USB Audio DAC worth buying?

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brianrun39

Member
Joined 2015
Hello All,

I recently bought a fresh new K702 headphone and I was looking forward to buy a Dragonfly black or maybe the red to match my headphones.

and while I was googling for the other USB DACs, I came across this DAC in the Kickstarter page.

Adapt Audio DAC - SOUND UPGRADE for MUSIC LOVERS and GAMER by Dense —Kickstarter

I heard some good and bad things about crowdfunding, but just by the specs at that price point, maybe I could wait just a little bit.

Now I'm trying to decide.
1. Just go with the proven Dragonfly DAC
2. Take a little risk and buy the kickstarter one

Can anyone help me to decide?
 
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batteryman

Member
Joined 2011
How are they going to generate sales? There's nothing in the funds allocation for marketing and without this, its a lame duck, no matter how good it is.

I've seen great products flop before because the designers fail to consider how they will actually market the item. (what is the selling price?) They seem to believe that their products will sell themselves.

If you aren't in a hurry then you might possibly see it reach production, but they are a long way off their target and only have 26days left.
 
Hugh Jazz

Hugh Jazz

Banned
Joined 2013
Those USB C headphone dongles vary enormously in quality it seems. I'm going to try a "diy" ish one - the codec (DAC+AMP) is CS42L42 and USB receiver is SA9302. It's fingernail sized stuff. The package is Savitech ST2213. Specs seems similar (but not as good) to that Adapt Standard and the CS part looks decent enough with max 98dB THD+N into 30ohms and 114db dynamic range. We'll see... Musiland MU1 has the same codec I think for US$35 Musiland MU1 TYPE C portable sound card Earphone cable 3.5mm Headset Adapter decodes for mobile phone-in Sound Cards from Computer & Office on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group .

TB2_UKHewNlpuFjy0FfXXX3CpXa_!!782349424.jpg
 
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phase

Member
Joined 2004
The sellers of those boards often quote the manufacturers ratings of the chips, and that rating was done by the manufacturer using a much much better power supply than what a USB port will provide.
If the raw chip was touted to have certain specs, being sold on its own, then those numbers would be believable. There is a reason that there is a section here on the forum where power supplies are discussed at great lengths.
 
Hugh Jazz

Hugh Jazz

Banned
Joined 2013
Couldn't agree more. Although a caveat - the latest regulators are very good at blocking HF noise, e.g. LT3042, TPS7Axxx etc. Doubt there's anything that good in these devices tho.

The above device has isolation on the USB data lines but not the power. The regulators are SV1L813 of various voltages, and there is a buck SV1D3020. I haven't Googled them yet. It's not like I could replace anything on this PCB. I may even have trouble attaching wires it's so small but it would be interesting to know their specs anyway.
 
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Hugh Jazz

Hugh Jazz

Banned
Joined 2013
It's working..... it wasn't that hard to add wires into a 3.5mm plug so I can use a portable amp with it. It'll do 96/24 and sounds fine - detailed with only very slight mush of fine quiet treble, decent control of sibilance, neutral vocals, very punchy bass. The only fault so far is a tiny faint "tick" noise when the first track starts. For US$8 plus an old cable, a drop or two of hot glue and shrink wrap it's definitely a bargain. I haven't tried it with a usb isolator or cleaner power - just into an adapter to use on my laptop. And I haven't tried it direct into headphones - I need a socket to socket adapter to try that, which I don't have. I'll trim down the strain relief at some point if it gets annoying.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
Hugh Jazz

Hugh Jazz

Banned
Joined 2013
AFAIK Savitech is focused on bulk sales to corporate customers in China so it's hard to find someone selling their products, never mind distributing their documentation. Nightmare for diyers basically, which is shame cos their chips are really good. The SA8804 spdif to i2s receiver has 15ps jitter which is the lowest I've seen of any chip available. Good luck buying one though. For this USB C dongle, the CS42L42 datasheet pdf from Cirrus is all I needed anyway. CS42L42 | Cirrus Logic I got this dongle from this seller on Taobao, which is effectively a China-only shopping site. ??-HIFI ???????-???
 
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Hugh Jazz

Hugh Jazz

Banned
Joined 2013
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baszek

Member
Joined 2018
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phase

Member
Joined 2004
I am using this board with a 12s arrangement;

HIFI AK4495SEQ+AD827 XMOS U8 USB Decode DAC board support 32BIT 768K DIY Audio 926319275512 | eBay

It did take replacing many parts to get to a point where I am quite happy with it. I used it with the onboard usb input for a while before abandoning that and tapping into the 12s.

I noticed this board, which appears to have decent parts in the right places, however I have no experience with it, and have no idea whatsoever if it will satisfy your taste.

2018 NEW ES9038Q2M+SA8804 Super DAC Board | eBay
 
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Markw4

Member
Joined 2016
baszek said:
I am not sure if I will have time to mod DAC, plus read 300 pages of posts. I am more into ready to GO DAC - I just want to enjoy music.
Click to expand...

Nobody reads 300 pages of posts, and happily it is not necessary. We have condensed down essential information as new people have joined in. However, I understand about not having time to mod. It is time consuming, no question there.
 
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baszek

Member
Joined 2018
I see that those dacs need external power adapter - can you recommend sth what can be powered with 5V USB or gpio - I am rather searching budget solution for less than 50$ - It might appear that my pcm2702 is not so bad :) I will try to show you a photo tomorrow.
I pretty happy with my dac sound but someone told me that 2702 chip is history right now and I should take a look at new dacs...
 
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