Usb Dacs

[bjackson]

Any suggestions for a USB DAC for under $150 (preferably less, but willing to pay up to 150 for quality).

Right now I am using the DAC in my Onkyo 501 reciever, and I payed 250 for it, so I figure that for 150 I should be able to get a DAC that sounds much better than it, if not less.

Also, the power supply doesn't need to be considered in this price too much, as long as it can run off of a standard DC supply since this will be part of a larger project.

[tifosi_f1]

Personally speaking I have made Markku Pöysti's excellent PCM2902 based USB Dac here: http://hepso.dna.fi/misc/pcm2902/PCM2902_usb_dac.html

I have this hooked up to my gainclone and the sound is very clean with no noise from the PC at all. I Got the PCM2902 / Regulator samples free from TI and overall it didn't cost me much more than £30 for the whole thing.

If you want to improve on that even further, the PCM2902 has a s/pdif output which can be fed to a receiver and then to a TDA1541 or TDA1543 dac for example.

[bjackson]

I am not very versed in designing my own circuits (although, I think I am skilled enough to assemble them), so is there any predone plans/kit that already is outputted to another higher quality DAC?

[tifosi_f1]

Don't worry I'm the same, I can handle making my own circuit boards and soldering stuff together but the design is somewhat beyond me.

Take a look at MWP's website: http://www.overclockers.com.au/~mwp/dac3/

He made something similar to what you're after and there are plans on his site (I think)

[paologatto]

Originally posted by bjackson
Any suggestions for a USB DAC for under $150 (preferably less, but willing to pay up to 150 for quality).

Right now I am using the DAC in my Onkyo 501 reciever, and I payed 250 for it, so I figure that for 150 I should be able to get a DAC that sounds much better than it, if not less.

Also, the power supply doesn't need to be considered in this price too much, as long as it can run off of a standard DC supply since this will be part of a larger project.

A ready and assembled soundcard based on the PCM2906 and OPA2353 input and output buffers is here:

http://purebits.com/usbsoundcards.html

If you are interested, contact me privately.

In other threads of this forum there are also pictures of the inside..

Bye,
Paolo