DAC hooked up to my preamp and away we go. Handily I have a day off tomorrow so can spend some time tidying up my dubious soldering to the output caps, and testing the difference between USB bus power and the 5v supply board.
Hard to tell through my tiny Castle monitors Dave. I have a rather tasty set of horn speakers coming round for a demo today and I intend to use my DAC in place of the PS Audio for part of the demo.
Yes. The horns are 93db but the nCores are so quiet it's not a problem....all you can hear Dave is the slight hiss from those glowing bottles in my pre ;-)
I have to say this DAC is sounding very nice even through my cheapo speakers. The PS Audio is looking nervous :-SS.
Spent a very enjoyable four hours on Friday listening to this DAC in my system for the first time with a decent set of speakers. I thought the nCore's were high in the performance per £ stakes, but this DAC is remarkable.
I've ordered some Mundorf supreme silver/gold caps to replace the output caps supplied with the kit - although output transformers are meant to sound even better with this kit I don't need 4x the output into my preamp, so the Mundorf Supreme's seem a sensible cost/performance compromise.
The DIY beast has left a positive first impression. More time needed comparing the two DAC's, but based on what I've heard so far my PS Audio DAC might be surplus to requirements.
Foo Mundorf capacitors fitted. They're about five times the size of the stock caps.....never seen 'proper' caps before so had no idea quite how big they can be :-B
This evening I've ordered four tentlabs shunt regulators for the DAC board. These were £150 for four so not exactly cheap, however from what I have read on DIYaudio using the shunt regs with one board sounds just as good if not better than using four DAC boards which would have cost around £230 for three extra boards.
Agreed James. I had the benefit of hearing a pimped out version of this DAC before taking the plunge. It's a lot of money to spend buying blind so to speak.
When I've got some decent speakers I'll post a comparison between this and my main DAC.
@Dave - you are more than welcome to pop by for a listen.
Agreed James. I had the benefit of hearing a pimped out version of this DAC before taking the plunge. It's a lot of money to spend buying blind so to speak.
When I've got some decent speakers I'll post a comparison between this and my main DAC.
@Dave - you are more than welcome to pop by for a listen.
Over the last few days I've been musing about what to use as a source for this DAC. Although I could add a SPDIF board (and ultimately a Sonos connect) my preference would be to stay with the USB input. The trouble I have is that I'm very lazy and getting my macbook out every time I want to listen to music is a pain in the you know where. There's also the small matter of a 3m USB cable which forms a neat tripwire across the lounge.
So, in keeping with the DIY theme and cost of this project, I'm considering investing in one of these and installing Linux and Music Player Daemon:
There are enclosures available the Alix card BUT........have you seen how small it is? At under 17cm square I'm thinking I could mount it in the same enclosure as the DAC. All I would need to do is have a port on the rear panel for connecting the card to my network plus a power socket - or I could even buy another 12v linear supply from the DAC supplier and power the card from this - that would mean a single IEC inlet to power the three power supplies (12v DAC, 7-20v for the Alix card, 5v for the Wave IO usb board).
MPD can be controlled using MPoD on an iPod/Pad which I think also supports Spotify:
The Alix board is £98 and another linear PSU would be about £65 (or I could just use a wall wart for £6). I think the only other expense would be for a CF card to hold the OS and software.
This has the makings of a killer network streamer/DAC combo for well under £1,000.
As you can see I have been well and truly bitten by the DIY bug!
Just one thought - and I may well be thinking wrongly about this - would putting the Alix board in with the DAC be introducing a(nother) source of digital noise into the equation?
I'll have a go at installing it on my MBP tonight Dave. The noise issue could be minimised/avoided by mounting the Alix board in a separate compartment, or even on the underside of the case in a recess.
What do you think to the idea of using a linear PSU? The board only draws 5w and it isn't exactly full of noisy parts so I wonder whether it would be beneficial :-B
Alix board up and running. It's only working with my PS Audio DAC at the moment for some reason. I'll try again with my DDDAC later. It was a bit of a fiddle to setup despite having a Linux installation wizard to assist.
Did you try MPD on your Mac, or did you go straight for the Alix?
Which Linux distro did you go for?
It's puppy Linux. I found a site with an ISO that just needed to be copied onto a CF card then inserted onto the Alix board. It boots up in a matter of seconds. MPD didn't work on my Mac, or should I say I couldn't get it to work.
The Alix board is talking to my DDDAC. Next step is to try and integrate Spotify into MPAD and MPOD.....had a brief try tonight but it looks like some of the Mopidy URL's have changed. If I can get Spotify working I'll be delighted because that's the only music service I use.
