I'm coming to the conclusion that most of the capacitors that have come installed on this board don't really help the way it sounds. Luckily, now most of them have been replaced.
As originally provided, a live recording had it sounding like you were behind the stage. Plenty of detail still, but not exactly a good tonal balance.
There is a very slight fuzzy sound only perceived at very low levels, and I would like to remedy that, no luck so far. I'm pretty certain this happened during my hacking away.
What would be really nice would be the option to pay more for a board that came populated with better parts.
Time to let it run for a few days here...
As originally provided, a live recording had it sounding like you were behind the stage. Plenty of detail still, but not exactly a good tonal balance.
There is a very slight fuzzy sound only perceived at very low levels, and I would like to remedy that, no luck so far. I'm pretty certain this happened during my hacking away.
What would be really nice would be the option to pay more for a board that came populated with better parts.
Time to let it run for a few days here...
It would be smarter to use XMOS_AK4490 combo from that link..I am using this driver which seems to be the most recent (2016-02-16):
XMOS-USB-Audio-(v3.34.0).rar, found here
Probably legit, no beep.
It is much better product than most of Chinese crap which is advertised on forum without any good reason..
Sounds like you have a really tough time with these boards, maybe a commercial product would suit you better perhaps.
Speaking of junk, I have found the source of the odd noise I had encountered, turns out it was the laptop power supply plugged in near my amp. Noticed the same noise when the dac was powered down and it's cord removed from my power strip..
Speaking of junk, I have found the source of the odd noise I had encountered, turns out it was the laptop power supply plugged in near my amp. Noticed the same noise when the dac was powered down and it's cord removed from my power strip..
Only with one, I learned my lesson and after that I was more careful.. there is many topics in this forum about problems with cheap boards from China..
Every product is commercial, Chinese crap with fake components and illegal drivers same as decent product from EU with full support.. in the end cheaper always turn to be more expensive..
Board from my link isn't 10x expensive, but it plays without any problems..
When I read this part of forum my impression is that every one Chinese board have at least one serious problem..
My cheap boards are working pretty well, and are a lot easier to work on than most of the completed products out there.
My point was that nearly all is made in China regardless, I'm thankful to have through hole components to swap around at this point.
The "Audiopheel" op amp is working very nicely also, came to me from Korea, in a small tin, dry and very well protected. I haven't been able to compare it yet to one of my Burson V4 units, but it sounds great. A true bargain at $30, plus shipping. It came with a schematic, which is uncommon.
As soon as things settle in a bit, I will place some snubber circuits near the power terminals and call it done.
My point was that nearly all is made in China regardless, I'm thankful to have through hole components to swap around at this point.
The "Audiopheel" op amp is working very nicely also, came to me from Korea, in a small tin, dry and very well protected. I haven't been able to compare it yet to one of my Burson V4 units, but it sounds great. A true bargain at $30, plus shipping. It came with a schematic, which is uncommon.
As soon as things settle in a bit, I will place some snubber circuits near the power terminals and call it done.
???????
First you had problem with drivers, then with DC offset, after that clicks and pops, wrong resistors values..
You still didn't understand that you have XMOS and AK4495 which have DSD option but your boards doesn't got it because of bad implementation..
I don't need four wheel drive, navigation, stability and traction control in my car either, but they certainly make it for those who wish to pay for that sort of thing.
I will survive, somehow...
So if these sorts of things are true problems for you then maybe diy just isn't your thing, no?
I will survive, somehow...
So if these sorts of things are true problems for you then maybe diy just isn't your thing, no?
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You don't understand, there is few DIY products which using same kind of chips, work without any problem and have few more features like native DSD, bitperfect volume control, possibility to choose few more digital filters etc.. and there is no significant difference in price..
Everything in my system is DIY, so you are barking up the wrong tree..
Point of DIY is to achieve maximum from used components, not to be satisfied with unacceptably poor results..
Perhaps you have deeper pockets than some or a different measure of 'significant'.
Many of the knock off products perform adequately, are priced at 25-40% of the genuine article and come with free shipping.(when being sent to far flung isles the shipping often adds 40-65% in addition to retail for much of the product for manufacturers outside China.
If we leave off shipping then I may well agree with your comment.
Sadly, for remote dwellers, diy is often a case of reworking cheaper versions to wring out every last improvement possible from the crippled boards.
While not ideal it does at least encourage learning and modding with as little financial risk as possible.
Something one might not attempt on the higher spec and priced product.
There are tradeoffs everywhere and we are all free to choose those that fit our circumstances.
as often as they have spell-check in France.....
