Ciúnas Audio ISO DAC Teardown and Failed Review

[Julf]

Was it supposed to be a joke?

No, genuinely wondering how they get around the EU Low Voltage Directive.

 

[zermak]

I can't help with that but probably he ships them and as long as no one checks what's in the package he is good.

 

[Julf]

Is the thing mains powered, USB powered or using a wall wart? In the latter cases it probably doesn't need to be CE marked.

 

[amirm]

Is the thing mains powered, USB powered or using a wall wart? In the latter cases it probably doesn't need to be CE marked.

External switching adapter.

It would need CE though for emissions still. And any safety standards regarding equipment with lithium batteries.

 

[zermak]

It is battery powered and you have to recharge them with the non provided charging power supply or through PC using the USB cable.

 

[Xulonn]

Is the Ciunas thing CE certified/marked?

 

[Labjr]

Is the Ciunas thing CE certified/marked?

Yeah, It's a certified POS.

 

[WRWSTD]

Go to homepage of these products , what I read was interesting or frightening , depending ?

The underlying design philosophy ( delusion) is the one that each chip should be powered by battery or super cap, without any regulator in between, presumably also without any fuses or any kind of current limitations .
So the jumble of wires soldered here and there is probably that, some homemade powerbus straigth from battery to ic.

Obviously no thought on what happens if a component fails ?

One other thing comes to mind as I read this thread. If the battery is connected directly to the components without a regulator or at least a decoupling capacitor, has any thought been given to the AC characteristics of the battery? It is very dynamic with regard to the operating frequency and duty cycle of the load and state of battery charge.

 

[Labjr]

In USA, devices with batteries have shipping restrictions. I would think that DAC would be classified as an incendiary device. I know I wouldn't want to be on a flight with that thing in the cargo hold.

 

[mansr]

has any thought been given

You can stop there. The answer is obviously no.

 

[mkawa]

...and i think this thread is over.

 

[solderdude]

 

[NielsMayer]

That board is the AMANERO Combo 384 USB interface:

The one in there is black so maybe a different revision. Either way, these are off-the-shelf boards you can buy.

@amirm
Would it be possible to measure the performance of these kinds of boards, as they might be a good way to add an extra USB input to one of the new DACs now available with an IIS input. The advantage being the ability to use the DAC remote to switch inputs, while not having the USB connection die after switching away from a given input. External USB switching, either manually or with a switcher, often requires an application restart when switching away from an active USB input. Most importantly, from a sound perspective, IIS has potential of offering lower jitter.

However, such a setup would only be sonically useful if these boards offer lower jitter of IIS than a Topping D10 over SPDIF (which I currently use for this purpose -- as i have computer(s) and an NVIDIA shield that need USB audio.)

Examples of such boards:
https://www.amazon.com/FidgetKute-Amanero-Digital-Interface-Coaxial/dp/B07Z99QVNQ/
https://www.amazon.com/ATSAM3U1C-XC2C64A-Digital-Interface-Decoder/dp/B07L6N29KK/ (same board as used in the topic's DAC).

 

[amirm]

Post deleted. Please stay professional.

FYI, the review of the other unit will be out today.

 

[Reamonnt]

Can post 246 also be deleted as its incorrect and not related to audio?.

 

[amirm]

There was some relevant info in that post but I deleted it anyway. Let's stay from politics, nationalities, etc. folks.

 

[amirm]

Review of a working version here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/ciúnas-iso-dac-usb-dac-review.9788/

It is the version without USB hub in there.