Twisted Pear Dac - almost done
ALL212
Posts: 1,556
Been messing with this for well over a year. A "friend" @SCompRacer built one, loaned me some parts and off I went.
Twisted Pair ESS Sabre Pro ES9028 chipset and the Mercury Analog board make up the heart. One t'former and PS saved up for either a USB card or Toslink Optical. I attempted the Amanaro but had absolutely no luck getting it to synch up. I did get a Sonore to synch but it didn't sound right. So I'm using the Schiit Eitr USB to S/PDIF converter and feeding it from Roon.
The cabinet is from a Yamaha CA1000 receiver and the plate from a Sansui AU999. I like to use stuff I've got laying around. The black back is 1/4 plastic from the backing of my Salamander rack that I've never used but is heavy enough to support everything. I just have to figure out how to attach it now. I understand the blue paint tape is a nice touch but...
I've got a piece of red oak that I have yet to finish for the front. Might pull that blue LED (indicates lock) into the front.
It's been "fun". Not much support from Twisted Pear anymore so if something doesn't work out you just hope to find an old article.
Got the C4 hooked up to with with Senn HD800s's. Very very nice!!
Twisted Pair ESS Sabre Pro ES9028 chipset and the Mercury Analog board make up the heart. One t'former and PS saved up for either a USB card or Toslink Optical. I attempted the Amanaro but had absolutely no luck getting it to synch up. I did get a Sonore to synch but it didn't sound right. So I'm using the Schiit Eitr USB to S/PDIF converter and feeding it from Roon.
The cabinet is from a Yamaha CA1000 receiver and the plate from a Sansui AU999. I like to use stuff I've got laying around. The black back is 1/4 plastic from the backing of my Salamander rack that I've never used but is heavy enough to support everything. I just have to figure out how to attach it now. I understand the blue paint tape is a nice touch but...
I've got a piece of red oak that I have yet to finish for the front. Might pull that blue LED (indicates lock) into the front.It's been "fun". Not much support from Twisted Pear anymore so if something doesn't work out you just hope to find an old article.
Got the C4 hooked up to with with Senn HD800s's. Very very nice!!
Aaron
Enabler Extraordinaire
Enabler Extraordinaire
Comments
-
Nice work as usual Mr. Rock-a- Feller....
👍👍 -
Very cool, Aaron. Rich didn't sweet-talk a 2nd enclosure out of the Italians when he built his TP dac back in 2012, eh? Dommage.Jay
SDA 2BTL * Musical Fidelity A5cr amp * Oppo BDP-93 * Modded Adcom GDA-600 DAC * Rythmik F8 (x2)
Micro Seiki DQ-50 * Hagerman Cornet 2 Phono * A hodgepodge of cabling * Belkin PF60
Preamp rotation: Krell KSL (SCompRacer recapped) * Manley Shrimp * PS Audio 5.0 -
Very cool, Aaron. Rich didn't sweet-talk a 2nd enclosure out of the Italians when he built his TP dac back in 2012, eh? Dommage.
No, but I do have that Dac also! But if I start chopping that up I’ll lose the fancy schmancy display Rich spent 1/2 his life getting to work. Got plans for that one...
Aaron
Enabler Extraordinaire -
Pretty damn cool.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
I think the lampizator guy gave the older buffalo dac a tube output stage. He said it was the best sounding dac at that time.
-
Very nice (as usual) Aaron.
H9"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
Front attached - color is close enough. Not sure yet what to do with the back. Trying a piano hinge but I’m not happy with it.
Aaron
Enabler Extraordinaire -
Front attached - color is close enough. Not sure yet what to do with the back. Trying a piano hinge but I’m not happy with it.
Found this zip tie hinge thing......
Salk SoundScape 8's * Audio Research Reference 3 * Bottlehead Eros Phono * Park's Audio Budgie SUT * Krell KSA-250 * Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ * Signature Series Sonore Music Server w/Deux PS * Roon * Gustard R26 DAC / Singxer SU-6 DDC * Heavy Plinth Lenco L75 Idler Drive * AA MG-1 Linear Air Bearing Arm * AT33PTG/II & Denon 103R * Richard Gray 600S * NHT B-12d subs * GIK Acoustic Treatments * Sennheiser HD650 * -
Very cool, Aaron. Rich didn't sweet-talk a 2nd enclosure out of the Italians when he built his TP dac back in 2012, eh? Dommage.
Aaron got the 9028, I went Twisted Pear ES9038 version and kept the second Italian chassis.
The 9028/9038 have choice of eight output filters. The Mercury output board balanced out has no common mode DC between ground and balanced pos or neg. The 9038 analog output section is duplicated 4 times and connected in parallel. Just a bit better playback.
Rich went plain Jane with his second Italian case. USB in, balanced out. R and L channel get their own 15v PS. I didn't want to give up any more lifetimes to get the Arduino and display to work. Maybe when I retire....
Salk SoundScape 8's * Audio Research Reference 3 * Bottlehead Eros Phono * Park's Audio Budgie SUT * Krell KSA-250 * Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ * Signature Series Sonore Music Server w/Deux PS * Roon * Gustard R26 DAC / Singxer SU-6 DDC * Heavy Plinth Lenco L75 Idler Drive * AA MG-1 Linear Air Bearing Arm * AT33PTG/II & Denon 103R * Richard Gray 600S * NHT B-12d subs * GIK Acoustic Treatments * Sennheiser HD650 * -
Found I really liked the sound on the headphone rig so I threw it in the main rig for a bit. Liked that also.
So the Schiit Yggy is parked. The Schiit Yggy might go up for sale!
Darn cabinet is HUGE but I got it crammed in the shelf sideways. Can't see it anyway...it's a DAC so no controls.Aaron
Enabler Extraordinaire -
Decided to follow @SCompRacer and put an ES9038 together. Could not get it to play right and worked with Brian over at TP. He finally realized that what I had was a left channel only mono chip in it. Got the right chip in it today and now... it does blow the ES9028 away.
Dual power supplies for the Mercury analog board. This is Rich's 9018 chassis and everything fits.
Aaron
Enabler Extraordinaire -
This is Rich's 9018 chassis and everything fits.
You should rent that extra space.
Yeah, that extra dough for the 9038 is worth it. Nice work. I thought about mono settings but man, a whole chip?
Salk SoundScape 8's * Audio Research Reference 3 * Bottlehead Eros Phono * Park's Audio Budgie SUT * Krell KSA-250 * Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ * Signature Series Sonore Music Server w/Deux PS * Roon * Gustard R26 DAC / Singxer SU-6 DDC * Heavy Plinth Lenco L75 Idler Drive * AA MG-1 Linear Air Bearing Arm * AT33PTG/II & Denon 103R * Richard Gray 600S * NHT B-12d subs * GIK Acoustic Treatments * Sennheiser HD650 * -
This is what it once looked like in there. Dual mono, Arduino with remote control, faceplate design software for CNC, HiFi 2000 face plate milling and anodizing, Arduino programming, every DAC input known to man, SACD input from modded 3910, 37,506 views at TP forum, lol. I learned soooooo much from that DAC.
Salk SoundScape 8's * Audio Research Reference 3 * Bottlehead Eros Phono * Park's Audio Budgie SUT * Krell KSA-250 * Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ * Signature Series Sonore Music Server w/Deux PS * Roon * Gustard R26 DAC / Singxer SU-6 DDC * Heavy Plinth Lenco L75 Idler Drive * AA MG-1 Linear Air Bearing Arm * AT33PTG/II & Denon 103R * Richard Gray 600S * NHT B-12d subs * GIK Acoustic Treatments * Sennheiser HD650 *
