Hi all!
The slowest build in this group buy is nearing completion. The boards has been lying and waiting for me getting the time to get them a cosy case to live in.
As you can see from the pictures i used transformers out of my parts bin. The r-cores for the output stages are quite overrated. The EI:s for the DAC are standard surplus that got a copper tape bellyband that are grounded on the starground.
All boards are connected to case via the XLR connectors. All the transformers has their screens connected to a starground that are earthed.
I tried to keep as big distance as possible between the transformers and the boards. The EI are orientated for the lowest radiation in the directions of the board.
Well how does it sound? Beautiful, but maybe a little confusing. Very laid back with out losing details. Rich mid, fantastic treble. The bass is.... well maybe overly rich. I can not shake the feeling the the non global feedback stage could benefit from some feedback....
I have some other 9018 dacs that sound fantastic. They sound more or less the same. This dac is totally different and much better than the others. Still after a few days och listening the final verdict got me hanging. As other pointed out there is something about the bass. It is not boomy, but rather rich, maybe a tad to rich.
Im using my stax 202 with a transformer at the moment, and will soon have a proper amp up and running, then i can have a proper listening.
Hmm... This post was longer than i had planned, time for some questions:
1.
I have a quite loud turn off thump, quite annoying. Loud enough to get my making the famous stax fart. I have not seen any comments about that. Is it normal, is there a remedy?
2.
It has big trouble getting a lock via optical in from my TV, 48khz PCM. My other 9018 dac has the same trouble. I tried another non sabre dac and it worked fine. Then the TV outputs ther sampling rates it is fine, only troubles with 48khz. Is this a general problem or is it my TV?
3. I have a very, very slight buzz coming from the channels closest to the transformers. I will add that I will add a thick steel screen around the boards as soon as i get the time. Hopefully that will kill the buzz. But is the grund connection via the XLRS enough? Should ground the boards to a proper star ground?
4.
Has anyone tried to get the output directly from the output of the dac to a high impedance (>50k) amplifier via serial capacitors without any output stage or transformer?
Thanks for your time and thank you Andrea and Quanghao for a exelent DAC.
B.r Christian
The slowest build in this group buy is nearing completion. The boards has been lying and waiting for me getting the time to get them a cosy case to live in.
As you can see from the pictures i used transformers out of my parts bin. The r-cores for the output stages are quite overrated. The EI:s for the DAC are standard surplus that got a copper tape bellyband that are grounded on the starground.
All boards are connected to case via the XLR connectors. All the transformers has their screens connected to a starground that are earthed.
I tried to keep as big distance as possible between the transformers and the boards. The EI are orientated for the lowest radiation in the directions of the board.
Well how does it sound? Beautiful, but maybe a little confusing. Very laid back with out losing details. Rich mid, fantastic treble. The bass is.... well maybe overly rich. I can not shake the feeling the the non global feedback stage could benefit from some feedback....
I have some other 9018 dacs that sound fantastic. They sound more or less the same. This dac is totally different and much better than the others. Still after a few days och listening the final verdict got me hanging. As other pointed out there is something about the bass. It is not boomy, but rather rich, maybe a tad to rich.
Im using my stax 202 with a transformer at the moment, and will soon have a proper amp up and running, then i can have a proper listening.
Hmm... This post was longer than i had planned, time for some questions:
1.
I have a quite loud turn off thump, quite annoying. Loud enough to get my making the famous stax fart. I have not seen any comments about that. Is it normal, is there a remedy?
2.
It has big trouble getting a lock via optical in from my TV, 48khz PCM. My other 9018 dac has the same trouble. I tried another non sabre dac and it worked fine. Then the TV outputs ther sampling rates it is fine, only troubles with 48khz. Is this a general problem or is it my TV?
3. I have a very, very slight buzz coming from the channels closest to the transformers. I will add that I will add a thick steel screen around the boards as soon as i get the time. Hopefully that will kill the buzz. But is the grund connection via the XLRS enough? Should ground the boards to a proper star ground?
4.
Has anyone tried to get the output directly from the output of the dac to a high impedance (>50k) amplifier via serial capacitors without any output stage or transformer?
Thanks for your time and thank you Andrea and Quanghao for a exelent DAC.
B.r Christian
Last edited:
Guys, did any of you try to change the Clarity Caps in transformer version? If so, did it actually make any difference? Not that CC are bad (they are actually very transparent), I am just curious.
Also, are these caps definitely necessary there and if they are, do they need to be as big as 10uF?
Also, are these caps definitely necessary there and if they are, do they need to be as big as 10uF?
Quanghao said 1uf-22uf a while back.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/quan...uper-v-i-converted-ll1684-20.html#post3914973
I actually did right after posting here 🙂. Maybe your inbox is full? Check it out please, I will send again!
Invitation!
Invitation!
SOME MUSIC SHOWS & ACCESSORIES AUDIO
25-26 / 7/2015 - KS CONTINENTAL: 132 Dong Khoi / D.1 / HCMC
Hi All, I participated in product introduction: DAC 24 and DAC 32
You're working, or traveling in Vietnam, are in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam,
Quang Hao cordially invite you to see
I am very pleased to welcome you!
quanghao
Invitation!
SOME MUSIC SHOWS & ACCESSORIES AUDIO
25-26 / 7/2015 - KS CONTINENTAL: 132 Dong Khoi / D.1 / HCMC
Hi All, I participated in product introduction: DAC 24 and DAC 32
You're working, or traveling in Vietnam, are in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam,
Quang Hao cordially invite you to see
I am very pleased to welcome you!
quanghao
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Question
Could anyone please let me know if there is any way to daisy chain some other DAC from this one? I know ES9018 does not use external clock so it cannot work in slave mode. But is there a way to make another DAC synchronised? If so, how can this be achieved?
Could anyone please let me know if there is any way to daisy chain some other DAC from this one? I know ES9018 does not use external clock so it cannot work in slave mode. But is there a way to make another DAC synchronised? If so, how can this be achieved?
I understand that you can connect an external clock to the same connection-points as the onboard clock, and then simply disable the onboard clock by removing the jumper for its dedicated 3.3V power supply. On the ver 1 board this is J13.
Once the metal shield is lifted, you will see that the ver 2 board provides a UFL connector for external clock, but the ver 1 does not, so you would need to solder a UFL cable to the board in this case.
Good to know I can use external clock if I connect it directly to the board. The question remains: how can I possibly synchronise it with other DAC?
Is this DAC available in a multichannel version delivering 8 channels of analogue output? Or do you have plans for that?
Which USB to I2S module would you recommend for 8 channels?
Which USB to I2S module would you recommend for 8 channels?
At this this only the stereo version is available
I am waiting a new USB-I2S module from Amanero to create a 8 channels output DAC
Good to hear. Please, don't hesitate to bring the news when the new Amanero module is ready.
Can anybody help me please. My dac stopped selecting other sources beyong USB. I was using optical as another source, but it would not switch to optical, it just stays on USB, although the front panel says optical, but music from usb is still playing. Please help, Quanghao, please help. Is there a way to manually check if it is still okay? set some jumper maybe? Please Help...
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