If they wrote like the frenchz, I surmise they use also use sale gaz.... oups, sorry shale gas!
Here we do, last trend in France for 30 bucks is to buy your pizza in China instead local Domino Pizza... a little slow by EMS if you are starving... But you know the trend...
Btw, I'm surprised with all the good clocks and inputs digital stages some diyers are making here, there is no guy to develop a cheap AK DAC but with uf-l MCLK znd I2S inputs ! All those high rez DACs with big input plugs with just a standalone (unique?) GND plug (no coaxial shelded/Gnd return path) are a joke for such high speeds ! (overdrive gearz box ?)!
I can not see the interest of a good premium dac chip in a bad pcb layout with crapy digital front end !
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I can get a picture here later when I get home.
I noticed that I had used a smaller value (47uf 16v) around the ak4495, when I also had some 100uf 25v here, both are Panasonic px. After swapping these in, things were starting to sound very good.
The vref decoupling is 220uf on the evaluation board, and I am assuming they had used standard type capacitors with typical esr. I replaced these with some larger case-size 100uf 50v Silmic that a similar esr. That was a very nice upgrade from the 47uf Panasonic parts.
Yeah, threads can turn into a septic tank pretty quick, huh?
I noticed that I had used a smaller value (47uf 16v) around the ak4495, when I also had some 100uf 25v here, both are Panasonic px. After swapping these in, things were starting to sound very good.
The vref decoupling is 220uf on the evaluation board, and I am assuming they had used standard type capacitors with typical esr. I replaced these with some larger case-size 100uf 50v Silmic that a similar esr. That was a very nice upgrade from the 47uf Panasonic parts.
Yeah, threads can turn into a septic tank pretty quick, huh?
Nah, but having tested cheap China DACs before I saw this is not because you have a good dac chip than you can save for all the rest around (there are some very good, near sota but from reliable China brands...). A reliable should more look like this one : http://jlsounds.com/ak4495.html.... as you see it's not 30 bucks... impossible, even if you putt ten workers on stepped beds in a cave !
For me all these cheap China DACs sounds more or same the same : not very good ! Because it's a whole and not a simple thing ! You must have very good and proof layout and the more the speeds are high the most difficult it is. You need also genuine goods parts, but it's not enough. You have to chose them carefully, apply the good power supply topology where it is needed...etc, etc !
It's not easy and a simple task, here also some draw pretty bad designs too ! And some others very good because they have the correct knowledge and experience...
To cut this story short as already said before, with such cheap dac you think to make a bargain... but not for your ears !
But I believe there is a space yet to make modular DAC here if the god rules applies : it will be better for the result :
good input digital stage + good wirering with the dac board + MCLK + good powersupplies : good power traffo !
I'm always surprise there are not more DIY projects with AK chips or Wolfson chips. We do a lot with the good Philips chips and the ESS chips, sometimes with the old R2R AD or BB chips... But not so much "simple" modular boards for AK and Wolfson, and these are excellent dac chips ! (some good but complex diy designs exist though : DSP DAC for instance...)
I'm not critisize you for that, who am I for that ! It's just an incentive talk to go further... look for instance the good threads like the one where Abraxalito shared about TDA1387. The ultimate TDA1541 DAC from ECDESIGNS, etc... I militate for a DIY simple modular but technical proof AK board .
For me all these cheap China DACs sounds more or same the same : not very good ! Because it's a whole and not a simple thing ! You must have very good and proof layout and the more the speeds are high the most difficult it is. You need also genuine goods parts, but it's not enough. You have to chose them carefully, apply the good power supply topology where it is needed...etc, etc !
It's not easy and a simple task, here also some draw pretty bad designs too ! And some others very good because they have the correct knowledge and experience...
To cut this story short as already said before, with such cheap dac you think to make a bargain... but not for your ears !
But I believe there is a space yet to make modular DAC here if the god rules applies : it will be better for the result :
good input digital stage + good wirering with the dac board + MCLK + good powersupplies : good power traffo !
I'm always surprise there are not more DIY projects with AK chips or Wolfson chips. We do a lot with the good Philips chips and the ESS chips, sometimes with the old R2R AD or BB chips... But not so much "simple" modular boards for AK and Wolfson, and these are excellent dac chips ! (some good but complex diy designs exist though : DSP DAC for instance...)
I'm not critisize you for that, who am I for that ! It's just an incentive talk to go further
... look for instance the good threads like the one where Abraxalito shared about TDA1387. The ultimate TDA1541 DAC from ECDESIGNS, etc... I militate for a DIY simple modular but technical proof AK board .
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