[Magsy]

hehe, the hard part

I spent ageeeeeeees looking for a solution because my case does not have a removable lid.

I bought some motherboard style 'posts' which had thin threads on the bottom and were long. I drilled two holes in the bottom of the case and put a nut on the bottom of the post. My case has two 'grooves' cut in the bottom of it, the nuts fit in this groove perfectly so the case has no protrusions. The board is then fixed to the top of the posts.

I'll take some pics later to show you..

THe problem i have is the usb connector is a little loose on the pcb, I couldn't get it mounted firmly.

 

[DaKi][er]

the usb pci backpane you get with motherboards came in handy for me -

just that usb A to A male cables are very rare so i got 2 regular cables and diy'ed them to get my A-A

 

[jamont]

Quote:

Originally Posted by z2trillion Yeah, soldering the components was surprisingly easy, but i'm having trouble figuring out how to case it up. The square usb connector doesnt help.

Just drill a round hole large enough for the connector on the cable on the end of the case. Then mount the PCB to the bottom of the case with nylon or brass standoffs. I screwed nylon standoffs to the PCB and fastened them to the case with epoxy. That way I could make small adjustments in the position of the board before the epoxy set to get it positioned just right.

 

[iampivot]

Where do you guys get your black gate caps from? Am looking for a source in the UK.

Additionally, are someone using this DAC with a good headphone amp circuit? Am looking for something that will fit with the DAC in a nice metal enclosure.

 

[Magsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iampivot Where do you guys get your black gate caps from? Am looking for a source in the UK.

Prepare the wallet for pain, then head to www.hificollective.co.uk

 

[dsavitsk]

I have been using one of the beta version of these for a while and it's totally quiet. I just build a "rev a" and I'm getting a bunch of computer hdd noise. Both are powered off the USB, and I am using the same computer.

It's not burned in enough to compare overall sound quality, but the computer noise is odd. Anyone share this experience? I am using a different amp, the one with the silent dac (a Millett) uses a STEPS while this one (a Pimeta) uses a Velleman, so maybe since the computer is plugged into the same power strip, the Velleman is not able to filter out what the steps does?

Edit: on closer examination, the noise is from the wireless nic (not the HDD.) I have winamp set to buffer ~ 20 seconds of tracks since I am reading the files over a wireless network. The noise shows up between songs as it is gathering the data.

-d

 

[individual6891]

Ok, just got the replacement kit guzzler, and it's all sounding top notch. Thanks a lot for organising this!

 

[cetoole]

Are there any PCBs left?

 

[ixeo]

so how does this compare to, say, the EMU0404/EMU1212 ?

 

[Magsy]

It doesn't compare, it sounds good and as a second mobile sound card its great but its not an 0404/1212 replacement for the desktop.

 

[Kenny12]

i think it sounds roughtly the same as my av-710

 

[Tohex]

Hi, i'm kinda new....i've been reading up on this thing. As far as i know DAC stands for digital to audio conversion. So basically this little thing is a mini sound card via USB (as far as i've read)

So to run say shure e2c's off it....would u have to add an amp after this thing...or?

And where abouts on all the schemetaics/PCB things does the final 'output jack' go...if that is what it is designed to do....as i said i'm new....just wondering

Sounds cool tho (looks like quite a number of u r using it)

Thanks

Alucrep

 

[dsavitsk]

I have been using a beta version of one of these for a while. I recently built a Rev A and I am having some issues. Every once in a while it makes some Bill the Cat noises and just shuts itself off. To get it back on, I have to unplug it and plug it in a few times. Rebooting seems to help, too.

I thought at first that it was just a bad joint somewhere, but I resoldered anything that looked questionable, and no improvement. It is likely not the computer as the beta works fine. Also, when it is shut off, I can hear some hiss from it, so it seems to be getting power. Does anyone have any ideas on what to look for as far as troubleshooting?

-d

 

[individual6891]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alucrep Hi, i'm kinda new....i've been reading up on this thing. As far as i know DAC stands for digital to audio conversion. So basically this little thing is a mini sound card via USB (as far as i've read) So to run say shure e2c's off it....would u have to add an amp after this thing...or? And where abouts on all the schemetaics/PCB things does the final 'output jack' go...if that is what it is designed to do....as i said i'm new....just wondering Sounds cool tho (looks like quite a number of u r using it) Thanks Alucrep

You'll need an amplifier to amplifier the output of this DAC. Maybe it'd be able to power low impedance Shure E2Cs, but I'd still recommend a basic amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsavitsk I have been using a beta version of one of these for a while. I recently built a Rev A and I am having some issues. Every once in a while it makes some Bill the Cat noises and just shuts itself off. To get it back on, I have to unplug it and plug it in a few times. Rebooting seems to help, too. I thought at first that it was just a bad joint somewhere, but I resoldered anything that looked questionable, and no improvement. It is likely not the computer as the beta works fine. Also, when it is shut off, I can hear some hiss from it, so it seems to be getting power. Does anyone have any ideas on what to look for as far as troubleshooting? -d

That sounds a bit strange, are you sure the pins under the PCM chip haven't come loose and shorted pins? Have you checked the regulated outputs to be +5V and +3.3V? I'd recommend you'd get a DMM and check if any adjacent pins have 0 resistance between them, indicating a short.

 

[Tohex]

Cool, i'd be happy to have a go at building a small Cmoy or something anyway...fun.

I see that dooboloo also has that post going about a small DAC and Amp together for USB. That would be cool...so i'm not sure whether to wait, or to build this and a small amp...i guess i dont mind either way.

I'll have to get in contact with guzzler.