Hi,
I play music with Daphile and a Topping E50, upsampling all songs to DSD 512 through C-3PO.
I know AKM chips can remove all filters when playing DSD, so they should sound better in this specific case compared to Sabre chips.
Will an E30/E30ii play better? There will be difference between the E30 (single chip) and the E30ii (double chip)?
Any other economic alternative? I can consider OEM boards too.
Thank you in advance,
Roberto
I play music with Daphile and a Topping E50, upsampling all songs to DSD 512 through C-3PO.
I know AKM chips can remove all filters when playing DSD, so they should sound better in this specific case compared to Sabre chips.
Will an E30/E30ii play better? There will be difference between the E30 (single chip) and the E30ii (double chip)?
Any other economic alternative? I can consider OEM boards too.
Thank you in advance,
Roberto
A flip-flop with a good power supply and a passive filter after it could be fairly cheap, as long as you don't use signal transformers (good audio signal transformers are usually expensive). Some of the circuits in this long thread are of that type:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/the-best-dac-is-no-dac.273474/post-4304814
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/the-best-dac-is-no-dac.273474/post-4304814
Thank you @MarcelvdG ,
then a question comes easy: has anyone ever built a flip-flip with variable dual supply to have directly a power amp with volume control?
then a question comes easy: has anyone ever built a flip-flip with variable dual supply to have directly a power amp with volume control?
I've seen a project like that with a rather low power here. I'm not sure if it was for headphones or for efficient loudspeakers.
A disadvantage of that approach is that it gets difficult to keep the supply, which is in fact the DAC voltage reference, clean enough. You also have to find a way to have the output stage switch properly when the volume setting and hence the supply voltage is very low.
A disadvantage of that approach is that it gets difficult to keep the supply, which is in fact the DAC voltage reference, clean enough. You also have to find a way to have the output stage switch properly when the volume setting and hence the supply voltage is very low.
I've seen your thread: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/return-to-zero-shift-register-firdac.379406/
Do you upsample?
Do you upsample?
Yes. That is, the DAC that I actually use so far is this one: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/valve-dac-from-linear-audio-volume-13.308860/ It includes a digital part that converts PCM to a massively-oversampled and noise-shaped single-bit signal. I use the same type of digital circuitry for measuring the return-to-zero shift register DAC.
@sunjam
What would you consider to be a kit? A bare PCB, where you solder SMD components onto the board?
What kind of budget do you have in mind? $10, $100, $1,000?
There are some very experienced people here who are working on DSD dacs, but the better DSD dacs may not fit your budget.
For lowest cost, there is the basic "No-DAC DAC" approach to DSD playback. However, don't know of a kit for that, but the circuitry can be fairly simple to build.
For finished dacs, don't know if there are any finished budget dacs which play DSD directly without doing any DSP at all on the DSD stream. (At least some AKM dac chips have DSD "volume bypass mode" which minimizes DSP performed on the DSD stream, but there may some other digital filtering they apply anyway.)
What would you consider to be a kit? A bare PCB, where you solder SMD components onto the board?
What kind of budget do you have in mind? $10, $100, $1,000?
There are some very experienced people here who are working on DSD dacs, but the better DSD dacs may not fit your budget.
For lowest cost, there is the basic "No-DAC DAC" approach to DSD playback. However, don't know of a kit for that, but the circuitry can be fairly simple to build.
For finished dacs, don't know if there are any finished budget dacs which play DSD directly without doing any DSP at all on the DSD stream. (At least some AKM dac chips have DSD "volume bypass mode" which minimizes DSP performed on the DSD stream, but there may some other digital filtering they apply anyway.)
Thanks for your reply.
In my mind, budget is around $100 range.
In terms of quality, if 100% is the best you can buy with any money, I would consider 80% would be a "good quality" one.
Could you please point me to the basic "No-DAC DAC" approach to DSD playback? I am interested to know more. Thanks.
In my mind, budget is around $100 range.
In terms of quality, if 100% is the best you can buy with any money, I would consider 80% would be a "good quality" one.
Could you please point me to the basic "No-DAC DAC" approach to DSD playback? I am interested to know more. Thanks.
All AK449x DACs (including AK4191+AK4499) apply digital filtering even in volume bypass mode. If the DSD is converted from PCM, which involves complex processing, the additional digital filtering does not make the DSD less "original" especially since the cutoff frequency for this filter is high above audio range.
Wild guess: probably a short FIR filter with integer coefficients that, without any decimation or rounding, converts the single-bit DSD signal into a multibit signal with a word length that matches the multibit DAC of the AK449*. Advantage: reduced sensitivity to far-off phase noise and spurs on the clock, disadvantages: none if you use a multibit DAC anyway for PCM mode.