Affordable balanced DAC?

[sburrell]

Hi,

So, my hifi is currently in bits :stalks: and scattered round the house as I refurbish the front room :eek:, and the Beresford has ended up between my gaming PC and a pair of M-Audio AV40 active monitors. The monitors come with (quote): "balanced 1/4'' TRS inputs." :scratch: So, for the time when my hifi is reconstructed and the Beresford is back in its rightful place :dance:, I'm looking for a DAC to fill the hole 'twixt PC and AV40s, and I've decided to try to go the balanced route :mental:. Can anyone suggest a suitable device for no more than £100? Second-hand is obviously more than acceptable :)

Many thanks!

[Puffin]

Check out the "Cheap Chinese Dac" threads on here and on RockGrotto. These are ready built boards and power supply that were about £25 from ebay. All you need to do is a few tweaks and add a case. They can be configured for balanced operation.

[sburrell]

Hi,

You couldn't be a dear and be more specific could you? A search for "Cheap Chinese DAC" revealed very little here, and absolutely nada on RockGrotto. What I did find here was this (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7404) thread, which argues a great deal of caution buying anything of direct Chinese origin.

I'd also like to add that the DAC must accept a TOSlink input, and at least a 48kHz signal. It only needs to have one output, and a headphone section is not necessary.

Cheers :)

EDIT: oops, I should add that I am NOT au fait with the use of a soldering iron or related implements, so if your suggestion involves modding, please offer a link to good instructions to applying the mod. Hopefully then I can find someone to apply the mod for me.

[DSJR]

I've got a rather nice QED Digit with Positron you could have at a good price :ner:

[Puffin]

Hi,

You couldn't be a dear and be more specific could you? A search for "Cheap Chinese DAC" revealed very little here, and absolutely nada on RockGrotto.

http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=m&action=display&thread=1672

http://www.theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=315

Here they are my sweet.

Here is the ebay link. The dac may be different given the passage of time.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCM-1798-24bit-192KHz-DAC-DIY-KIT-ASSEMBLED-Lampucera-/120638715868?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c16a0b7dc

[Tripmaster]

http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=m&action=display&thread=1672

http://www.theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=315

Here they are my sweet.

Here is the ebay link. The dac may be different given the passage of time.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCM-1798-24bit-192KHz-DAC-DIY-KIT-ASSEMBLED-Lampucera-/120638715868?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c16a0b7dc

Puffin

If I squint you actually look like your avatar picture! :stalks:

[Puffin]

Life immitating Art?

[sburrell]

Hi puffin,

Well I appreciate the links but it's a bunch of goobledygook to me :s
Is all there is in my price range? :(

[The Vinyl Adventure]

If you have a budget of £100 then i would have thought specifying balanced outputs it's just going to limit your options for little real advantage ?

[jonners]

Simon -

There aren't many balanced DACs around, so finding a non-diy one at £100 used or new is unlikely.
If you can stretch the budget, I can recommend one of these, which my son is now using: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LITE-Hi-End-Mini-CD-DAC-RCA-XLR-phone-output-DAC-AM-/230535363741?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35acfa7c9d

You will need XLR to TRS cables to connect the DAC to your monitors.
The AV40s also have phono inputs, so why not forget the balanced thing altogether and use those?

[Puffin]

Hi puffin,

Well I appreciate the links but it's a bunch of goobledygook to me :s
Is all there is in my price range? :(

Yes. put on your plastic pants, hone your soldering skills and shout out "Right....I am going in....!!!!"

Alternatively, if you can wait a couple of weeks you could try my modded and all singing version! I need to re-configure it to Balanced operation (having used it like that and then taken it back to single ended) I could then send it to you to see if you like it. No obligation as long as you refund the postage.

Rob.

[sburrell]

lol. OK, I'm willing to bite the bullet on this one and accept I've made an unreasonable request. Thanks for the advice, and the offer. I guess I'll just look for ordinary "single-ended" (?) DAC.

Thanks to all who replied. :)