Alien DAC v1.1 Construction Thread - Page 90

L12 just fried taking traces with it ::cries::

All the caps on top leeched out white powder also.

There's no way that could've been caused by omitting C11 and C12. It sounds like there was probably a short somewhere. L12 is part of the pi filter on the input power, a short on the power rail would cause it to fail. It's strange that your caps failed too though, normally they would be fine.

does anyone have an extra X1 part? its the ECS 12.000000 MHZ 20pF HC-49US
been looking through Mouser but cant find anything else to order.

Please pm if you have one available.
Thanks

Mouser carries lots of suitable parts. 815-ABLS-12-B2 is an appropriate substitute. Slightly more expensive and less temperature-stable, I believe the specified ECS part is available as part number 520-HCU1200-20X.

yea they do carry it but with shipping its $7. Wondering if someone might have one in their parts bin.
I was looking for other things to order from them but cant find anything at the moment.

wanna try my x1 from my build that went belly up? the leads are cut pretty short, but it should still have enough on there.

Ah, I misunderstood why you mentioned Mouser.

I've only got 4MHz and 20MHz crystals at hand, so I can't help ya out.

lynxkcg - thank you very much for the x1 and muse caps!!

So I received the Alien DAC kit (GlassJar Audio) for my birthday as requested. This is my first big SMD project and I am excited and waiting for my tweezers to come so I can start the build. I have a few questions before I begin.

I have a Mini3 (Amb.org) amp that I plan on using with this DAC. I will be plugging it into my Dell Laptop. I was wondering what is the best way to power this? Is USB the preferred method? Can I power it through a Powered USB hub if I need to? (I currently don't have one but may need to get one in the future if I keep adding USB devices.)

I am also wondering what is the best way to connect this to my Mini3 Amp. I was thinking of using a 3.5mm jack out the front of the case. (Is RCA Better? I was thinking this would make more of a cable mess for the interconnect) The case I am planning on using is Hammond 1455C801BK (Al Ends) Should I cut the case down in length and then glue the 3.5mm jack to the front of one panel? or should I leave the case the way it is and just run longer wires?
What is a good 3.5mm jack to get? I was thinking of getting the jack that AMB Audio sells for his projects (http://www.cui.com/pdffiles/SJ1-3533NG.pdf) just because its cheap and more importantly he doesnt charge an arm and a leg for shipping for a simple part like some of the big electronics houses do. Is this a good part for this application? How is the best way to connect it? Last question, What type/size of wire should I use for my interconnect between the audio jack and board and for my jumps?

I am often listening to this exact combination. The stock configurations work just great for this:

I built the USB-powered version of the Alien DAC. My Macbook provides sufficient power to drive the Alien without plugging it into a separate powered USB hub -- I'd be surprised if the Dell couldn't do the same thing. (I also plug it into a powered hub when that is more convenient, such as at work.) Several postings from reliable folks in this thread argue that the sound improvement achieved by other power configs is probably not worth the loss of convenience of USB power.

I also use 3.5mm as the Alien output jack -- it allows a much smaller package. I connect the Alien to the Mini^3 with a 3.5mm-3.5mm cable. I have built some, but you can get a fabulous one from Zu by bidding on a Pivot on eBay and then asking them to configure the length and terminators you need: They are wonderfully accommodating and if you watch you'll see the price is much lower than list. Or if you decide to go with RCAs on the Alien, just take the Pivot as is.

I've used 22ga silver-coated teflon wire for the board-3.5mm jack connection (you can see pics in some of my earlier threads). As for the jack itself, I've found it much more convenient to use chassis-mounted jacks, but the best I've been able to find have been these (they're available from lots of places): http://www.electronicplus.com/images/products/504KB.jpg

I concur with everything royewest has described, even down to the actual 3.5mm jack. That's exactly the one I've used on dozens of projects. Further, if you're not into small interconnect-making, you can get very good quality Stereo 3.5mm to RCA cables in Walmart and elsewhere (Belkin's are nice), due to the popularity of the iPod. I would not use the 3.5mm jack that you (Liquidretro) described and pictured. It's a board-mounted jack that has little usefulness on a board that doesn't use board-mounted jacks.

As for powering, I might add that if you research the entire thread, the consensus early on was that there was no test-able difference between a USB-powered Alien and an externally-powered one.

Let me qualify that a bit, though - I have tried grouping Aliens on a powered USB hub, and the results were pretty bad. It may have something to do with the cheap external power supply that some of these hubs use - perhaps throwing a lot of high-frequency noise onto the analog portion of the Alien through the power supply. Plus, if you don't use the external power, the volume level/gain of the Alien is cut in half when you pair them on the same bus. Since then, I got one of those USB repeater cables that seems to work quite nice, though. I needed that because my main PC is actually remote to the keyboard and monitor, which is where my headphone amp resides. So, just be cautious if you venture outside the normal one-to-one USB cable connection.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestion guys. Do you know where exactly I can get that 3.5mm jack? I am having a hard time finding it.

Electronics Plus in San Rafael, CA, has a bin full of them (the photo link in my earlier post was from their site. Last time I was there the owner reminded me they have a web site and ship. I'm sure you can find them elsewhere.

I think this is the same thing, from Mouser. It includes a link to the data sheet, which should help you search more broadly: http://www.mouser.com/Search/Refine....161-7400-EX%09

161-7400-EX

EDIT: Royewest beat me to it.

Alien with oppo vs oppo analog out?

No experience with external dacs. I'm wondering would there be improvement using the Alien Dac with my Oppo over using the analog out of my Oppo 980? I still have a bijou build in queue but I'm getting curious about dacs.

James