The Best DAC is no DAC

Jump to Latest
#1,661
single ended boards

hiya ray,

this is pretty much my first post here on this site so hi to everyone. ray it`s great the effort you`ve put into the no dac approach as well as hazard500 and others too. it`s been a fascinating thread. i`m new to electronics and these kind of threads are a fantastic motivation to learn something new.

i`m slowly getting parts together to build ale moglia`s 01A pre amp and my intention is to implement this no dac approach into that pre. at the moment i`m gathering all the parts together so i can design a chassis so a build i guess is still a while away.

anyway i would like to put myself down for for 2 of your single ended boards. do you want payment now or once they`ve arrived to you?

i remember reading that the output of usb boards is a little weak somewhere in this thread. do these single ended boards improve the signal output? i`m sure i read that they do but just want to make sure. i was thinking of using it along with the amanero board for the DSD512.

once again, great work ray.

gray
 
#1,662
zdr said:
So what's the final recipe for nodac? I have been following this thread from the start and still a bit lost...

Sent from my MI 5s using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Like Ray says, there is no one size fits all solution. I have gone through 2 major revisions since my first successful build and I am now building another upgrade - I am on holidays now but I will finish the build when I get home next week and provide an update.

Some of the key variables which you need to consider in your own implementation
1. Do you want single ended or balanced output from tour DAC?
2. Do you want gain in your DAC? Or do you need to buffer the output?
3. How do you want to block DC (eg cap or transformer) or do you even need to block DC?
4. What roll off slope do you want? What sort of filter do you want to use (eg RC, LC etc)
5. How much grunt does your PC have, and how far can you go with upsampling? The higher the better, and it makes filter design less critical.

These are all personal choices. Like turntables and cartridges, there are many different choices which all work for each of us in our systems.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
 
#1,663
nautibuoy said:
DSD512 should be fine, it's where I'm heading next with a no-dac implementation.



It can be more than the pops/clicks (the degree of which seems to vary with different USB boards) as some USB boards seem to experience a white noise during playback too. I cannot comment specifically about the DIYINHK board as I have no experience of one in this sort of setup, just want to make you aware.
Click to expand...
Ray, are you using DSD512 with JLSounds? As far as I can tell they only go to DSD256.

I am upgrading my DAC, I have bought the DIYINHK osolated board (for DSD512). Ive mounted everything in a new box and will wire up when I get home from holidays next week.

I have previously used a DIYINHK board, the earlier model which went to DSD256. A colleague of mine uses a new DSD512 board albeit he bought the non-isolated board. Both boards have performed flawlessly, and I have no hesitation in using DIYINHK products.

Hopefully I can details of my new build in a week or 2.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
 
#1,664
nautibuoy said:
I feel a little awkward given my previous post and the apparent conflict of interest but, entirely unrelated to that post, I have received a couple of PMs asking about PCB availability so I am ordering another small batch if anyone is interested

I am ordering the versions of the PCBs that are designed to plug onto the headers of the JLSounds USB board. I will be able to offer a small number of flipflop and single-ended boards on a first come, first served basis.

In addition, I will also have a small number of SE boards that replace the through-hole LP filter components with smd parts and a further variation of the SE board that has pads for an inductor/cap/resistor for a second order LP filter.

PCBs will cost £4 each plus shipping at cost.

From placing the order for the PCBs to them being delivered to me normally takes 2-3weeks so it will likely be about a month before any PCBs get into your hands.
Click to expand...

YGPM for 2 boards.
 
#1,665
hazard500 said:
Ray, are you using DSD512 with JLSounds? As far as I can tell they only go to DSD256.
Click to expand...

Hi Hazard, I've used a beaglebone/Botic/NAA to get my Buffalo 3SE playing DSD512 so I am working on a No Dac project using the Beaglebone approach.

I plan to use the Beaglebone with an Acko SO3 reclocker and a single-ended No DAC with output fed to a 4P1L buffer stage to provide a little gain.

I am also working on a project for a dual-mono AK4497 implementation, which is DSD512 capable. I'm taking a leaf out of your book and using some Lundahl transformers on the output. It'll be interesting to see how the commercial AK DSD-capable DAC stacks up against the no dac.

Ray
 
#1,667
grayfair0 said:
anyway i would like to put myself down for for 2 of your single ended boards. do you want payment now or once they`ve arrived to you?
Click to expand...

PM me with the board request; if I have to trawl through the thread looking for requests I'm likely to miss something.

grayfair0 said:
i remember reading that the output of usb boards is a little weak somewhere in this thread. do these single ended boards improve the signal output? i`m sure i read that they do but just want to make sure. i was thinking of using it along with the amanero board for the DSD512.
Click to expand...

The single ended boards (and the flipflops for that matter) don't improve the signal output as they're entirely passive; they simply filter out the DSD carrier signal to leave the analogue signal. From memory, the output of the single-ended board is around 650mV (double that for the flipflop) so, depending on your amps you may need some gain and a buffer might be a good idea to give some drive current.

Ray
 
#1,669
Thanks to Ray for his BBB image... Save a lot of time to setup the BBB as NAA...
Using Ray's BBB image i manage to test out a daughter board i made for the BBB using one of my DSD dac, its the old electrart 8 tap FIR filter DSD principle board. Initially wanted to build a new DSD with tube output stage but i wanted to make sure the daughter board is working first...

A simple design with isolation, reclock and balance output, although the board has a few design mistakes... did not realise the DSD pin was pin41 instead of pin29, took me some time to finally found out my mistake after i read through the BBB thread again....

And i was quite surprise by the sound quality...and its stable playing DSD512...

next step is to change the ndk crystal to the laptech crystal and use it on my new 32 tap FIR DSD board.... once done i will compare it with my other 32 tap dsd board which is hook to diyinhk USB board....

32075085786_636f1102b0.jpg


Close up on the daughter board on top of the BBB...
32114116535_50b04da2dd.jpg

31272882454_9c594cb004.jpg



the laptech and my newly built 32 tap DSD board...
31965759462_71b41b9f79.jpg

31996034201_7339808fa6.jpg
 
Last edited:
#1,674
food for thought

hi all,

i was going through this thread yesterday and thought i`d make a suggestion. i don`t have much electrical knowledge but has anyone thought about using a lightspeed in the no dac set up. like i said i have limited knowledge on electrics but thought i`d pass on the idea. it might either be a lousy idea or food for thought for you all. just a thought.
 
#1,675
I've just placed the order for the extra batch of PCBs.

The boards are the same as the previous version designed to fit the JLSounds board headers except that I have added a couple of extra pads to facilitate the option of a manual switch for the mute circuit (retaining the previous mute circuit).

Ray
 
#1,678
stijn001 said:
Nice work. Does the BBB/NAA with reclocking/isolation combination give you any of the dreaded "POP"'s or other atrifacts?
Click to expand...

Pop will always be there.... work around is to add a mute relay feature... this can be explore in the future but currently I just live with the pop... a simple work around is to use the pause instead of the stop button and fixed the sample rate output....

Before the start of the first song make sure the volumn is at zero... once play is press... immediately pause the song.. turn up the volumn... and do not press stop... just press pause if needed and add songs to the playlist as you wish... at the end of the listening session... before u stop lower the volumn to zero, either stop or pause... there will be no pop...

Strangely if u were to use daphile... the pop is very soft, almost negligible but u can't use BBB as a NAA...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom