[wushuliu]

There ya go...."it should" but not necessarily true....the circuit will only draw what it needs and 125 ma at 5 volts +/- % is all it needs...or it wouldnt be doing as well as it is..

Your welcome to tack on a"BIG" power supply but this unit can get what it needs to be "beyond" inaudibility already...and any improvements to the already published specs...
to put any of these measurements even further into the inaudible range...well ok....spend you money wisely.

The whole idea and excercise was to do the best with the least...and its really as good as stuff costing a whole lot more bucks...

I finally have my USB cable hacked and will run some tests on the actual current draw....and voltage drop on a few pcs..

All the best
Alex

Well there you go. I guess we can all call it a day. It's nice not to have to think for myself. Outro.

[adydula]

Hey wushuliu...

I never said it was easy...and I often in the past think things sound different with different stuff or changes...I have a few external power supplies
that I bought for trying to see if the "better', "bigger" supplies really made any differences in what i was hearing..
Even have a large 15 amp Lambda DC supply I have used.

The thing with your supply is not matter how good it is or how well its filtered etc...its still connected to and AC power source..and AC is well not a
friend of DC circuits when it comes to power, not signal.

The 02 on batteries takes all that out of the equation...

I would like to and ought to try running the ODAC on batteries....and comare with the USB power ports I am using to see if I can really hear any
differences...will have to get some friends over and see what happens...

All the best
Alex

[adydula]

I found this on Nwavguys blog....its his list of things that arent really needed to provide world class transparent Dac:

"NO SNAKE OIL REQUIRED: Many audiophiles want to believe more elaborate or exotic DACs offer higher fidelity. The ODAC demonstrates you do NOT need any of these for 100% transparent performance:

Asynchronous USB
UAC2 (USB Audio Class 2) Support
Asynchronous Sample Rate Conversion (ASRC),
Minimum Phase Filtering (no pre-ringing)
Non-oversampling NOS DAC chips
Dual DAC chips
Balanced Outputs
Vacuum Tube Stages
Elaborate and/or High Current Power Supplies

THE PROOF: I can confidently say none of the above are required for DAC audio nirvana—i.e. having your DAC disappear from the signal chain. Some of the above, like NOS designs and tubes, degrade fidelity. I’m confident because detailed measurements and blind listening tests verify the ODAC’s real world performance. I’ve even tried several different PCs and the ODAC’s performance is relatively consistent between them. So while some of the above might improve a few measurements, if they don’t improve the sound, it’s like taking 4 pills to get rid of your headache when 2 do the job nicely. Once the headache is no longer perceptible, more pain reliever doesn’t help anything. I encourage others to compare the ODAC blind against other DACs, at any price, that measure reasonably well."

Its not that I am saying dont build or try a really, nice, clean DC supply for the ODAC....thats the DIY spirit for sure....its
just the point is you can have really great DAC performance with the 5 volts from many pcs....as good or bad as it is....

All the best
Alex

[wushuliu]

I've since become more deluded and made more mods to the odac this time replacing some of the caps, based on observations made by others who have heard the odac (and had the same criticisms as I) as well as other builds based on the same chip (there were at least 2 other people doing their own design at the same time as NwAvGuy on diyaudio) and frankly at this point it does not sound anything like stock at all. We can do the measurement dance all day but in the end I have made all these changes, I have done the comparisons for myself and there is no way
on God's green earth anyone would prefer the stock performance over what I am hearing now. It is a different dac in sound quality altogether. I wish I had known about the other diy builds before, I would have gone
with those.

I understand your perspective and that's fine, I offer my experience for the curious. NwAvGuy's POV is the same found on every forum at least one a week regarding every component in audio from dac to speakers to amps to cables to wine so if my tinkering means no birthday card from NwAvGuy - oh well. Not even going to bother addressing his quote because then this thread will just deteriorate and I will have to go back to my hamster wheel avatar.

[usp1]

I wish I had known about the other diy builds before, I would have gone
with those.

What other build would you have gone with? Just curious. I have the EE minimax and Oppo 83-SE and they sound very similar to my ears. I am curious how a completely different take would compare.

[wushuliu]

There was a group buy that ended a couple months ago. It is spdif only however. Hopefully there will be another group buy since this one was
successful. They may add usb functionality.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/group-buys/211201-es9023-wm8804-s-pdif-dac-group-buy.html

[jtwrace]

I've since become more deluded and made more mods to the odac this time replacing some of the caps, based on observations made by others who have heard the odac (and had the same criticisms as I) as well as other builds based on the same chip (there were at least 2 other people doing their own design at the same time as NwAvGuy on diyaudio) and frankly at this point it does not sound anything like stock at all. We can do the measurement dance all day but in the end I have made all these changes, I have done the comparisons for myself and there is no way
on God's green earth anyone would prefer the stock performance over what I am hearing now. It is a different dac in sound quality altogether. I wish I had known about the other diy builds before, I would have gone
with those.

