warmed up
Hi
let me share some "news"
I have been using this DAC (E-MU USB 0202) from 2006 but the sound caused listening fatigue after ~1 hour of listening.
I decided to tweak it and added additional WIMA 0.47 caps in parallel to original electrolytics on main board. To main original 2200u/10V cap I soldered 2 OSCON SEPC 270u/16V, one 1000u/63V low esr, 0.47 and 0.33u/63V WIMA. All of those operations took ~15 minutes.
The results are OUTSTANDING!
With StalthAudioPlayer using high quality audio files it plays much better than my moded cdplayers with tube I/V at the output.
The sound now is detailed, relaxed and calming with plenty of the details.
I am highly recommending this dac with tweaked power caps.
Hi
let me share some "news"
I have been using this DAC (E-MU USB 0202) from 2006 but the sound caused listening fatigue after ~1 hour of listening.
I decided to tweak it and added additional WIMA 0.47 caps in parallel to original electrolytics on main board. To main original 2200u/10V cap I soldered 2 OSCON SEPC 270u/16V, one 1000u/63V low esr, 0.47 and 0.33u/63V WIMA. All of those operations took ~15 minutes.
The results are OUTSTANDING!
With StalthAudioPlayer using high quality audio files it plays much better than my moded cdplayers with tube I/V at the output.
The sound now is detailed, relaxed and calming with plenty of the details.
I am highly recommending this dac with tweaked power caps.
Attachments
Can these board still be found? If so, who's selling them?
If not, what's comparable that's being sold today?
I see a number of CS4398+CS8416 DACs on ebay, but none of them appear to be even similar to this board.
If not, what's comparable that's being sold today?
I see a number of CS4398+CS8416 DACs on ebay, but none of them appear to be even similar to this board.
This ones even got a schema,if you scroll down:
CS4398 CM102 CS8416IC DAC kit 192K/24BIT SPI&I2S Amplifier Board | eBay
CS4398 CM102 CS8416IC DAC kit 192K/24BIT SPI&I2S Amplifier Board | eBay
Hi Okasin,
I have this dac version V5 and would like to see the differences with V9 to mod it.
Do you have schematic and pics for me?
Regards,
Alex Bartels
The Netherlands
Hi Richard,
What did you do to get it working at 192Khz?
Regards,
Alex Bartels
The Netherlands
There are some serious design flaws in this DAC.
First is that the contacts of the muting relay are wrongly configured (nc and no contacts are swapped), resulting in a click-sound when switching from/to mute.
Second is the relay circuitry is not able to provide the full 12Vdc coil voltage and sometimes the relay doesn't switch to unmute.
Third is that the chip on the 192KHz sample rate converter board (CS8421) is powered with 3V3 digital core where the specs mention 2.62V max.
This finally killed my upsampling chip by switching the DAC on. I modified the upsampling with a 1N4148 diode providing 2.6V at Vd (pin 3).
Altogether, the DAC really sounds nice
I've attached the jumper settings and schematics for the one who's interested (multipart zip files, remove the last .zip from the filename).
Regards,
Rolf
The Netherlands
First is that the contacts of the muting relay are wrongly configured (nc and no contacts are swapped), resulting in a click-sound when switching from/to mute.
Second is the relay circuitry is not able to provide the full 12Vdc coil voltage and sometimes the relay doesn't switch to unmute.
Third is that the chip on the 192KHz sample rate converter board (CS8421) is powered with 3V3 digital core where the specs mention 2.62V max.
This finally killed my upsampling chip by switching the DAC on. I modified the upsampling with a 1N4148 diode providing 2.6V at Vd (pin 3).
Altogether, the DAC really sounds nice
I've attached the jumper settings and schematics for the one who's interested (multipart zip files, remove the last .zip from the filename).
Regards,
Rolf
The Netherlands
Attachments
I have this Chinese board with the original CS4398 DAC wired up to the UTC-A20 transformers.
Question is which other DAC's (ebay kits etc) are worth trying with transformers, I am a little bored with the CS4398 sound...time to experiment but I still love of my UTC-A20's
Question is which other DAC's (ebay kits etc) are worth trying with transformers, I am a little bored with the CS4398 sound...time to experiment but I still love of my UTC-A20's
Try AK4495SEQ dac's. You need SPDIF input or I2S?
Not sure about your DIY capabilities, otherwise I would try Soekris DAM1021 with RPI/I2S
Btw, I had this same dac before too, and switched to:
Upgraded Version of Assembled AK4495EQ II2S DAC Board Support 32bit 768K Decoder | eBay
Just to compare sound between CS4398 and AK4497SEQ, AK definietly won.
Not sure about your DIY capabilities, otherwise I would try Soekris DAM1021 with RPI/I2S
Btw, I had this same dac before too, and switched to:
Upgraded Version of Assembled AK4495EQ II2S DAC Board Support 32bit 768K Decoder | eBay
Just to compare sound between CS4398 and AK4497SEQ, AK definietly won.
Last edited:
thanks for info, have you tried with transformer output or using stock Opamps? kit is cheap though!
I used it with LME49720HA which sounded real good.
It probably, eh, definitely will sound a lot better with your transformers 🙂
Soekris DAM1021 is more expensive, but definitely a good step-up!
But, I liked AK4495SEQ a lot, and built my own DAC 🙂
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ivzpgUT3UYU0tMLVdnQ0NodFk/view?usp=sharing
At first I used it with isolated XMOS USB interface, and nowadays using it with RPI3+DAC+Pro I2S direct into I2S input AK4495SEQ.
Software used is LMS 7.9 on Qnap TS-853A-8G nas and PiCoreplayer, latest version, on RPI
Sounds unbelievable good!!!!!!
And, still using LME49720HA......
Bursons V5i and V5's are on the way to test, will write a review for Burson 🙂
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ivzpgUT3UYU0tMLVdnQ0NodFk/view?usp=sharing
At first I used it with isolated XMOS USB interface, and nowadays using it with RPI3+DAC+Pro I2S direct into I2S input AK4495SEQ.
Software used is LMS 7.9 on Qnap TS-853A-8G nas and PiCoreplayer, latest version, on RPI
Sounds unbelievable good!!!!!!
And, still using LME49720HA......
Bursons V5i and V5's are on the way to test, will write a review for Burson 🙂
I have Duet Squeezbox running from a QNAP NAS I think I can use my original DAC box, looks like I will try the cheap Chinese kit first...then winter in Australia so plenty of time to experiment
Funny, just came across this but I was about to auction my UTC A20's off as I no longer use my CS4397 transformer output DAC. I moved to and AK DAC with opamp output. I would also be interested to know if anyone has succesfully used transformer outputs on any of the newer DAC chips,
STu
STu
me too...I just don't know if I can live without my UTC's...even have the original boxes still😱
AK4495SEQ definitely will work with output transformers, they have ZERO dc 🙂
No need for capacitor in output..........
AK4497SEQ wil follow very soon, chip is already available!
No need for capacitor in output..........
AK4497SEQ wil follow very soon, chip is already available!
Well I'm not an expert but from memory, the CS DACS are current output and the AK's may be voltage output? - take this with a pinch of salt as I am not sure if I am correct,
Stu
Stu