BantamDAC

[luvdunhill]

Listening to one right now... sounds excellent for the cost (~$25) and time spent building (~3 hours).

I wish the position on the PCB where the coupling caps are could alternately accommodate a PCB mini-jack, as I'd prefer to use input coupling caps on each of my amplifiers (as opposed to the output coupling caps on the Bantam)..... this way I could tune the input cap values to the impedance of the specific amp I'd be using. Probably the output caps are more idiot-proof though.

I've tried both the suggested Wima and Black Gate coupling caps and now prefer a pair of blue OS-CON caps that I stole off of swt61's old Opus

More info:

BantamDAC Overview

[n_maher]

Glad to hear that it's sounding good. I think if I'm going to go through the hell that is SMD for me I'm going to man-up and build one of amb's y1 DACs when the boards become available.

[luvdunhill]

Glad to hear that it's sounding good. I think if I'm going to go through the hell that is SMD for me I'm going to man-up and build one of amb's y1 DACs when the boards become available.

yeah, I included the time it took when I shot the tiny as hell parts across the room when picking them up with tweezers and had to find them. I ordered parts for 2 builds and need to replenish a few here and there... I figure I'll do the second one tonite and then order the remaining parts after I inevitably loose more. Mouser seems to include an extra part every now and then with cheap SMD parts, so that's nice.

I'm not sure if your flux virginity still stands, but this project would be a good one to go find try some nice liquid flux

[n_maher]

I'm not sure if your flux virginity still stands, but this project would be a good one to go find try some nice liquid flux

Pffft, flux is for wimps. My hatred of SMD stems from the position part, try to tape part down, find that part shifted, remove tape, reposition part, try to tape part down, wash, rinse, repeat routine. I've gotten a lot better at it from when I was building MINTs 4 years ago but I'd still prefer to avoid it whenever possible.

[Pars]

yeah, I included the time it took when I shot the tiny as hell parts across the room when picking them up with tweezers and had to find them. I ordered parts for 2 builds and need to replenish a few here and there... I figure I'll do the second one tonite and then order the remaining parts after I inevitably loose more. Mouser seems to include an extra part every now and then with cheap SMD parts, so that's nice.

I'm not sure if your flux virginity still stands, but this project would be a good one to go find try some nice liquid flux

Yes it would! Trying to find #&!*^ 0805s or their ilk after I drop them and they go under my workbench is a massive fail exercise. Strangely, both my kids liked doing SMT better than thru hole. A good pair of tweezers is invaluable as well (think I found the ones I use at one of the bead shops my wife frequents). Now there's a hobby

[Beefy]

Glad to hear that it's sounding good. I think if I'm going to go through the hell that is SMD for me I'm going to man-up and build one of amb's y1 DACs when the boards become available.

I'm with you on this one. The y1 looks brilliant, and only the USB receiver is going to be difficult SMD.

[swt61]

I've tried both the suggested Wima and Black Gate coupling caps and now prefer a pair of blue OS-CON caps that I stole off of swt61's old Opus

[bperboy]

Do you have any impressions versus any other DAC? I finished a CableDAC as well, but I haven't been able to compare it to my AudioDIYLab DAC-301 yet.. hoping it's good enough to replace the DAC-301.

[fordgtlover]

Pffft, flux is for wimps. My hatred of SMD stems from the position part, try to tape part down, find that part shifted, remove tape, reposition part, try to tape part down, wash, rinse, repeat routine. I've gotten a lot better at it from when I was building MINTs 4 years ago but I'd still prefer to avoid it whenever possible.

I've only built a few SMD boards, and used the 'apply solder to one pad and tack down the part while holding it with good tweezers' approach. Fortunately, I've had pretty good success with it.

I have just finished soldering up two Bantams and happily managed to avoiding screwing up the PCM2702. I was more than a little reluctant to take on the bantam because of that chip, but my confidence has lifted from these builds. I have one more to build. Hopefully, I can nail all three.

Do you have any impressions versus any other DAC? I finished a CableDAC as well, but I haven't been able to compare it to my AudioDIYLab DAC-301 yet.. hoping it's good enough to replace the DAC-301.

My view is that this is a fine little DAC for the money, and bang for buck, there are probably few DACs that compete, but it is fairly basic sound. I'd say the two things that stand out to me compared to my primary DAC, which is a modified ebay DAC, is a lack of dynamics and some detail. The Bantam reminds me of the first DAC I used, the Silverstone EB-01. As I recall, the views on the EB-01 seem to be that people thought it was OK for the money, but the sound was pretty basic. Given that the Bantam is about 1/3 of the price of the EB-01, I'd suggest that it's a good buy as an entry level DAC.