I understand your perspective and that's fine, I offer my experience for the curious. NwAvGuy's POV is the same found on every forum at least one a week regarding every component in audio from dac to speakers to amps to cables to wine so if my tinkering means no birthday card from NwAvGuy - oh well. Not even going to bother addressing his quote because then this thread will just deteriorate and I will have to go back to my hamster wheel avatar.

Thanks for the insight.  Can you share more info on your power supply and other mods?

[jtwrace]

Just unpacked it and hooked it up.   





Purchased from Audio Poutine in Canada.  RCA & 3.5mm jacks.   

[jtwrace]

Also, Pure Music Hog / Integer mode work fine too.   

What USB cable do you guys use?  I'm using my camera DL cable now.   

[Noseyears]

Just unpacked it and hooked it up.   

Nice. How's everything so far? i've heard is on par with the HRT streamer II+

[jtwrace]

i've heard is on par with the HRT streamer II+

I've never heard one of them.

[jtwrace]

Why do you have the L&R cables swapped?   

[fenderf4i]

It just the colored washers that should be switched. Red is right!

[wushuliu]

Thanks for the insight.  Can you share more info on your power supply and other mods?

The power supply is an offshoot of several shunt regulated designs by Salas over at diyaudio, including the DCB1 buffer I've already covered last year
in the Lab. The guide goes into greater detail regarding purpose and benefits:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwkE0NoQW99QbFVtS2hsZ0xTWUNubU8tcXc2eHJnQQ/edit

Surprisingly simple to build. Mine uses a whopping 15v 50w transformer providing 300mA current for the ODAC. As for the ODAC mods I took note of other builds using same value film caps by the outputs and am currently playing with larger and smaller values by the regulators and elsewhere.

No question for the money, stock, it is a great dac.

[adydula]

Cool, enjoy reading about your 'upgrades' and 'pioneering' with your stuff.

The red white cables in the pix were switched, and if you just turn the box over it changes !!
I did not have any little rubber feet on it in that stage...just playing around....

I do have a HRT MSii + and I had a HRT MSii before that as well.

They are both asynchronous dacs made by HRT Technologies.

When I was contemplating even thinking of digital PC music and a source I did the usual reading etc...and compairing the specs, argument's and discussions and this particular USB Dac perked my intrest. I forget the persons name right now but had several email discussions and a phone call or two and was impressed by them.

Guess we tend to buy or try stuff from people we like or have the same technological viewpoints.

I have gone back and forth many times between the ODAC and the MSii+ and I can not hear any real world differences. The only discernable differences is $99 vs $350. Name your poison. LOL.

The ODAC requires 125 ma. The HRT MSii requires 200ma and the HRT MSii+ requires 400ma.

When you start playing around with circuit components I no doubt that you will affect the sonic qualites of the device. It can be good or bad or somewhere in between. If you hear "better" sounding stuff that's great..

but again....this $99 ODAC was designed by a person that spent many, many hours mucking around with parts, resistors, caps and the actual design layout for the parts, to fit in a small enclosure and also still have world class specs that would not get in the way of the source etc...its good to know that to me. Doing this experimentation and taking measurements that can affect the things that we can hear is a good thing instead of guessing.

Ok back to the listening!

All the best
Alex
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

[wushuliu]

Thanks. I think I've taken this topic as far as it can go. Enjoy the Odac. I'm sure we can all agree it's great to get such
bang for the buck these days.

w

Cool, enjoy reading about your 'upgrades' and 'pioneering' with your stuff.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

[adydula]

Wishuliu,

Cool beans...

Been sitting here for an hour now with (2) O2 amps and (2) Different DACS, one is the ODAC and the other is the HRT MSii+.

One thing I have noticed and several times before is that even though I can switch back and forth really fast...there is some time to adjust the levels to match the output of the ODAC and the HRT which are very different. The HRT is hotter or rather larger and if not matched appears to blow away the ODAC...

But after careful listening...yes subjectively its very hard to pick one out over another....they both are really stellar...listening to demo cds. Duende, Morph the Cat and all those need tracks we use for making us smile.

Sure wish we lived closer etc would really like to here your stuff over a beer or two!!

All the best
Alex

[adydula]

O2 amp  on the left has the HRT MSii+ connected to it....running on Pure DC Batteries....the redbox is an ODAC in seperate enclosure...the O2 amp on the right is the integrated amp and ODAC running on a higher voltage 400 ma ac to ac adpater.


[/img]

[adydula]

Went back to my Schiit Lyr with Duende etc...its sounds very muffled or not as clear as the O2 and ODAC combo with the HRT or the ODAC.

Seems like there is more distortion or warmth with the LYR, it really can drive the LCD2's but the O2 is (I  hate to say this...) is that much better to me...

Looks like I will be selling my Lyr...

Alex

[jackman]

JT, looks great.  Please keep us posted.  Is the one you picked up different than the JDS Labs version?

Is anyone using the ODAC with a Squeezebox Touch?  I'm thinking of picking one up to mess around with.  Thanks!