Random DAC/Amp Thread!!
- Thread starter bennysachdev
- Start date
bennysachdev
Discoverer
SunnyBoi said:Hmmm, mighty impressed with NwAvGuy, will get a Behringer DAC and O2 amp soon
Damn, I haven't bought anything audio since 2 years :|
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Forgot, will fire this thing soon! Been 3 years since I got this, never used it till now
What is that?
titana
Explorer
Recently acquired two DAC's.
assemblage & ADCOM 600
the assemblage is already modded/upgraded and working (forgot to take pictures of the innards). ADCOM 600 is a work in progress and am currently changing the opamps , hope to finish it by tonight. Some pics of the dissection and surgery process on ADCOM and complete assemblage follow:
assemblage & ADCOM 600
the assemblage is already modded/upgraded and working (forgot to take pictures of the innards). ADCOM 600 is a work in progress and am currently changing the opamps , hope to finish it by tonight. Some pics of the dissection and surgery process on ADCOM and complete assemblage follow:
titana
Explorer
^^ it is the 2.0 version and after upgrading the capacitors it sounds good, being my first DAC it is a major upgrade..
Assemblage 2.7 and above are hard to come by, still its a good start.
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Here a few pics of Assemblage 2.0 innards. All electrolytic capacitors including the power caps have been upgraded to audio grade nichicon capacitors. Smaller film caps have been replaced by multicap polyesterene tin in foil capacitors. Stock opamp have been replaced by OPA1641 for I/V stage and buffer with OPA827. The soundstage is very much 3D now and has depth which i never experienced before. Above all PRAT off the charts. All my orthodynamic headphones have turned into something new.
here are a few pics
Assemblage 2.7 and above are hard to come by, still its a good start.
--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
Here a few pics of Assemblage 2.0 innards. All electrolytic capacitors including the power caps have been upgraded to audio grade nichicon capacitors. Smaller film caps have been replaced by multicap polyesterene tin in foil capacitors. Stock opamp have been replaced by OPA1641 for I/V stage and buffer with OPA827. The soundstage is very much 3D now and has depth which i never experienced before. Above all PRAT off the charts. All my orthodynamic headphones have turned into something new.
here are a few pics
Once you get the assemblage all modded and hotrodded, you'll forget the adcom 
.
I never liked the PCM58/PCM63 chips. However the 1702 in the assemblage and the 1704 used in many high end dacs are probably the best chips BB ever made.
There's something special about every R2R multibit chip that delta sigma can never touch.
.I never liked the PCM58/PCM63 chips. However the 1702 in the assemblage and the 1704 used in many high end dacs are probably the best chips BB ever made.
There's something special about every R2R multibit chip that delta sigma can never touch
.
titana
Explorer
Actually the assemblage has all the basic mods done, its the adcom that I am modding right now.
Even the adcom in its stock form is easily better than my STX (DC coupled & opamp upgraded-opa1642 for i/v and opa1612 for buffer).
It has a smoother, more refined sound & has great vocals.Lacks a bit in PRAT esp. compared to assemblage.
It is clear to me that the oft heard description of 'Digititis' was coined for Delta-Sigma DACs since the R2Rs have none of that.
Of course, I might be over empahasizing the effects of DAC topology since the power supplies & analog output stage of either DAC is much better than the STX too.
Even the adcom in its stock form is easily better than my STX (DC coupled & opamp upgraded-opa1642 for i/v and opa1612 for buffer).
It has a smoother, more refined sound & has great vocals.Lacks a bit in PRAT esp. compared to assemblage.
It is clear to me that the oft heard description of 'Digititis' was coined for Delta-Sigma DACs since the R2Rs have none of that.
Of course, I might be over empahasizing the effects of DAC topology since the power supplies & analog output stage of either DAC is much better than the STX too.
bennysachdev
Discoverer
Gannu said:That PCB has clearly mentioned Alien DAC fairly big! Did you intentionally miss that part?
I was expecting to learn a bit more about it from you guys other than just the name. Maybe I wasn't clear enough. My bad.
titana
Explorer
^Thanks Brendon.
It isn't Sachu's.
IIRC he sold his Assemblage 2.0 way back. I would have loved to get his Assemblage 2.7 which he had for sale a few months back, but at that time I just didn't have the budget to go through with the purchase. Also, I wanted to start with something cheaper to know how the R2R stuff sounds like.
I won't hesitate now though.
I have now upgraded the Adcom GDA-600 with opa1642 & removed a couple of unnecessary(As deemed by those who understand those kind of stuff) signal path components.
The results are excellent & it is pretty close to Assemblage now.
The next step is to replace the power supply capacitors, I am hoping that this would bridge the remaining gap between the two DACs.
@Benny: The alien DAC is PCM2702 based entry level usb DAC which was quite popular with the DIY crowd a few years back. I am pretty sure that it would still hold its own against any current sub$100 DAC even today.In fact, I have a PCB lying around with me for some time but I never got around to populate it.
It isn't Sachu's.
IIRC he sold his Assemblage 2.0 way back. I would have loved to get his Assemblage 2.7 which he had for sale a few months back, but at that time I just didn't have the budget to go through with the purchase. Also, I wanted to start with something cheaper to know how the R2R stuff sounds like.
I won't hesitate now though.
I have now upgraded the Adcom GDA-600 with opa1642 & removed a couple of unnecessary(As deemed by those who understand those kind of stuff) signal path components.
The results are excellent & it is pretty close to Assemblage now.
