[ambush276]

what are the advantages to building my own dac? will it really save money?
 
or is buying a dac just a better product?

 

[Marcus_C]

 

You shouldn't do diy audio to save money, you should do it because you enjoy the challenge and the experience. Dac's that you buy can be considered superior in quite few ways, they come with a warranty, they can match your amp, no evenings spent slaving over a hot ash pit (read soldering iron).
 
That being said there is a common price/performance ratio quoted often of about 3:1 in favour of DIY. Of course, that doesn't take into acount factors likely to affect anyone entering the diy world such as buying the set-up gear and one or two hitches/mistakes along the way.
 
DIY dac's come in all shapes and difficulties. If you decide to go that route you can get some that come as a pcb with just through hole soldering that comes with the board to do, to slightly more complex boards requiring sourcing of your own parts all the way up to designing your own.
 
If you are curious about it and know which end of the soldering iron to hold then I say give it a go and you'll probably enjoy it, just be prepared that, at least first time, it won't save you that much money with all the hidden costs.
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