camelot arthur DAC, should I keep or scrap it?

[linuxworks]

here's an old DAC from the past

(if you want better close-ups to read chip #'s, let me know and I'll reshoot or re-crop.)

I bought this back in 2000 and even -then- it was old

I think I paid $100 for it.

its odd in that it uses 2 6v lead acid batts in a 'rehearse' (ac) or 'performance' (pure dc volts) mode. odd. almost funny to me.

it does sound good and I'm wondering if its considered 'good' or if its just using a common chip and its worth more as a reusable box than a DAC

lately I'm looking for nice clean housings to do DIY projects in and if this dac is no great shakes, I'll just as well reuse the parts that are worth it (the box, jacks, maybe others).

or, would I be destroying a classic or something??

/bryan

 

[Tridacnid]

If it sounds good, keep it. You can always build the project (if it is a DAC) and compare this one to the DIY DAC, decide which is better, and use the case accordingly.

 

[Duggeh]

The Meridian 203 DAC from the early 90s used the same chip. You can bet your bottom dollar that the implementation is different though.

Do you like how it sounds? Is it decent to your ears? Its not and wont have been TOTL but that doesn't mean it might not be a half decent bit of kit.

 

[linuxworks]

this was, apparently, also from early 90's. this is what I found on the net:

* AllegroSound * Camelot Arthur DAC *

almost all I see is the 3.0 being talked about on the net, not this (apparent) 1.0 version.

also, there is some kind of problem in syncing to some spdif streams. one of my spdif sources is the direct-tivo (opto toslink out). that continues to give me a LOT of problems with many dacs. on my yamaha all-in-1 stereo, it syncs to the tivo just fine. but the ebay noodle dac and this old camelot dac - forget it! nothing but static. like the spdif isn't even valid for that receiver chip. there must be something out of spec and some receivers tend to ignore it and others don't. this camelot, I found out today, doesn't like my tivo ;( that's one strike against it.

its also dual 6v. how good -can- an op-amp sound if its run that low? hmmm. (no, that's not hum, its just me wondering)

 

[Duggeh]

I've had synch problems with optical SPDIF output from my Squeezebox and my DAC was made in the late 80s/early 90s. Fortuitously the Coax input likes my PC and Squeezebox just fine.

The whole battery power thing is always a nice idea, clean electricity and all. But that doesn't mean that its always going to sound good cos a piece of gear has got it.

 

[linuxworks]

the noodle-dac seemed to like a 'cleaned up' version of spdif from my tivo but this camelot won't even take THAT!

for cleaning, for some unknown reason this box I built a decade ago called a 'dat-heads DSD' (anyone remember that from the late 90's?) can receive and resend the spdif stream and strip something (scms, yes; but tivos shouldn't have that) enough so that the noodle dac can deal with it. when I remove my DSD in series with the stream my noodle dac will NOT sync onto the tivo output.

so, noodle works with my DSD device but this camelot won't work with or without it, if it sources from the direct-tivo. very very odd ;(

my last spdif magic box is a SRC (z-systems that I also bought about 10 yrs ago) but I'm not really thrilled with doing a hardware 16bit SRC just to get my tivo output to be acceptable to this dac.

I also don't know why the squeezebox (v2 from about 7 yrs ago) is not sending out a good enough signal for this camelot dac. the SB has been a pretty good and seemingly compliant source for all my dacs and receivers.

maybe this dac has just had its day

I am switching between many sources and if even one of them causes a dac to choke, it messes up my whole config.

I would like to know of anyone considers this any kind of classic, though. in that light, maybe its not worth putting under the knife

 

[krmathis]

Well, do you use it or does it have any sentimental value to you?
If not, then sell it...

 

[linuxworks]

no sentimental value. not really.

if it played and muted on all my players, that would be one thing. but it continues to have problems with the spdif from my tivo. I really do use my tivo's spdif out quite often (I have a long cable from between rooms and spdif is lossless and great for semi-long distance transports).

the box sure is sexy, though!

and that's what I have my eye on. I could put a more modern dac in there (my noodle dac kit, maybe?) and reuse the box and some other parts of it.

but before opening the good wine and using it for cooking, I figured I'd ask, first