Got this nice dac from ebay, it sounds already musical with a former router power supply.
HiFi AK4118+AK4490+XMOS decoder Coaxial Optical USB DAC 192K 24BIT | eBay
It's original PS is 12 V 2amp, so I bought a lead acid alarm battery, formally 12V 2ah.
FIAMM FG20201 UPS batterie: Amazon.it: Informatica
Battery reads 12.7 Volts, vendor recommended to me to use a 9v battery, dac is given for a tension ranging from 8 to 12 Volts.
A Nimh 9v battery proved to be largely underpowered, a disaster with transients, even if good with single instruments.
I planned to use a voltage divider to lower voltage a bit for tranquillity but I have read it introduces noise.
I wonder if I may simply plug in the battery or look for some better solution.
HiFi AK4118+AK4490+XMOS decoder Coaxial Optical USB DAC 192K 24BIT | eBay
It's original PS is 12 V 2amp, so I bought a lead acid alarm battery, formally 12V 2ah.
FIAMM FG20201 UPS batterie: Amazon.it: Informatica
Battery reads 12.7 Volts, vendor recommended to me to use a 9v battery, dac is given for a tension ranging from 8 to 12 Volts.
A Nimh 9v battery proved to be largely underpowered, a disaster with transients, even if good with single instruments.
I planned to use a voltage divider to lower voltage a bit for tranquillity but I have read it introduces noise.
I wonder if I may simply plug in the battery or look for some better solution.
Moved to digital line level, the place where DACs live. Sorry Sirs, i'm stumped.
Connected yesterday evening, battery actually measured 14.4 volts. Used it a couple hours, sounding musical, clear, with no signs of residual harshness as it may have been heard with AC power.
After a night of rest I measured the voltage of the (non connected) battery, well it reads 17 Volts.
I'm stumped. I reconencted AC power supply, for the moment.
ty for any answer I would really like to use it because of its sonic qualities
Connected yesterday evening, battery actually measured 14.4 volts. Used it a couple hours, sounding musical, clear, with no signs of residual harshness as it may have been heard with AC power.
After a night of rest I measured the voltage of the (non connected) battery, well it reads 17 Volts.
I'm stumped. I reconencted AC power supply, for the moment.
ty for any answer I would really like to use it because of its sonic qualities
THIS is why they make these devices called "regulators". You can throw a wide range of voltages at them on the 'input' side, and out the other side comes a particular, well-defined, invariant voltage.
Their only drawback is that they're not great with transients. However, observe the stage: now enters that other magical device, the capacitor. Formerly (and more accurately) known as a reservoir, it is a “can of electrons”. Handles transients like a breeze.
So. Your battery to a regulator set to about 10 volts. A 10,000 μF capacitor on the output side to become your reservoir. Doesn't matter whether the battery is 12, 12.7, 14.4 or 17 volts. The DAC will see a quiet, constant 10 volts.
Others may recommend fancy regulators. I have always had great luck with the more old fashioned ones. Don't forget a big heat sink! My suggestion(s):
STMicro L78S10CV 10 V, 2.0 A, $0.79 ea, Qty 1, Mouser.
ONSemi LM7810ACT 10 V, 1.0 A, $0.69 ea, Qty 1, Mouser.
T.I. UA7810CKCS 10 V, 1.5 A., $0.81 ea., Qty 1, Mouser.
Those are the easy-to-handle thru-hole types. All are lovely devices.
Have fun!
GoatGuy
Their only drawback is that they're not great with transients. However, observe the stage: now enters that other magical device, the capacitor. Formerly (and more accurately) known as a reservoir, it is a “can of electrons”. Handles transients like a breeze.
So. Your battery to a regulator set to about 10 volts. A 10,000 μF capacitor on the output side to become your reservoir. Doesn't matter whether the battery is 12, 12.7, 14.4 or 17 volts. The DAC will see a quiet, constant 10 volts.
Others may recommend fancy regulators. I have always had great luck with the more old fashioned ones. Don't forget a big heat sink! My suggestion(s):
STMicro L78S10CV 10 V, 2.0 A, $0.79 ea, Qty 1, Mouser.
ONSemi LM7810ACT 10 V, 1.0 A, $0.69 ea, Qty 1, Mouser.
T.I. UA7810CKCS 10 V, 1.5 A., $0.81 ea., Qty 1, Mouser.
Those are the easy-to-handle thru-hole types. All are lovely devices.
Have fun!
GoatGuy
t.g.a. (tibi gratias, ie thank you)
I think I have a nice electronics pro shop in my town.
Will pay them a visit
Still wondering how my battery got actiually charged anyway got some books to learn electronics now that I have some spare time (starting with Forest Mim's. elementary text)
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What would you say of this?
Low Noise LT3042 Linear Regulator Power Supply Board 3.3V 5V 12V DC Converter | eBay
ty
Ok got it wrong with my multimeter, I installed a fresh battery and it started reading a very common 12V, sorry
I installed also a 4700 microfarad capacitor to help transients (what I could scrounge from dead electronics) , I wonder if an old camera flash capacitor might also help: it is a 350 microfarad capacitor given as specific for photo flash use, it should be very fast as well at discharging.
ty
I installed also a 4700 microfarad capacitor to help transients (what I could scrounge from dead electronics) , I wonder if an old camera flash capacitor might also help: it is a 350 microfarad capacitor given as specific for photo flash use, it should be very fast as well at discharging.
ty
Yeah, multimeters are tricky little buggers, take years to master 
Forget about adding crappy caps to a battery in order to improve the sound. Only the very best will do it justice. A 10mF Mlytic may be a good start, or perhaps several in parallel.
Whether it is worth going the extra mile for such a modest dac is another question - a battery all by itself is a very big improvement.
Forget about adding crappy caps to a battery in order to improve the sound. Only the very best will do it justice. A 10mF Mlytic may be a good start, or perhaps several in parallel.
Whether it is worth going the extra mile for such a modest dac is another question - a battery all by itself is a very big improvement.
Yeah, multimeters are tricky little buggers, take years to master
Forget about adding crappy caps to a battery in order to improve the sound. Only the very best will do it justice. A 10mF Mlytic may be a good start, or perhaps several in parallel.
Whether it is worth going the extra mile for such a modest dac is another question - a battery all by itself is a very big improvement.
I agree on this dac, I was using it as a learning project. I'm an analog man so I'm also concentrating on building a linear tonearm.
Electronics is just for fun as it may lead to productive diy hours
Well in the end I added a 10.000 microfarad Kendeil capacitor (100v, and 30 euros for this cap) and just at the input a audio grade 3.3 microfarad cap.
DAC is very very musical now, maybe it also needed some usage before judging it.
Soundstage is natural, voices are airy and transparent as everything else. I relgularly listen to choral classical music I can assure you that it reminds strongly of a live concert.
Obviously I cannot say it sounds like a Devialet I heard last year .. with a setup that costs as much as a decent apartment.
Anyway the a capella music by Luca Marenzio i'm listening to sounds quite natural and close to reality enough to be enjoyable by a rather exigent listener like me.
regards
DAC is very very musical now, maybe it also needed some usage before judging it.
Soundstage is natural, voices are airy and transparent as everything else. I relgularly listen to choral classical music I can assure you that it reminds strongly of a live concert.
Obviously I cannot say it sounds like a Devialet I heard last year .. with a setup that costs as much as a decent apartment.
Anyway the a capella music by Luca Marenzio i'm listening to sounds quite natural and close to reality enough to be enjoyable by a rather exigent listener like me.
regards
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