Hi!
Ok - first of all - i am not a technical person - when it comes to electronics. I am just an audiophile - geeks
.
I have a question regardring the Cirrus CS4396 chip.
My dac - a Northstar design dac 192 - lost its output stage ( long story short - it blew ).
Anyway - i have a friend - who is an electrical engineer - and he helped me to get it play again. Actually what he did - was that he bypassed the complete analog stage - and instead - he soldered the outputs directly to the outputs of the dac chip. besides that - all he did was to add a capacitator before the output rca's.
So - my questions is - is this an ok way to do? and has anyone else done the same thing? ie. are there any actual builds that uses this way?
Right now my stereo is kinda wrecked - so am listening on som spare equipment - not able to actually compare it to anything.
So just wanted to hear your oppinions. I have also considered building a new tube based output - but again - the NS 192 dac is not new anymore - and maybe it isn't worth it.
Hope to hear from some of you gurus on this sit.
br
Ro9
Ok - first of all - i am not a technical person - when it comes to electronics. I am just an audiophile - geeks
. I have a question regardring the Cirrus CS4396 chip.
My dac - a Northstar design dac 192 - lost its output stage ( long story short - it blew ).
Anyway - i have a friend - who is an electrical engineer - and he helped me to get it play again. Actually what he did - was that he bypassed the complete analog stage - and instead - he soldered the outputs directly to the outputs of the dac chip. besides that - all he did was to add a capacitator before the output rca's.
So - my questions is - is this an ok way to do? and has anyone else done the same thing? ie. are there any actual builds that uses this way?
Right now my stereo is kinda wrecked - so am listening on som spare equipment - not able to actually compare it to anything.
So just wanted to hear your oppinions. I have also considered building a new tube based output - but again - the NS 192 dac is not new anymore - and maybe it isn't worth it.
Hope to hear from some of you gurus on this sit.
br
Ro9
Is it an OK way to do it
It depends how high your standards are
You might find there is considerable HF energy present that could cause all sorts of issues (some are theoretical issues, some real). You would only know by looking on a scope at what was coming out.
Analogue stages should be easy to fix I would have thought. If its OK up to the DAC then its got to be fixable.
It depends how high your standards are
You might find there is considerable HF energy present that could cause all sorts of issues (some are theoretical issues, some real). You would only know by looking on a scope at what was coming out.
Analogue stages should be easy to fix I would have thought. If its OK up to the DAC then its got to be fixable.
Is it an OK way to do it
It depends how high your standards are
You might find there is considerable HF energy present that could cause all sorts of issues (some are theoretical issues, some real). You would only know by looking on a scope at what was coming out.
Analogue stages should be easy to fix I would have thought. If its OK up to the DAC then its got to be fixable.
Hi Mooly!
Thanks for replying so fast
I guess i consider this a transition dac - and what i hear now - is quite ok - so depending on how hard it is to create an output stage - it might not be worth it.
So as long as it plays - i guess it is ok
br Ro9
The Cirrus DAC actually has differential outputs (a plus and a minus) per channel and so really requires the appropriate circuitry to get the best from it.
A valve output (cathode follower) is straightforward enough but you really need more than that, you need the circuitry to go in front of it to process the differential output correctly.
This shows the arrangement (grabbed from the web). Do you see the two inputs per channel at the left ?
So I'm not quite sure what your friend has done. There will be audio at all four of those pins but it is audio that is supposed to be passed through a low pass filter. Also taking one side of the audio from the DAC means that the DAC will be terminated incorrectly and at the whim of whatever you connect it to.
In my opinion you have to do it right.
A valve output (cathode follower) is straightforward enough but you really need more than that, you need the circuitry to go in front of it to process the differential output correctly.
This shows the arrangement (grabbed from the web). Do you see the two inputs per channel at the left ?
So I'm not quite sure what your friend has done. There will be audio at all four of those pins but it is audio that is supposed to be passed through a low pass filter. Also taking one side of the audio from the DAC means that the DAC will be terminated incorrectly and at the whim of whatever you connect it to.
In my opinion you have to do it right.
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