DAC crowdfunding now in progress

[Doc B.]

After nearly four years of working through a host of unforeseen challenges (like that last minute XMOS ID number thing) I'm going to play it safe and not say " DAC number X will ship at Y hour on Z day". We will take the same care with each and every DAC that we did with the first group that shipped today. We have a pretty thorough and efficient system for break in and final testing worked out (basically Josh has set up computers and DVD players all over the place so we can run some DACs on USB while others run on TOSLINK and still others run on coax S/PDIF), and we will continue to work on them every day until they have all shipped.

One great bit of news is that the rest of the Supra USB cables we promised to those who ordered early arrived today from Sweden via the distributor who is, conveniently, in Seattle. Thanks Lars!

[denti alligator]

Congratulations, guys! Can't wait to hear from those who purchased one.

[caffeinator]

I just happened to go home for lunch and saw the big brown truck was turning onto my street.  I was just popping lunch into the microwave when there was a knock on the door and my DAC was waiting on the front step.  I'm feeling very fortunate to be in the first wavelet of the first big wave

I've just enough time to plug it in and get it warming before I come back tonight and plug it into my Sex Amp for a listen and then to get my Mac Mini sorted before taking it up to the main system.

My dumb questions:

-I will be obliged to initially connect with a long USB cable - any issues or concerns (other than maybe noise, etc.) with that?

-I presume the DAC is hot-pluggable - is that right?  If not, would one plug in USB w/ DAC power off, then DAC power on? Or all cold, DAC first then PC?

thanks,

David

[fullheadofnothing]

Gaahhhh! I thought I had a bit more time.

I'll email you the manual in a second.

[Paul Birkeland]

-I will be obliged to initially connect with a long USB cable - any issues or concerns (other than maybe noise, etc.) with that?

-I presume the DAC is hot-pluggable - is that right?  If not, would one plug in USB w/ DAC power off, then DAC power on? Or all cold, DAC first then PC?

How long is long?  I doubt it matters functionally, you may be able to hear a difference.

The DAC is hot-pluggable.  In some cases, you may want to flip the selector switch if you're hot plugging USB.  Sometimes a power cycle is useful when hot plugging USB, but most of the time that hasn't been necessary.

[caffeinator]

Hey PB,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

The USB cable is, I think, roughly 10 feet long; it will run across the room from the PC just to try out the DAC.  I think it came with a printer or something like that, so I doubt it's any great shakes as an interconnect (though, who knows - might be the sleeper tweak of the century).

The selector switch is a good idea; I'll do that.

I'm presuming that with no source connected, a display readout of 8.8.8 (kind of all segments lit) is normal.

thanks,

David

[Paul Birkeland]

Yes, the display readout is a bit random with nothing connected.

[Doc B.]

I was using the prototype with what was probably a 15 foot or longer USB cable at Paul Stubblebine's studio. It worked up thru 96k very well. It may have been the cable, or it may have been that the Mac we were using had an issue that wouldn't let it send 192k to the DAC. Didn't have time to sort it out.

[John Swenson]

I've had trouble with long cheap cables working reliably with high speed devices (such as the BH DAC). In every case changing to either a shorter cheap cable or a decent long cable fixed the problem.

John S.

[Doc B.]

As of this afternoon all of the DACs ordered thru the first day of pre orders have shipped. That is one fifth of all that have been ordered. We seem to be able to get four units tested and packed each day. We're trying to run each DAC in for a couple of days before that. I think PB said that the plan was to ship the next group on Thursday. If we can maintain the pace we should have all the DACs shipped in a couple/three weeks.

[Grainger49]

John,

Any suggestions for "decent long" cables?  I have not got a clue.  I'm a computer cripple.

[John Swenson]

John,

Any suggestions for "decent long" cables?  I have not got a clue.  I'm a computer cripple.

The Supra cables are the best but a little pricy. The Belkin pro series are quite good, a 16ft pro on Amazon is $11.

Whatever you do, don't get a USB 3.0 cable, it won't fit.

John S.

[mcandmar]

That is good to know as i'll be using Belkin Pro cables with mine, they seemed like a nice construction to me with double shielding and larger gauge power wiring.

Is USB power required for the BH DAC to function, or is the interface powered internally?

[John Swenson]

That is good to know as i'll be using Belkin Pro cables with mine, they seemed like a nice construction to me with double shielding and larger gauge power wiring.

Is USB power required for the BH DAC to function, or is the interface powered internally?

Nothing is powered off the VBUS. The VBUS is used, but it just tells the DAC it is connected to a computer. So in normal operation there are just a few nano amps of current coming from the VBUS wire.

John S.

[Doc B.]

Eight more DACs are shipping out today, which means we will have shipped about 40% of the orders. We are hoping to ship another good sized batch on Tuesday.