SkeletonDAC

[t0wer]

SkeletonDac

 

 

this dac is only sold in kit form, and most of it is surface mount not through hole soldering.

 

this is the only source of the Dac that I know of.

http://beezar.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=41&osCsid=43e7947995696abed206d9cbb6e75f34

 

 

Build

 

what is there really to say about the build, it's incredibly small and only features USB in and whatever output you stick on it.

the board measures around 50mm x 25 mm

 

The board offers pads to use the board mounted micro usb or attach a usb cable directly.

 

 

 

 

Sound

 

I feel most dacs now, are pretty transparent, the biggest difference I've encountered is the noise floor and the output volume.

 

The output of this tiny dac is lower than my iBasso D4 and a lot lower than my xindac, so be sure you have lots of play in your volume knob if you go with this or have adjustable gain on your amp.

 

The noise floor, seems lower than my D4, it's very quiet even when I turn up my amp way past normal listening volumes.

The noise may depend on your motherboard and other devices plugged into the same usb controller.

 

(forgive the poor soldering, this was my first SMD job)

 

I read that this had an amp capable of driving headphones.

it can't really drive any headphone at all.

every headphone I've tried had almost no bass at all, I really couldn't stand it for more than 30 sec.

koss porta pros(didn't think I would say those could be bass anemic), meelec cc51p's, shure srh440's, all sounded very thin.

this dac just doesn't have the current output to do any headphone justice, it really needs an amp to go with it.

 

As a DAC, it's great, very small, low noise, I can't complain about it, just don't go trying to drive headphones with it.

 

Final Thoughts

if you like DIY stuff, and want to get your feet wet soldering SMD, I'd recommend it.

Just remember unless you are experiencing clicks/pops/hiss upgrade your headphones first, you'll notice a much bigger difference than upgrading your dac.

[needmorewood]

i wanna make one of these just to make them
i love soldering for some reason

[t0wer]

i wanna make one of these just to make them

i love soldering for some reason

 

just don't lose any of the resistors or capacitors, they are only a few mm long.

I dropped a few of them on my rug, but was lucky enough to see where they fell.

gave me a mini heart attack each time as there are no extra components in the kit.

[needmorewood]

just don't lose any of the resistors or capacitors, they are only a few mm long.

I dropped a few of them on my rug, but was lucky enough to see where they fell.

gave me a mini heart attack each time as there are no extra components in the kit.

thanks for the heads up

all hardwood floors here

plus i got tons of capacitors and resistors. doubt they have anything i wouldnt

would make one for my brother hes not able to use the rear ports and plugs them through his keyboard as a passthrough to the front panel header which has TONS of noise

any DIY amps u gonna have a link too? do wanna drive some 600ohm headphones eventually

[t0wer]

any DIY amps u gonna have a link too?

 

I have an amb m^3 as my main amp.(my review is in the audio section faq towards the end of the first post)

there's also the cavalli kan kumisa III, but I don't have experience with that.

beta22 if you want to go crazy

all are found on amb.org

 

for lower budgets there's the o2 amp, from either jdslabs or mayflower electronics(review in sig)

 

and for the lowest budget you can always do the altoids tin cmoy.

I went through jdslabs for the boards and bom, before he had the full kits.

bought 2 kits and with shipping cost around $30 a kit.