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China is for many a complete answer to sourcing cheap consumer electronics. However I find that Chinese manufacturers can indeed produce ultra-high quality electronic products at reasonable prices.
With many top universities in China including Tsinghua or Fudan which are among the best tech universities in Asia, there’s no shortage of brilliant engineers.
Electronic parts are easily obtainable across the country. Almost every major distributor sells parts to individualists or smaller startups. Couple that with low labor cost and you’ve got a winning cost versus performance ratio.
You’ve probably noticed that eBay (advertisement) is flooded with all sorts of “high-end” DIY DAC boards from China and some of those deals sound just too amazingly perfect, almost too good to be true.
Their target audience are DIY audio enthusiasts who no longer find reasonably priced kits in the western world. Many audiophiles would also prefer to customize the sound to their tastes by swapping out electronic parts such as opamps for better performing ones. After all, tweaking has become second nature to audiophiles.
You cannot play that “individuality game” easily with off-the-shelf products from your local hi-fi store.
Want a latest-generation 24bit Wolfson DAC with stellar performance for under $50? I’m not kidding, these boards blow competitors for 10 times the price (or more) out of the water. See my review of this amazing board here.
It’s often not trivial to separate the wheat from the chaff, though.
Some of the boards I’ve tested were populated with reused or counterfeit parts (especially OPAmps and capacitors) and the PCB layout was plain horrible. I also noticed production spread with a couple of boards. But overall my experience has been mostly positive.
Here’s a list of my two favorite Chinese eBay sellers and their best DAC boards:
Update March 09, 2018: Here are two hot DACs that I’ve recently discovered. Both are offered by the Chinese eBay seller Weiliang and are killer value for money just judging by the pics of the board. Please note, that I have no personal experience with either of them but please let me know if you get a chance to try one of these:
Search for “AK4497-Digital-audio-decoder-preamp-DAC-BOARD-supports-DSD” or “ES9028PRO-DAC-DSD-Decoder-board-HIFI-Audio-TCXO” on your local eBay website.
I also have positive experience with the seller “along1986090”.
Check out his “Full Assembled WM8740+DIR9001 DAC Board Decoder Board“
I’ve extensively reviewed and modded this board. SUrprisingly clean PCB layout. If you want to turn this DAC into a world-class performer, add a better OPAMP, disable USB (get USB externally from an XMOS converter) and work on the power supply. I suggest replacing the voltage regulators with ultra-low noise boards from diyinhk.com. For those of you who are not faint-hearted, de-solder the WM8740 chip and drop in the pin-compatible WM8741 as a replacement (can be purchased from Mouser).
Overall “minishow0328” eBay seller is also a really nice and reliable guy. I often purchase stuff from him.
If you are after the best ESS Sabre 9018 DACs, boards with AKM4495 and top-notch XMOS USB to SP/DIF converters, he is the guy to contact! He is pretty responsive and he can help you find the configuration that is right for your needs.
Many Chinese DACs don’t come with optical Toslink inputs. Not a problem if you know how to add them later on. I’ll explain how in a separate post.
Given the low extra cost for enclosures. I would definitely purchase the boards readily assembled in a decent enclosure. Buying a case separately can add that individual touch but easily eats the savings.
This is mor for DIY audio enthusiasts but nevertheless a great place to buy low-noise low voltage power supplies to pimp your DIY DACs or start with a custom design.
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Nice post !!
I cannot go to some of your pages AS I GET this message:
“Sorry, This Website Is Not Accessible From Your Country Or Location Due To Legal And/Or Copryright Restrictions”
My question is this:
I have used this DAC board = (DAC AD1955 WM8805 audio decoder usb Compatible XMOS U8 high-end)
It is good, If you have tested it, HOW DOES it compare to the one in your article?
Also minishow0328 looks to be associated with Weiliang Audio or is Weiliang Audio using minishow0328 as an ID on ebay?
I emailed them before trying to buy, but got no answer, or they never answer the questions even if you place them in numbered LIST FORM – so I did not buy from them. http://www.aliexpress.com/store/327509
Many of the same looking boards are on the market, but some have parts that are not as good. I think it would be better to buy from the actual maker of the boards or kits, not a supplier, do you know who they are?
You can email me directly , Thanks so much.
Nic
Thanks for this article – it encouraged me to “take the plunge” on a $15 dac-amp on ebay that uses the CS4344 (“X5,” I think it’s called. I should have gotten the one with the enclosure):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/301291337458
I even wrote a quick review under it, which I may update later. Right now I am skeptical just how good dacs & amps can sound. I don’t know too much about the subject, but it’d amuse me do a blind test with a cheap device like this and the Benchmark 1 or Chord Mojo or something, to see if people prefer one or the other.
(Probably crazy talk on my part. I’m sure something so cheap can’t sound that good… but it probably compares reasonably well against much more expensive stuff).
On second thought, my Beyer A200p does seem to have slightly smoother, more delicate and refined sound than this thing. Still though, that device originally retailed for $300 and this one goes for less than $15 from sellers on eBay. So it’s interesting how similar it sounds.
Perhaps it just has more output impedance.