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adc into an mdac

B

brab

pfm Member
Anyone using an adc into their mdac, or I guess other dac? I use the mdac as the hub of my system thereby requiring digitizing vinyl input, so I'm looking for recommendations for a high quality analogue digital converter with optical or coax output. Thanks in advance.
 
Build one of these.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/grou...tzeys-balanced-preamp-group-buy-part-3-a.html

Pre-amp, costs around £ 100 in parts/pcb, designed by Bruno Putzeys (N-Core)

Fully balanced with a distortion level of nought.

Feed MDac into one input and turntable into other, that is what several of us are doing.

Has the advantage that you can use the Mdac at 0db.

If you are not happy with a soldering iron I know someone who may build it for you.
 
I run my Fruit Box into a MiniDSP 4x10HD. The signal is low passed to Subs and High passed digitally to a Chord 2Qute into my main speakers.

My phono stage has balanced and single ended output so for a while I ran the mains full range in the analogue domain and subs through the DSP. But after getting more comfortable with the DSP I started to run the mains digitally and continue to do so because I can't really tell the difference and the benefits of digitising the signal are exponential in my particular system.

I do notice degradation using the DSP's dac to drive the main speakers, but its a multichannel DSP/ADC/DAC with 10 channels so its possibly due to a degree of economising on the op-amps. In any event, the MiniDSP's ADC measures 114SNR and works great for me with digital output. Others I've considered are the Benchmark ADC1, Mytec seem to have a decent range and Behringer. At the end of the day, contemporary ADC's measure way better than record players so as long as you avoid clipping the ADC, you should be fine.

And defo look into Misterdogs suggestion.
 
Depends on how DIY you want to get.:)

Another option is the Texas Instruments PCM4222evm evaluation board. Its their top ADC and it sounds superb. Has dual SPDIF and AES outputs and balanced inputs. You would still require a turntable RIAA pre-amp of course. Only other thing is a simple 5v/+-12v power supply.

It can directly feed into an MDAC (I have done this) or can be used with a usb to spdif converter to record to a PC with any audio recording software.

Best thing, its pretty much a state of the art ADC and cost $150 US!

http://www.ti.com/tool/pcm4222evm

http://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/sbau124

http://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/cheap-high-quality-adc.101/
 
brab said:
Anyone using an adc into their mdac, or I guess other dac? I use the mdac as the hub of my system thereby requiring digitizing vinyl input, so I'm looking for recommendations for a high quality analogue digital converter with optical or coax output. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I'm using a Konnekt Live from TC Electronic. It isn't the cheapest solution around but it gives me the additional advantage to be able to record my vinyl. The TC unit came with an copy of Ableton Live lite. I use a seperate phono preamp to feed the Konnekt. The SPDIF output is fed into my dac.

The Konnekt has been discontinued for several years now but is replaced with the Impact Twin. It is cheaper than the Konnekt Live and is also bundled with a copy of Ableton Live lite.
 
I have a spare ADC I can sell - it works quite well, sampling audio at 24/48KHz, to probably about 20 bit resolution (using the extra as headroom I think). I used it with a phono stage into my MDAC before the MDAC bit the dust. Thirty quid posted if you're interested? It's almost transparent in the signal chain - or close enough that it makes no difference. Certainly good enough IMHO.
 
I use a Meridian 221 ADC. It sits between my Naim phono stage, and my MDAC, it works at 24/96 and sounds "perfect". It doesn't have any form of level control, so is about 10dB quieter than my digital source, but the advantage of this is it's never overloaded, which is a pretty horrid experience on a ADC. I did use a "pro" model previously (can't recall the name at the moment - its an age thing) which was prone to overload, but did have a gain control, but ultimately didn't sound right. The Meridian went out of production some years ago, and I got mine from NZ via eBay.
 
Thanks, all. I will follow up the ADC leads. I have an EAR 834P phono preamp and tried it with one of the $20 24/48 little ADC boxes available on Amazon. Sounds amazingly good for the price but not good enough as a permanent solution, hence my search for a high quality/resolution version.
 
Werner, how does the beis fare against the tascam in terms of accuracy? I'm looking for a small form factor ADC with balanced in and preferably AES or optical out and don't need the features of something like a Tascam. I'm wondering if a simple DIY solution could be the way to go.

BE718, another great looking solution. Can feel a project coming on!
 
DNM said:
Werner, how does the beis fare against the tascam in terms of accuracy? I'm looking for a small form factor ADC with balanced in and preferably AES or optical out and don't need the features of something like a Tascam. I'm wondering if a simple DIY solution could be the way to go.

BE718, another great looking solution. Can feel a project coming on!
Click to expand...

If you dont mind a bit of simple electronics work, and it is just connecting up power supplies and putting it in a box, then its a no brainer especially for the price.

I can pm you a link to a recording if you are interested. You can compare the original file to one played back and re recorded through the ADC.

BTW the best price is direct from TI, $149 US and they didn't charge for shipping !
 
DNM said:
Werner, how does the beis fare against the tascam in terms of accuracy?
Click to expand...

I did this years ago ...

The Beis has 1 or 2 dB better SNR all over the band, but compared to the Tascam (which has a PCM1804 ADC) it showed a few very low level discrete spuriae.

The Beis kit is fed from a unipolar 12V wall wart, and used an on-board DC/DC convertor to generate +/-12V for the opamp input stage. I think the spuriae can be eliminated by removing the DC/DC and injecting a pre-regulated +/-12V into the board. I set out to do that (and some other heavier DIY work), but ultimately stopped the work because I dislike extra boxes in the system and the Tascam was perfectly fine anyway.
 
JemHayward said:
I'm reasonably ok with some soldering, but really wouldn't want to build a complete circuit like this, so I would be quite interested in the "someone builds it for me" idea. What sort of cost would a fully built PCB be? I could connect stuff to it and put it in a box.
Click to expand...
See the topic link you replied to. :) There's pricing, etc.
 
JemHayward said:
I'm reasonably ok with some soldering, but really wouldn't want to build a complete circuit like this, so I would be quite interested in the "someone builds it for me" idea. What sort of cost would a fully built PCB be? I could connect stuff to it and put it in a box.
Click to expand...

The group buy is supplying PCB's with all the SMD's mounted.
Fitting into a case is the tricky part..

If you wish for a fully built price PM me.

Paul
 
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