Which dac?

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#44
There are a lot of factors that go into the manufacturer's measurements and when.

The 1955 sounds much better then their other products; more detail, blacker background (demonstrating lower noise floor and more range), and a wider sound field.

My amp also measured out to 128db, which made it possible to actually hear the differences. The improvement is broader then the actal numbers suggest.

-David
 
#49
I definately liked the AKM4396! An excellent DAC and easier to implement than the AD1955 since no microcontroller is needed. The AKM4396 is less analytical than the AD1955 and slightly less detailed. Both chips throw a nice sound field and the image wonderful. Depending on the source material, they both imaged beyond the right and left speakers.

For the AKM4396 I tried a number of the commonly used opamps discussed on this site as replacement buffers, but the 5534 still sounded the best that come with the DAC eval board. I did hack the eval board for balanced output. It was a simple mod of unsoldering one side of the resistor legs on the output from the balanced output opamp filters and attach xlr connectors. The remander of test system is all Pass Labs and I'm only interested in balanced interconnections.

There is room to mod the AKM4396 eval board with higher quality passive components. The AD eval board was maxed out with panasonic caps, yageo and vishay/dale resistors. very nice! The I/V circuit consists of 4 AD797 opamps. The AKM board sounded very relaxed to such a negitive degree when AD797's were used for the filters. Again I tried just about everything, and the 5534's sounded the best on the AKM. The usual 5534 complaints were not present inthe sound.

The AD board uses surface mount opamps, but there are also through hole pads for replacement opamps for direct soldering or adding sockets for experimenting. The AKM board comes with millspec sockets from the factory.

-David
 
#51
Hi dw8083,

I a looking for an easy to built DAC. You said that AKM 4396 is good an easy to implement. I have some skills in electronics but not much about DAC, if you have a schematic with this chip (I will use I2S as input) this would be great.

Thanks in advance,
 
#52
Checkout the AKM website. They have the full schematics for the AKM4396 eval board. I tried all the popular opamps as filters, and the NJM5534D is the best sounding opamp for this board. The 5534 makes some folks cringe, but it actually sounds the best with this chip. The eval board is not very expensive, and AKM has done a lot of work getting the ground planes right. I did hack my eval board to for balanced xlr outputs.

Attached is a pic of my modded AKM4396 eval board.

-David
 

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#55
Hi David,

I have contacted AKM today, will see if they will give response to me. In the mean time I was searching the web for a sound card for my PC. I found this card "Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1", it has 6 AKM4396 on it and other chips that I cannot identify even when I zoomed the picture (I have downloaded the picture but I don't know how to attach it here). Has anybody tried to use a sound card as a DAC before?

Vincent
 
#56
NVD33 said:
Hi David,

I have contacted AKM today, will see if they will give response to me. In the mean time I was searching the web for a sound card for my PC. I found this card "Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1", it has 6 AKM4396 on it and other chips that I cannot identify even when I zoomed the picture (I have downloaded the picture but I don't know how to attach it here). Has anybody tried to use a sound card as a DAC before?

Vincent
Click to expand...


Hi Vincent,

The issue with sound cards is the very noisy environment in a PC. Also most cards do not have balanced analog outputs which would seriously help with common noise rejection. The high frequency noise and poor quality (read cheap) powersupplies in PC's make cards impractical for highend audio. IMHO.

There are people using PC cards and are quite happy with the sound. If a person thinks about it for a moment, look at all the effort that goes into power design for standalone DAC's and highend CD players. The PC has a very cheap power supply and a ton of high frequency noise, all impacting the audio card.

If you want sound from a PC try the Roland UA-1EX or a toslink cable from the PC to the DAC. I prefer TOS since optical isolates the DAC from the noisy ground of the PC.

http://www.roland.com/products/en/UA-1EX/index.html

This Roland product supports 24/96 and costs approximately $80usd.

Just a thought,

-David
 
#57
Hi David,

I agree that PC environment is very noisy. No, I do not want sound from a PC but to use a sound card, make power supplies and minor mods to finally obtain a standalone DAC. I had this idea when I saw the huge quantity of AKM4396 on that sound card, I thought it would be nice to use it as an evaluation board and try different DAC configuration by switching between them. If it's not feasible I will keep searching for an eval board.

Thanks for your replies,

Vincent
 
#58
dw8083 said:
Checkout the AKM website. They have the full schematics for the AKM4396 eval board. I tried all the popular opamps as filters, and the NJM5534D is the best sounding opamp for this board. The 5534 makes some folks cringe, but it actually sounds the best with this chip. The eval board is not very expensive, and AKM has done a lot of work getting the ground planes right. I did hack my eval board to for balanced xlr outputs.

Attached is a pic of my modded AKM4396 eval board.

-David
Click to expand...

Where can I get one?(eval.board). Price?
I have tried e-mailing AKM Japan, Europeean and U.S. distributors from their list, and nobody ever responded. (Wanted to buy 2-10 AKM4396 DAC-chips).

Arne K
 
#60
Cobra2 said:


Where can I get one?(eval.board). Price?
I have tried e-mailing AKM Japan, Europeean and U.S. distributors from their list, and nobody ever responded. (Wanted to buy 2-10 AKM4396 DAC-chips).

Arne K
Click to expand...

Hi Arne,

I'd call the local sales office and talk to a sales rep. If you explain your are an audio consultant looking to evaluate parts they may just give you a few chips. I found with AKM a phone call is best. AKM has a large sales office here in San Jose. It might be wirth a try to get a local european AKM rep's name if you strikeout calling the European sales office directly. I imagine the European office is is similar to the one in the US, but just a guess.

Leave the rep a phone message as a consulant and you'll probably get a higher chance of the rep calling back.

-David
 
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