DIY DAC

[rsthomas]

Hi,

I am pretty new to diy electronics. Recently bought a DAC board from ebay. Obviously I didnt think it through to buy the power supply transformer. It requires a 15v-0-15v and 0-9v transformer. Found one on ebay (115V 230V 30W High Quality Audio R Core Transformer 15V 15V 9V 9V for Preamp | eBay). I have a lot of questions and I am sure you guys could be of great help here.

1. Not sure about the wiring aspects. which wire from this transformer goes where ?
2. Any idea what exactly is that ( circled in red ) on pic 1613 it says XMOS.
3. Is it worth using an enclosure ? I was planning to, but as I look at the board, the LEDs are all built into the board. If i were to do an enclosure, I want the LED indicators on the front pannel ( for eg. coax, usb, toslink etc ).

 

[kevinkr]

I've relocated to Digital Line Level as the device is a dac and someone here may be familiar with it. (This is where dac projects go)

As as aside you might want to post a picture of the transformer and any documentation that came with it.

 

[rsthomas]

Thanks

Thanks. Attached is the pic of the transformer. After reading further I think I need to do the following combination

15v-0-15v : YEL - YEL+BRWN - YEL
9v : BLUE - BLUE

Then keep the WHITE away.

Any idea how and which wire to ground ? is that the BLACK ?

Thanks for the help in advance

 

[ozcal]

Thanks. Attached is the pic of the transformer. After reading further I think I need to do the following combination

15v-0-15v : YEL - YEL+BRWN - YEL
9v : BLUE - BLUE

Then keep the WHITE away.

Any idea how and which wire to ground ? is that the BLACK ?

Thanks for the help in advance

yellow /green is ground : connect to earth on mains recepticle
Black and green are AC, if your country is 115v mains supply , Black and red if your country is 230v.

 

[Groundloops]

Go have a reading: Multiple Winding Transformer and Multicoil Transformers

 

[ozcal]

Thanks. Attached is the pic of the transformer. After reading further I think I need to do the following combination

15v-0-15v : YEL - YEL+BRWN - YEL
9v : BLUE - BLUE

Then keep the WHITE away.

Any idea how and which wire to ground ? is that the BLACK ?

Thanks for the help in advance

15-0-15 should be Y- Y+B -B . Test with multimeter connected to single Y AND SINGLE B you should read 30v if you get 0v change the Y and B that are connected together.
Follow Groundloops suggested reading to get safe understanding of what you are doing : always very wise when playing with mains voltages.

 

[rsthomas]

Thanks !!

Thanks ozcal. This is really helpful. I have another question. Do you know what kinda terminal circled in RED ? and how would I use that ?

 

[Mobin]

It's for a module. In order to use usb intput you will have to buy one.
New Asynchronous Xmos U8 USB Module Compatible for AK4399 DAC ES9018 7pin | eBay

 

[02GF74]

Hi,

3. Is it worth using an enclosure ? I was planning to, but as I look at the board, the LEDs are all built into the board. If i were to do an enclosure, I want the LED indicators on the front pannel ( for eg. coax, usb, toslink etc ).

I would put the board and transformer in a box.
You would need to remove the LEDs and solder two wires to a LED on a panel, you can buy chassis mounting LEDs.

The plastic resin has a small flat to indicate polarity so you should wire them the same way, otherwise if the LEDS does not light up, just swap the wires round - there is 50/50 change of wiring it up correctly by guessing, and you won't damage LED if you got it wrong the first time.

 

[DF96]

Make and use a lamp limiter. Ensure you know how to safely wire DPDT main switches, fuses etc.

 

[rsthomas]

Thanks 02GF74. Make sense. This is my first time and im not really an electronic savvy person either ( yet ) so I would basically go with the box approach and possibly a transparent box if possible. I am hoping for a better quality music. A lot of people here had good experience using Wolfson DACs.

 

[rsthomas]

Thanks a lot for this information ..

 

[rsthomas]

Thanks

 

[rsthomas]

Success !!!

Update : Received the transformer and temporarily hooked up everything. Played some CDs. Connection was like this, DVD Player toslink -> DAC toslink input, RCA output from DAC to my amplifier. I really liked details of the output. Some key observations, bass is low and volume dropped significantly. Is the volume drop normal ? What should i expect after the burning in period ? Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.

 

[biznescenter]

Hello, I wanted to ask what the sound quality in the implementation of this chip?What are some other DAC compared already?Also looking for his DAC.

 

[rsthomas]

It is more on the brighter side. I havent compared any other DACs but I am planning to do an analysis using some of the software's available. At the end of the day, I believe everyone like a different weighted combination of low,mid,high frequencies. I tend to like sound a bit on the brighter side but not too bright. Hope that helps.

 

[biznescenter]

Ok Thank you