Best DIY DAC Kit? (to go with AP Amps)

[anm]

@ rohit. Almost all well designed DAC sound similar. They may vary differently on measurement at the the third decimal point to the right but the touchstone for differentiating them is our ear which is incapable of doing the same.

Now in your case if you want to look for performance alone as well as portability the EDAC is very good. However there are some caveats like no optical or coaxial input which you will prefer if you have a high end cd player. If a computer is your source saving a buck with the DAC without compromising the quality is the best option. The same money can go into purchasing a better speaker or quality interconnects.

Man, you would kill the audiophile DAC market

 

[iaudio]

LOL Anant!

But I kinda side with Audiodoc, just like good interconnects it is quite hard to find the difference between good dacs/sources.

 

[anm]

I think the output analog circuit would be "voiced" to produce a house sound in case of different sounding very expensive dacs. Retrieving last ounce of info, keeping the harmonics of the signal are few things that demand extra money

 

[rohitmusic]

how much would it cost to setup a not overly done but decent dedicate music PC? With a cabinet that matches looks of a decent entry level cdp?

No idea of exact costs. I have heard it comes around 20k or so as a ball park figure.
In my case I can reuse my existing unused old PC.

While we are at it, I find PC based solutions are very extensible with great connectivity options. Right now all my gadgets are interconnected via my home WIFI network. I can control any device from any other device (laptops, android phones, etc).
Also very user friendly for browsing song, playback, etc. It is very powerful. Thanks to Technology.

 

[captrajesh]

@ rohit. Almost all well designed DAC sound similar. They may vary differently on measurement at the the third decimal point to the right but the touchstone for differentiating them is our ear which is incapable of doing the same.

Having heard DACs like AP, Shigaraki, MF, AudioGD, CA, Arcam etc and having owned NOS tube DAC based on TDA 1541 chips, I find this unpalatable.

They all sounded very different. That's why I love my DAC; unbeatable at the given price point.

@Rohit, with the likes of Buffalo DAC, you may end up spending as much as AP DAC if not more. I suggest you try to listen to AudioGD DAC. Amazing value for money.

 

[mbhangui]

Having heard DACs like AP, Shigaraki, MF, AudioGD, CA, Arcam etc and having owned NOS tube DAC based on TDA 1541 chips, I find this unpalatable.

They all sounded very different. That's why I love my DAC; unbeatable at the given price point..

Capt,

Which is your DAC and which DAC you liked the most?

 

[captrajesh]

Capt,

Which is your DAC and which DAC you liked the most?

Before freezing on the hardware and design, Siva of Acoustic Portrait dabbled with several chips and designs. Mine is one such design; As stated, it is a NOS DAC with tubes at output stage, in which two TDA 1541 chips were used. It sounds fabulous and majorly improves the output of my Marantz CD6003 CDP.

The only drawback is, it can't do hi rez.

 

[Audiodoc]

I second captain rajesh that in a good audio chain different DACs sound different. My DIY burr brown DAC with tube output sounds warm so does the Hifiman HM601 which has a 1541 NOS DAC. However all these sound signatures are against the dictum of audiophile sound that the output should ne authentic to the source. By infusing the warmness they are causing adulteration of the source signal though it sounds exceptionally better for low quality / compressed music.

On the contatry while playing well mastered high quality tracks a transparent DAC like the ODAC can bring out the tiny nuances in the music.

 

[captrajesh]

while playing well mastered high quality tracks a transparent DAC like the ODAC can bring out the tiny nuances in the music.

I must admit that my exposure to Hi Rez music is rather limited. The only time I listened to it is at the demo room of AP along with our FM Gvenu. Mr. Siva was doing an AB of same tracks in two formats, the Redbook CD and Hi Rez on the fly.

We could notice very distinct differences. This is a field I would like to explore.

 

[hydra]

how much would it cost to setup a not overly done but decent dedicate music PC? With a cabinet that matches looks of a decent entry level cdp?

