DAC discussions

[FairPlayMotty]

Within Snakeoil OS on the Music Player tab Alsa Output Devices is "SET VOLUME TO 100%" by default.

[OscarH]

I’ve just finished another build, using an intel DN2800MT motherboard to use as a dedicated Spotify Connect player. This unit also plays “not loud” through the Gigaport. Tinkering will continue...

That aside, I found the positive response to the Hakai + Hegel DAC in the playground very interesting.

I know in the “analog analogy” the DAC has been compared with the cartridge... which part is the phono stage?

[ThomasOK]

Why, a pair of SINGularity of course! It will sound really amazing with the DAC output plugged into it. Not very good, but amazing!

[OscarH]

Haha, off course!

I’ll have to settle for copper spray paint for the Hakai and NAS ;)

I suppose what I’m getting at is that besides the DAC chip there’s an analog output stage to consider which surely can’t be neglected?

[FairPlayMotty]

I’ve just finished another build, using an intel DN2800MT motherboard to use as a dedicated Spotify Connect player. This unit also plays “not loud” through the Gigaport. Tinkering will continue...

That aside, I found the positive response to the Hakai + Hegel DAC in the playground very interesting.

I know in the “analog analogy” the DAC has been compared with the cartridge... which part is the phono stage?

I think you either have a faulty Gigaport or amplifier issues. I have no low output from the Gigaport unless it's with the Tinker Board S.

[OscarH]

I’ve just finished another build, using an intel DN2800MT motherboard to use as a dedicated Spotify Connect player. This unit also plays “not loud” through the Gigaport. Tinkering will continue...

That aside, I found the positive response to the Hakai + Hegel DAC in the playground very interesting.

I know in the “analog analogy” the DAC has been compared with the cartridge... which part is the phono stage?

I think you either have a faulty Gigaport or amplifier issues. I have no low output from the Gigaport unless it's with the Tinker Board S.

I get high output as soon as I plug in a windows PC, so there’s nothing wrong with the amplifier.

It can indeed be the gigaport somehow misinterpreting what it gets from the snakeoil machines... which would then mean it’s faulty as I appear to be the only one experiencing this.

[ThomasOK]

Haha, off course!

I’ll have to settle for copper spray paint for the Hakai and NAS ;)

I suppose what I’m getting at is that besides the DAC chip there’s an analog output stage to consider which surely can’t be neglected?

True, but the analog output stage is normally (always?) part of the DAC system so I don't know if you can actually separate them.

[lejonklou]

I would say that the analog output stage is the digital equivalent of the phono stage in a vinyl system.

[matthias]

I would say that the analog output stage is the digital equivalent of the phono stage in a vinyl system.

This is a dead-on analogy!
The pure DAC is like the cartridge and after the analog output/phono stage both the DAC/vinyl signals have about the same volume level.

Matt

[OscarH]

I’ve just finished another build, using an intel DN2800MT motherboard to use as a dedicated Spotify Connect player. This unit also plays “not loud” through the Gigaport. Tinkering will continue...

That aside, I found the positive response to the Hakai + Hegel DAC in the playground very interesting.

I know in the “analog analogy” the DAC has been compared with the cartridge... which part is the phono stage?

I think you either have a faulty Gigaport or amplifier issues. I have no low output from the Gigaport unless it's with the Tinker Board S.

I get high output as soon as I plug in a windows PC, so there’s nothing wrong with the amplifier.

It can indeed be the gigaport somehow misinterpreting what it gets from the snakeoil machines... which would then mean it’s faulty as I appear to be the only one experiencing this.

The above issue has now been fixed.

Fredrik was right - something was wrong with the settings, though in fairness the exact problem wasn’t too easy to guess.

The always helpful Agent_kith suggested that the alsamixer CAN default to different values for different sound cards, despite appearing to be at 100% on the snakeoil dashboard.

A tiny bit of SSH commands later and it’s now at 100 for the gigaport too. Turned out it was only at 41 before.

[FairPlayMotty]

I think you either have a faulty Gigaport or amplifier issues. I have no low output from the Gigaport unless it's with the Tinker Board S.

I get high output as soon as I plug in a windows PC, so there’s nothing wrong with the amplifier.

It can indeed be the gigaport somehow misinterpreting what it gets from the snakeoil machines... which would then mean it’s faulty as I appear to be the only one experiencing this.

The above issue has now been fixed.

Fredrik was right - something was wrong with the settings, though in fairness the exact problem wasn’t too easy to guess.

The always helpful Agent_kith suggested that the alsamixer CAN default to different values for different sound cards, despite appearing to be at 100% on the snakeoil dashboard.

A tiny bit of SSH commands later and it’s now at 100 for the gigaport too. Turned out it was only at 41 before.

That's very odd. I've built seven players using Snakeoil and never had it with three Gigaport Docs. Agent_Kith is very good and very talented.
I'm glad it got sorted out Oscar!

[OscarH]

Odd indeed that two separate builds using different motherboards run into the same, unusual issue. Glad it’s solved!

Checked the Hegel DAC interface for sake of good order and that’s at 100%.

This warrants new DAC comparisons - being digitally reduced to 41% is unlikely to have worked in the Gigaport’s favour in a head-to-head.

[FairPlayMotty]

Odd indeed that two separate builds using different motherboards run into the same, unusual issue. Glad it’s solved!

Checked the Hegel DAC interface for sake of good order and that’s at 100%.

This warrants new DAC comparisons - being digitally reduced to 41% is unlikely to have worked in the Gigaport’s favour in a head-to-head.

All my Snakeoil OS installs were 64 bit so we weren't like for like which hindered problem solving.

[OscarH]

Odd indeed that two separate builds using different motherboards run into the same, unusual issue. Glad it’s solved!

Checked the Hegel DAC interface for sake of good order and that’s at 100%.

This warrants new DAC comparisons - being digitally reduced to 41% is unlikely to have worked in the Gigaport’s favour in a head-to-head.

All my Snakeoil OS installs were 64 bit so we weren't like for like which hindered problem solving.

True. The common denominator is the 32 bit Snakeoil+Gigaport; I may very well be the only person in the world running that exact combination.

[FairPlayMotty]

Odd indeed that two separate builds using different motherboards run into the same, unusual issue. Glad it’s solved!

Checked the Hegel DAC interface for sake of good order and that’s at 100%.

This warrants new DAC comparisons - being digitally reduced to 41% is unlikely to have worked in the Gigaport’s favour in a head-to-head.

All my Snakeoil OS installs were 64 bit so we weren't like for like which hindered problem solving.

True. The common denominator is the 32 bit Snakeoil+Gigaport; I may very well be the only person in the world running that exact combination.

You're a unique cinnamon bun Oscar :)

[OscarH]

You're a unique cinnamon bun Oscar :)

Haha! I do appear to have a knack for encountering challenges that everybody else have managed to avoid.

But, as my wife has wisely pointed out, I wouldn’t have learned much from the process if everything had “just worked”.

There’s an ever increasing body of knowledge on these digital players on here and I hope it might encourage a few more to take the plunge.

[FairPlayMotty]

rps20200807_230053.jpg

Loving the sound of this DAC. The NOS vs Sigma Delta DAC debates rage. So far I'm in the NOS camp. In theory this DAC should sound bad. New theories required....

[Kalle05]

rps20200807_230053.jpg

Loving the sound of this DAC. The NOS vs Sigma Delta DAC debates rage. So far I'm in the NOS camp. In theory this DAC should sound bad. New theories required....

What dac is that ?