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AK4490 USB Dac with dsd support.

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vitalica

vitalica

Member
Joined 2005
sonnya said:
I am writing because i want to build up some stock so that we can ship immediately.

Besides of two deliveries more this week. I would like to hear how many has been thinking about ordering DAC's? And there is no binding.

They are only very expensive to make. So my thought was to stock between 10 and 20 DAC's.

As said it is not binding at all. It is only a weather forecast.

BR

Sonny
Click to expand...


Hi Sonny ,

I thought and decided i buy a DAC V1.2 (Without shield) + simple frontpanel. How long would it be available?

Thank you.
 
J

Joseph K

Member
Joined 2004
Hi.. just wanted to drop by and confirm that with the latest firmware the Mirand V 1.2 board does work in DSD256 (native, in my case). It just works as right as the old one did. (that is, very good) There are some little features still left, but finally I could have a close listen, in the right format..
Ok, I could not resist but also did a little mod too. Also removed the DC-DC converter, already long time ago. Have applied an extra supply for that.
And as always caution is needed about the right power supply configuration.

But these are all basic requirements anyway.

Put this way, this dac sounds exceptionally good. Phenomenal, to put it mildly..

Very well done, congratulations, Sonny!

George
 
G

Grunnet

Member
Joined 2016
Fine tuning the DAC

Hi. I have now used Sonnys DAC for almost 6 months, and want to share some experience. I use it exclusively for CDs (thats all I have) and mostly for classical music, so there may be a bias in favour of the troublesome upper tremble performance.
I have found Panasonic capacitors in the PSU and a filter setting of F1 to work best, especially with my new regulator. There I have installed a fantastic voltage regulator(mk2) from DEXA Newclassd, cost 32 euro (available at Hificollective). DEXA will at no extra cost make a +5.5V regulator for the digital power supply. I have only added the new regulator for the 5.5V digital supply, nor for the 15V analog supply. But with the effect being so good I may do the same for the analog later. Changes after adding one regulater are a little hard to describe, but it has given a dead quiet background , which in turn has made the music stand out and the recording room easy to define. i recommend the iinvestment highly.
(Sorry for the unstructured language, but I got carried away)
 
pinnocchio

pinnocchio

Member
Joined 2010
quebecdiy.forumactif.com/
I guess I'm falling into ignorance here from my previous post but anyways...

Having played with Sonny's DAC, all output stages and his preamplifier I wanted to give my impressions regarding his latest creation output stage, the discrete op-amp version.

First I'd like to say big thank you to Sonny for supporting the DIY community. Since he's already very involved with the commercial side of his business, the fact that he share his goods with us and at a very affordable pricing is extremely welcome. Thanks Sonny!

My journey with this DAC started with the very first iteration, which I still own and use but now with the latest OPS. There was quite a good jump from the op-amp chips OPS and the first discrete OPS that was released and I wrote my review about this in the thread. I was also very skeptic that this new OPS would be even greater, I mean... Sure I thought there would be some improvement but I was expecting something very small over the previous discrete OPS. I was actually in for an unexpected good treat!

What I did to compare both OPS was the following:
1- all equipment in the chain remained the same except for change of OPS.
2- Measured the output voltage of both OPS
3- Played a 1K sine wave and adjusted volume level so both sources matched
4- Played exactly the same music tracks
5- Tracks are all rendered through Roon audio and converted to DSD256 and played through
the Mirand DAC natively (no DoP)

Equipment used:
- USSA 5 Class A amplifier
- Mirand Audio Preamplifier
- Mirand Audio DAC
- Roon Audio music server
- Roon Bridge on Pi 3, powered by AMB Sigma 11
- Troels Gravesen ATS-4 speakers, bi-cabling
- DH-Labs Signature Q10 speaker cable
- The Link Interconnect between amplifier and preamplifier

Music tracks used:
- Jorane, Battayum II (16mm) - 16/44.1
- Jorane, Helo (16mm) - 16/44.1
- Jen Chapin, You haven't Done Nothin' (Revisions : The songs of Stevie Wonder) - 24/192
- Vanessa Fernandez, Here But I'm Gone (Use Me) - 24/48
- Yamina, Do Nothin till you hear from me (Love Letters EP) - DSD 128

I'm not going to post graph since it is a subjective review and not an objective one. So I guess a question of personal taste.

Jorane, Battayum II - I've done a few reviews for amplifiers and preamplifiers and I usually use the same tracks since I know them very well. This track is actually a very complex track and a challenge to render on many systems, especially near the middle of the song, where so many instruments join in. This is where I've heard many times the render becoming unbearable to listen to, even on high end commercial systems.

