[trevmex]

I am interested in making a DIY DAC in the sub-$200 price range that is powered with a wall wart instead of through the USB port.

I like the PupDAC, but think I'd need a DoodleBug to make it shine. I've been looking online for powered DIY USB DACs, but haven't had much luck.

This is going to pair with a NuHybrid amp I am working on to listen with on Grado SR60s.

Thansk,
Trevor

 

[Rroff]

Problem is the lack of chips that are both DIY friendly and have a built in USB Audio interface and higher end and also sold to consumers (there are 1-2 potentially good ones but you can only get hold of with a commercial license and volume ordering) - there are the TI PCM29xx series but they are 48KHz/16bit and around mid-range sound quality (the addition of external power/regulator can boost that a bit but not massively) and I've found them hit and miss in implementation - sometimes working fine sometimes all kinds of issues for no apparent reason.

The other option is some kind of USB I2S bridge - there are various pre-made boards that do it combined with something like the PCM17xx series DAC but that is quite a project to take on - you can also use the PCM2706 as a bridge coupled with one of the higher end DACs but again does limit options.

Plus a lot of these chips are SSOP (or even more fiddly) which makes DIY a bit complicated.

Sorry to be so negative :s