[royewest]

Looks like TomB has put a lot more work this past week into the Bantam DAC web site, complete with a section on tweaks, some video instruction, plus other goodies:

BantamDAC Overview

For well under $30, this DAC is a lot of fun to build and if you melt something, it's cheap to replace the parts -- geeze, the board itself is only $2 from beezar.com and the most expensive part (the DAC chip) is under $10.

What better way to dip your toes into an SMD project and learning about circuits, ordering parts, experimenting with cases, etc.? And you get a big upgrade to your computer's sound when you're done.

This project is nicely supported, among other places in the Head-Fi thread http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/com...layout-190876/. But I suspect a lot of folks won't intuitively associate that long thread, which starts from when cetoole was first developing a board based on the PCM2702, with the much more polished, professional, and approachable package he and TomB have turned it into.

 

[tomb]

Many thanks for the wonderful comments!

 

[nsx_23]

Hmm, maybe I should consider building one of these babies to go with my mini3.

Is the SMD for this any harder than the opamps for the mini3?

 

[ruZZ.il]

Not really. It's actually pretty easy when you use a good technique. There are many good techniques, so find one that works for you.

 

[tomb]

Look at those videos. If this old man can do it with shaking hands, anyone can.

 

[ShinyFalcon]

I never liked my helping hands, too much trouble to keep it stable. I bought mines from Parts-Express, and I don't know if there are different helping hand brands out there. I built both my DACs on the table surface held with tape. In the case of my γ１ I built it on top of a roll of duct tape, lots of flipping!

If I buy another BantamDAC I'm sure it'll be a lot easier with a proper iron/tip. The 12W Weller iron with a needle tip that I bought and trashed (fell on carpet, gunk all over, horrible tip holding mechanism) in the same day was way too much trouble, could not solder properly due to solder not sticking to the tip. With my Hakko maybe I can rejuvenate my not-working BantamDAC. The LED doesn't light up, but I'm thinking that I overheated the leads trying to solder it, and I think it does get a bit warm. I hear sound, but I have to maximize the amp's volume to hear anything.

 

[Nemo de Monet]

I know there's this tendency to think you need a "good" soldering iron for SMD/SMT stuff, but it's not true; everything I've built - including a pair of Mini^3s, and a couple of Alien and BantamDACs - was done with the same $15, 30W Radio Shack iron I've had for about a decade now. Needle tip? You don't need no stinking needle tip to do SMD stuff:

Or, not to put too fine a point on things, a "good" soldering iron isn't going to help if you don't really know what you're doing with it; it's really all down to technique, IMO.

(...and yeah, I really do need to get a new tip for that thing one of these days. That thing had a pointy tip, once.)

 

[qusp]

^^^ OMG; sure you dont 'need' a decent soldering iron, but it sure helps. but I agree technique wins of equipment

 

[DKJones96]

With SMD you just have to remember to take your time except when soldering the legs of something like the DAC. Get the solder melted and the iron out of there ASAP!

A cmoy, cheap SO8 opamps, and SO8 to DIP8 adapters(or desoldering wick if you don't want to waste adapters) are a great place to practice if you aren't sure. If the opamp is fried when you're done keep trying. The TS922AID is $1.23 from Mouser, it's what I use in almost all my amps, it's very transparent, cheap, and plenty of drive. You'll know if you trash that one. I've had some amps you wouldn't be able to tell either way.

 

[tomb]

linuxworks has some interesting RMAA results for the BantamDAC in this post: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/5439453-post43.html

The direct link to the RMAA pics are here: Flickr: linux-works' stuff tagged with rmaa19feb2009

Please don't start a discussion of comparisons with another DIY design.

That's not the intent of my referencing these links. That discussion should occur outside of the DIY section, if at all. However, given the cost of the Bantam, I think it's interesting to see how well it performs. Those look much better than any I've done. Linuxworks' results are much better than what I can get with my poor setup at home.

 

[MisterX]

If you do not want to prompt a discussion about comparisons between DIY designs why are you posting a link to comparative RMAA results?
I think it's better if you let sleeping dogs lie then poking them with a stick.
And my own RMAA results suggest his results are still bogus.

 

[tomb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterX /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you do not want to prompt a discussion about comparisons between DIY designs why are you posting a link to comparative RMAA results? I think it's better if you let sleeping dogs lie then poking them with a stick. And my own RMAA results suggest his results are still bogus.

I saw it differently ... and if you think there's anything but the highest praise in that thread for the "other" DAC, you're mistaken.

 

[MisterX]

I can read....I am well aware of what has been posted in that other thread and what peoples impressions of the other DAC are.

 

[linuxworks]

I'd be curious to know how my results are bogus.

if you are going to accuse someone, please follow thru and show me what you think I did wrong.

 

[royewest]

I started this thread because I really admire the Bantam DAC and hoped to share the news that the docs are now more complete, as of this past weekend. I've built them for myself and for friends as presents and learned a lot from them and wanted to encourage others with very little building experience (like myself) to give it a try. And who can't adore an inexpensive DAC that anyone can build that sounds great and fits in a Lego Duplo brick???

I also have built and enjoy the the Gamma-1 DAC. They are such different projects! Each fills a very different niche wonderfully.

I hope this thread can stay focused on the great aspects of the Bantam DAC and not get confused with comparisons that, to my mind (and ears), miss the point.