20-25K should do it. The variable being the cabinet: The prettier, the costlier hyeah:

For example:

Silverstone LC19: 10.3K (includes fanless PSU and PCI/PCIe 90 degree adapter)
Asus E350 M1 M: 7.4K (fanless E350 Fusion motherboard)
Corsair 4GB RAM: 1.3K
Seagate 5800rpm HDD, 1TB: 5.4K
Total: 24.4K

I've not mentioned a KB/Mouse as it depends on how you prefer to control the Music PC.

This setup will require you to take the digital out from the motherboard, or use an Async USB DAC (better than the mobo's digital-out, IMO). You can throw in an ESI Juli@ for about 8K on the top, if you prefer to take digital out from a soundcard (I would).

You can save about 1.3K on the total if you get a Silverstone GD04B (6K) and a Corsair CX30V2 PSU (3K), but I don't think that saving is really worth it, as this case and PSU combo introduces 4 additional fans into the setup which would work totally fanless, and so really silently, otherwise.

 

[rohitmusic]

Having heard DACs like AP, Shigaraki, MF, AudioGD, CA, Arcam etc and having owned NOS tube DAC based on TDA 1541 chips, I find this unpalatable.

They all sounded very different. That's why I love my DAC; unbeatable at the given price point.

@Rohit, with the likes of Buffalo DAC, you may end up spending as much as AP DAC if not more. I suggest you try to listen to AudioGD DAC. Amazing value for money.

OK Sir, I will consider this AudioGD DAC as well.

I have heard really good things about the 1541 Chip based dacs. Just that it cant play high resolution music.
Mostly I will be playing FLAC and mp3s at 320kbps. In this case should I be worried about this?

Right now I am playing through my laptop and the sound it Low FI. So feeling strong need to upgrade the source soon

 

[rohitmusic]

@Rohit, with the likes of Buffalo DAC, you may end up spending as much as AP DAC if not more. I suggest you try to listen to AudioGD DAC. Amazing value for money.

Sir,
we have couple of options now..
AudioGD,
TDA1541a based DACs - heard really good reviews of it even if it is 16bit
ODAC
and some others listed in this thread.
There is also a NOS dac on sale here

 

[gryph0n]

Mostly I will be playing FLAC and mp3s at 320kbps. In this case should I be worried about this?

Those are loss-less(FLAC) and lossy(MP3) formats, most likely from Redbook AudioCD. If so, those would be considered Standard Resolution (16 bits sampled at 44.1kHz).

To get Hi-Res, you'll need to either rip DVD-Audio (Not DVD video recordings of music) or SACDs, or download them online. Typically, Hi-Res PCM audio has 24 bits sampled at 96kHz.

The catalogue of music currently available as Hi-Res is very limited. The vast majority (>90%) of your music will be Redbook ACD resolution, so this shouldn't be too much of a worry.

 

[rohitmusic]

Those are loss-less(FLAC) and lossy(MP3) formats, most likely from Redbook AudioCD. If so, those would be considered Standard Resolution (16 bits sampled at 44.1kHz).

To get Hi-Res, you'll need to either rip DVD-Audio (Not DVD video recordings of music) or SACDs, or download them online. Typically, Hi-Res PCM audio has 24 bits sampled at 96kHz.

The catalogue of music currently available as Hi-Res is very limited. The vast majority (>90%) of your music will be Redbook ACD resolution, so this shouldn't be too much of a worry.

OK, Practically speaking I would be worried about the 90% music that I will hear on a daily basis. I don't foresee myself getting hold of hi res content in near future (or they would be very limited).
So, I guess the 16 bits should be sufficient for me at least for few years.

 

[iaudio]

For all practical purposes, normal 16/44 dac is good enough. Hi-res dac is good to have but somehow not of prime importance, imho. I would rather have a DAC that sounds good with standard resolution material!
As with anything related to computers, and with the increasing hard disk capacities, high resolution music will increase in availability, but it will take time. For a layman, high quality audio unlike video, is a little more difficult to appreciate.

 

[audiodelic]

what about the Schiit Bifrost .... seems to be getting rave reviews for its price.

 

[rohitmusic]

Audiosector DACs are another option. There isa long thread on diyaudio about their products.

Dear Sir,
Is there any specific Audiosector DAC that should be explored? Any pointers would help.
May I please know which is the DAC that you are using?