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Author Topic: Soren's R-2R Dac  (Read 15989 times)

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Priidik

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #100 on: May 04, 2015, 02:46:14 PM »

Couple of guys have been asking impressions, so i decided to share as my new toy syndrome is mostly over.
I use un-buffered ladder output. This is a must for low level sounds, texture and 3D soundstage.
The sound is impacted a lot from filters, i use Nyguist ''C128_100dp'' by spzzzkt right now.
I use a simple regulated LPS for power and JLsounds USB interface. Reportedly some quality power can improve things further.

Bass:
Vs everything i have heard so far, the dam has excellent bass performance. Compared to D-S dacs i have owned, the D-S dacs have next to no resolution in bass at all. BMC puredac is finest D-S i have had and it is a blurry mess in bass vs the Dam in direct a-b comparo. The bass has room information from Dam. Very first time i listened to the Dam i thought the bass sucked. Soft, cheesy and weak in volume. This was because i listened to Biffy Clyro. Once i loaded some Daft Punk or Hanz Zimmer or Tool i almost fell off of my chair.

Mids:
With this filter, no hash, no grain. Meat on bones. I am beginning to really appreciate HD800 midrange.
There is life to the vocals i have previously only heard through vinyl turntable setup.

Highs:
In some ways this was the most shocking part for me. The highs are much more extended and resolving up to my hearing limits. I was under false belief that anything past 9-10kHz has no significant meaning. Ahh, no glare either.

Soundstage:
Real 3D, not like a wall of sounds. Most annoying thing for me while listening headphones is this 'paper-stage', sounds come from sides, above and under, nothing in front or behind, all D-S dacs i have heard have this shape of soundstage, only some are not showing it clearly. I instantly remembered the soundstage shape of an Ayon CD player, that i think had pcm1702 or pcm1704 chips.
   Bass has room cues, even with speakers. To me it is spooky. I got a glimpse of that with HD800, but i first thought it was their shortcoming. Now i know better.
   Recordings ambiance and soundstage shape is extremely recording dependent. Some tracks come out of a tin can while others are reminiscent of a choir in cathedral. Good ones are awesome.
Comparing to other filters i think this one needs the most work on sounstage shape, it sometimes feels like being under a roof. Maybe height is missing a bit. This could easily be just some of the recordings that i have, i know better once i setup my speakers in larger room.

Resolving power:
It is clear that this dac can out-resolve good/decent amplifiers. This was not a problem for me with BMC. I need to upgrade my chain for HD800. So far Genelec monitors out-resolve HD800, which is very unexpected.

Separation, clarity:
The Dam never runs out of 'steam' in complex passages, i thought this was a strength of BMC, but it got dethroned here too, easily. Nothing sticks together in multi-organ+bass guitar passages. BMC was great at that in midrange, but ran short in bass and highs.

Filters: So far i think the C128 is the best filter, among best resolving and tonally most neutral, maybe slightly dark. It retains original samples. Has slow roll off, so it is ca 3..4dB down at 20KHz. But only a dB down at 19kHz. Other good ones have larger soundstage or are airier sounding, but are not sounding as real to me.
« Last Edit: May 04, 2015, 06:15:12 PM by Priidik »
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Sorrodje

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #101 on: May 04, 2015, 02:55:42 PM »

Thks for those impressions.  :money:

jaffar

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #102 on: May 15, 2015, 04:08:12 AM »

Looks like I'll have about a week of overlap from when Yggy arrives (early next week) and when I ship the R-2R to Russia. I'll be early in Yggy's 'bake', but sure - happy to share.

Mike,

it is interesting that you will build another one despite owning an Yggy - let us know how they compare.
We can delay the shipment if you need some more time with the DAM.  ;)
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MisterRogers

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #103 on: May 15, 2015, 12:18:19 PM »

It's just the sheer enjoyment of hearing the filters slowly dial in. It's a lot like looking through a camera viewfinder; and you zoom in and out, adjust your focus and aperture. The quality of the filters that are recently available are such a huge leap from the start.

Now.... It's no Yggy. I'm running the Soren at work and Yggy at home. Yggy's in another league - but that's a true statement with most DAC's.
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DubiousMike

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #104 on: May 20, 2015, 01:35:51 AM »

Out of curiosity - when you build your successor dam1021, do you think you will go with another .02% board or step up to .01%? 

I ended up springing for a yggy as well for my home rig, and it is really wonderful with the mainline.  Still very interested in building up a soekris dac for my desk at work though and trying to decide whether to just go with a bare-bones approach, a mid-level diyihnk kit based build or to use serious psu's like ref-D, ssr03 etc.
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uncola

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #105 on: May 20, 2015, 02:28:35 AM »

this is the diyinhk usb to i2s module you're talking about?  http://www.diyinhk.com/shop/audio-kits/58-xmos-dsd-dxd-384khz-high-quality-usb-to-i2s-pcb.html#/xmos_option-xmos_pcb

is there anything else they sell for the soekris?  your talk of a mid level kit from them intrigued me

edit:  oh I found this higher end usb to i2s board
http://www.diyinhk.com/shop/audio-kits/69-isolated-xmos-dsd-dxd-384khz-high-quality-usb-to-i2sdsd-pcb-with-ultralow-noise-regulator.html#/xmos_option-xmos_and_led_pcb
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Chris1967

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #106 on: May 20, 2015, 09:24:56 AM »

there is already isolation on the soekris board you dont need the isolation on your receiver.

i have the the first one and it works just fine.

i have powered it with Salas Reflector-D and it made a hell of an improvement compared to the simple lm317 i was using previously
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DubiousMike

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #107 on: May 20, 2015, 07:24:38 PM »

this is the diyinhk usb to i2s module you're talking about?  http://www.diyinhk.com/shop/audio-kits/58-xmos-dsd-dxd-384khz-high-quality-usb-to-i2s-pcb.html#/xmos_option-xmos_pcb

is there anything else they sell for the soekris?  your talk of a mid level kit from them intrigued me

edit:  oh I found this higher end usb to i2s board
http://www.diyinhk.com/shop/audio-kits/69-isolated-xmos-dsd-dxd-384khz-high-quality-usb-to-i2sdsd-pcb-with-ultralow-noise-regulator.html#/xmos_option-xmos_and_led_pcb

In the hifiduino blog, I think he uses a simple cheap bipolar psu board from them for the main board as well.  (See: https://hifiduino.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/soekris-dam-1021-r-2r-dac-users-guide/#comment-28745 )  MisterRogers used a much sexier SSR03 for this.

Thanks Chris for the comment on the Ref-D.  Since you guys both hear that as a significant improvement, is sounds like it is definitely worth including in any serious build. 
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Chris1967

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #108 on: May 25, 2015, 07:07:51 AM »

Nearly done now,

Salas Reflector-D on the DIYINHK receiver (@3,3V) and two Salas Bib on the Soekris (@12V)

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uncola

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Re: Soren's R-2R Dac
« Reply #109 on: May 25, 2015, 08:01:13 AM »

whoa I like how you used pin headers for the rca instead of directly soldering.  do I see 4 rca and 2 xlr jacks?  both bufferred and unbufferred rca?
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