* The DIY Audio Thread *

ChrissyT88 · 20 Jan 2009 at 17:29

Mr Brightside + Adam:

I would be happy to arrange some sort of group/joint buy of boards for the Bantam and the y1. I have no idea how group buys usually work on DIY audio forums, but i presume that it would just involve using paypal to transfer a bit of cash to one another and me/someone else placing an order + redistributing the bits when they arrive. I would rather wait until this weekend or later to sort everything out, bit as i say, im happy to do it. If we want to go ahead, i guess its just a case of numbers really.

So far:

Bantams: ChrissyT88, Mr Brightside
y1s: ChrissyT88, Adam W

Anyone else who is interested, feel free to chime in.

Im not sure if it is against forum rules to arrange this sort of thing? I will whip off an email to one of the dons later this evening to check, but i imagine they will be fine with it.

MikeHunt79 · 21 Jan 2009 at 23:59

Adam W said:
by the way, thereis a group buy on some very ncie shunt regs (adj voltage) on diyforums.

I am ordering a fair few, they will be very handy for preamps and dacs.

Are these the ones with the "Toole Regulator PCB GB" wiki page? Do you know when the cutoff date is? I think I may pick up a few for some pre-amp op-amp power supplies....

Yaka · 22 Jan 2009 at 00:06

its not against rules, i remeber a few years back gurdas organised a group buy for some custom made water cooling blocks for p4s/atholons

adamau5 · 22 Jan 2009 at 07:04

mike hunt - cuttoff date is near i think. was meant to be just after christmas but it was extended.

Yaka · 28 Jan 2009 at 19:45

right think after a break its time to have another go at building the SS amp.

i got this jack but am confused about which pin is left/right/earth

also adam could you take a lot at the pic of previous attempt please. did i wire the switch wrong? with the dc wire to the left and the wires to the mosfets, resistor and cap in the middle?

adamau5 · 28 Jan 2009 at 20:48

depends on your transformer, if i remeber rightly, mine was centre pin positive. Will say on it in the form of a diagram.

go steady, and check each and every connection against the circuit diagram. Make sure the mosfet is completely isolated from the heatsink.

Do a final check, measure the +ve DC jack to ground, there should not be continuity. Check the 19v (the heaters) for continuity to ground - again there should not be continuity.

copy the layouts shown here, will make the wiring neater

http://www.pmillett.com/starving.htm

Mr. Brightside · 29 Jan 2009 at 12:33

ChrissyT88 said:
I would be more than happy to give you the part numbers/email you the BOM if you would rather get it ordered quickly.

I 'accidentally' ended up buying a second soldering iron the other day (didn't bring one to uni with me) so I could solder up the a DC jack to a new psu I bought for my amp. As such I'm back in DIY mode and am keen to build a Bantam DAC - would you mind giving me the parts numbers & BOM ( email d a v i d [ a t ] p i g g o t t [ d o t ] m e [ d o t ] u k )?

Thanks.

ChrissyT88 · 29 Jan 2009 at 17:26

Its actually on their web page -here you go mate: http://www.diyforums.org/BantamDAC/BantamDACbom.php

I have finally finished all exams/presentations/interviews (for a while at least), so i've got a bit more time to relax a bit. I would still be up for some sort of group buy now that i have the time to actually sort it out! Not too many people were interested when i suggested it, but still, evern between 2/3 it halves postage from the US. If people are interested, i will sort it out this weekend, if not, no worries.

adamau5 · 29 Jan 2009 at 17:39

try farnell first, the exchange rate mates it may be cheaper from the uk shock horror.

Mr. Brightside · 29 Jan 2009 at 19:36

ChrissyT88 said:
Its actually on their web page -here you go mate: http://www.diyforums.org/BantamDAC/BantamDACbom.php

I have finally finished all exams/presentations/interviews (for a while at least), so i've got a bit more time to relax a bit. I would still be up for some sort of group buy now that i have the time to actually sort it out! Not too many people were interested when i suggested it, but still, evern between 2/3 it halves postage from the US. If people are interested, i will sort it out this weekend, if not, no worries.

I knew there's a BOM on the website, I was just being lazy because you had said you had all the parts in your basket (and thus I would have avoided the life changing decision between the various alternative parts suggested

). Thanks anyway

About the group buy, I'm not in any rush so if you're still happy to arrange one, count me in.

ChrissyT88 · 30 Jan 2009 at 17:52

*** OFFICIAL BANTAM DAC GROUP BUY ***

I would still be happy to arrange one. Have just spent a little while trying to find the parts on RS/Farnell with out much luck (half of the stuff seems to be American stock only, which brings in a ridiculous £16 postage). I will give Rapid a look, but if not it looks like digikey/Mouser will be the places to go.

Not really sure how these work normally, but i would be happy to pay for the parts/boards if there are not too many people interested (say two or three) and for people to send me the money via BT/cheque etc. I would prefer payment up front tbh, but if people have good trust then im fine with ordering the parts. worst comes to the worst i will have to build a few! If there is a lot of interest, i think payment would have to be up front!

Not sure if this warrants its own thread since in reality i think its only going to be people in here who would be interested. I will aim to get the price sorted out this evening (inc postage, boards, all parts etc). People would also need to say what other parts they would want eg the case, USB cable etc, all of which will bump up the price a little (and some of which may be available in the UK anyway). Full details are here:

http://beezar.com/oscommerce2/catalog/index.php?cPath=36&osCsid=e3991f097dd93ddb314a6bf6176d473b

Anyway, check back here for the full details, price etc. I'll edit this post later. If people are interested, reply/send me an email and we can take it from there. I'll send an email to the dons to be on the safe side, but hopefully it wont be a problem.

