I did it a bit different
I made the elektor dac and didnot buy the opamps. Instead i connected a Tribute transformer over a 100 ohm IV resistor and it sounds very good. Before that I had a simple tube output with 6H30 tubes and this also sounded fine. Transformer is just al little bit better.
I had a conversation with a Dutch Elektuur (+Elektor) editor about my tube output at that time. The man was not amused that i raped his great design with an old fashioned tube ! "Why putting a motor of a "lelijke eend" (= old french car: Citroen 2CV) into a mercedes" he said (published in the magazine). I think he would have shot me if I had been in his neighbourhood.
I made the elektor dac and didnot buy the opamps. Instead i connected a Tribute transformer over a 100 ohm IV resistor and it sounds very good. Before that I had a simple tube output with 6H30 tubes and this also sounded fine. Transformer is just al little bit better.
I had a conversation with a Dutch Elektuur (+Elektor) editor about my tube output at that time. The man was not amused that i raped his great design with an old fashioned tube ! "Why putting a motor of a "lelijke eend" (= old french car: Citroen 2CV) into a mercedes" he said (published in the magazine). I think he would have shot me if I had been in his neighbourhood.
I also built DAC200. To get the best results, the standard power supplies that are part of the design should be replaced with low-noise regulators. Especially the supply for the DF1704 is critical and also the supplies for the opamps (harshness disappears and better resolution)). I have not changed the regs for the PM1704 (couldn't hear improvement).
Further, place big caps close to the OPA's like former formum member CarlosFM championes (finally bass slam). Remove the output filter completely as this one ruims the sound.
I also surrounded the DAC chips with smd's soldered directly on the leads (improved top end).
I have build the DAC inside my old Marantz player. I'm not using the SPdif part, but I have connected the DF directly in parallel (iis)
with the existing digital filter in the player. I also use a tent clock that is directly connected to the BCK (I think) of the PM1704's.
I have also found that putting ferrites in the power supplies dramatically improve soundstage (but only for a month or so. The claims made by Charles Hansen about ferrites are corroborated by my own experience).
All in all I feel that Elektor did a nice project but it shows (again) that they know **** about audio.
Abo
Further, place big caps close to the OPA's like former formum member CarlosFM championes (finally bass slam). Remove the output filter completely as this one ruims the sound.
I also surrounded the DAC chips with smd's soldered directly on the leads (improved top end).
I have build the DAC inside my old Marantz player. I'm not using the SPdif part, but I have connected the DF directly in parallel (iis)
with the existing digital filter in the player. I also use a tent clock that is directly connected to the BCK (I think) of the PM1704's.
I have also found that putting ferrites in the power supplies dramatically improve soundstage (but only for a month or so. The claims made by Charles Hansen about ferrites are corroborated by my own experience).
All in all I feel that Elektor did a nice project but it shows (again) that they know **** about audio.
Abo
united said:
Changed the opamps to THS4031, added some trimpots on the chip legs for the offset(DC coupling).
Replaced all the caps to rubycon zl's. Also placed 100uf/16v per rail/leg under the audio opamp. sockets.
Use the optical Spdiff input. Tried the coaxial but there was no difference except a tinny bit more humm/static. Sound is really nice/wide.
I intend to take advantage of the balanced input on the CS receiver. I built a balanced output driver module which I used on my previous project.
It would be of interest to know how to implement an arrangement whereby the masterclock was in the dac, with a feed back into the transport. This is I believe the best way to get rid of jitter.
It would be of interest to know how to implement an arrangement whereby the masterclock was in the dac, with a feed back into the transport. This is I believe the best way to get rid of jitter.
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