Another EBay DAC or Not

[colin.hepburn]

Hi Martin
It’s surprising what you can off a slow boat these days

Well my first go with this computer audio with a DAC and headphones
Not good sound is flat dead

I found out the sound problems with the usb connected DAC the flat dead sound is down to the software used for playback of ripped CD at 44.1

I was using VIC meda player this was flat and dead sounding with any format MP3 WAV FLAC I then tried Meda Monkey this was no better and added sibilance to the top end
I then ran foobar 2000 this was the worst of all flat dead and hard top end I could not believe how bad this software was

I then got rid of the windows Drivers for the DAC to clamed better drivers and found no change to the sound with the above software
So that left windows meda player that most people seem to right off without a second though is seems

Well now I was not expecting much here ether but to my surprises this is the best sounding player of then all so far just to verify this I went back to the Marantz CD player using the DACs coaxial input for a reality check
Only to find windows media player is very close to the Marantz result

It is not perfect but close playing CD from the computers drive and playing WAV/ FLAC file formats @44.1 all sounded much closer to the Marantz CD 67 So Windows media |Player is the winner by a large margin all listeningwas done with my Sennhizer HD650 and the NAD 352 Amp headphone amp out

Now I just need to try the full 32 bit 96 kHz I need to find a site that lets you demo the different file formats

[Pingushome]

Hi Colin,
Hope you had a good Christmas, or even just a dry one.
The slow boat finally docked and the usb dac has been delivered.
All I need now is a couple of Txs 15v and 10v, any idea what VA / Watts I need? Thought about 30va or 50va.
Martin

[colin.hepburn]

HI martin
Christmas was quiet but not dry which dac have you got as I can give you the order numbers for the TXs I got for my dac which are 12v-0 12v-0 and 9v-0-9v-0 from rapid

[pre65]

The 15-0-15 transformer I used turned out to be 17-0-17 even under load so I calmed it down with a pair of resistors so it was much nearer 15v.

[Pingushome]

Hi Colin,
Same as yours I think from "along196090" . Sorry should have been 15v x2 and 9v x2. Have seen txs on Maplins and Rapid at reasonable price. The part no's will help so I can match up curent/power rating as none given at fleabay site.
Thanks Colin

[colin.hepburn]

Ok if it’s the AK4396 DAC I use 12x2 and 9x2 both 30VA but you only use one side of the 9 volt TX but you can use a 15x2 in place of the 12volt
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electrical-Power/Toroidal-Transformer-30va-0-12v-0-12v-88-3789
30VA 0-9V 0-9V 88-8788
30VA 0-12V 0-12V 88-3789
30VA 0-15V 0-15V 88-3790

[Pingushome]

Originally Posted by colin.hepburn

Ok if it’s the AK4396 DAC I use 12x2 and 9x2 both 30VA but you only use one side of the 9 volt TX but you can use a 15x2 in place of the 12volt
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electrical-Power/Toroidal-Transformer-30va-0-12v-0-12v-88-3789
30VA 0-9V 0-9V 88-8788
30VA 0-12V 0-12V 88-3789
30VA 0-15V 0-15V 88-3790

Hi Colin,
Thanks for the info 30va is ok then.
Not sure about your suggestins for conecting tho. I have 2 sets of 2 (9volt) and 1 set of 3 (15volt) terminals on the DAC board.
Are you saying use only one output from the 9volt Tx and link both pairs of terminals together for the 9 volt?
As I have two 9volt outputs on the Tx why not use both or am I missing something?
For the 15 volt I was going to link both 0v outputs together from the Tx and connect to the 0v on the board, then use the two 15volt lives from the Tx and connect into the two terminals left on the 3 terminal block. IE 15v-0v(x2)-15v.
Martin

[colin.hepburn]

NO if you have two 9 volt uses both
Yes with the15v TX
That’s why I asked which dac you have as I have two different DACs can you post the eBay link for your dac so we can be sure which one you have before wiring it up

[Pingushome]

Hi Colin,
Thanks I understand now.
The dac is the on you just got with the small usb add on board, the one in the picture a few posts ago on this thread.
This is the same board
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1109546887...84.m1436.l2649
but maybe not the same seller.
All is clear now we were talking about diffrent boards. I have looked at the pix of both your set ups in various threads and can see exactly what I need to do.
So onward and upward another new years project.
I will keep in mind your comments about Media Player too.
Thanks Colin
Martin

[colin.hepburn]

Ah OK
Yes I must get both the dacs finished off
OK so yes 15v x2 and 9vx2 from rapid are what I have
you can get the spec sheet from the rapid site as well for wire colors

For the rapid Transformers
for your main 230v connect gray/violet together
For the dac yellow/black this is the dacs 0V connection
see image