The next step is to replace the power supply capacitors, I am hoping that this would bridge the remaining gap between the two DACs.
@Benny: The alien DAC is PCM2702 based entry level usb DAC which was quite popular with the DIY crowd a few years back. I am pretty sure that it would still hold its own against any current sub$100 DAC even today.In fact, I have a PCB lying around with me for some time but I never got around to populate it.
esanthosh
Guide
For those who are considering uDAC-2, here's another choice worth considering - Amazon.com: HRT HeadStreamer USB-powered Headphone DAC/Amplifier: Electronics
HRT HeadStreamer should roughly match the SQ of HRT MSII - going by what HRT has done so far, but it is cheaper and has a headphone out as well. It should be a good choice for those on a budget and need a small DAC/Amp for use with laptop on the go. The other choice, CEntrace DACPort is much costlier.
HRT HeadStreamer should roughly match the SQ of HRT MSII - going by what HRT has done so far, but it is cheaper and has a headphone out as well. It should be a good choice for those on a budget and need a small DAC/Amp for use with laptop on the go. The other choice, CEntrace DACPort is much costlier.
Arihant.EXE
Explorer
Any recommendations for a good USB DAC and amp for the Audio Technica ATH M50 headphones to be used on my laptop? I'm on a budget and would really prefer if the device is available locally.
TIA
TIA
Arihant.EXE
Explorer
Read a lot about E7's shoddy build quality. Can someone shed some light on it?
bennysachdev
Discoverer
lavii said:
To start with you can try a RCA male to Stereo female converter cable and hook up your iems, headphone directly to the MS2 and get a feel of the synergy of the MS2 with your rig. Let us know what you like/don't like in the sound sig considering amps do add a little color to sound, you can identify if getting a tube amp for warm sound, or a solid state amp for a bright sound through your rig will be the best option for you. We(me and brendon) had done this with his MS2. We were controlling the volume through the PC and we had attached my tf10's with the MS2 directly using the converter and from what I remember of it was the MS2 was fairly neutral as a dac. Which means what I heard was the TF10's sound signature rather than any coloration from the amp. Which is a really good thing from what I believe.
My knowledge in amps is very very little tbh since I haven't read about or auditioned many amps.
esanthosh
Guide
@lavii,
Do you have a budget in mind just for the amp?
I've read good things about FiiO E9. It has lot of power, but it does have a high output impedance of 10 ohm, which would make it tough to match it with your existing IEM and headphone collection (Only HD25-II has 70 ohm impedance, rest are lesser which means their sound signature might be changed).
Matrix M-Stage v2 with Class A biasing - Matrix M-Stage amp review: simple, cheap, and excellent. - is something you can consider. I am somehow never sure about the build quality of Chinese products. They seem to be a hit or miss depending on whom you ask. That said, M-Stage has garnered good reviews as a budget headphone amp.
@Arihant.EXE
If restricted to local buy, I think it's down to uDAC-1 or FiiO E7.
If you are not averse to buying ICCWorld, you can try HRT HeadStreamer. I am basing this on my experience with HRT MSII. It would be interesting to see what they did with a DAC-HP Amp combo.
If PC/Laptop is the only source you are trying to pair the DAC with and/or you are looking for a small/portable amp, those would be the choices off the top of my head. Otherwise, you can get a DacMagic locally. They have recently come out with DacMagic+ - DacMagic Plus Digital to Analogue converter. Not many reviews so far to go by though!
Do you have a budget in mind just for the amp?
I've read good things about FiiO E9. It has lot of power, but it does have a high output impedance of 10 ohm, which would make it tough to match it with your existing IEM and headphone collection (Only HD25-II has 70 ohm impedance, rest are lesser which means their sound signature might be changed).
Matrix M-Stage v2 with Class A biasing - Matrix M-Stage amp review: simple, cheap, and excellent. - is something you can consider. I am somehow never sure about the build quality of Chinese products. They seem to be a hit or miss depending on whom you ask. That said, M-Stage has garnered good reviews as a budget headphone amp.
@Arihant.EXE
If restricted to local buy, I think it's down to uDAC-1 or FiiO E7.
If you are not averse to buying ICCWorld, you can try HRT HeadStreamer. I am basing this on my experience with HRT MSII. It would be interesting to see what they did with a DAC-HP Amp combo.
If PC/Laptop is the only source you are trying to pair the DAC with and/or you are looking for a small/portable amp, those would be the choices off the top of my head. Otherwise, you can get a DacMagic locally. They have recently come out with DacMagic+ - DacMagic Plus Digital to Analogue converter. Not many reviews so far to go by though!
@esanthosh i have budget around 10-15k, right now my current headphones don't need amp but i want good amp for future upgrade, after buying amp i will go for 20-30k range headphone
any view for musical fidility v can
@bennysachdev , you are right ms2 is very natural dac and can drive my current headphone and iem very well, i need amp for future upgrade and looking for warm sound.
as you have already used ms2, i think you can help me , right now when i listen only music from my laptop ms2 works well but as soon as i start doing other works like browsing and surfing i hear noise/interference, i have already searched for this problem and come to know that power may be a problem and external powered usb hub can solve this.
any view for musical fidility v can
@bennysachdev , you are right ms2 is very natural dac and can drive my current headphone and iem very well, i need amp for future upgrade and looking for warm sound.
as you have already used ms2, i think you can help me , right now when i listen only music from my laptop ms2 works well but as soon as i start doing other works like browsing and surfing i hear noise/interference, i have already searched for this problem and come to know that power may be a problem and external powered usb hub can solve this.