Important discovery tonight: The Wave IO USB input board switches on with the volume muted by default - I assume this is a Linux/Wave IO compatibility issue because this problem doesn't occur when I use my Mac as the source. A couple of Linux commands later and the board is now un-muted automatically on start up.
Still not sure about the MPOD iPhone app I'm using - my main gripe is that it seems to recompile the library when I come back home and switch the server on. There must be a way to hold the library locally to avoid waiting 15mins for the server to scan my NAS drive.
Other than the library issue I'm really pleased with this server/app combination. It is ready to play music within about 20 seconds of switch on. The MPOD app is just as quick as the Sonos app and returns cover art in a flash.
I have taken delivery of a linear power supply today for the Alix board. It's the same one I use for my DAC so needs assembling. Pics of the wiring maze I've assembled to follow )
Thought I'd treat my project to a shiny new housing B-)
This box is a bit bigger now than my PS Audio DAC in order to accommodate the Alix card. I've mounted the USB board too close to the Alix card so will sort this out and take some final measurements to get a metal case ordered.
I'm still waiting on shunt regs and output transformers to arrive. Neither of these will impact the case size. My speakers arrive tomorrow so first chance to hear what this DAC really sounds like.
I have built a four stack with the sowter transformers.
You are in for a treat when all set up. I have built an Audio Note Dac 4-1 with upgraded power supplies, silver capacitors etc. After building the dac I was going to build another one with dual mono power supplies, silver transformers etc.
I sold the original Dac 4-1 to finance the new build, but as it would take some time saving up for all the parts, I decided to build the DDDAC while waiting.
What a surprise ! The DDDAC left the AN Dac standing. I have heard a range of digital sources including Wadia`s and the DDDAC has seen them all off.
As soon as Doede can make it work with 8 stacks, I will be going for it :-)
Really appreciate your input here, I have been very interested in this thread. Have you had the chance to hear the Audiolab MDAC, if so how did it compare?
I'm contemplating selling my MDAC and opting for this DIY DAC but it is a huge step into the unknown, I'm a little cautious about letting my MDAC go as it is a bit of a special one as it has been moded by John Westlake, there is also an upgrade path if you should want to but I believe it is an aditional £500 odd pounds.
Really appreciate your input here, I have been very interested in this thread. Have you had the chance to hear the Audiolab MDAC, if so how did it compare?
I'm contemplating selling my MDAC and opting for this DIY DAC but it is a huge step into the unknown, I'm a little cautious about letting my MDAC go as it is a bit of a special one as it has been moded by John Westlake, there is also an upgrade path if you should want to but I believe it is an aditional £500 odd pounds.
I have not heard the MDAC so cannot comment. The DDDAC is worth listening to before you make a decision as I am very impressed with the sound quality compared to Naim, Wadia and Meridian offerings.
Are you anywhere near Hereford, if so bring some fave CD`s and have a listen :-)
Yes I would love to hear the DDDAC but I don't know of a local example. Hereford is 3.5 hours away, but thanks for the offer. Not sure what to do here.
Might be worth asking over on DIYaudio. There is a big thread with several owners from the UK contributing.
My speakers are here now so I can give my view compared to my PWD Mk2 in a couple of weeks.....although if the DDDAC sounds superior to an Audionote 4.1 I can't see the PWD standing much of a chance.
I've finally received my shunt regs from Tentlabs. It will be interesting to have a good listen before and after these are installed to see what effect they have.
Comments
Tannoys next? Sounds like a new thread to me...
I have to say this DAC is sounding very nice even through my cheapo speakers. The PS Audio is looking nervous :-SS.
Also, I'm itching to see which exotic speakers you've gone for now!
I'll need to wait for my new speakers to arrive before comparing DAC's again. Will start a new thread on my speaker decision.
When I've got some decent speakers I'll post a comparison between this and my main DAC.
@Dave - you are more than welcome to pop by for a listen.
MPOD remote software is very nice and stable.
The Alix board is talking to my DDDAC. Next step is to try and integrate Spotify into MPAD and MPOD.....had a brief try tonight but it looks like some of the Mopidy URL's have changed. If I can get Spotify working I'll be delighted because that's the only music service I use.
My speakers are here now so I can give my view compared to my PWD Mk2 in a couple of weeks.....although if the DDDAC sounds superior to an Audionote 4.1 I can't see the PWD standing much of a chance.
I've finally received my shunt regs from Tentlabs. It will be interesting to have a good listen before and after these are installed to see what effect they have.