It's mid-summer here, but we've had a cool one - thankfully - just after NYE it was looking like we were in for a very bad bushfire season.
My Pass Clone Pre and DAC had to get unplugged due the high ambient temperatures - the entire cases were hot to the touch.
In contrast the DAM1021 is stone cold when I touch the case.
Anyway just back from a quick listening test at a friends place to compare with his NAD M51.
The DAM1021 is built with 7VAC 5W trafo, and a SPDIF input using a Murata 76601/3C pulse transformer and circuit as per Søren's schematic. The 76601/3C has been sitting in the parts box so not chosen for any special reason.
My friend was a bit nervous about the POP's and especially the loud POP[/p] when powering the gear off. The setup was nCore NC400 amps into Kef Reference monitor speakers (not sure of the exact model).
The DAM1021 was clearly a better DAC than the M51. The soundstage of the DAM1021 was wider, and the imaging was far more precise and detailed than the M51. The M51 sounded warmer and vocals more full but wasn't as engaging to my ear. The comparison made me very glad I'd held off buying an M51 and waited for Søren to get the DAM1021 finished.
My Pass Clone Pre and DAC had to get unplugged due the high ambient temperatures - the entire cases were hot to the touch.
In contrast the DAM1021 is stone cold when I touch the case.
Anyway just back from a quick listening test at a friends place to compare with his NAD M51.
The DAM1021 is built with 7VAC 5W trafo, and a SPDIF input using a Murata 76601/3C pulse transformer and circuit as per Søren's schematic. The 76601/3C has been sitting in the parts box so not chosen for any special reason.
My friend was a bit nervous about the POP's and especially the loud POP[/p] when powering the gear off. The setup was nCore NC400 amps into Kef Reference monitor speakers (not sure of the exact model).
The DAM1021 was clearly a better DAC than the M51. The soundstage of the DAM1021 was wider, and the imaging was far more precise and detailed than the M51. The M51 sounded warmer and vocals more full but wasn't as engaging to my ear. The comparison made me very glad I'd held off buying an M51 and waited for Søren to get the DAM1021 finished.
did you use the balanced output into the ncores?
yes, using balanced out.
I'd caution people to be very very careful using the DAM1021.
I just made the mistake of powering off the DAC before the amp and have fried one channel of the hypex ucd180's with the massive POP that resulted.
Søren can you PLEASE think about implementing some kind of muting on the outputs!?!
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yes, using balanced out.
I'd caution people to be very very careful using the DAM1021.
I just made the mistake of powering off the DAC before the amp and have fried one channel of the hypex ucd180's with the massive POP that resulted.
Søren can you PLEASE think about implementing some kind of muting on the outputs!?!
As someone pointed out to me - make sure the amps are turned off first.
I've been using a remote switched power board to turn my gear on and off, so everything gets switched simultaneously - although in this case I turned the DAC off with everything else turned on. I think a work around - for me at least - is to leave the DAC on permanently.
Anyway it's something to be conscious of when powering on and off your system.
I'm sure Soekris will work that out. We'll just have to wait. I'll wait a little bit longer until I buy this board, just a little bit longer.
But, if you're saying that this board outperforms (still new and with just hours on it) Nad M51, than this is allready very good result.
But, if you're saying that this board outperforms (still new and with just hours on it) Nad M51, than this is allready very good result.
No - sitting on a towel.
Maybe not a good idea for ESD for the DAC board. I would at least put them on standoff's so they aren't in direct contact.
Just wanted to chime in about connecting stuff - standard jumper wires turned out to be really good. You can get them from almost all Arduino/Raspberry/... prototyping stores.
Maybe not a good idea for ESD for the DAC board. I would at least put them on standoff's so they aren't in direct contact.
AT least that was my idea as well when I asked, but it seems it's a pure cotton towel for bath or beach 😀 (cotton = no ESD ?)
BTW Spzzzzkt, I hate you ! Here it's too cold ! Was in Paris today and they keep the Cristmass tree in front of Notre Dame !

Well with plop and PLOP... can recall the DAC: B52 !
How about this NAD M51 ? Good reviews when launched ?
With the curves manaement it will be easy to add what is missing. I tried to find a USB to J10 connector (RS232) already made cable in a shop with no sucess... pfffffff ! Luckily, it's easy to have a glass of wine !
How about this NAD M51 ? Good reviews when launched ?
Stereophile rated the M51 "Class A+" in their 2013 and 2014 recommended components list.
2013 Recommended Components Digital Processors | Stereophile.com
NAD M51 Direct Digital D/A converter | Stereophile.com
The amp is getting a minor upgrade as Hypex had made changes to the component selection to improve the SQ since I bought mine originally. So two new 180HG's are on the way, and I'll swap the HxR regs across from the old modules.
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Just wanted to chime in about connecting stuff - standard jumper wires turned out to be really good. You can get them from almost all Arduino/Raspberry/... prototyping stores.
Good idea. I'm currently using two pin headers with crimp connections - which works really well for the pairs. It's similar to the jumper wire idea.
If you take this though to the logical conclusion you could use something like a TE - AMPMODU Mod IV Series 10 x 1 crimp housing for the power header:
1-87499-7 - TE CONNECTIVITY / AMP - CRIMP HOUSING, 1 ROW, 10WAY | element14 Australia
and a 13 x 2 housing for the main connector
2-87456-1 - TE CONNECTIVITY / AMP - WIRE-BOARD CONNECTOR RECEPTACLE 26POS, 2.54MM | element14 Australia
The end result will be more secure and stable than lots of one and two pin housings.
Probably dumb question, but the Amanero site says
But this thread says it will convert DSD to PCM?
If Amanero does convert DSD to PCM, how does it handle DSD that is mastered +3 dB over the PCM standard? When these files are converted to PCM the PCM will be clipped.
DSD output enable line to signal an incoming DSD stream.The card supports output mode only.
But this thread says it will convert DSD to PCM?
If Amanero does convert DSD to PCM, how does it handle DSD that is mastered +3 dB over the PCM standard? When these files are converted to PCM the PCM will be clipped.
Im using Amanero for my DIY pure DSD dac, there's no such a thing that amanero does the converting.Probably dumb question, but the Amanero site says
But this thread says it will convert DSD to PCM?
If Amanero does convert DSD to PCM, how does it handle DSD that is mastered +3 dB over the PCM standard? When these files are converted to PCM the PCM will be clipped.
Maybe it's dac dependent?
And slightly off topic, that reminded me that a cool thing about the Amanero is it supports x1, x2, x4 and x8 DSD rates.
On my PC, running foobar, I couldn't get x8 to work, but the other speeds worked fine.
Randy
And slightly off topic, that reminded me that a cool thing about the Amanero is it supports x1, x2, x4 and x8 DSD rates.
On my PC, running foobar, I couldn't get x8 to work, but the other speeds worked fine.
Randy
And why would anyone do that? Defeats the whole idea.
//
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vend...n-magnitude-24-bit-384-khz-2.html#post3999943
Has the firmware been updated to do the conversion in the FPGA?
If so that still doesn't really answer my question about the +3 dB to peaks (that are found on numerous DSD files) and the clipping that occurs when converted to PCM.
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