Audio to I2S for DAC Testing.

Sure, these will work but why involve an analogue signal generator at all? Everyone has a few USB/i2s boards anyway. Add something like Wavegene and you get a lot more control upon the quality of your test generator. Various sampling rates too.
 
The normal approach for testing dacs is to use measurement software (E.g. REW, Arta), some USB-I2S board and an ADC for sending dac output back to SW. So the chain is like this:
host SW -> USB-I2S -> DAC -> ADC -> I2S-USB -> host SW

Typically the "ADC -> I2S-USB" part is an external USB-based soundcard (e.g. Focusrite).
 
The normal approach for testing dacs is to use measurement software (E.g. REW, Arta), some USB-I2S board and an ADC for sending dac output back to SW. So the chain is like this:
host SW -> USB-I2S -> DAC -> ADC -> I2S-USB -> host SW

Typically the "ADC -> I2S-USB" part is an external USB-based soundcard (e.g. Focusrite).
Yes, I have a USB to I2S board and REW etc so don't know why i didn't think of doing it this way. I prefer to use Picoscope for the measurements.
Thanks.
 
That ADC is probably too high in distortion to be very good for instrumentation purposes.
Why?
Its a PCM1802 clocked with a 0.1ppm 11.2896TCXO and fed from a LT3042 low noise regulator..

The sig gen will be the limiting factor but I am really more interested in comparing the three nos dacs, than aiming for technical perfectionism.

It must be better than using an audio test cd.
 
As others have suggested, i could have used a USB to I2S adapter and software.

It might be better to use the everyday digital feed you will use for the DAC anyway, so the usual operating conditions eg the usual jitter is included? Its simpler too. That helps standardise the measurements and reduce spurious errors creeping in.

It super great you are testing your DAC objectively. Thanks very much for all your effort.
 
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It might be better to use the everyday digital feed you will use for the DAC anyway, so the usual operating conditions eg the usual jitter is included? Its simpler too. That helps standardise the measurements and reduce spurious errors creeping in.

It super great you are testing your DAC objectively. Thanks very much for all your effort.
I am doing what I'd do if I was testing an amp - analogue audio in from sig gen and scope (freq sweep) / spectrum analyser on the output.
 
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