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Reference DAC Module - Discrete R-2R Sign Magnitude 24 bit 384 KHz

Soren, I sent an email on your website "info" but never got an answer.

Is it possible on the DAC1541 to get more than 2v from the single ended output, say 2.5v for direct to amp hookup and using the remote volume you say can work with it, (Apple remote i believe)

Cheers George

Sorry that I haven't answered your email yet, all emails are supposed to get answers, but I'm a little behind....

2V is usually more than enough, what amplifier are you using ? To get more output you would need to change some of the resistors which set the gain in the output amplifier, but since you're posting here you can probably do that....
 
Hi there,

Can anyone confirm or deny the ability of the dam1021 to play 48Khz family DSD? i.e. not 5.644 or 11.2Mhz DSD but 6.144 and 12.288Mhz DSD for instance?

This is the output for example that you get by upsampling a 24/96 or 24/48 file in HQplayer to DSD using auto rate family, which is a lot less processor intensive.

On my unit (OEM part of a DAC) there is only silence with the 48Khz family DSD but not the 44.1kHz familt DSD, which plays just fine.

I do not know the firmware revision of the dam1021.

Thanks!

DSD is per definition using multiples of 44.1K rates, I'm not aware of any recordings using multiples of 48K.

Resampling 48K PCM material to DSD and then let the dac1021 convert it to PCM again is kinda pretty stupid, the whole point of a R-2R DAC is to avoid delta sigma modulation....
 
Hi Soren,

I realize that, this was not a question about what the optimal playback mode should be. It is just a niggling discrepancy that I noticed, that the 48khz family dsd did not play back.

I assume by your comments that 48khz family dsd is then not supported by dam1021, for reasons above?

Thanks,
Yeang
 
Sorry that I haven't answered your email yet, all emails are supposed to get answers, but I'm a little behind....

2V is usually more than enough, what amplifier are you using ?

Hi Soren, I'm toying with the idea of getting a 1541 from you once I've seen what a few users have said.

But as you know I manufacture the Lightspeed Attenutaor which is a unity gain passive, and in my experience in over 1000 systems now, sources that only have just 2v, don't quite have enough output for many systems, 2.5v would cover all bases.

It would be good to have this 2.5v as standard, because you have a volume control in this 1541 with a great 10ohm output impedance to go direct to amp with, so why not cover all bases with 2.5

Does your volume control "bit strip" if used too low down in level?

I take it the resistors you are talking about are the output buffer feedback resistors?

Cheers George
 
Hi Soren,

I realize that, this was not a question about what the optimal playback mode should be. It is just a niggling discrepancy that I noticed, that the 48khz family dsd did not play back.

I assume by your comments that 48khz family dsd is then not supported by dam1021, for reasons above?

Thanks,
Yeang

Correct, DSD is not supported at 48K. It just a design decision, could add support, but don't want to as features not needed just increase the support and maintenance work....
 
Hi Soren, I'm toying with the idea of getting a 1541 from you once I've seen what a few users have said.

But as you know I manufacture the Lightspeed Attenutaor which is a unity gain passive, and in my experience in over 1000 systems now, sources that only have just 2v, don't quite have enough output for many systems, 2.5v would cover all bases.

It would be good to have this 2.5v as standard, because you have a volume control in this 1541 with a great 10ohm output impedance to go direct to amp with, so why not cover all bases with 2.5

Does your volume control "bit strip" if used too low down in level?

I take it the resistors you are talking about are the output buffer feedback resistors?

Cheers George

I hear you. 2V is just a decision based on that it's what most CD players and DACs use, plus the amplifiers I checked.... Actually I have a 1 dB headroom, so it's really a 2.2V output limit.... I might consider changing the headroom to t.ex. 3 dB in a future revision, so I can keep the spec but you can actually output more...

The resistors are the ones that set the gain in the output buffer/amplifier, its not feedback resistors as there are no feedback anywhere....
 
Signal polarity invert in the analog domain at balanced main out can be done using this
Phase Selector switch & PCB for switching between plus-mute-minus
in a small external box. Another box with another of these switches can be made for balanced headphones out. Unbalanced main and headphone out are a different problem, requiring some components plus relays and switches for selection; a small positive aspect here is that this can tap off of the existing power supply in the dac.
Steve

You can invert polarity in digital domain, with the current setup, by adding a filter where the signs of the coefficients of your favorite filter are inverted (only at one of either FIR1 or FIR2). You then can invert by changing the filter. You then only have less choice of filters of different type.
 
