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Reference DAC Module - Discrete R-2R Sign Magnitude 24 bit 384 KHz

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#6,343
Nightowl Headphones

Would the DAC1101 be a reasonable match to the Audioquest Nightowl headphones, with their 25Ω impedance?

I guess loudness won't be the problem; the Nightowl is very easy to drive. I'm more concerned that the DAC1101's output will be too loud/powerful.

My current DAC (Dragonfly Red) only gives me ten or fewer steps of usable volume control from silent to ear-shattering on most PCM recordings. Often only five or six is the maximum (out of 100 on the slider*). Basically the Dragonfly's output is far too powerful for the low impedance 'phones despite them coming from the same stable 😕

I would like to be able to fine-tune the level a bit more than only having 5 or 6 steps from silent to ear-shattering. Without having to let Windows or my media player truncate the audio before it even gets to the DAC.

I'm also just a tad concerned about the relatively high 3Ω output impedance of the DAC1101 with these 'phones. Should I be?

The one thing I see that's missing on the DAC1101 is a high/low gain switch for the headphone amplifier.

If I could order one in the UK with easy return (like from Amazon) I would just take the risk and do so, but that's not so easy ordering from Denmark. I'm guessing I would really like the DAC1101, from everything I've read (which is just about everything google can find on the 'net) but money's short and I really need to not take chances.


*The Dragonfly Red uses digital volume control which is linked to the Windows' volume slider, so moving that slider controls the DAC's internal digital attenuator rather than Windows doing anything itself.
 
#6,346
foxyrick said:
Would the DAC1101 be a reasonable match to the Audioquest Nightowl headphones, with their 25Ω impedance?

I guess loudness won't be the problem; the Nightowl is very easy to drive. I'm more concerned that the DAC1101's output will be too loud/powerful.

My current DAC (Dragonfly Red) only gives me ten or fewer steps of usable volume control from silent to ear-shattering on most PCM recordings. Often only five or six is the maximum (out of 100 on the slider*). Basically the Dragonfly's output is far too powerful for the low impedance 'phones despite them coming from the same stable 😕

I would like to be able to fine-tune the level a bit more than only having 5 or 6 steps from silent to ear-shattering. Without having to let Windows or my media player truncate the audio before it even gets to the DAC.

I'm also just a tad concerned about the relatively high 3Ω output impedance of the DAC1101 with these 'phones. Should I be?

The one thing I see that's missing on the DAC1101 is a high/low gain switch for the headphone amplifier.

If I could order one in the UK with easy return (like from Amazon) I would just take the risk and do so, but that's not so easy ordering from Denmark. I'm guessing I would really like the DAC1101, from everything I've read (which is just about everything google can find on the 'net) but money's short and I really need to not take chances.


*The Dragonfly Red uses digital volume control which is linked to the Windows' volume slider, so moving that slider controls the DAC's internal digital attenuator rather than Windows doing anything itself.
Click to expand...

The questions don't really belong in the dam1021 diy thread, but the dac1101 volume control is just like the dam1021, -80 to +10 db in precise 1 db steps. The dac1101 actually changes the gain in the output amplifier as needed, but it's integrated with the digital volume control so you don't notice it.

The dac1101 should be fine with 25 ohms headphones. It should be easy to order and ship from Denmark when you're in the UK, at least until brexit is implemented....
 
#6,348
This is what you get when you buy a dam1021:

board_with_parts.jpg


The picture is from my Rev.1 but you get the idea.
 
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#6,352
I'd say that the "lite" version is pretty much finished.

I don't sell and haven't bothered to do a group buy or anything. I'm not sure there would be much interest anyway. I do have a couple of spare indicator PCBs that could be modded to isolate a serial port and control the Soekris.

IMG_0001-1600x1067.jpg


Perhaps if there is enough interest I could do a re-design specifically for the Soekris and do a small GB of PCBs.
 
#6,356
I am using an potentiometer sourced from an old pioneer pd602 cd player. It was 20k dual linear and only parallelled those 2 sections and it became 10k. Bought a cheap remote control kit from ebay and swapped the 50k log from that kit with the other.

Ot you can find a
RK16812MGA1H (10k linear motorized - approx 12$) from alps. Buy a cheap remote control kit and you are home free.
 
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#6,358
For those of you talking about remote volume control, you might want to consider a rotary encoder instead of a motorized pot. For remote control, you already need a microcontroller. So you could also make that microcontroller interpret rotary encoder movement.

My balanced dual-mono dam1021 project is on hold at the moment, but that is what I'm doing. I'm using a Raspberry Pi as my micro-controller. Basically, the only dam1021 volume control is via the serial commands (not using any pot). And the Rpi brokers where the volume change requests come from, i.e. rotary encoder or software command (or remote control if I want to add that some day).
 
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