cheep Aliexpess R2-r dac board

[Fridjon]

Hello
I am eying this R2-r dac board.
They’re called

“XY-R2R-XLR-V2 Network Decoder Board DAC Board 24Bit 384Khz PCM NOS R2R High-Precision Resistance”

You can find this board on all the usual Chinese sites.
Link to the board on Aliexpress

I find this board on the paper really tempting. Just add digital interface and power and you are good to go.
It’s cheap- around 140us$ and has upgradable opams.

There are a lot of boards available but this looks so easy to implement that even I cold do it… what’s the catch?
Am I missing something.

I can’t find any serious reviews on this board…. It’s like soekrist is the only board for diy. But the cost is much more and the implementation more complex with filters and bios upgrades.

Has anyone tried this board…
… how does it sound.
Is it worth the time and cost?
After "excessive" searches on da net I can’t find any serious info on the sound or specks.

Is there anyone with more electronic knowledge that can look at the board and components and give some thoughts?

I wold like to get in the ballpark of Denafrips airis or better….
But cheaper.
Or is it crap?

Anyone?

Best regards
Fridjon

PS.
The is also a version with digital interface -toslink and possibility to upgrade clocks... any thoughts?
Link: Aliexpress - with interface
Just ad power and box... and start upgrading?

 

[JayGilb]

If you end up purchasing it, then power it up and let us know what you think.
Feel free to put it in a chassis with a power supply and send it to Amir for testing.

 

[solderdude]

There are a lot of boards available but this looks so easy to implement that even I cold do it… what’s the catch?
Am I missing something.

It is not easy to implement.
It is lacking controls, digital parts, display, power supply, enclosure.

… how does it sound.

When it is properly designed just as good as your average $ 150 DS DAC.

Is it worth the time and cost?

It would not be for me but have no idea how you stand in all of this. I see no cost saving when the goal is to buy a good DAC.

Is there anyone with more electronic knowledge that can look at the board and components and give some thoughts?

We cannot look in the firmware/software on the FPGA's that are used so it can go in all directions.

Or is it crap?

You would have to take the plunge to find out.
There is not one hair on my head that would buy something like this. Granted not much hair left and what is there is short.
When you are into tinkering with this stuff and like to program some display board and build it into a nice enclosure (also not cheap) you may well have fun with it and end up in the same price range as every other expensive DAC.

What's the fascination with R2R DAC ?
What do you expect to be different from any other DAC ?

 

[Sokel]

I suppose we could ask @Audiophonics to send a finished one to Amir,it seems they sell a similar or identical one:

Ladder DAC Board R2R NOS Balanced 24bit 384kHz - Audiophonics

This Ladder DAC module offers a very high quality design, with an R2R conversion stage, using one Altera MAX II CPLD per channel, associated with a long series of resistors. This parallel architecture allows an excellent channels separation.

www.audiophonics.fr

 

[Fridjon]

It is not easy to implement.
It is lacking controls, digital parts, display, power supply, enclosure.

Does it need controls? For what. Display?
What digital parts except interface?
and power of corse...
Yess enclosure... it gets wet it deserves.

When it is properly designed just as good as your average $ 150 DS DAC.

How do you know...

It would not be for me but have no idea how you stand in all of this. I see no cost saving when the goal is to buy a good DAC.

Having fun is my goal...

We cannot look in the firmware/software on the FPGA's that are used so it can go in all directions.

That's true... but som people can tell if the product looks solid. They recognize parts and and layout and can tell if it looks like quality or crap. Or they can make a guess.

You would have to take the plunge to find out.
There is not one hair on my head that would buy something like this. Granted not much hair left and what is there is short.
When you are into tinkering with this stuff and like to program some display board and build it into a nice enclosure (also not cheap) you may well have fun with it and end up in the same price range as every other expensive DAC.

What's the fascination with R2R DAC ?
What do you expect to be different from any other DAC ?

I was hoping that somebody had tried the board could share there thoughts.
My fascination with R2-r is primary curiosity...

But thanx for the warning.....

 

[Fridjon]

I suppose we could ask @Audiophonics to send a finished one to Amir,it seems they sell a similar or identical one:

Ladder DAC Board R2R NOS Balanced 24bit 384kHz - Audiophonics

This Ladder DAC module offers a very high quality design, with an R2R conversion stage, using one Altera MAX II CPLD per channel, associated with a long series of resistors. This parallel architecture allows an excellent channels separation.

www.audiophonics.fr

Good idea...
Ill write a proposal...

 

[TonyJZX]

i was bored:

Sounds interesting! I recommend it. Providing neutrality, macrodynamics has grown. There is a small nuanced sound increase, midway and high range well-defined relief music emerges. To listen to it, I have something to compare it to. Connected to the optical computer in the future I plan from. For the moment, I listen with Denon 730 TSAP PSM 1796 32-bit DSD, Onkyo Pha 1045 Cap PSM 1795 Acoustic Dali sentor. Buy out for curiosity, experiment. Power supply 5 independent low noise source board connected to the line. Review I added. Packaging is reliable, delivery is a month. 10 Jan 2023 03:13


additional:


1. Onkyo Pha10-45 Burr Brown 192KHz/24 Bit Cup (PCM1796)2. Denon 730 Burr Brown 192 125khz/32-bit zap (PCM1795) 3.2R2 fpga I've been switching ex-trucks to 3 devices at once for several days. Disadvantage 1.2 r2 fpga number low frequency, low case, no low 2 devices)) default 2.volume is much lower output, need to add 10 units my opinion: usually cd cd sound more musical, more nuances, resolution .. Cd did better >>> fpga 2R2 did not happen miracles, but it sounds not. good.all good!!!


200 euro for this so i would probably assume something like $300-350 usd for a finished cased unit w/ psu?

its probably going to measure like shit as per usual with R2R gear

 

[Mulder]

Does it need controls? For what. Display?
What digital parts except interface?
and power of corse...
Yess enclosure... it gets wet it deserves.

How do you know...

Having fun is my goal...
.

If you are new to building electronic devices I would recommend an easier project to start with.
If you have to ask the sort of questions you are asking, I suspect you are not ready for a project like this.
In my opinion you need to have some kind of plan for a project like this, so you have everything you need to know ahead of time.
If your goal is to get an good sounding DAC, don´t bother with this. There are other projects that might be more rewarding.

 

[Fridjon]

If you end up purchasing it, then power it up and let us know what you think.
Feel free to put it in a chassis with a power supply and send it to Amir for testing.

I live in Sweden.... lots of costs and customs.

If you are new to building electronic devices I would recommend an easier project to start with.
If you have to ask the sort of questions you are asking, I suspect you are not ready for a project like this.
In my opinion you need to have some kind of plan for a project like this, so you have everything you need to know ahead of time.
If your goal is to get a good sounding DAC, don´t bother with this. There are other projects that might be more rewarding.

ok thanx
Very helpfull

 

[joenetic]

I tried the cheaper one with single end output only, very smooth sound, but dynamic is not high enough, power is very important, I power it with batteries, (both opamp and r2r circuit), the sound is much clear and layering compare with power supply.

Now I am using Bifrost 2, I like it more than China r2r, Bifrost 2 is more dynamic in sound, but not as smooth as China r2r.

 

[joenetic]

Forgot to say, it is better has a preamp with this r2r dac, because the opamp gain is small, the base is not enough. I modified the r2r dac on board opamp gain and changed the r2r circuit to opamp coupling capacitors to larger value, to improve the gain and base, also improved the sound quality with better coupling capacitors.