Another EBay DAC or Not

[colin.hepburn]

Hi All
Just thinking of another DAC upgrade from the AK4396 Anyone ues or got info on this EBay DAC-05 WM8741+WM8805+TE7022 DAC what do you think any good or not
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110954688701?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p 3984.m1436.l2649
Not sure but I think the WM8714 is a wolfson dac don’t know anything about it maybe someone can confirm this see link
http://www.wolfsonmicro.com/products/dacs/WM8741/

[audiopete]

Hi Colin,

I have reading the review in Dec edition hi-fi world of the Epiphany E-DAC, peaked my interest in a new DAC. Although double the price over your ebay choice.

http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/our-...ature-usb-dac/

[colin.hepburn]

Hi Pete
Yep but what I need is flexibility i.e. coaxial +optical and usb but this is secondary plus my budget is limited but luckily the psu I built for the still very good AK4996 24bit DAC can be use for the WM8741 as well so big savings there
I also see that most of the big audio companies are using the wolfson DAC in their products the likes of NAD/ Cambridge audio Marantz rega and many others so should be worth a go

[FreddieT]

Colin,

The Rega DAC uses paralleled WM8742s. To my ears this DAC is very good indeed especially at the price.

I bought a couple of DAC modules from a Chinese source a few years back (when 24/96 was the limit for most) which had AK DAC chips. They were fine for the money (about £15 each I seem to remember) and responded well to a good power supply (a Naim SNAPS modified for split rail operation with LT regulators in place of the standard National 317/337s).

So as your power supply is sorted you could be about to bag an audiophile bargain ! I notice from the picture on the link you can change the op amps. Whole minefield there - but I used a LM833 in a headphone amp a while ago and preferred it to the 5534 and a fancy one from Burr Brown.

Good luck!

F.

[Ali Tait]

The Rega dac is nice, however all who have heard the comparison have preferred the AK4396 valve dac Nick built me.

[colin.hepburn]

Yep I am happy with my AK2496 tweaked with some Silmac and Oscon caps and a FET Buffer output stage sound is good
But the WM8741 looks fine by all accounts to me plus it has the coaxial plus optical + the usb its
Also switchable between 44k and 192k
With the optical it means I can do away with the converters and switcher I have to use for the sat box and blue ray DVD
And can use the computer audio with its HDMi output which wiil pull my system together better
See WM8741 Schematic

[colin.hepburn]

Well just made the decision its ordered now if the big audio companies are using the wolfson dacs then theres a fare change it good then
as was is the AK4393 i am using plus my DVDs internal DAC is also using the AK4393 is will be interesting comparing the two

[colin.hepburn]

Right the DAC is on a slow boat so gives me time to think about what to do to improve it
So first up it the USB input as this is the dominant input and the usb cable has to be pulled out to allow the other coaxial and optical inputs to work
Thing to do here I think would be to add a switch to the usd input so the dac thinks the usb is not connected trouble is what type if switch is required and which way to wire it up any ideas here as I do not understand usb stuff to well so any help is welcome
See schematic for usb input

[pre65]

Seems a lot more complicated than just removing the cable.

[colin.hepburn]

Originally Posted by pre65

Seems a lot more complicated than just removing the cable.

Well yes but at some point I want it all permantly wired in so switch makes life easy I may as well do this when I case up the dac