[Polaris111688]

I'm looking for a DIY DAC that is on par, in terms of performance, to the PPAv2 amp. I'm looking for minimal SMD and USB capability. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[n_maher]

Based on what I've seen and what I found when I researched DACs last year (prior to building my Monica2) there aren't many designs that are well supported and almost all of them involve SMD soldering. The Monica2 was one of the few you could get with the SMD stuff already done and for me the price was right. It paired very well with my PPA and still works great with my Millett.
HTH,

Nate

 

[Polaris111688]

Hey, thanks for the suggestion. I don't mind SMD if I have no choice, but I'd like to avoid it if possible. I need a board that'll convert USB digital into S/PDIF if I'm going the Monica 2 path.

 

[rreynol]

You could always get a HagUSB to feed into it.

 

[Polaris111688]

Alright, thanks. Looks like I'm set.

 

[dsavitsk]

What's your budget look like? How about this: http://www.kandkaudio.com/digitalaudio.html

 

[Polaris111688]

I'd like to keep the DAC section under 300 if possible. While they pay me 100 a month here and cover a lot at the Academy, I'm still going to need money for books and such. Long story short, I'm trying to build an end-all be-all amp/DAC, etc, and I'm probably going to end up buying stuff and building them as they come in over the course of a year or a year and a half (probably finish my 2-degree cadet year at USAFA). Amp design's probably going to be the beta 22 with the accompanying sigma 22 PSU (going to get 2 of each and oversized heatsinks so I can power speakers). I'm going to design my own power on/power off board that'll trigger 4 5V, 10A contact-rated DPDT relays with a 5V power supply (from Welborne Labs). It'll turn the 2 amp boards, the DAC, and the remote controlled stepped attenuator (also from Welborne Labs) on simultaneously. The 5V power supply will also be used in the output selector board that I'm going to design (also uses a 5V, 10A DPDT relay). +5V will trigger speaker mode, and 0V will be headphone mode. My friend back in Jersey (well, was in Jersey, anyways until he went to California for college) had an old computer case he was willing to let me have to use as a case. Figured a computer case would be nice, since it's really spacious and has all those drive bays I could attach stuff to. Now, my justification for looking for a DAC on the "level" of the PPAv2 was that I wanted a pretty top-end DAC that could be integrated in this project. The justification for USB is that I'm going to be running music from the computer to the DAC.

 

[Clutz]

I wish you the best of luck in trying to build the end-all/be-all of DACs/Headphone amp combo. However, for what it is worth there is a lot to be said for the synergy between a particular combination of headphone, headphone amp, and DAC. I think it's better to think of building your system more like evolution than a revolution. Besides, it's more fun that way.

 

[Polaris111688]

In a way, it sort of is evolution. As I'm building stuff, I'm going to integrate the stuff with the current PPAv2 amp I have in my room. For example, the remote controlled stepped attenuator and the relay boards I'm designing will be integrated with the PPAv2 first. I make it possible by making everything in my amps modular, so I can switch out support boards if need be. Once those are done, I'll probably attempt to get the DAC in there and see how that works. Final step would be actually replacing the amp as a whole.

 

[crazy_bob_uk]

take a look at the ddac http://dddac.de/ i havent built it, but i've heard good things about it.

 

[Polaris111688]

Hey, thanks for giving another suggestion. =)

 

[Clutz]

fwiw: dddac uses parallel TDA1543 DAC chips. Some people claim that this improves the output - but lots of discussion at diyhifi has centred around how this results in greater harmonic distortion. Whether it sounds better or worse, depends on your ears.