At the beginning of the song, you can really feel the scene surrounding you, as if you are part of it, not in front of it, this is how it was intended to be displayed. At the beginning only a handful of instruments are playing and as the song advance, more and more instruments join in, to a point where there are so many that you really have to replay the song many times to capture all the nuances. Once you know you can really enjoy it to its potential. If I have to compare to the previous OPS, which was already outstanding, this new OPS adds a lot to the scene which seems to be very large and deep but now adds a bit more details and manages to keep its musicality so you don't focus just on this. I've noticed that in the complex passages, there's even a hint more air in between instruments, which also seem to display them in real proportions and positions, makes the scene very palpable.

Jorane, Hello - This song has a lot of micro details and so much fun to listen to. In the first few seconds you will feel the scene, subtle voice coming from the upper left corner almost as floating, a microphone gain being brought up, someone breathing faintly and sound of lips. All fun details! Percussion were brought up with proper timbre and proper size, never exaggerated. The snap of fingers on the cello had more impact and could be felt and dynamics were definitely better.

Jen Chapin, You haven't Done Nothin' (Revisions : The songs of Stevie Wonder) - Not a fan of the album but love the jazzy side and how Chapin remade Stevie Wonder songs for her album. This particular song I use because it make use of saxophone which I find very pleasing and meaty when played at lower octaves. This is exactly what has been done on this song. Saxophone is also very well recorded and standing on the utmost left side of the scene, basically on the left side of the left speaker, a good foot, foot and a half beside! The timbre is right on the money a tad more convincing and little more meatier on the new OPS, more enjoyable to my ears. Jen's voice seem to be unchanged but presented a bit higher to a more realist height but nothing that would make you go hmmm...

Vanessa Fernandez, Here But I'm Gone (Use Me) - Here's a very well recorded studio album from an artist I recently discovered reading a music article from the web. It is actually one good example of well positioned mics at proper recording levels, someone knew what he/she was doing. Strangely enough, the scene seems to be recorded in a very shy way, meaning narrower than other recordings (mainly staying between the speakers) but not with less care. The song presents very nice dynamics, punchy bass. This is an area were this new OPS seems to shine over the previous one and presents a superb control, well noticed. Talking about dynamics, give a listen to the album 11:11 from Rodrigo y Gabriela and you will hear what I mean! Vanessa's voice is very nicely recorded with no echo just her nude voice, plain and simple but very effective. I love the light raspy "softened" tone of her voice.

Yamina, Do Nothin till you hear from me (Love Letters EP) - This recording was recorded directly to DSD and I bought the DSD128 album version. I don't know if is because of how it was recorded but the background is really black, very silent. Again some details you'll hear is the piano pedals sound, which can clearly be heard. Piano timbre is just spot on and decay is so natural, very similar to the previous OPS but more natural on the decay side. If you're used to a real piano you will immediately notice it.

To sum it all up, this newer OPS from Mirand is just a must if you own their DAC. I was skeptical at first, now I'm a believer!

Do
 
pistollero

pistollero

Member
Joined 2016
pinnocchio said:
I guess I'm falling into ignorance here from my previous post but anyways...

Having played with Sonny's DAC, all output stages and his preamplifier I wanted to give my impressions regarding his latest creation output stage, the discrete op-amp version.

First I'd like to say big thank you to Sonny for supporting the DIY community. Since he's already very involved with the commercial side of his business, the fact that he share his goods with us and at a very affordable pricing is extremely welcome. Thanks Sonny!

My journey with this DAC started with the very first iteration, which I still own and use but now with the latest OPS. There was quite a good jump from the op-amp chips OPS and the first discrete OPS that was released and I wrote my review about this in the thread. I was also very skeptic that this new OPS would be even greater, I mean... Sure I thought there would be some improvement but I was expecting something very small over the previous discrete OPS. I was actually in for an unexpected good treat!

What I did to compare both OPS was the following:
1- all equipment in the chain remained the same except for change of OPS.
2- Measured the output voltage of both OPS
3- Played a 1K sine wave and adjusted volume level so both sources matched
4- Played exactly the same music tracks
5- Tracks are all rendered through Roon audio and converted to DSD256 and played through
the Mirand DAC natively (no DoP)

Equipment used:
- USSA 5 Class A amplifier
- Mirand Audio Preamplifier
- Mirand Audio DAC
- Roon Audio music server
- Roon Bridge on Pi 3, powered by AMB Sigma 11
- Troels Gravesen ATS-4 speakers, bi-cabling
- DH-Labs Signature Q10 speaker cable
- The Link Interconnect between amplifier and preamplifier

Music tracks used:
- Jorane, Battayum II (16mm) - 16/44.1
- Jorane, Helo (16mm) - 16/44.1
- Jen Chapin, You haven't Done Nothin' (Revisions : The songs of Stevie Wonder) - 24/192
- Vanessa Fernandez, Here But I'm Gone (Use Me) - 24/48
- Yamina, Do Nothin till you hear from me (Love Letters EP) - DSD 128

I'm not going to post graph since it is a subjective review and not an objective one. So I guess a question of personal taste.

