My Second DIY Project

Nelson Pass DCB - 1 Preamplifier

This is a DC coupled buffer preamp based on the design by the great Mr.Nelson Pass. The PCB & Power Supply is designed by HiFiVision Forum Member Mr. Om Mishra. The device consist of a 15-0-15 R-Core Transformer, a power supply & a preamp PCB. 

The preamp has got single input & output with a stereo volume pot. All components are sourced from the finest manufacturers in the world by another HFV forum member Mr. Sachin.I have housed the electronics in a GI case. The power supply is connected with a PC socket. A cheap on/off switch with LED is used as a power switch. The RC sockets are from MX.

Costing.

Switches & Sockets - Rs.50

R Core Transformer - Rs.800/-

Power supply & Amp. PCB with stereo pot - Rs.3200/-

My brother in law helped me in soldering as i am a novice when soldering is concerned. The amp became ready in 4 hours flat & started singing immediately after that. People say that it requires at least 50 Hours break in period so i am waiting to over that.

Listening impressions.

The preamp is not completely broken in so it will be injustice to comment on that but still i will write about my initial impression.

The amp has got unity gain so i have to adjust the gain of my preamp to the fullest to hear something of the speakers. The amp is behaving nicely with good separation & tonal balance. But i am little disappointed with the sound signature. What i get out of my DAC is completely imbalanced by the preamp. due to its unity gain property. The volume level drastically comes dowm when i bring this preamp in to picture. I have to use an equiliser which incidently has got gain switch to counter that. I keep the equiliser at the flat position adjust the gain of equiliser then i can control the sound from the preamp.

In all till now it is a very big disappointment for me. But lets see how it fares after it is completely broken in.

My first DAC

 My first DAC FiiO Do3K DAC

This has been my first venture in to DAC domain. I was thinking for some weeks about having a DAC for my Music system. I use a Sony Blue ray player as a music source but some time back at a friend's place i saw a DAC used with a netbook. The DAC was an entry level USB DAC but it was producing very beautiful music with good amount of separation. I was blown away by the precision & clarity.

That was the time i decided to get a DAC for me. After a brief search on the net i settled for this product. I got this for Rs.2800/- from a direct seller of FiiO in India , Pristine Note. The DAC has got two s-pdif inputs, one digital & the other optical. It has got two line outs.There is also a switch to toggle between the two inputs.The device is USB powered. It also has one output for connecting earphones.

The device is easy to connect in fact it is plug & play. The toggle switch is little flimsy i had problems moving the switch to the right position. You cant get the feel of the right position of the switch. There is an indicator light which turn from red to blue when a specific input is selected.

Initially i connected digital output of my source to the DAC & voila! I got what i was missing these days. What a beautiful rendition of music, what a precise delivery of sound, what an amount of separation. I have started hearing the pieces of music i was missing all those days. I wonder how a song can be so different with this little box of magic. The instruments are getting their real tonality. The bass has become tight. The headroom is suddenly expanded. How can el chippo box of wonder make such a difference?

I just can not stop praising the sound signature of this DAC. If these DACs make so much of difference then why cant the Big Consumer Electronics Manufacturers add this in to their players is a big question. Further people say that this is FiiO's entry level model, if this is so then i am anxious about how the premium models of FiiO will be performing?

To sum up this is recommended for all music lovers to experience how musicians have composed the music & how the sound designer recorded the music. I am giving this product 5 Stars out of five.

Cheers!