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DAC-END R (ES9018) full assembled board - version 2

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serge58

Member
Joined 2009
Hello! I have a question about ground isolation from USB module. On my DAC socket body USB has contact through bolt. Do I need to apply here insulator for ground isolation from USB module? image.jpeg

фото.JPG
 
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danielkol

Member
Joined 2011
Dear Quanghao!
Yesterday I received a replacement dac.
Now it works without a glitch and issue with switching between dsd and pcm is gone. Thank you very much!

Next thing i noticed is that either usb isolator or clock buffer improves performance.
I swithed from v1 dac to the v2 and the new one has less distortion and noise over usb unput. I.e. sound is clearer and seems to have more resolution.

Again thank you for the work done and for the great product!
 
quanghao

quanghao

Member
Joined 2009
quanghao.com/
danielkol said:
Dear Quanghao!
Yesterday I received a replacement dac.
Now it works without a glitch and issue with switching between dsd and pcm is gone. Thank you very much!

Next thing i noticed is that either usb isolator or clock buffer improves performance.
I swithed from v1 dac to the v2 and the new one has less distortion and noise over usb unput. I.e. sound is clearer and seems to have more resolution.

Again thank you for the work done and for the great product!
Click to expand...

would like to thank you!
I hope you enjoy it!
quanghao
 
S

smoothquark

Member
Joined 2010
Thinking of some mods. I actually have the V1 DAC but I guess it would be applicable to the V2 DAC as well. I would like to incorporate a imx6 based board for streaming duties, but there isn't enough space in the current chassis. I was therefore thinking of a 2 box solution - the DAC in one box and power supply / controller / imx6 board in the other. Here are my thoughts and would appreciate comments and criticism....

1. Off board power supply. I wonder if I could have the transformer(s) in another box and use say a 9-pin DIN socket / cables to bring in the AC voltages to the DAC and analog output stages? Any advantage to converting to DC first?

2. I believe the amanero USB board can be used as an I2C controller? If that is the case, it would be nice to have say a i2c port expander within the second box to allow control of volume and input via both the existing controller and USB interface. So, when I am using my streamer, I can use mpd and android to change volume etc, and when not using the streaming (playing CDs) to simply use the remote. I was thinking of using a RJ-11 connection between the two boxes for the I2C bus. The length would be about 20cm, so should be OK?

3, Still working on a 12V trigger solution to power on and off my power amps. Andrea kindly provided me with a modified firmware to allow this but have not quite had the time to come up with something. I didn't want to incorporate yet another power supply (12V DC) within my current chassis!

4. It would be nice to have an analog input to the DAC. I presume this is not possible? I did think of an analog to SPDIF converter but seems a bit silly! Any thoughts on this?

This is a fantastic DAC (even my V1) and tweaking the usability would be even better and completely replace my pre-amp!
 
B

block

Member
Joined 2014
Hello

audiodesign said:
After the great success the first version Quanghao opens this new group buy to produce a new series of DAC.

ES9018 USB DAC - Hi-Resolution System 

I can support you by email and chat until all will be happy for this project.

I do not take money from the production of these DAC.

Quanghao will produce these modules with little gain to promote this product, in the near future this DAC will be sold as a finished product at about 2500$ - 3000$.

This DAC ES9018 module have these features:

- top performance linear pre-regulator LT1963
- separated fast shunt for any digital section
- separated fast shunt for any analog channel
- remote volume control
- remote mute control
- remote input control
- digital filter control
- microcontroller to remap DAC to share I2S connection with DSD
- Amanero module integrated to have USB input
- Support 44,88,96,192,352,384KHz PCM and DSD to play SACD ISO
- ground isolation from USB module
- On board reference 100MHz Crystek oscillator with a jitter of 0.5psec
- 3 spdif input: coax RCA, Toslink optical and AES/EBU
- optional passive I/V
- 4 row x 20 characters LCD
- 5V LCD
- large dB volume display


