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[Starving Student] DAC to go with SSMH amp

post #1 of 14
8/23/11 at 5:57pm
Thread Starter 

I am looking for a USB DAC to go with the SSMH tube amp i am building.

 

Any one in particular that would work well and be fairly cheap to make?

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post #2 of 14
8/23/11 at 6:35pm

Hmm, grubDAC?

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post #3 of 14
8/23/11 at 6:52pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks, to bad i hate surface mont components.

 

Never printed PCB before i guess i will have to come up with a Stripboard design. Here we go again!

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post #4 of 14
8/23/11 at 8:30pm

lol, best of luck!

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post #5 of 14
8/24/11 at 12:14pm

Another vote for the excellent GrubDAC. Sounds great, fairly cheap to build. Oh and and stripboard DAC? You're kidding right?

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post #6 of 14
8/24/11 at 12:17pm
Thread Starter 

Is that a challenge?

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post #7 of 14
8/24/11 at 2:21pm

you have to use surface mount parts for the grubdac. the dac chips are very very sensitive and the added impedance and capacitance of the leads and length of components in general will make the chips very unstable.

 

if you want a mostly through hole diy dac you could check out the amb gamma 1 or 2. if i remember correctly the only surface mount parts are the chips themselves. but your not going to find a diy dac that has a dip packaged chips. not sure if they even make those

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post #8 of 14
8/24/11 at 2:46pm
Thread Starter 

I was mainly joking but i understand the issues that it would bring.

 

I found this 20$ DAC on eBay, Not Very DIY but it is cheap. LINK

 

To be honest I would prefer a DIY alternative, do we get good result "Printing" PCBs or is it better to just buy one?

 

Any recommended tutorials on Printing PCBs?

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post #9 of 14
8/24/11 at 2:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TestSubject View Post

I was mainly joking but i understand the issues that it would bring.

 

I found this 20$ DAC on eBay, Not Very DIY but it is cheap. LINK

 

To be honest I would prefer a DIY alternative, do we get good result "Printing" PCBs or is it better to just buy one?

 

Any recommended tutorials on Printing PCBs?

 

If you look on youtube there should be plenty of tutorials.

 

I will document my steps once I start on my ss tube amp pcb
 

 

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post #10 of 14
8/24/11 at 3:11pm
Thread Starter 

I didnt think of youtube, thanks

 

This guy showed all the steps pretty well: LINK

 

What did you thing of the eBay DAC?

 

Also, should i make a PCB or buy one?

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post #11 of 14
8/24/11 at 3:43pm

a DIY PCB for those surface mount DAC chips is going to be pretty heroic ! 

I can recomend the Grub DAC also, its a fun build and the quality is great. It might also be a good starting point to see if you wanted to try a DIY PCB for a DAC.

Now, I think you will want to look into some switching !  The Starving Student does not play nice with DAC's at all !  Read up on that.

 

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post #12 of 14
8/24/11 at 4:14pm
Thread Starter 

You are right! Thanks for pointing it out.

 

I have read 3 thread ans so far people are complaining but no real fix was found.

 

Thats to bad, i really dont want to plug my futur amp in my macbooks headphone jack.

 

I guess it cant be helped.

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post #13 of 14
8/24/11 at 6:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TestSubject View Post

You are right! Thanks for pointing it out.

 

I have read 3 thread ans so far people are complaining but no real fix was found.

 

Thats to bad, i really dont want to plug my futur amp in my macbooks headphone jack.

 

I guess it cant be helped.


AFAIK, we haven't really had a report yet of a GrubDAC getting fried from a Starving Student.  Still - caution is advised.  jamesbobo007's statement, "The Starving Student does not play nice with DAC's at all !" sums things up pretty well.
 

 

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post #14 of 14
8/24/11 at 6:05pm
Thread Starter 

I see, thanks. Might order a grubDac from you soon.

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