[MrSlacker]

I am pretty sick and tired of my onboard sound after noticing that it has a huge hiss when I turn up on T-Amp. So I decided to look around for cheap DACs. I know I will not be able to buy a DAC in my price range, so I decided to look in DIY.

My budget is around $100 without a case. I will take care of the case separetly. I have no experience in DIY so someone who is very experience will most likely building it for me. Therefore, it can be a pretty advance DAC. It must be USB and not use batteries since I will use it only at home.

Any suggestions are welcomed.

 

[threEchelon]

Alien DAC.

 

[splaz]

^ I second that.

 

[cotdt]

T-amp has its own hiss. there are numerous techniques to get rid of it.

 

[rb67]

I have a AW-D3 from these guys:
http://www.audioworkshop.com.hk/index_en.htm

$70 for kit and works extremely well. The resistors are all Vishay Dale, caps are WIMA or black gates or cerafine. Sounds great too. With this kit, you get the capability to power via usb, or by an AC provided you have a 9VAC transformer for greater performance. It uses a Burr Brown 2706 for USB to I2S and TDA1543 for DAC. I really like it.

You can see my build on this thread.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=226498

The great thing about this amp is that it also serves as a USB > SPDIF or TOSLINK if you wanted to use a different DAC.

 

[BradJudy]

Interesting, a 2706 based board set up to output I2S. I could slice off the DAC part and wire up an I2S output jack for my AA DDE3 DAC. Tempting....

 

[tcpoint]

I'll put a plug in for the Alien DAC, too.

 

[rb67]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BradJudy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interesting, a 2706 based board set up to output I2S. I could slice off the DAC part and wire up an I2S output jack for my AA DDE3 DAC. Tempting....

Already has an I2S output jack in SPDIF and TOSLINK. You just set a jumper and it switches between the TDA1543>RCA to straight I2S. Or do you mean direct wiring?

That would be sweet but cost wise you could definitely do better.

 

[amb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSlacker /img/forum/go_quote.gif I know I will not be able to buy a DAC in my price range, so I decided to look in DIY.

While I concur with all the suggestions for the Alien DAC if you want to go the DIY route, but you could buy the M-Audio Transit USB, an off-the-shelf USB sound card (which includes both a DAC and an ADC) for a street price of around $79 (froogle search). Don't let the low price fool you, it's an excellent performer.

 

[MisterX]

You could always go with a Mini TDA1543 DAC and USB to S/PDIF convertor from here:

http://us.hifidiy.net/Kits.htm

They would fit in a Hammond 1455N1201 enclosure and you would also have room to a add a tread if you felt the need to add a better PSU for the DAC.

Of course there is always the EMU0202 USB

 

[BradJudy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rb67 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Already has an I2S output jack in SPDIF and TOSLINK. You just set a jumper and it switches between the TDA1543>RCA to straight I2S. Or do you mean direct wiring? That would be sweet but cost wise you could definitely do better.

The Audio Alchemy DACs are some of the few to have an I2S input jack, but there are very few sources that are designed to output I2S other than on-board to a DAC chip. I've been curious about having a 2706 based USB adapter that could output I2S to run to an output jack, but I haven't seen many 2706 based designs. This one even appears to have I2S jumpered over to the DAC sub-board, making it really easy to pull I2S output off the board to a jack.

Yes, it would be buying a bit more than needed (wouldn't use the DAC components), but it still isn't that expensive.

 

[MrSlacker]

how much do parts for Alien DAC cost?

 

[splaz]

Depends on what parts you use and what configuration.

$40-50US for a USB powered standalone. Not taking into account shipping on parts.

 

[threepointone]

and don't forget the fact that it seems to be dificiutl to find anyone willing to give up any boards

 

[Ikrit42]

I'm also thinking about a DIY DAC after I finish my Millett Hybrid.
I'm preparing early for going away to college in a year and a half,getting ready to be listening entirely on a laptop.
I was thinking Alien DAC, and I've been obsessively checking http://www.glassjaraudio.com/ who say that they're going to have Alien DAC kits in soon.

Are there any current sources for boards, or is there maybe going to be another group buy soon?