Posted on Monday, 19th March 2012 by Auw Jimmy

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As usual, local audio DIY group in Indonesia held a routine group meeting and gathering. This time, the topic is DAC. There were several contenders joined this session.

Below is the setup used on that session. CD Player was CEC. Preamp were solid state (Pumpkin-Shunty Balanced Preamp) and tube (Aikido). Power was Aleph J2 ‘clone’. Speaker was 3-way floorstander with Vifa drivers.

Contenders as below (Thanks to Commander Dino Ary for the list):

  1. AD 1865 + JFET output
  2. TDA 1541 + OpAmp + Tube output
  3. DAC PCM 1704 (Denon player)
  4. AD 1865 + Tube output
  5. AD 1865 + Pumpkin-Shunty output
  6. AD 1865 + OpAmp (balanced)
  7. AK 4393 + OpAmp output
  8. PCM 1702 + OpAmp output
  9. AD 1865 + unknown output
  10. AD 1865 + Pumpkin-Shunty output
  11. TDA 1541 + JFET output
  12. WM 8805  + JFET output
  13. DAC PCM 1704 + OpAmp output
  14. Yaqin K-9  + Tube output

And the winners are…

1st: AD 1865 + Pumpkin-Shunty output
2nd: AD 1865 + OpAmp (balanced)
3rd: Yaqin K-9  + Tube output

Yaqin K-9 with single triode tube output. Unknown DAC, some BurrBrown OpAmp found. Simple and neat design. Output capacitor modded with Auricap.

Bigger picture of the PCB. A lot of potential upgrade possibility on the PCB for the ‘itchy’ hand owner :)

This is the 2nd winner (black chassis on the top). Similar AD1865 chipset with the 1st winner, but with balanced OpAmp output. The bigger black chassis on the bottom is the Pumpkin-Shunty Balanced Preamp.

Finally, this is the winner. I would like to call this as ‘city of colorful parts’. As you can see, the design was very neat and properly arranged. Not to mention the beautiful color combination like red, blue, green, black, gold, purple, brown, etc etc etc. Deserved to be a winner, from the sonic point of view and also from the design wise.




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Posted in DIY Audio, Indonesia | Comments (12)

12 Responses to “Bintaro DIY DAC Competition”

  1. aphinx Says:
    March 20th, 2012 at 16:27

    Update: AK4393 saya out-nya pakai Opamp (OP2604), bukan pakai JFET. Hehehehehe ….



  2. Auw Jimmy Says:
    March 20th, 2012 at 17:39

    Done :)



  3. Didik W.A Says:
    March 21st, 2012 at 10:17

    Hallo Bung Jim,
    Minta ijin copas sebagian utk artikel di ALS.
    BTW, Sabtu kemarin itu ada yang salah, banyak DAC yang bersuara tambahan ‘jrot-jrot’ diujung ujung suara musik meskipun tdk jelas terdengar.
    Ketika preamp diganti AIKIDO, hampir semua DAC bersuara bagus…nah lho !
    salam, dwa



  4. Auw Jimmy Says:
    March 22nd, 2012 at 22:29

    He he he… Tanya ama Prof tuh Pak Dhe… :)



  5. Roy Says:
    March 31st, 2012 at 13:52

    PCM1702+opamp itu yang model copotan dari DAC Ultech HDCD10 atau rakit sendiri? Suaranya gimana Bro Jimmy?



  6. Auw Jimmy Says:
    March 31st, 2012 at 22:35

    Hi Bro Roy,
    Maaf, enggak inget bro he he he.
    Thanks.



  7. Roy Says:
    April 1st, 2012 at 06:51

    Hahaha…..punya saya copotan dari DAC Ultech itu soalnya. Belum saya otak-atik semenjak beli, pensaran juga sih bagus atau ga suaranya :)



  8. Tjipto Hendrawan Says:
    April 2nd, 2012 at 15:04

    Halo,
    DAC no. 12 tdk jelas memakai chip DAC apa, karena WM8805 adalah chip receiver-transmitter, dan bukan chip DAC.
    Yg no. 14 juga bikin penasaran, pake chip DAC apa ya …



  9. Auw Jimmy Says:
    April 2nd, 2012 at 21:53

    Monggo dicoba saja Bro… :)



  10. Auw Jimmy Says:
    April 2nd, 2012 at 21:55

    Hi Pak Tjip,
    Mungkin kalo jadi pemenang akan lebih banyak dilirik he he he. Yang Yaqin itu chip-nya dibalik PCB, jadi agak susah dicari tahu kecuali dibongkar sampe ke PCB-nya.
    Thanks.



  11. aphinx Says:
    April 4th, 2012 at 10:17

    bener, Pak Tjip, saya koreksi sedikit: yang WM itu berbasis WM-8741 di D/A-nya dan WM-8805 di SPDIF-nya ….



  12. erik Says:
    May 30th, 2012 at 00:26

    tolong di bahas dong suaranya yg juara hehe, penasaran ..
    saat kompetisi nggaada pembanding DAC bermerek pak jimmy?



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