ECdesigns

52 minutes ago, yogibear said:

Third from the left is DHT and is tube rectified. Uses Re084 Zenith DHT tubes.

 

Jacks preamps do not come as kits but fully built. 

Ah yes just reread you reply lol

Handcrafted a new Pair of Klangfilm clone Siemens F2a amps with EF12 at driver stage. Paired my 6GF7 SRPP Tube Preamp with the BX. 
 

Sounds damn nice. Indian Tabla Playing:

On 1/3/2024 at 6:04 PM, mevdinc said:

Happy New Year to all.

Can anyone comment on the possible combination of PowerDAC SX and PureAudioProject Open Baffle speakers with 96db sensitivity and 8ohm impedance?

Many thanks.

Mev

I'm just reading this.

I've had PAP diy project. Tubes wouldnt run it satisfying for me.

the woofers need too much watts, because of their size.

John Brown from EC Designs also build OB's with 15 inch woofers. The bass was astounding but it did use a solidstate design amp ;-)

On 10/7/2022 at 5:38 AM, yogibear said:

Thanks for sharing details on your tube amp build. I thought it’s two different amps each based on tube 46 and 300B. I have recently indulged in some sleeper tubes, F2a, RS1003 and after tube 45, next is tube 46. My builds are simple. 
 

Next iteration of above would be choke input. Iron is no issue at present as a good friend hand winds everything with some 0.20mm lamination cores in hand. Specifications and measurements exceed that of big brand names. We do OPT, chokes, heater transformers and power transformers for all the builds. 
 

Power DAC R is my benchmark DAC to compare all the builds. I also mocked up Open Baffle Line array, horn loaded it to get 105 dB sensitivity. Now with some exotic new drivers, will attempt a next version. 
 

I guess Power DAC S could be a fantastic combination with F4 amp as it has enough drive and the combo could drive any power hungry speakers…. 

Just working my way through this thread having become aware of John via his DIYA posts and Ryans’s D3 DAC based on his designs.   I had the very same thought about combining a PowerDAC S with an F4 !  I have a pair of F4s . . . . 

9 hours ago, Iansr said:

Just working my way through this thread having become aware of John via his DIYA posts and Ryans’s D3 DAC based on his designs.   I had the very same thought about combining a PowerDAC S with an F4 !  I have a pair of F4s . . . . 

Should be a great match!

On 1/23/2024 at 6:23 PM, M_audio said:

I used DSP as Plugin in Audirvana with Mosaic T16 DAC with great results. It was real-time DSP as correction of my speakers response in room.
I stopped using it when i changed the speakers - it would have meant measuring again to create the new response profile. But also when adding some components which change e.g the higs. So not using it now.
 
You are not wrong, but the 4 parts in your equation are not all equal. The file is the basis, the biggest part of the equation, while room and speaker response are dynamic variables dependent one on another. Sometimes you can get without it. They mostly affect certain frequencies of the reproduced file, not all of them, but still can change our perception of the music a lot.

If PowerDAC SX works for you otherwise - do they have enough ampere for WVL - i would still go for it with DSP. It can only make things better. And maybe you decide you don't need DSP.

 

My definition of bit perfect is not the same as John’s definition.  In my view bit perfect is when the DAC receives and processes exactly the same bits as those that left the source.  If the original bits of the music file were deliberately altered by convolution then so what?   One presumes convolution will have been an applied for a good reason ! 

On 4/19/2024 at 4:26 PM, Khronos said:

As a young person, I'm supposed to take risks.

Here are pics of the innards POWERDAC BX

Thanks for posting!

Would even more like to see the innards of a POWERDAC SX 😎

On 4/20/2024 at 4:24 AM, Marijn said:

Should be a great match!

I am amazed that Johan would connect the power in such a careless fashion .

Has anyone actually used an SX to drive an F4?   If so, what transformer did you use to covert the outputs of the SX?

From Gordon Brown taken from their new EC Designs (unfinished) website.
 

"Although the PowerDAC-BX and PowerDAC-RX performance is very good using an external amplifier, with our final product, the PowerDAC-SX that skips the whole analog amplifier and directly drives the speakers using nothing more than a power-supply voltage and switches, live performance sound reproduction can now finally be achieved."

16 hours ago, tapatrick said:

From Gordon Brown taken from their new EC Designs (unfinished) website.
 

"Although the PowerDAC-BX and PowerDAC-RX performance is very good using an external amplifier, with our final product, the PowerDAC-SX that skips the whole analog amplifier and directly drives the speakers using nothing more than a power-supply voltage and switches, live performance sound reproduction can now finally be achieved."

That is really great.

I am sure an upcoming PowerDAC-SX generation in ten years will sound even better so we can then exspect a better than live performance sound reproduction.

Our best days are still ahead.

I don’t doubt that the SX provides exceptional performance.  The reality however is that 16wpc is only sufficient to drive a minority of the speakers that could do justice to the sound quality of the SX.  I’m hoping the Browns will therefore work on producing a more powerful version of the SX at some point in the future.

greetings

i have the old fractal dac and U192ETL somehow i can only upsample to 96 on roon, is there a driver i should in insall

On 4/21/2024 at 8:09 AM, matthias said:

Would even more like to see the innards of a POWERDAC SX 😎

Now I have seen these on another forum, very interesting.......

15 hours ago, matthias said:

Now I have seen these on another forum, very interesting.......

Link please ?

3 hours ago, Iansr said:

Link please ?

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/hopkins-system.35850/page-19#post-981786

Any comments on the BX or RX? I've been sitting on the wall a long time. I want to be absolutely sure these dacs haven't gone out of fashion like my MOS16. Are people still using them and buying them? I need a flat horizontal, not upright box. Is it only possible to have a headphone socket on the upright model? Can I power a FW F4 with a BX or RX? Do they have enough voltage? I'm also building a 'Sissy SiT'. Anyone used one with the EC Designs dacs?

BX and RX are absolutely worth it!  When not using a preamp, go for the RX. I’m using my BX with a TVC for volume and a variety of tube amps and can’t be happier!  Have used it with a SissySit before and it should be a good match, speaker dependent of course

8 minutes ago, Marijn said:

BX and RX are absolutely worth it!  When not using a preamp, go for the RX. I’m using my BX with a TVC for volume and a variety of tube amps and can’t be happier!  Have used it with a SissySit before and it should be a good match, speaker dependent of course

Thing is the BX has no attenuator and I would also like to connect headphones. Looks a faff on the RX as you have to unplug the rca leads to the preamp to connect the headphone adaptor. In the RXV user manual it says this - Headphones (32 Ohms and up) can be directly connected to the 3.5mm jack socket

I think this is a mistake. Cannot see a socket. I've just written to John to ask about this. The RXV wouldn't be ideal anyway. Why on earth do they make these stand up designs?