This options are available and here the new cost:

1) DAC module assembled and tested with all components
- ES9018 chip,
- Crystek 100MHz top performances oscillator (CCHD-950-25-100),
- 5 shunt regulator
- All connectors
- 20x4 LCD
- Infrared remote command
- Amanero module not included
price 450$

2) Discrete differential no feedback output stage
- no feedback
- very low distortion because it work as current amplifier
- Vbe nonlinearity compensated using diamond buffer on output stage
- zero dc offset using dc servo loop
- variable voltage gain only changing a single resistor (I/V)
- 3 voltage amplification setting with jumps
- high output current to drive any low impedance headphone in pure class A
- high output voltage to drive any high impedance headphone
- very low output impedance to drive any cable
- both un-balanced and balanced output
- differential configuration to reduce common mode DAC errors
- output relay for the startup-up phase
- discrete high current shunt regulators
price 150$

3) Chassie
price 140$

4) Transformers, for the discrete output stage are used two r-core transformers, for the LL1684 output stage ony a toroidal trasformer is used.
price 40$ each

5) Amanero module
price 60$

6) LL1684 output stage (pcb, Clarity cap, LL1684)
price 420$

7) DAC controller 4x20 lcd to use with version 1
price 40$

8) Complete assembled DAC with the discrete differential output stage, this include the options 1,2,3,4,5
price 1000$

9) Complete assembled DAC with Lundahl LL1684 output stage, this include the options 1,3,4,5,6
price 1250$
Click to expand...
 
A

AxelFPS

Member
Joined 2011
audiodesign said:
2) Discrete differential no feedback output stage
- no feedback
- very low distortion because it work as current amplifier
- Vbe nonlinearity compensated using diamond buffer on output stage
- zero dc offset using dc servo loop
- variable voltage gain only changing a single resistor (I/V)
- 3 voltage amplification setting with jumps
- high output current to drive any low impedance headphone in pure class A
- high output voltage to drive any high impedance headphone
- very low output impedance to drive any cable
- both un-balanced and balanced output
- differential configuration to reduce common mode DAC errors
- output relay for the startup-up phase
- discrete high current shunt regulators
price 150$
6) LL1684 output stage (pcb, Clarity cap, LL1684)
price 420$
Click to expand...

if anyone had a chance to compare sounding version №2 and №6.
transformer copes well with different directions of genres?
How long to expect the goods after the order?
 
Corpius

Corpius

Member
Joined 2011
ce-designs.net/
I was asking because my DAC sometimes becomes instable. For some reason the displays starts iterating over different sample rates in a very fast manner, just like in danielkol's video from this post. When that happens it's best to turn of the DAC as fast as possible because sometimes it starts setting the volume up or down and sometimes it also looks like it sets the serial data mode to left or right justified which produces a lot of very very loud noise through my speakers. I'm not using a pre-amplifier, so this is really not a pleasant experience!

There are two things that I'm concerned about. Both more or less controller related:

  1. It looks like the controller's firmware is reading the status register of the DAC a lot of times each second.
  2. The SDA, SCL control lines are very sensitive. Much more sensitive compared to my Buffalo DAC. When I touch the controller's GND with my DDM the DAC almost always starts behaving in the same manner as I described before. Even when the controller is not connected.
I've ran some tests to see if the controller is really causing the problem.

  1. I've tried running it without the controller and connected to my headphone amplifier. It looks like this solved the problem.
  2. I've also designed my own controller some time ago. I hooked it up to the DAC and I've not experienced the problem ever since.
I can't be totally sure that the original controller was causing the strange behavior, because in the living room all my gear is earthed, but in my hobby room, where I ran the tests, the wall sockets have no earth connection. I'll be running some tests in my living room soon.


I also made a video that shows the DAC being controlled by my own controller. The reason that you can't hear music is that I used my headphone amp. DAC-END R v2 with CE644 v1.3 controller - YouTube
 
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