I posted this on another thread about tweaking the Buffalo DAC but as Russ from Twisted Pear pointed out it is a departure from the Buffalo so I decided to put it in it's own thread.
I mounted an ES9018 32 bit SABRE DAC on a prototype board as an alternative to NeoY2k or TP boards. Neither board suited my requirements for a number of reasons & anyway I wished to experiment with power supplies, I/V stages, clocks, etc .
The SchmartBoards, on which I mounted the DAC, are designed to allow easy hand soldering of these smd parts LQFP & even BGA chips are catered for. They have solder grooves into which the pins slot & make hand soldering easy. I reckon one could also hand solder these chips on an ordinary protoboard.
Anyway, the costs were a mere $70 (DAC $60 & Board $10) & seems to me like a good bargain and something that can be done straight away without the expenditure or waiting time of other Sabre DAC offerings.
It would be interesting to have a number of people follow the same route & share tweaking experiences.
My first option will be the PS which I plan to run from batteries (4 batteries - DVCC_T; DVCC_B; AVCC_L; AVCC_R) & each 1.2V from an eneloop battery (3 batteries) - no regulators, just caps. I consider the PS to be the most critical part of the implementation of this DAC & running from batteries is a start.
See here for pics: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=1870036#post1870036
I mounted an ES9018 32 bit SABRE DAC on a prototype board as an alternative to NeoY2k or TP boards. Neither board suited my requirements for a number of reasons & anyway I wished to experiment with power supplies, I/V stages, clocks, etc .
The SchmartBoards, on which I mounted the DAC, are designed to allow easy hand soldering of these smd parts LQFP & even BGA chips are catered for. They have solder grooves into which the pins slot & make hand soldering easy. I reckon one could also hand solder these chips on an ordinary protoboard.
Anyway, the costs were a mere $70 (DAC $60 & Board $10) & seems to me like a good bargain and something that can be done straight away without the expenditure or waiting time of other Sabre DAC offerings.
It would be interesting to have a number of people follow the same route & share tweaking experiences.
My first option will be the PS which I plan to run from batteries (4 batteries - DVCC_T; DVCC_B; AVCC_L; AVCC_R) & each 1.2V from an eneloop battery (3 batteries) - no regulators, just caps. I consider the PS to be the most critical part of the implementation of this DAC & running from batteries is a start.
See here for pics: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=1870036#post1870036
<~ im afraid he is my only distributorAh Mr Claus is a great source for all things desired but unfortunately only visits once a year & only if you have been good - I wouldn't qualify I'm afraid 😉
My local distributor in the UK sent me their stock levels & I didn't see any ADC listed.
My local distributor in the UK sent me their stock levels & I didn't see any ADC listed.
dont forget the cold, hard fact that he s also trippin' a lot 
so ~ 60 usd in UK and no extra ordinary shipping rates ?😉
so ~ 60 usd in UK and no extra ordinary shipping rates ?😉
No big shipping costs that I know of - it was just sent from the UK to Ireland - they sent me the DAC chip but haven't charged me yet, go figure. Maybe Santa Claus has secretly visited me? 😀
Ye, strange set-up - I don't know why they do this - no IP in the datasheet that I can see but I had no phiposophical problem with it!
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