Chinese ES9018K2M I2S DAC

If I don't care about the biggest and baddest 32bit dsd support, the CM6631A (24 bit) boards appear to be on the table as well. One concern in all of this is drivers as well, since I'll be using this almost exclusively with Windows 10 PCs.

CM6631A boards are really no cheaper than the Xmos board in the link I provided, so there really isn't any point.
I bought that board some time ago, and when asked the dealer provided a download link for a driver that worked well in Windows 7. I'm now using Linux, which has native support and works well for PCM (I haven't checked out DSD yet, which could be a problem because I'm using Foobar2000 under Wine).
I believe that Windows 10 now has native support too, so you shouldn't need a driver.
 
Hi everyone, sorry for barging in...
I must confess I did not read the whole thread but have a thing to contribute someone may find useful: I built a Volumio setup using the ES9018K2M including some tweaks and a python-based driver to go with it.

The write-up is here:
I made a Volumio music player – Baschteler of Science Blog

Original Volumio forum post is here (some more photos):
Presenting: wooden Volumio build with matching Amp : Diy Volumio Projects

Thanks for sharing! For me, very useful!

I have a question: this combo can play DSF files?
 
Hi Istvan,
I do not use this format but I just checked. It plays DSD files no problem. I tested stereo files in 11.2896Mbit/s and 5.6448Mbit/s and both worked fine, just make sure to set it to 'DSD direct' playback.
I use FLAC for high quality audio tested up to 24BIT/192kHz, 16bit works as well with my python driver running but is very distorted without setting the proper registers in the DAC.
 
Hi Istvan,
I do not use this format but I just checked. It plays DSD files no problem. I tested stereo files in 11.2896Mbit/s and 5.6448Mbit/s and both worked fine, just make sure to set it to 'DSD direct' playback.
I use FLAC for high quality audio tested up to 24BIT/192kHz, 16bit works as well with my python driver running but is very distorted without setting the proper registers in the DAC.

Thanks for the reply!
 
This is my interpretation: I'm using 3 of Walt Young's Superregs, one for analog stage, and 2 for digital (directly to 1117 regulator's inputs)

The next stage is +/- power supply for opamp and change capacitors to betters.
 

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