A friend of mine within our AVAZClub asked me about CD Player and DAC recommendations. He was gonna go all out on the $500 Cambridge Audio CD Only Player with built in DAC (DoP). When I asked him about what discs he plays. He runs the Gammut (SACD, DVD-A, CD, and some 2ch BluRay Audio discs.
Well his current yet aging BluRay player has motor noise and he needed something solid on the “Cheap”. So I’m anti-Oppo (cause they are overpriced and no longer supported) and always will be. I told him to find either Sony UBP-X800 (X800MK2) and get a 9VDC, 3A wall wart off of Amazon. I’ll build him a DAC for free. Cause I have a few gen1 BB1794 Orchard Audio DAC’s that were given to me and a gen.3 BB1794 OA DAC board which is what I used for my friends DAC build. He needed two S/PDIF inputs (one for the Sony/the other for his Bluesound Node2). This way he can do an A/B of the Node2 (via analog outs) vs OA rev3 BB1794 DAC’s. Why not have some fun and it it doesn’t cost him anything.
I built this thing purely from table scraps on my workbench and a recently donated defective Starkrimson mono Amplifier(ok…the owner blew up the Amp board inside…I’ve done it too) . For fun (again free), I had a couple Silver plated RCA’s and some ArgentPur solid silver wire scrap (I keep them inside teflon insulation and ziploc bags to prevent tarnishing). So used those for the analog outs.
For a DPDT selector switch, I used an old Bose 901 EQ switch that was laying in one of my junk bins.
For coax cable inside the DAC, I used simple Beldin 2 conductor 18AWG shielded wire since Leo terminates the S/PDIF input with a 75 ohm SMT resistor on the PCB (I wish more manufacturers would do this). EVERYONE has old RCA cables laying around doing nothing.
The sound is way too neutral for my tastes but it was given to me for free and I think the bits of silver warmed it up just a little bit.
I never took internal pics cause it was a rush job. Nothing special inside other than just the DAC board. Even though it is a fully differential (balanced) design from input to output, my friend only uses single ended RCA. So I just leave the negative pin floating on the analog out. No noise issues !
What was the cost for my Club friend…Nada !!! Cause that’s what it’s all about isn’t it. And honestly, I get more enjoyment doing these little “One-offs” than building actual ArgentPur Amps and previously Orchard Audio Amps - same boards - different implementation).
And maybe the Xmas Spirit (Glenfiddich 14yr. old) was lurking around after I’d completed this build.
Cheers 
,
Joe
