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Splitting line outs

post #1 of 7
12/27/09 at 2:35pm
Thread Starter 
As part of my exploration of the Ghetto-fi world, I was wondering about the complexities of splitting an RCA out. Not with the add on splitters that are available, but by reboxing an existing dac with a single RCA out with two RCA outs by simply wiring two outs to a single source on the dac board. Most if not all DIY electronics is beyond me at the moment, but whatever mods I make, I would like to be as clean and correct as possible. Since these outs will be going to sources that have their own amplification and volume control, all I need is a clean signal being sent to them. Would wiring like this cause any real problems? Does each output need its own circuitry of some sort? I was thinking of getting Nuforce's new uDac and putting it into a hobby box with more outputs so I could feed my little tube amp and my t-amp at the same time. I would like to rebox it for aesthetic continuity (even if it is ghetto) on my desktop. This could apply to building a gamma 1 but giving it two rca outs as opposed to a mini jack. I may still go with my original plan of reboxing my Total Bithead and converting all the mini jacks to RCA's, but I was interested in trying a new dac to see how different it sounded.
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post #2 of 7
12/27/09 at 4:41pm
you should be able to just wire the two outputs in parallel to the one without any extra circuitry.
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post #3 of 7
12/28/09 at 11:45am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, Emooze. I will start tinkering today.
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post #4 of 7
1/1/10 at 5:42pm
Thread Starter 
How many splits would be too many? If I made a bantam DAC, would there be any noticeable side effects of splitting the line out into 3 or 4 (rarely would any be used simlutaneously, this is more so I don't have to plug and unplug things)?
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post #5 of 7
1/1/10 at 6:42pm
If you're feeding amps, they should all have a high input impedance so it really shouldn't matter how many splits you have (within reason). When you split the ouput, you're placing the input impedances of the amps in parallel which decreases the equivalent impedance and draws more power but you should be fine. One thing you'd want to be careful about is connecting the signal grounds of all your amps. You might get some sort of ground noise.
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post #6 of 7
1/1/10 at 6:54pm
Seconded, if all those outputs are going to amps of some sort, you'll be able to split it quite a few times before you hear any difference. 3-4 should be fine.
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post #7 of 7
1/1/10 at 7:30pm
Thread Starter 
thanks guys. yeah, all 3 possible line outs would be going to amps. as for the ground issue (sorry, I am still learning all this), what should I do to be careful? i was going to put this in a small plastic hobby box for now.
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