Jorane, Battayum II - I've done a few reviews for amplifiers and preamplifiers and I usually use the same tracks since I know them very well. This track is actually a very complex track and a challenge to render on many systems, especially near the middle of the song, where so many instruments join in. This is where I've heard many times the render becoming unbearable to listen to, even on high end commercial systems.

At the beginning of the song, you can really feel the scene surrounding you, as if you are part of it, not in front of it, this is how it was intended to be displayed. At the beginning only a handful of instruments are playing and as the song advance, more and more instruments join in, to a point where there are so many that you really have to replay the song many times to capture all the nuances. Once you know you can really enjoy it to its potential. If I have to compare to the previous OPS, which was already outstanding, this new OPS adds a lot to the scene which seems to be very large and deep but now adds a bit more details and manages to keep its musicality so you don't focus just on this. I've noticed that in the complex passages, there's even a hint more air in between instruments, which also seem to display them in real proportions and positions, makes the scene very palpable.

Jorane, Hello - This song has a lot of micro details and so much fun to listen to. In the first few seconds you will feel the scene, subtle voice coming from the upper left corner almost as floating, a microphone gain being brought up, someone breathing faintly and sound of lips. All fun details! Percussion were brought up with proper timbre and proper size, never exaggerated. The snap of fingers on the cello had more impact and could be felt and dynamics were definitely better.

Jen Chapin, You haven't Done Nothin' (Revisions : The songs of Stevie Wonder) - Not a fan of the album but love the jazzy side and how Chapin remade Stevie Wonder songs for her album. This particular song I use because it make use of saxophone which I find very pleasing and meaty when played at lower octaves. This is exactly what has been done on this song. Saxophone is also very well recorded and standing on the utmost left side of the scene, basically on the left side of the left speaker, a good foot, foot and a half beside! The timbre is right on the money a tad more convincing and little more meatier on the new OPS, more enjoyable to my ears. Jen's voice seem to be unchanged but presented a bit higher to a more realist height but nothing that would make you go hmmm...

Vanessa Fernandez, Here But I'm Gone (Use Me) - Here's a very well recorded studio album from an artist I recently discovered reading a music article from the web. It is actually one good example of well positioned mics at proper recording levels, someone knew what he/she was doing. Strangely enough, the scene seems to be recorded in a very shy way, meaning narrower than other recordings (mainly staying between the speakers) but not with less care. The song presents very nice dynamics, punchy bass. This is an area were this new OPS seems to shine over the previous one and presents a superb control, well noticed. Talking about dynamics, give a listen to the album 11:11 from Rodrigo y Gabriela and you will hear what I mean! Vanessa's voice is very nicely recorded with no echo just her nude voice, plain and simple but very effective. I love the light raspy "softened" tone of her voice.

Yamina, Do Nothin till you hear from me (Love Letters EP) - This recording was recorded directly to DSD and I bought the DSD128 album version. I don't know if is because of how it was recorded but the background is really black, very silent. Again some details you'll hear is the piano pedals sound, which can clearly be heard. Piano timbre is just spot on and decay is so natural, very similar to the previous OPS but more natural on the decay side. If you're used to a real piano you will immediately notice it.

To sum it all up, this newer OPS from Mirand is just a must if you own their DAC. I was skeptical at first, now I'm a believer!

Do
Click to expand...
Hi pinnocchio ,
Excelent review. How about pcm?
Do you prefer render all to dsd?
What are the major differences in sound quality between the two modes?

Nuno
 
pinnocchio

pinnocchio

Member
Joined 2010
quebecdiy.forumactif.com/
pistollero said:
Hi pinnocchio ,
Excelent review. How about pcm?
Do you prefer render all to dsd?
What are the major differences in sound quality between the two modes?

Nuno
Click to expand...

At first I just wanted to test if DSD 256 was natively supported by the DAC and working with Roon Audio. After finding out that it was going to work I decided to give it a few listening sessions and compare everything. For me, up-sampling to DSD 256 gives a more natural feel (more organic), and especially to CD quality content and believe it or not, some of the compressed stuff (yes I have some Apple music stuff unfortunately that I have not yet bought in CD or high res). On PCM 96/24 and other high resolution format it is not as much of an impact, some very little if at all but my collection is mostly CD quality (also using Tidal HiFi) and I hear great benefit up-sampling to DSD 256. There's also great improvement using the software to upsample PCM CD quality to PCM high resolution (192/24 +) but I prefer DSD for my taste. This DAC can do it all so why not! :D

Do
 
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