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Mr White's "Opus", designing a simple balanced DAC

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BrianDonegan

BrianDonegan

Member
Joined 2004
twistedpearaudio.com
Burning DAC - the good kind

So, I just finished up the Opus for the Burning Amp Festival (another kind of Burning DAC ;)) Only got to listen for an hour before packing it up :(

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.



An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.



More pics of the construction can be found here (full size):
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/user_gallery/_burning_dac/
 
BrianDonegan

BrianDonegan

Member
Joined 2004
twistedpearaudio.com
Well, that's easy.

Case is from Par-Metal (20-12123N: 12x12x3" unfinished).
Front panel switch is the same Alpha 3-pos, 4-pole switch we use for the Darwin (Mouser #105-SR2511F-43FN).
I/O Connectors are all Neutrik.
Fuse holder is a Littlefuse from Mouser (576-03453LS7H).
IEC connector is one I picked up from ApexJr.
Power wire is actually some 2-conductor speaker wire I got from PartsExpress (16gauge).
All the red wire is 24gauge SPC (Newark) stranded PVC wire I got on closeout (Newark's Ebay Store).
The balanced output wire is CAT5e that I retwisted into 3-conductor sets.
The single-ended coax output wire is the center of some triple-shielded StreetWires coax I bought about 10 years ago.

The front panel, rear panel, and knob are all custom machined.

All the circuit boards are Twisted Pear items except for the 2-to-1 I2S switch board which I etched, as are the two trafos.
 
D

DarrenWadsworth

Member
Joined 2005
BrianDonegan said:
Well, that's easy.
Click to expand...

How about something more challenging?

:bigeyes: :)

Sorry about the noob question.

It looks like that switch selects either spdif or USB for input, and turns off the unit.

I take it that the input modules (usb,spdif) ouputs are connected to the switch. And somehow power is connected.

I would like to control my DAC in the fashion as I will need to use those inputs.

However, I do not know how. If you have the time, I would GREATLY appreciate either a connection diagram or just text explaining what goes where. All of the other connections etc, I have worked out. Just not how to switch the 2 inputs and power(which I could use a seperate switch but this is neater).

Thank you
Darren
 
E

ejaouen

Member
Joined 2007
ponctey.fr
Is there a chance that you would be using the WM8741 chip on the opus dac soon in its stock form ?
In this case I would be interested in some opus dacs. In pcm mode which is only what matters to me the WM8741 is much better in SNR (125 dBa stereo) specs.
After all wolfson says that they are pin compatible so manufacturers can use them as soon as possible !

Also can I PERFECTLY use the opus board alone (without output buffer or filter ) to a 23Kohms input impedance pro amp ?

Thank you very much, Eric
 
D

dwk123

Member
Joined 2002
ejaouen said:

Also can I PERFECTLY use the opus board alone (without output buffer or filter ) to a 23Kohms input impedance pro amp ?

Thank you very much, Eric
Click to expand...

I'm hoping to try something very close to this in the next week or two - opus direct/unfiltered into an Alesis RA150 which I think is ~20k on the balanced inputs. I've been struggling to find time for projects though, so I'm not exactly sure when I'll manage to try it.
 
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