EDIT

Right, i have had a look at prices etc. Mouser does seem to be the best place to get all the bits from (most UK suppliers will charge for delivery from America anyway...), and Digi-Key is made pricier due to minimum order quantities. The cost of all the parts from Mouser is £18.346, with a £12 postage fee. Unfortunately, this is the lowest postage fee available, but is international 1-3 day. The cost of the boards is $2 each (so approx £1.40 at current rates), but postage is a little more complicated. The boards are very light, so postage on just a few boards is $4.55. This could take some time to arrive (maybe a few weeks...), but the next option up is nearer $30. If people want cases/cables etc, the weight is higher so the cheaper postage costs more, but faster postage still costs about the same (if that makes sense..).

So initial amounts for the boards + parts are:

Each:
Boards: $2 (£1.40)
Parts: £18.36

Shared:
Postage: £12 + $4.55 = £15.10

By my reckoning, this brings the cost to less than £30 (£27.31 if split between two people), which is not so bad! Obviously the more ways we split shipping, the cheaper the whole thing becomes. I'll leave the rough costs with you all (prepare to add in more for the cases etc, although there should be very similar products in the UK anyway). Any passing dons, i sent en email to werewolf, so hopefully everything will be fine on that front. Have a ponder guys and let me know what you think.

Deadline for Numbers Monday 02/02/09

More info in: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13402739&postcount=925

adamau5 · 31 Jan 2009 at 07:57

sounds good to me.

if you spend over £50 at mouser then postage to britain is free.

now before you start this..... my prediction is you will then want to build the Y1 dac, which actually looks an easier build (the lead spacing on the bantam chip is teeeeeny).

sure you dont want to go for the Y1 straight off the bat?

Mundu · 31 Jan 2009 at 10:27

Count me in for a BANTAM or a Y1 group buy.

p4radox · 31 Jan 2009 at 10:37

I'm massively tempted by the Bantam, but I've promised myself no more projects for the time being. I could do with the spare cash...

ChrissyT88 · 31 Jan 2009 at 10:41

Adam W said:
now before you start this..... my prediction is you will then want to build the Y1 dac, which actually looks an easier build (the lead spacing on the bantam chip is teeeeeny).

sure you dont want to go for the Y1 straight off the bat?

I agree the SMD work looks easier, and its something i do not have a lot of experience in (well, apart from soldering the resistors). However, the parts seem to be around $100 as opposed to $25, and if im honest, i dont really mind messing up £25 worth of kit as much as i would closer to £100! Dont get me wrong, i would like to build the y1, particularly for the optical input, but i also think it would be interesting to see if its possible to notice much of a difference between a relatively cheap DIY DAC and an expensive sound card before splashing out a little more on the y1. I hope this makes sense.

Interest seems quite good. Can i assume for now that the people interested are Adam W, Mundu, Mr Brightside and myself? Thats quite a good number to begin with, and as you say adam, should bring shipping down. Anyone interested in buying the cases/USB cables from Beezar.com, or are people happy to source them in the UK?

EDIT: Go on p4radox - its only £25!

adamau5 · 31 Jan 2009 at 10:49

I'll source mine in the uk - I think i may build this into a cable dav with a tiny box.

have you been following the headfi thread, people have had a lot of success with vishay roederstien (poor spelling) output caps.

http://gb.mouser.com/Search/Product...4virtualkey61310000virtualkey75-MKT1817510064

ChrissyT88 · 31 Jan 2009 at 11:02

Yes Adam, i have been giving it a read over. TomB (really helpful guy!) has added them to the BOM in place of the black gates/wima film caps, and im pretty sure they are on the BOM. If you have a Mouser account, do you think i could mail you the list for you to check against the BOM? I dont really want to mess that part of it up!

Mr. Brightside · 31 Jan 2009 at 11:05

p4radox said:
I'm massively tempted by the Bantam, but I've promised myself no more projects for the time being. I could do with the spare cash...

Go on, you know you want to!

ChrissyT88 said:
Anyone interested in buying the cases/USB cables from Beezar.com, or are people happy to source them in the UK?

I would be interested in buying two cases from Beezar (one spare in case I make a mess of the first).

adamau5 · 31 Jan 2009 at 13:07

chrissyt88. email me the mouser list and i will check it over. email is in my trust

ChrissyT88 · 31 Jan 2009 at 18:10

Thanks for checking Adam - did not want to get that wrong!

Ok everyone, i think we all just need to post exactly what we are all after, the number of boards/number of enclosures etc. I think if one person wants the enclosures, we may as well all order from Beezar. I had a quick look, and the high street store does not stock enclures of exactly the same size, so if people are interested in building the cable DAC in a tiny enclosure, perhaps its best to buy from Beezar?

If everyone posts exactly what they want, i'll make a list etc and we can sort everything out from there. There does seem to be quite a bit of interest, so i would prefer if people would make the payment up front. Obviously if people have issues with this, please say and we may be able to come to some sort of agreement. I guess we also need some sort of deadline? Does 48 hrs to decide, then maybe a day or two to sort out payments seem fair? (at any rate, should give p4radox time to decide he really does want one!)

*** The DIY Audio Thread ***

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