[dBel84]

A little late to the party - picked up a bug and only just got round to building this little gadget. 
 

 
 

 
 
came up perfectly and just needs the end plates drilled / cut. 
 
I will have to test it with the ODAC tomorrow. None of the dacs I have at home will likely see much benefit 
 
Thanks TomB and A_A
 
..dB

 

[tomb]

 

  I think simpler DACs probably have nowhere to go in performance.  Not to insult everyone's favorite cheap tube amp, but it's sort of like the Starving Student.  Once the inherent noise in the tube circuit exceeds the switcher power supply, there's little performance gain achieved by substituting a better power supply.
 
Beezar is moving this month.  Unfortunately, all of my GrubDACs are packed and I can't get to them right now.

  However, I suspect the results would be somewhere in-between that of the SkeletonDAC and the pupDAC, because the GrubDAC has an onboard regulator.

 
I really have no idea what's you're talking about.
 
LOL 

 
 
But the next question is, would the Carrie gain performance?
 
But then it would be ironic to add a wall-wart and a middle-man to a two-in-one whose meaning of existence is to be small and solely powered by USB.
 
Have fun moving. 
 

 I thought you might appreciate the analogy.
 
Yes, I suspect that something built on the principle of boosting USB power would benefit greatly from the DoodleBug.  As you say, though, it maybe has diminishing returns in the semi-portable environment the Carrie was addressing.
 
Of course, all of this assumes one is trying to achieve as much as the particular component is capable of attaining.  In what I read recently from some of Tyll's articles, maybe it's the difference between Mid-Fi and Hi-Fi.  I will readily admit that perhaps Beezar is on the cusp of making that level change.  

 

[tomb]

  A little late to the party - picked up a bug and only just got round to building this little gadget. 
 

 
 

 
 
came up perfectly and just needs the end plates drilled / cut. 
 
I will have to test it with the ODAC tomorrow. None of the dacs I have at home will likely see much benefit 
 
Thanks TomB and A_A
 
..dB

Looking great so far!!

 

[earfanatic]

Hi There!
 
I would like to build one as well.
How can I get it? Is it already available?
thx

 

[jboehle]

Subscribed!  I plan to start building my pupDAC tonight, this sounds like a great upgrade!

 

[tomb]

  Hi There!
 
I would like to build one as well.
How can I get it? Is it already available?
thx

We're working on it.

  As with all Beezar products, the build information will be on diyforums.org.  I hope that doesn't get deleted, because the actual forum section is pretty much inactive.  Head-Fi is the primary forum resource.

 

[tomb]

Production PCB's were ordered today.  I hope to have the website up and running in a few weeks, but this has to be tempered with Beezar's move.  I'll do my best.

 

[Jasper9395]

  Production PCB's were ordered today.  I hope to have the website up and running in a few weeks, but this has to be tempered with Beezar's move.  I'll do my best.

Sweet! Can you give us an indication of the pricing?

 

[tomb]

 

  Production PCB's were ordered today.  I hope to have the website up and running in a few weeks, but this has to be tempered with Beezar's move.  I'll do my best.

Sweet! Can you give us an indication of the pricing?

PCB's will most likely be $10.  Kits can be figured out from the BOM + PCB price.  I don't know that off the top of my head, but Beezar never prices anything in conflict with the BOM - at least for a kit.  Casework is yet to be determined.  As many of you know, that can cost almost 50% of the cost of the total device.  I will try to keep the prices down and will always endeavor to offer a "short kit" without the case if it is feasible.
 
The PupDAC case will be almost a total equivalent - no more, no less, so you can use that as a guide for the case work.  Obviously, one purchasing everything including the case will save money over purchasing everything separately.  Also, please remember that some people have successfully sold similar projects using the same case but with $45 just for Front Panel Express endplates.  The PupDAC does better than that and I feel certain that the DoodleBug will, too.*
 
 
* The idea is to have a red-anodized Hammond 1455C801 with laser-etching similar to the PupDAC, only with the DoodleBug logo that DingoSmuggler developed.  The way things work in sales, these days, though, I'll probably do half-and-half, red cases and black cases.  Seems like everyone wants black, no matter what it is.

 
** The PCBs will be red, period.
 
Opinions?

 

[Jasper9395]

Sounds good. I think there should definitely be the option of buying the kit without a case. This being a DIY project people are going to be looking to keep cost down. Also, many of us probably don't mind making our own. I do like your idea of doing a red case similar to the PubDAC though, think it will look nice.

 

[jboehle]

Love the idea of a red case to go with the blue pupDAC, but of course those are the colors of my favorite university as well

 

[Jasper9395]

Just a quick question. Will using the Doodlebug with a USB > SPDIF converter improve the sound from my DAC?

 

[tomb]

  Just a quick question. Will using the Doodlebug with a USB > SPDIF converter improve the sound from my DAC?

If the DAC is using power from the USB, then I would say, YES - absolutely.  If that's not the case and you're looking for a benefit simply from an improved USB data stream - I don't know.  Avro will have to answer that one.  Just one thing - I can't see how it wouldn't improve any USB-streaming connection, period, no matter the device.  The question is how much of an improvement.  We've shown that for some devices, it's significant and measurably demonstrated.  For others, not so much.

 

[Jasper9395]

 
If the DAC is using power from the USB, then I would say, YES - absolutely.  If that's not the case and you're looking for a benefit simply from an improved USB data stream - I don't know.  Avro will have to answer that one.  Just one thing - I can't see how it wouldn't improve any USB-streaming connection, period, no matter the device.  The question is how much of an improvement.  We've shown that for some devices, it's significant and measurably demonstrated.  For others, not so much.

In my case the DAC its self is not powered by USB the only the USB > SPDIF converter is.
 
The question of data stream is interesting and I think you are right that it should improve. I used to keep most of my music on an external hard drive which had an external power supply. When I was playing music directly from my notebook where files were stored on SSD I noticed a positive change... My guess is that the power supply on the external drive was introducing noise.

 

[Avro_Arrow]

  Just a quick question. Will using the Doodlebug with a USB > SPDIF converter improve the sound from my DAC?

Is the USB to S/PDIF optical or co-ax?
If it is co-ax, then the Isolator will block noise by breaking the ground loop.
If it is optical, then there is no ground loop anyway.
The ADuM3160 does clean up the signal to some extent...it doesn't just
copy the signal ad-hoc from one side to the other.
Of course, whatever chip runs the USB to S/PDIF conversion (PCM270x maybe?)
could possibly benefit from the better power supply.
 
In the end though, I would make no guarantee of any audible improvement, as
this is not really the kind of device it was design for.