Still higher quality than a $100,000 turntable.
-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
World's Cheapest DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Yes, but not so much fun!
Actually, wouldn't want a $100,000 turntable, I would much prefer a vintage item at a few hundred $, and spend the miserable winter fixing it up.
S.
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2018
- Messages
- 35
- Likes
- 60
LOL! At one point I actually had this same exact DAC to use for my TV when I got my first set of 5.1 speakers. I just needed something to make audio work and it did exactly that. It didn't sound all that great and now I know why... The old receiver I use just takes analog stereo input and probably just pumps the same audio through both Front R/L and Rear R/L. I just use it in stereo configuration for the TV now with a sub, and an Aune X1s feeding it. Quite a janky setup, but it works, and doesn't sound half bad lol.
Last edited:
AnalogSteph
Major Contributor
A bunch of these may have been auctioned off for pennies when the company went bust or whatever. Plus Chinese export subsidies. Normally pricing would have been closer to the IIRC $29 for a FiiO D3... maybe 20-25.
The suspected CS4344 is below $2 in quantity. The "unmarked helicopter" chip in the ADC may be a *cough* unofficial clone *cough* of the CS8416.
PCM1804 is a pretty good ADC, actually.
I am sure a better opamp would go a long way towards improving distortion performance. Cheap,suitable for 5 V and high performance don't really go together.
typericey
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 28, 2018
- Messages
- 304
- Likes
- 461
- Should've gotten the shrug panther at the very least. I agree with the recommendation. These things exist for a purpose.
- Also. it ranked higher than Schitt Modi 1, Audio-Gd, Woo Audio, etc!
- Best of all, with measurements similar phono preamps, this should give that "warm, tube, musical and analog" sound for vinyl junkies that want to dabble into digital.
Should we expect similar performance from HDMI audio extractors?
noiseangel
Active Member
And so the shame pile of dung on all those high profile and high priced DACs grows ever higher and higher.
Thank god for this community.
Thank god for this community.
Why would TI auction them for pennies when they took over Burr Brown, and then keep the ic in their current catalog and not discontinue it? Cloning a chip is certainly possible but is it actually cost effective? doubt it, the main chip manufacturers are so huge that with their manufacturing facility, a smaller player couldn’t make them for cheaper. Whatever the reason, of course there is something grey here, there is no magic, but still, it makes you wonder, how the people working on this are getting paid. Volume, yes, of course. But, digikey probably over the years bought tens of tousands of these 1804. if I want one. what they paid for them, plus their margin, makes 4$ (+15$ shipping in canada) the manufacturer of his unnamed adc, also probably bought tens of thousands, and +margins+fixed cost+pcb+all other parts+connectors and case+electronic and mechanical assembly can get this to me for 5 bucks or so including shipping... and that’s if i buy exactly one unit, not a thousand, i gottavisit china more often i guess... just don’t get it.
CS 8416 is a receiver, if we are still talking about the adc and not the dac, it doesn't belong there.
Last edited:
Curiously, here in Oz, Jaycar are selling what appears to be the same device for 55 AUD (~40 USD). Which would be more like what one would expect the retail price for a device like this to be.
Nobody is possibly making any money selling these for a couple of dollars, not unless they got hold of them for essentially free.
Nobody is possibly making any money selling these for a couple of dollars, not unless they got hold of them for essentially free.
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
The D/A (same as @amirm reviewed) has been sold for at least 5 years on eBay in vast quantities at the same general price. I think I paid AU$5 for the one I bought with free postage from China, a coaxial 2.1mm power lead and an optical cable, probably 4+ years ago. They're identical to the Jaycar one.
The A/D I pictured above was AU$7 IIRC with cables and free postage about 3 years ago. Prices really haven't changed much, maybe a little more on the A/Ds than the D/As.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Analog-...m33e7c196b3:g:i5YAAOSwAnJfRhbe&frcectupt=true
Don't take any notice of the rubbish in the specs. It's fixed 24 bit 48KHz sampling for the A/D.
Indeed. And the mystery remains. Even mostly full of jelly bean parts, there is an intrinsic floor these things can be made for that makes the prices difficult to understand.
Even mass production arguments reach a floor. Moreover I can’t imagine that these things would sell any less at a higher price. The time and trouble taken to order one is worth more.
My only explanation would be understood by fans of Dr Who, who remember the Patrick Throughton era, and a story by the name of The Invasion.
I think I have one of those older FIIO D3 Taishan DACs/converters laying around. I believe some of the versions were built around the Wolfson DAC chipset. I'll have to check which version I have.
Edit: I found my old FIIO D3. It was the version that they released before the "Taishan" version. It does have the Wolfson DAC chip in it. The D3 "Taishan" version was a revised version where FIIO changed over to a Cirrus Logic chipset. It's been about 7 years since I've used this lil' beast. I need to connect it and see how it sounds.
Edit: I found my old FIIO D3. It was the version that they released before the "Taishan" version. It does have the Wolfson DAC chip in it. The D3 "Taishan" version was a revised version where FIIO changed over to a Cirrus Logic chipset. It's been about 7 years since I've used this lil' beast. I need to connect it and see how it sounds.
Last edited:
infinitesymphony
Major Contributor
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2018
- Messages
- 1,072
- Likes
- 1,809
This guy uses PCM1802 which is not as good, but it was used in the first E-MU 0404 PCI back in the mid-2000s. PCM1804 was reserved for their best devices at the time like 1820M and 1616M.
The "m" suffixed ones use AK5394 ADC. @AnalogSteph , it has 0.001dB ripple!
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/creative-emu-1820/index.html
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/emu-1616m
Last edited:
Very true, but there’s no where that needs periodic oiling either, which is more fun than these gen z fellows will ever know
Thanks for the pics, would like to see it measured.
fieldcar
Addicted to Fun and Learning
The septic issue sounds identical to mine. The connection from the septic tank to the leach field is most likely iron, and has corroded from ~3in to 1/4" inside diameter, so we get a nice river of septic flow going toward the neighbors house. I'm at the point now where I disassembled half of my deck for the contractor to excavate and replace the pipe. Fortunately-ish, the previous owners didn't care whatsoever about sealing and maintaining the deck, so it's getting a face-lift anyway.
Here is a pic of the excrement... I mean, excitement, in action.
Here is a pic of the excrement... I mean, excitement, in action.
fieldcar
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Similar threads
- Poll
