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

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F

fedde

Member
Joined 2002
fedde.nu
I have an RME Hdsp AIO card. I never liked the digital output. USB to I2S boards always sounded much better IMHO, also with DAM DAC. I used Amanero with DAM DAC. And now JL sounds with Fusion plate amp, great stuff! I would advise to try at least the wordclock input with a great clock on RME. E.g. the Grimm CCs.

I agree on the drivers though, very good drivers. I throwed far too many soundcards out before due to crappy drivers or stopping support...
 
K

koala887

Member
Joined 2012
cab said:
Seems to me that an issue was raised regarding exactly how well all the boards would stay in sync. There were arguments made that the error would be small enough not to matter, others begged to differ. Despite all the interest and commentary about this dac, I don't recall a single build using them in a multichannel set up ever gracing these pages. I originally bought 4 boards intending to build a multichannel setup for an active 4 way system. The designer said initially that "it should work". There was never any actual proof given that it will work in fact, and due to the differences in opinion about the outcome, I decided to go a different route. I hope it works for you.
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My first attempt was a double mono setup with symmetrical outputs, one dam1021 for each channel. The two clocks made the sound stage very nervous, there was no clear separation of the instruments. My hope was that Soren would integrate the planned master slave mode, but I was disappointed. if someone wants to build something like that, I would do it with dam1121 and an external Master clock to keep all boards in sync.
 
L

living sounds

Member
Joined 2008
fedde said:
I have an RME Hdsp AIO card. I never liked the digital output. USB to I2S boards always sounded much better IMHO, also with DAM DAC. I used Amanero with DAM DAC. And now JL sounds with Fusion plate amp, great stuff! I would advise to try at least the wordclock input with a great clock on RME. E.g. the Grimm CCs.

I agree on the drivers though, very good drivers. I throwed far too many soundcards out before due to crappy drivers or stopping support...
Click to expand...

Wordclock input on the DAM? Can I feed the DAM1021 a seperate wordclock signal while receiving input via S/PDIF?


Try to switch your RME card's digital output from/to "professional". This made a very noticeable difference with my DAM.
 
C

cab

Member
Joined 2009
living sounds said:
When I bought the DACs I assumed they would sync to the incoming clock, which is identical for all channels. But if all the DACs run their own clocks and just correct for the mismatch between the external and internal clock this might be a problem. Not a big one in most situations though, since minimal discrepancies only matter for material with overlapping signal, like drum multitracks with bleed.
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koala887 said:
My first attempt was a double mono setup with symmetrical outputs, one dam1021 for each channel. The two clocks made the sound stage very nervous, there was no clear separation of the instruments. My hope was that Soren would integrate the planned master slave mode, but I was disappointed. if someone wants to build something like that, I would do it with dam1121 and an external Master clock to keep all boards in sync.
Click to expand...

I have heard similar comments, though they were all anecdotal. Yes, there was a lot of marketing and promises made when this dac was launched. I was originally told that it would work. Once I had the modules, I was told to "experiment", lol.
 
B

Blitz

Member
Joined 2002
analog_sa said:
I firmly believe there is an optimal amount of capacitance for every component in a system where the best balance of deep bass, dynamics, speed and agility and high frequency extension is reached. It is always about choosing the compromise which works best. In my 1021 i chose the "transistor mod" and only a small amount of additional capacitance in cleaning up Vref.

If you read about Peter Daniels improvements of his 1941 you will notice he only uses minimal but high quality capacitance.
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Same here
 
L

living sounds

Member
Joined 2008
Today I made a few changes, among them beefing up the ground return wire from the DAM1021 to the linear PSU's output and the ground return to the analog output/balancing board.

This made a very noticeable difference. The importance of a low impedance ground path cannot be stressed enough. That's where all the signal has to be referenced to and and all the decoupling dirt is dumped into.

There's a lot more clarity, bass, dynamics now. Wouldn't have thought it possible, actually.
 
F

fedde

Member
Joined 2002
fedde.nu
living sounds said:
Wordclock input on the DAM? Can I feed the DAM1021 a seperate wordclock signal while receiving input via S/PDIF?

Try to switch your RME card's digital output from/to "professional". This made a very noticeable difference with my DAM.
Click to expand...

I meant using the wordclock input of RME HDSP. Or using S/P-DIF reclockers alternatively.

Indeed, putting the RME spdif output to Pro mode helps.... I also experienced that.
But going to a good USB to I2C/spdif board is... :eek:
For fun, try the latest JL sounds boards for comparison, they are not too expensive. Add a good 5V supply and use a very short SPDIF cable towards DAM.
 
F

fedde

Member
Joined 2002
fedde.nu
True, though there are 8 channel output USB boards. But indeed probably not for 16 or 32 channels.

The experiment was more for academic purposes... though it would be good to know how much would be lost in SQ by using RME SP-DIF solution. And quite likely there would be solutions to improve jitter of these SP-DIF outputs. E.g. by providing word clock to RME and then let the SP-DIF signals go through clocked latches or so.
 
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