeah I have seen that, but I suppose I was looking for one that wasnt quite as expensive to build. I am seriously considering that one, as it seems to be very good. The modular nature of the kits they offer have always confused me, I am never sure exactly what is needed and what isnt with them, and so getting a handle on total cost can be hard. It looks like it would be an easy 500 dollars or more. I like the look of the design though. Anyone know if the CS8416 has the ability to upsample, I thought that was the chip I kepr reading about as bing used as an upsampler in various products. Maybe its a different one, anyway, not a big deal.

I have to say, I would love a DAC kit that had the ability to decode CD, DVD, SACD, DVD-A, etc all in one unit, and do it better than anything. I have no idea how, but if I could then hook it up to my Pioneer DV-45Ai, I have to imagine it would improve the sound far past my liking for all those formats.

Guido Tent · 31st March 2005, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pjpoes
I am looking for a place with a DIY DAC design of sorts and also has PCB's available, if possible. I swear I saw a sight once that had what I was looking for, but now I cant find it, anyone know of any?

Also, are there any DIY all discrete Dac designs. I think I have seen latter dac systems implemented in a complicated fully discrete manner, and always wanted to try one.

http://members.chello.nl/~m.heijlige...tml/dactop.htm

pjpoes · 1st April 2005, 01:04 AM

I liked the design, but the cost seemed high. I thought I heard someone mention it was about 700-800 to build, not sure Im ready to jump into that. If you know it can be built decently for less, that would be cool. It may be that I am trying for the impossible here.

warren o · 1st April 2005, 02:10 AM

Good info here, thanks!

18th February 2005, 02:05 PM	#2
KT diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: USA	Scott Nixon DacKits Here's one site that offers boards, kits, and fully built units. http://www.scott-nixon.com/dac.htm I've built the DacKit and I enjoy it very much. I'm in the process of building a TubeDac+, too. The kit is an incredible value. Great stuff! KT

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18th February 2005, 12:03 AM	#1
pjpoes diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New York	DIY Dac PCB's I am looking for a place with a DIY DAC design of sorts and also has PCB's available, if possible. I swear I saw a sight once that had what I was looking for, but now I cant find it, anyone know of any? Also, are there any DIY all discrete Dac designs. I think I have seen latter dac systems implemented in a complicated fully discrete manner, and always wanted to try one.

18th February 2005, 04:39 PM	#3
pjpoes diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New York	I may be writting this unit off too much, it looked overly simplistic and used lower quality dacs. Honostly I dont know too much about Dac design, but I was hoping for something more. Infact, I would love a design for a dac that would allow complete replacement inside my universal player, so it could decode all formats. But even if not, the DAC it has to be better than is pretty good. I own an Audio Alchemy DDE V3.0 of which I have replaced and upgraded every passive component. I also upgraded the power supply to one that uses better quality parts, more capacitance, better regulation, and a bigger transformer. However as of late I have not been happy with the sound and thought that, rather than spend a lot of money on a new DAC of so so quality, I might be able to build one of much better quality. If I find nothing I like better, I will go that route. I wish that Sound Board guy, who mounts his stuff on wood blocks, would offer his designs up as DIY designs and sell PCB's, I like his DAC designs.

30th March 2005, 09:58 AM	#4
threefff diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Rhein Area of Germany	Hey Pjpoes, have you ever come across this one: http://www.quadesl.com/dac.shtml This guy hase published a dac in Positive Feedback Magazine (Vol. 5 #1, Vol. 5 #3) and has developed one high end dac too. The design seems somewhat old and the chips seem hard to get, however. Cheers Thomas

31st March 2005, 12:52 PM	#5
pjpoes diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New York	I have not seen that one and I will look into it. Old always bothers me for two reasons. One is that the parts become hard to get, but my second problem is that usually old Digital is not a good thing. It seems to be my experience that unlike most analogue formats that hit their peak quite a while ago, Digital is still struggling to find its own. Digital did not start out the best, and has not been the best yet, still trying to find the decoding type and style that will give it the ultimate in performance. The result is that every new generation actually seems to offer improvements in sound, more so than you see with say, record players. THe Best from 1990 for instance would struggle to compete with the average of today. That's not true of Record players, preamplifiers, amplifiers, etc. Its a big part of why I wanted to build my own, I figured I might be able to get a somewhat modern design, but also be able to use the best parts in the output stage, as that seems to influence sound a great deal. I figured it might please me longer than other's have. Thanks anyway though, and I will look into it.

31st March 2005, 02:48 PM	#6
pooge diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Northern Va.	have you looked at the Rakk Dac? Rakk Dac

31st March 2005, 03:38 PM	#7
pjpoes diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New York	Thanks, yeah I have seen that, but I suppose I was looking for one that wasnt quite as expensive to build. I am seriously considering that one, as it seems to be very good. The modular nature of the kits they offer have always confused me, I am never sure exactly what is needed and what isnt with them, and so getting a handle on total cost can be hard. It looks like it would be an easy 500 dollars or more. I like the look of the design though. Anyone know if the CS8416 has the ability to upsample, I thought that was the chip I kepr reading about as bing used as an upsampler in various products. Maybe its a different one, anyway, not a big deal. I have to say, I would love a DAC kit that had the ability to decode CD, DVD, SACD, DVD-A, etc all in one unit, and do it better than anything. I have no idea how, but if I could then hook it up to my Pioneer DV-45Ai, I have to imagine it would improve the sound far past my liking for all those formats.

1st April 2005, 01:04 AM	#9
pjpoes diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New York	I liked the design, but the cost seemed high. I thought I heard someone mention it was about 700-800 to build, not sure Im ready to jump into that. If you know it can be built decently for less, that would be cool. It may be that I am trying for the impossible here.

1st April 2005, 02:10 AM	#10
warren o diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Northeast PA	Good info here, thanks!

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