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Post by ChrisB on Oct 23, 2017 19:50:46 GMT
I spotted this little thing on Ebay the other day and wondered "Just how good can a DAC for a fiver be?", so I bought one. It actually cost £5.75 including postage. I ordered it late on Thursday night and it arrived this morning. On opening the box, I found a power cable, which only allows you to connect via USB, so it would be fine plugged into a PC or laptop. I intend using it with a battery supply though, so it will work fine with one such as I use with my Raspberry Pi players. There is also an optical cable included - all for just over a fiver!    It's quite nicely put together and is constructed into a metal case - I thought this was plastic from what I saw in the Ebay advert. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coax-Coaxia-Toslink-RCA-R-L-Adapter-Digital-to-Analog-Optical-Audio-Converter/162058294974?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649I have a couple of other DACS to compare it to. I own a pair of Beresford 7250s and, in my main system, my CD player is an Accuphase DP-67 which has a couple of inputs, one of which I use to play a Raspberry Pi with. I'll be conducting some experiments shortly, so watch this space! |
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Post by MartinT on Oct 23, 2017 19:59:18 GMT
Interesting experiment, Chris. It's good to know what can be done for beer money and widens the scope of what we can recommend here.
Keep us apprised!
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 23, 2017 20:07:26 GMT
I can confirm that, as the advert predicted, I did indeed give the double thumbs-up when I saw the generous girth of the optical cable. In fact, just for a moment, I looked exactly like this...  Luckily, because of the generosity of the person who specified the cables, I avoided replicating the 'skinny-cable face'...  |
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Post by MartinT on Oct 23, 2017 20:12:50 GMT
But does it have gold plated ends?
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Post by Slinger on Oct 23, 2017 20:26:46 GMT
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised Chris. The Doc and _D_S_J_R_ have been championing the little fellows for ages. I used one myself for a while, in my "third" system and for the price they are ridiculously good. Don't expect Beresford-like sonics, but do expect to grin a lot.
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 23, 2017 20:43:44 GMT
Thanks for that Paul. The thing is, I don't actually need a new DAC as I have one spare one lying around already, but for a fiver, I had to have my curiosity satisfied.
It's great to know that it might be half decent.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 21:21:19 GMT
Just pulled the trigger on one as I want something for MacBook to active Tannoys on my desk, thanks for the heads up on this one Chris.
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 23, 2017 22:36:59 GMT
I have it running just now, with a Pi through the Yamaha receiver and into AR-2ax speakers. Without getting behind the rack in the main system, this is the easiest way I have to confirm the little thing actually works. It does and it works well, which at the asking price is a minor miracle in itself!
It doesn't disgrace itself at all. So far so good.
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Post by Stratmangler on Oct 23, 2017 23:13:46 GMT
In fact, just for a moment, I looked exactly like this... You looked like an attractive dark haired woman? That's something powerful going on ...... |
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 24, 2017 3:08:37 GMT
Exactly!
(on both counts)
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Post by Chris on Oct 24, 2017 3:58:41 GMT
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Post by gariboldi2012 on Nov 17, 2017 13:16:52 GMT
Can't buy the bits for that money, looks like a bit of fun so got one on order. Will compare with my regular Audiolab M-Dac; should be interesting! I have high hopes for it and hopefully it is a tweakers paradise in which case I will post my findings.
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Post by ChrisB on Nov 17, 2017 18:45:04 GMT
Do let us know how you get on with it.
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Post by gariboldi2012 on Nov 17, 2017 21:35:37 GMT
Will do, the fun is in unlocking the potential to get real improvements without spending much. Ideally keeping the budget under £25 including the base DAC. If it responds well then I will happily share the tweaks on the forum.
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Post by pre65 on Nov 19, 2017 12:10:03 GMT
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Post by Slinger on Nov 19, 2017 13:31:52 GMT
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Post by dsjr on Nov 19, 2017 19:23:45 GMT
I've had one of these generic ones for a couple of years now and have dug it out again (with a wall wart supply) to use with a geriatric laptop plus the £20 USB/SPDIF thingie - I bought a second one used... It's really not bad at all and is so good I'm going to make a small regulated 5VDC supply for it - I have the transformer and cheapo Chinese regulator ordered and just need a project box (ABS of course  ) to fit it in. I don't and can't listen critically any more, but the sound is fine in a basic way, covers well what it can't so (air and space into the next street) and is probably well up to lower cost CD players of yore (I'd say Denon 600 and 800 of old, rather than the more tweaked Arcams of the time). |
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Post by gariboldi2012 on Nov 24, 2017 23:33:23 GMT
The DAC arrived on Tuesday,for the money superb. Nice quality case and remarkably well built on the inside. Main smd soldering pretty good. Running it off a current generation white Samsung tablet charger. Out the box as others have already noted sounds very respectable. The S/PDIF receiver is the well known Cirrus CS8416, works well enough even if not the best out there. The DAC is an ES7144lv not one I was aware of. The specs on paper are nothing special but not hung up on that what do you expect for a 30cent US DAC. Listening done with a Chromecast Audio and optical out to the dac through NAD3020A and AKG K550 headphones. The headphones don't have boosted bass and the dac sounds pretty clear but the bass is a bit light and not very extended. Assuming the output coupling caps are as the reference design then the-3db point is just over 60 Hz. Have added parallel electrolytic caps across the coupling caps to put the bass extension back. Also have put a CLC filter on the 5volt input. My ears are telling me it makes quite a difference. However could be my bias, will be getting another DAC so I can run side by side. In conclusion already very happy with the DAC as still under a tenner with the mods.
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Post by Slinger on Nov 25, 2017 11:14:37 GMT
The DAC arrived on Tuesday,for the money superb. Nice quality case and remarkably well built on the inside. Main smd soldering pretty good. Running it off a current generation white Samsung tablet charger. Out the box as others have already noted sounds very respectable. The S/PDIF receiver is the well known Cirrus CS8416, works well enough even if not the best out there. The DAC is an ES7144lv not one I was aware of. The specs on paper are nothing special but not hung up on that what do you expect for a 30cent US DAC. Listening done with a Chromecast Audio and optical out to the dac through NAD3020A and AKG K550 headphones. The headphones don't have boosted bass and the dac sounds pretty clear but the bass is a bit light and not very extended. Assuming the output coupling caps are as the reference design then the-3db point is just over 60 Hz. Have added parallel electrolytic caps across the coupling caps to put the bass extension back. Also have put a CLC filter on the 5volt input. My ears are telling me it makes quite a difference. However could be my bias, will be getting another DAC so I can run side by side. In conclusion already very happy with the DAC as still under a tenner with the mods. You might enjoy messing around with this. Mine works perfectly but I'm sure you can improve on the bog-standard construction. Thread link, including a new valve source, here. |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 25, 2017 11:17:59 GMT
Ridiculous money for the fun to be had.
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) to fit it in.