Hello,
Nice to meet you all. I really new here. It took me while muster up courage to do my first post (minus the introduction post). I hope I dont offend anyone here.
I am looking to build a DAC. My goal is to build a DIY DAC that brand name DACs (Denafrips, Gustard, Holo, and so on) around the $2000 mark by spending less. I am looking at around a $1200 budget. Spending less than the budget is better but I am willing to spend more if the gains in sound quality is substantial.
My electrical knowledge is close to 0 but i can solder and desolder parts. If it is too difficult, I can hire someone locally to do it as the labour cost is relatively cheap here (Thailand).
Ive seen a couple of diy projects around here such as Iancanada's, DDDACs, Gabster TD1 and Protodacs but Im not sure which one to pick. I lean more towards projects that have a youtube video as it is easier to follow the guide but I dont mind doing some more research as long as it sounds better.
My source is IOS (Iphone/Ipad) apple music lossless fed VIA USB to a DAC > Cayin Ha-3a Tube Amp > Headphones.
I hope you guys can help recommend some projects.
Thank you.
Nice to meet you all. I really new here. It took me while muster up courage to do my first post (minus the introduction post). I hope I dont offend anyone here.
I am looking to build a DAC. My goal is to build a DIY DAC that brand name DACs (Denafrips, Gustard, Holo, and so on) around the $2000 mark by spending less. I am looking at around a $1200 budget. Spending less than the budget is better but I am willing to spend more if the gains in sound quality is substantial.
My electrical knowledge is close to 0 but i can solder and desolder parts. If it is too difficult, I can hire someone locally to do it as the labour cost is relatively cheap here (Thailand).
Ive seen a couple of diy projects around here such as Iancanada's, DDDACs, Gabster TD1 and Protodacs but Im not sure which one to pick. I lean more towards projects that have a youtube video as it is easier to follow the guide but I dont mind doing some more research as long as it sounds better.
My source is IOS (Iphone/Ipad) apple music lossless fed VIA USB to a DAC > Cayin Ha-3a Tube Amp > Headphones.
I hope you guys can help recommend some projects.
Thank you.
Sorry, there are very limited opportunities to make your own dac at lower cost that commercial units. One way or another you may likely end up spending more time and more money on the hobby than you might imagine. You need soldering equipment and know-how for fine pitch SMD soldering. You will probably need test equipment and knowledge of how to use it. You need to learn a lot about theory and practice of putting subsystems together to make them work well as an overall system. If you want to spend years learning and a lot of money along the way, and if the hobby calls to you, then great. OTOH, if you only want to save money, you will save more if you buy a finished commercial product. The situation may be different in other areas of this audio hobby. Lots of opportunities to do stuff with speakers if you can do woodwork. Lots of opportunities to do stuff with DSP if you want to take the time to learn the tools. So on, and so on.
All the above having been said, a lot of people like the Miro AD1862 dac project which isn't too complicated. How it compares to a $2k commercial dac I don't know. But if you would like to take a look, the thread is at: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/dac-ad1862-almost-tht-i2s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/
Otherwise, I am told the new low cost Holo dac is said to be the best thing for the money by some people. https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-cyan-2-dac/ You would need HQ Player software and a powerful computer for best results though.
EDIT: BTW, Apple lossless in not always lossless upon playback. In practice it is often lossy compressed, although it can be decompressed without loss on the right hardware (which is to say, sufficiently powerful hardware such as a desktop). IMHO, Apple is kind of tricky about that.
All the above having been said, a lot of people like the Miro AD1862 dac project which isn't too complicated. How it compares to a $2k commercial dac I don't know. But if you would like to take a look, the thread is at: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/dac-ad1862-almost-tht-i2s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/
Otherwise, I am told the new low cost Holo dac is said to be the best thing for the money by some people. https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-cyan-2-dac/ You would need HQ Player software and a powerful computer for best results though.
EDIT: BTW, Apple lossless in not always lossless upon playback. In practice it is often lossy compressed, although it can be decompressed without loss on the right hardware (which is to say, sufficiently powerful hardware such as a desktop). IMHO, Apple is kind of tricky about that.
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Thank you for your generous reply.
Ill definitely take a look at the Miro AD1862. Im also looking at other chip based DAC boards that I can solder/jerryrig together. Boards that I can buy off sites or ebay them.
Holo Cyan 2 is not an option for me as Im running apple music through my iphone's usb port. So HQ player is out of the option for me. Therefore I wont be taking full advantage of the unit.
Ill definitely take a look at the Miro AD1862. Im also looking at other chip based DAC boards that I can solder/jerryrig together. Boards that I can buy off sites or ebay them.
Holo Cyan 2 is not an option for me as Im running apple music through my iphone's usb port. So HQ player is out of the option for me. Therefore I wont be taking full advantage of the unit.
The Chinese boards are usually very cheaply made (usually on 2-layer boards, which is not good for most dac chips), often including some fake parts. Its how the products can sell for such low prices and the sellers can still make some money.
on shelf for not too much monney you could try Audalytic ah90 for 600 euros, you can streamfrom usb, bluetooth... the dac chip is the ak4499 and certainly the sound is in the same league than all the dacs with the same chip till 1k euros or a little more.
With the saved monney relative to your budget you can try at least a board I published on a AD1862 miro1360 design which has a buffer in plus of the I/V op amp which can be chosen for difficult headphone, and I do believe miro1362 made an headphone design too with the same dac ic : ad1862. The DDDAC is said to be good too but much more expensive (miro 1362 project are free)
The Holo Cyan II is a solid contender for its price and certainly a margin better than all the ones above, but not guaranted (I haven't heard it yet, but numerous people are testimoning the flagship May sounds very good)
My deflated 2 cents
With the saved monney relative to your budget you can try at least a board I published on a AD1862 miro1360 design which has a buffer in plus of the I/V op amp which can be chosen for difficult headphone, and I do believe miro1362 made an headphone design too with the same dac ic : ad1862. The DDDAC is said to be good too but much more expensive (miro 1362 project are free)
The Holo Cyan II is a solid contender for its price and certainly a margin better than all the ones above, but not guaranted (I haven't heard it yet, but numerous people are testimoning the flagship May sounds very good)
My deflated 2 cents
Thank you so much for the quality replies.
Do you know where can i get started on the miro1362. Theres nearly 500 pages that I have to go through
Do you know where can i get started on the miro1362. Theres nearly 500 pages that I have to go through