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Recommend Me A Desktop DIY DAC

post #1 of 6
5/23/11 at 9:26pm
Thread Starter 

Any ideas for a desktop DAC ? I doesn't need to drive headphones and I don't care if it uses a power supply. My main use will be to play tracks off my computer through my main speaker amp or my Mini^3 to my headphones. My budget is ~100$

 

The SkeletonDAC looks interesting but is on a shortage and I'm sure with less size & power constraints I could get something better.

 

 

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post #2 of 6
5/24/11 at 10:56am

The grubDAC is a nice USB-only choice and is available now at beezar.com. I built one for a friend in a Hammond case to go with his Mini³.

 

The gamma1 is another good choice that has all kinds of different build options. You could make it USB-only, or also with optical+coax inputs and external power. Also matches with the Mini³.

 

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post #3 of 6
5/26/11 at 1:17pm
Thread Starter 

Gamma1 seems like a nice option, how does it compare to the y1. And no, it does not need to be USB, I do have SPDIF & Coax ports on my motherboard.

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post #4 of 6
5/26/11 at 2:31pm

The gamma1 is actually the same thing as the γ1. AMB likes to name his designs using letters from the greek alphabet, and gamma is γ.

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post #5 of 6
5/26/11 at 9:07pm
Thread Starter 

Sorry my bad.

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post #6 of 6
5/26/11 at 9:14pm

There aren't too many options in the <$100 range - there's the Gamma1, GrubDAC/BantamDAC/AlienDAC, and newcomers/individual designs like the SkeletonDAC and others. Personally I'm a big fan of the GrubDAC, as it's performed quite well in my comparisons to a few commercial DACs, but I haven't heard the Gamma1 either, which is supposed to be better (of course given the size and price, I'm not surprised).

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