[Zashoomin]

Hello everyone,
I wanted to upgrade my Gamma 2 and was wondering if there where any other DIY DACs out there.  
Thanks in advance 

 

[Avro_Arrow]

The Twisted Pear Buffalo DAC is considered by many to be the top of the heap right now...

 

[Lil' Knight]

I much prefer the stuff from Acko.
https://sites.google.com/site/ackodac/

 

[Zashoomin]

I hear really good things about the Buffalo III on the other hand I have never heard of the acko. Which one is easier to build and which one sounds better?  Also for the Buffalo III, is it also an amp?

 

[Lil' Knight]

Both have almost the same price but the board from Acko is made of higher quality. Plus they have a lot more accessories and quick to adapt new changes.

Meanwhile TPA took more than 3 years (and still counting) to develop an USB board and keep in mind, this is not their main job so don't expect quick support if you ever got into trouble.

 

[preproman]

Have you built any of the Acko DACs before?

 

[Lil' Knight]

Not built, just got my hands on the boards. The material they are using for the PCB (Rogers) is optimized for digital, which is pretty awesome.

 

[HolyCheese]

What about TDA based (or any other NOS) dac? I know these are less Hi-Fi but alot of people prefer the way they sound like vinyl. Natural. And still very detailed with great imaging and so.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Not built, just got my hands on the boards. The material they are using for the PCB (Rogers) is optimized for digital, which is pretty awesome.

 
I really can't tell by looking at the site.  Do they have a I2S input..  Not USB to I2S, but straight I2S?

 

[Lil' Knight]

Of course they do. Rare to see any ES9018 design that doesn't have I2S input.