Hi again Soren, the talk is that the DAC1421 (at a lower price) is the same as the DAC1541 just without balanced output, only single ended, is this correct?,
And does the 1421 also have the Apple remote feature to do remote volume with?

Cheers George

Yes, the dac1421 is a single ended version of the dac1541, otherwise same features and functions, incl remote support. The single ended also means half the R-2R resistors strings as the dac1541 is fully balanced there....
 
The single ended also means half the R-2R resistors strings as the dac1541 is fully balanced there....

I take it this is why the noise is slightly higher for the balanced output? And why the distortion is slightly higher for the SE output?

As measured by:
Soekris dac1541 technical measurements | Super Best Audio Friends

Shouldn't make any difference to the sound though should it? Have you A/B'ed both using SE output?

That's good news for potential purchasers who want to save money and just have SE ouput.

Cheers George
 
I take it this is why the noise is slightly higher for the balanced output? And why the distortion is slightly higher for the SE output?

As measured by:
Soekris dac1541 technical measurements | Super Best Audio Friends

Shouldn't make any difference to the sound though should it? Have you A/B'ed both using SE output?

That's good news for potential purchasers who want to save money and just have SE ouput.

Cheers George

The balanced output have 3 db better S/N level, and the dac1541 have a little less distortion than the dac1421.

Measurements could have side effects, like the 6 db higher balanced signal might get the measurement equipment to switch to another range with more noise, the noise from the dac1541 is actually below the equipment's own noise floor....

But the dac1541 SE output and the dac1421 will sound pretty much the same, although the dac1541 balanced output will sound better then the SE outputs, and the balanced headphone output will have twice the output voltage....
 
@Soekris: is there a ETA on the DAM1231? I'm much interested in your new DAM1231 board and curious about the date that this board emerges. I wrote the same question in March, still waiting for an answer. I can't wait any longer and want to buy a good DAC the next few weeks. Is there any hope waiting for the DAM 1231?

Yeah, things have been delayed some, was too optimistic believing I could launch three DAC's at the same time, but I am just always optimistic, and then I sometimes get sidetracked with new ideas....

I am working on the dac1321 and dac1421, are just starting production cases, that is currently the limiting factor as the boards are being made right now. It will probably be five weeks for the dac1321 to become available, a one or two more weeks for the dac1421.
 
Hi Søren,

that means you will test our patience a little longer :)

I am thinking about either the 1321 or 1421 as I do not need a balanced output. I do not need a headphone amplifier either, but if I understand it correctly the specs of the 1421 are better than those of the 1321. Given the fact that I do not use digital volume control the extra 2 bits resolution of the 1421 may not be of much interest to me. Remains the better jitter performance of the 1421. The 1421 will give me the Meanwell based powersupply, the 1321 could be fed with a self designed 5 V powersupply through the barrel connector. I guess there are step down voltage regulators in both units, are they the same (quality)?

Best Regards
 
Hi Søren,

Thank you for your answer. You mention the 1321 and 1421 boards, but my question was about the 1231. The 1231 was for the Raspberry Pi. Does this mean that the 1231 board will not surface in 2017?

The dam1231 is currently not being worked on, priority is to get the dac1321 and dac1421 into production, so no ETA on the dam1231....
 
Hi Søren,

that means you will test our patience a little longer :)

I am thinking about either the 1321 or 1421 as I do not need a balanced output. I do not need a headphone amplifier either, but if I understand it correctly the specs of the 1421 are better than those of the 1321. Given the fact that I do not use digital volume control the extra 2 bits resolution of the 1421 may not be of much interest to me. Remains the better jitter performance of the 1421. The 1421 will give me the Meanwell based powersupply, the 1321 could be fed with a self designed 5 V powersupply through the barrel connector. I guess there are step down voltage regulators in both units, are they the same (quality)?

Best Regards

The power supply in all our products are designed to be good.... The dac1321 has a little switcher that convert the +5V from either USB or an external switcher to the internal +- 7V, which then is filtered and regulated with a low noise low impedance discrete regulator.

If you don't need the headphone amp or the volume control then the dac1321 is a good choice.
 
Hi Søren,

thanks for your reply. I am not averse to switchers but we all like to tinker with our gear. I was thinking of combining the 1321 with an UptoneAudio LPS-1. The Uptone can be set to 5 and 7 V. So I could either set it to 5 V and use the barrel connector or set it to 7 V if it is possible to modify the dac 1321 an connect the 7 V. In both cases the available 1.1 A sould be enough for the dac 1321 I suppose. Only my active speakers would then be connected to the grid.

Best Regards