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PCBs for 0DAC

A project log for Audiophile-sounding DAC for almost no money

0DAC - delivers engaging, immersive sound with a pricetag at least two orders of magnitude from commercial audiophile DACs

richard-dudleyRichard Dudley 04/05/2018 at 03:519 Comments

I now have some second generation prototypes built up, using PCBs kindly laid out by my gf. In this picture, the 0DAC is built from a stack of three boards. On the bottom we have the DAC and PSU, middle tier has the filter and I/V stage and at the top there's a buffer. The buffer can be implemented to drive headphones though the power supply might need to be external then due to heating concerns.

Here are the boards individually :

DAC board with 4 * TDA1387 and input buffer (HC86) and a simple PSU (TL431 and pass transistor)

Here's the part-populated filter board. The inductors go to the right, the transistors (current sources and common-base I/V) are to the left.

This is a single-ended classA buffer. The copper areas allow the SOT23 transistors to dissipate a bit more heat than normal. While its designed to drive headphones I'm re-purposing it for 0DAC to be a line-level buffer.

Discussions

Richard Dudley wrote 04/06/2018 at 12:17 point

My gf did the PCB designs, she doesn't mind at all sending out the gerbers to people interested in building. Note there are errors and I've not compiled a BOM yet. Schematics will come though. The 3 stack of boards will drive low impedance headphones directly yes, so long as they are sensitive enough. It only has 1VRMS output. Works great with Superlux HD668B for example.

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Krzysztof wrote 04/06/2018 at 13:21 point

Thanks, I will wait for schematics anxiously.

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Richard Dudley wrote 04/06/2018 at 13:42 point

I've put the schematics up now.

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Krzysztof wrote 04/06/2018 at 12:02 point

And if someone just wants to made them for themselves, would you give gerbers? Will this dac be able to drive headphones directly?

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Richard Dudley wrote 04/06/2018 at 09:06 point

No plans for that right now myself no. But if someone else wanted to make it available then I'd give the PCB gerbers to them to get boards made. There are a few small errors on the PCBs now as they were the first generation. 2nd generation ones will fix those.

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Satrio arif wicaksono wrote 04/11/2018 at 08:57 point

can i have pcb n parts from you ?

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Richard Dudley wrote 04/11/2018 at 12:23 point

You could have pcb and parts from me but I'm sure you'd not like the price as I'm not set up to create kits of parts. So there'd be a labour cost which swamped the parts cost. I will ask my gf if she's interested in making kits (or arranging kitting) though.

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Satrio arif wicaksono wrote 04/11/2018 at 12:49 point

sure, i think price is comparable with sound quality i got. I waiting news from you that you said will revision on new pcb and design

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Satrio arif wicaksono wrote 04/06/2018 at 09:03 point

did you have plan made it as kit ?

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