Recommendations for a (high quality) DIY DAC ?

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fireworks

Member
Joined 2010
#1
I'm looking to DIY a DAC, preferably using one of the high performing recent DACs like AK449x.


This is what I can find of the Internet:


1. This one looks good but no PCB:
GitHub - NiHaoMike/OpenDAC-HD: An open source HD audio DAC


2. This one uses an older chip:
DDDAC 1794 NOS DAC - Non Oversampling DAC with PCM1794 - no digital filter - modular design DIY DAC for high resolution audio 192/24 192kHz 24bit
but is quite interesting.


3. This one uses a 20 bit obsolete DAC (AD1862):
DAC AD1862: Almost THT, I2S input, NOS, R-2R


SMD soldering is no problem for me (even BGAs), I actually prefer it to THT soldering.

Any other projects I should look at ?
 
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#3
what you can do :
- buy a complete kit and you connect supply,cable,connector,chassis etc. there are other several websites for your reference :
https://m.au.dhgate.com/dac-kit-australia.html#$seo=pc$
DAC/USB DAC_Analog Metric - DIY Audio Kit Developer
DIY Kits & Boards - Audiophonics

- buy blank pcb project : you can participate on Group Buy section

but first you need to research some articles/opinion about:
- NOS vs OS implementation
- R2R vs DeltaSigma chip
- output stage : opamp, discrete or tube

because this will lead you to the implementation, even on 1 website they can sell different dac kit
 
#7
gadut said:
what you can do :
- buy a complete kit and you connect supply,cable,connector,chassis etc. there are other several websites for your reference :
https://m.au.dhgate.com/dac-kit-australia.html#$seo=pc$
DAC/USB DAC_Analog Metric - DIY Audio Kit Developer
DIY Kits & Boards - Audiophonics

- buy blank pcb project : you can participate on Group Buy section

but first you need to research some articles/opinion about:
- NOS vs OS implementation
- R2R vs DeltaSigma chip
- output stage : opamp, discrete or tube

because this will lead you to the implementation, even on 1 website they can sell different dac kit
Click to expand...


Thanks for the links.
It seems they offer fully assembled boards. I'm mostly looking to solder the components myself, but could also get an assembled one if it has a good quality and price.
 
#12
fireworks said:
Looking at it.
Are there Linux drivers available for the board I2SoverUSB ?
Click to expand...


Hi folks,
Informations about drivers within I2SoverUSB, shown on product page
Regards
 

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#16
fireworks said:
I'm looking to build a DAC with a USB input.
As far as I understand this needs a converter from USB to the DAC interface (I2S, SPDIF, etc.).
Click to expand...

JL Sounds that makes on of the dacs you were looking at also makes a good USB board called: I2SoverUSB. It outputs I2S and also has some ability to do SPDIF out. The clocks on the USB board can be very important to dac sound quality, particularly so with AK499x dacs since they typically don't have a master clock or clocks on the dac board. I2SoverUSB uses NDK SDA audio clocks (two of them, one each for the 44/48 digital audio sample rate families). The stock SDA clocks are very good, but not the best. Recently some new USB boards started appearing on ebay and aliexpress that include Accusilicon clocks, which are very good, probably better than un-binned NDK SDA clocks.
 
#17
baswamin said:
If you are looking at fully built one, this looks like a good candidate.
Click to expand...

That's Allo's latest ES9038Q2M dac made, they say, for a wider user audience that just the diy crowd. For that reason they do not allow user power supplies to be substituted for the SMPS on the dac board. While I have been following Allo's work for a long time and wish them the best, I don't know if I would go for another ESS dac at this time. Allo says they have fixed the 'ESS sound' that some people don't like for PCM reproduction (DSD is better). I hope the fix nails it, but haven't heard the final version yet. For that reason I would probably be inclined to wait until some listening reviews start coming in before deciding.
 
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