Are there any excellent inexpensive Chinese DACs?

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#261
Mogwai77 said:
looks like a good deal as well:

Fiio K11 R2R DAC ... there are some reviews on yt. available like this one:

Click to expand...
I've got one, and love it. "Crisp".
I've been listening to a Sanskrit 10th for a few years, and enjoyed that, but the FIIO is a big improvement.
Someone has previously mentioned the FIIO Taishan, as far as I know, the output muting is the weakness, it can be bypassed for better sound, or you can capacitor couple the output of the DAC chip to the output RCAs.
 
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#262
jean-paul said:
Besides the unsafe & dumb way of working the screen of the transformer should be connected to PE. It seems a tube transformer being used as isolation transformer but then both secondary 220V windings should be used in parallel. It has too many unused secondary windings that should have a load. Not even the 5 minutes needed to make an IEC inlet and holes for cabling in the wood were spent. Also loose transformer and boards are sloppy even when prototyping. Wooden case and no required shielding so high chance of different sound over the day. Dirt/dust on the important resistors of the R2R DAC (that originally had a metal/shielded casing). But it has Sparkos 🙂

Maybe such pictures are better not posted.
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You are slowly getting on my nerves with your constant criticism of something you deem to have spotted.
This transformer is not in use at all. The case has previously been be used for a quick test of my Tube preamp.

Ones all my tests are done everything will be individually shielded, earthed and powered by individual supplies.
And of course I will be ready for a shootout with unopened fantastically measuring devices 😎
 
#264
I still have to test LT3045 on the clocks
Have to try I2S instead of Spdiff so why should I care how things are executed at this stage. Easy access is all I need right now.
The box gives me exactly that and due to the almost perfect depth keeps the components from moving.
 
#265
Tip: TPS7A2033PDBVR (or any of its versions in other available voltages) are nice to try out. Very nice price as they are plain cheap (below 50 Eurocents). Contrary to the LT3042/3045 in SOT23-5 format these can easily be hand soldered and with way less external parts necessary so less board space, smaller and way lower cost. Suitable for RF circuits, ultra low dropout voltage, 300 mA, soft start and there are versions that clamp the output to GND at power off too. All nice features besides its ultra low noise.

One drawback is the maximum 6V input voltage. The LT regulators should be better but at a high cost (above 11 Euro a piece so a factor 20 more expensive). Matter of choice, maybe it is not that necessary to spend so much for a small difference. Coming from the regular classic regulators and previous uLDO regs these are already a quite large step up.

https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/Texas-Instruments/TPS7A2033PDBVR?qs=hd1VzrDQEGjk/OBnRfKB4A==
 
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#267
Yes I already mentioned that. I am trying out the 0.9V right now. Negative versions I don't know as this is low voltage stuff and I don't need symmetrical PSUs below +/- 5.5V or lower.

Anyway it was just a tip. I sincerely wondered if the absolute best regulators (compared to very good regulators like these TPS regs) result in a difference noticeable at all and was also looking for affordable and easier to solder stuff. It was not long ago clock circuits were fed with regulators with literally hundreds of microvolts of noise. All high jitter, intersample overshoots and noise skirts horror we experienced then but we kept using external DACs as everybody in the audio industry said it was better to have the engine outside of the car. Man, it was terrible. We survived with scars on our souls but we live to tell the tale.
 
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#270
jean-paul said:
Tip: TPS7A2033PDBVR (or any of its versions in other available voltages) are nice to try out. Very nice price as they are plain cheap (below 50 Eurocents). Contrary to the LT3042/3045 in SOT23-5 format these can easily be hand soldered and with way less external parts necessary so less board space, smaller and way lower cost. Suitable for RF circuits, ultra low dropout voltage, 300 mA, soft start and there are versions that clamp the output to GND at power off too. All nice features besides its ultra low noise.

One drawback is the maximum 6V input voltage. The LT regulators should be better but at a high cost (above 11 Euro a piece so a factor 20 more expensive). Matter of choice, maybe it is not that necessary to spend so much for a small difference. Coming from the regular classic regulators and previous uLDO regs these are already a quite large step up.

https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/Texas-Instruments/TPS7A2033PDBVR?qs=hd1VzrDQEGjk/OBnRfKB4A==
Click to expand...

I looked at it and wondered how was the output impedance ? Impressive little stuff... as their .
 
#271
Cheaper than the classic regulators too. New and good and competition to the LT regs, that is what we like isn't it? For half a Euro each you can try as many as you like. These will gain momentum here I think. The wait is for the audiophile discrete Sparkos version 🙂

Ordered parts again and I think the hobby will suffer big time from the prices distributors charge. Also about every distributor ships from the USA. Absurdly non green and no wonder prices are outrageous.
 
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#272
Anatolii_A said:
Already tested it, sounds very nice, even with metal film 👍
Surprised how can sounds so old chip
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Yesterday, a ProtoDAC kit customer wrote: "Protodac it's like WOW a Linn LP12 in wifi, nirvana!"

With upgraded Jantzen Superior-Z 3.3uF output caps, power supply (PurePi II, Shield) and FifoPi MA with generic clocks.

That was right after he inverted polarity by swapping speaker cables. He had delayed doing this, because his upgraded speaker crossovers were in external boxes. He finally moved the speaker terminals external to the box, allowing easy polarity inversion. He uses Volumio due to Tidal Connect support, and it's very difficult to invert polarity with Volumio. It's extremely easy with Moode.

Polarity inversion pushed ProtoDAC to the top, over IC Dual Mono Plus DAC, Shield Pro Mk II, Conditioner Mk II 3.3V, FifoPi Q7 with SC Pure clocks and D60 I/V transformers.
 
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#275
diyiggy said:
When the stickers are more expensive than the car or make it run faster.....
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It reminds me of people insisting on using original transistors, Shinkoh resistors, battery supply, huge caps, etc. to build the Hiraga Le Monstre.

Except that we were the only one who built both the high end and low cost versions, ran them in parallel, had an ABx switch box, and an independent panel to judge.
www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/hiraga-le-monstre-2024.413301/post-7757582

Very educational, for us. 😊


Patrick
 
#276
Anatolii_A said:
Already tested it, sounds very nice, even with metal film 👍
Surprised how can sounds so old chip
Click to expand...
Tant SMD sound pretty nice for I/V. Very inexpenisve. Need a bit of burn in. Not as nice as the TX2575 IMHO. Could use 100R I/V with 15 dB additional gain. Audiophiler MKP to Superior-Z is huge. Decent power supply and low jitter I2S.

DIR SPDIF to I2S works. PCM2706 USB to I2S works with 100R I2S resistors. Remember to invert polarity.
 
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