The $110 DIY 24 bits 192 Khz DAC
Sep 21, 2009 at 8:53 PM Post #2 of 16
1. You want to DIY it, but it comes assembled- all you want to do is the casing?
2. There are no pics of the soldering, that's usually a good indication of quality. I'd request underside pics.
3. We'd love for you to bite the bullet and order this thing and let us know how it is!
 
Sep 21, 2009 at 9:05 PM Post #3 of 16
I have that chinese ebay dac.

its build quality is not great. don't try to unsolder parts and move them. the traces are not very strong.

its a brute force solution (with so many power suplies). but its not too bad a dac, really. its worth the price, I think, given what you get for it.

personally, I don't trust chinese trafos. fire hazard. so I bought mine as just a board, only.
 
Sep 21, 2009 at 9:10 PM Post #4 of 16
here's some photos of mine:

DIY: MPDmaster/VoluMaster and DAC on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

3655111527_9ed6b61f4e_o.jpg


last image shows my arduino ethernet 'box' as well, but that has nothing to do with the red giant dac itself
wink.gif


again, the dac build quality is about what you'd expect from a very cost-reduced pcb fab house. parts quality is decent enough.

there should be more air clearance on the heatsinks, though. I hate when they don't do thermal mgmt well ;(
 
Sep 22, 2009 at 11:03 PM Post #8 of 16
How does it sound compared to other DACs that would cost the same regardless of DIY or not? I saw that on ebay and it uses the same chips as one of the Headroom DACs. I know that the chips don't necessarily make the DAC good, but I don't understand a lick of this electrical stuff and can't tell if it would be close. That is why you smart people are here.

I can't solder or anything like that, but I can figure out a way to put this in a box if it sounds good or at least better than most $100-150 options. (Like the Zero).

Thanks.
 
Sep 22, 2009 at 11:20 PM Post #9 of 16
its easily worth the $100 or so. it packs a lot of features and the ASRC is worth it for that, alone.

the spdif receiver chip is good and the dac chip is good. op amps are socketed. caps are ok.

its not THAT bad. I build things so I'm picky but it IS functional and cheap for what it costs.

its a 'box it up yourself' dac with nothing else needed.
 
Sep 23, 2009 at 3:12 AM Post #14 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by FraGGleR /img/forum/go_quote.gif
linuxworks, is this something that would be better than a gamma1?


maybe better than gamma1. maybe. but the gamma2 would be far better than this, I think.

I actually used this red board for a while (few months) before I built my own y2. now I only use the y2 for main listening. this red board sits on my parts shelf, unused. the usb port had one of its pc traces lift off when I unsoldered the usb connector (I wanted to off-board all the jacks). the traces really are not held down well and the board is not very strong, imho. it 'works' but will it be working in 2, 3, 5 years? will the power supply section hold out? trafo that they ship? (I didn't want to chance it, myself).

those heatsinks get quite hot. I don't really like that, to be honest. a little more space and cooling would be in order.

again, its great for $100ish. it offers a lot of 'features' but its not really well made.
 
Sep 23, 2009 at 3:18 AM Post #15 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by FraGGleR /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I can't solder or anything like that, but I can figure out a way to put this in a box if it sounds good or at least better than most $100-150 options. (Like the Zero).


I'm a bit partial to DIY designs and builds (lol) and I really do recommend the y2. its got all the high points and the only down side I can think of is its not balanced or high voltage out (because its based on 5vdc from usb, really).

I use the y2 and drive the b22 or the m3 (currently) with it and I believe the y2 is my 'best dac in the house' right now. and they're not THAT expensive to buy or have built, I don't think.

I understand the y2 design enough to believe in what it does. and I know the pc board is well made and if its built by anyone who has done this before, the build quality will be more than double what you get from the hong kong/ebay boards.
 

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