World's second Best DIY Dac and Streamer

[@paulpavlou9294]

I’m very impressed with your skills in woodwork, metal work/machining and electrical. Your the jack of all trades. Regardless of what anyone else thinks - when you can build something like that by yourself , it is without doubt the best in the world to you. Job well done, congratulations from Sydney Australia.

[@Gabster1]

Thank You Paul Sydney is on my Bucket list to visit one day :)

[@jimbendtsen8841]

you're...

[@kencur9690]

@@jimbendtsen8841 indeed. And to note that he edited the comment, yet left this most atrocious of errors in situ. That makes me think he did it on purpose, he meant to leave it there as an affront to the English language. He probably has some personal beef with grammar, most likely going back to his childhood. These conflicts sometimes span generations, and are nearly impossible to settle peacefully.

[@BrianDRidgway]

You're. Not your. Ffs.

[@triggeredleftyvegan6004]

@@kencur9690What?

[@arturomty9969]

I'm a DIYer and your proyect exceeds my capabilities, it's amazing what you do, congrats!!!

[@Gabster1]

Happy to hear that!

[@Radical_Induction]

I've just had a printer mishap that has rendered my 'WORLD'S GREATEST DAD' mugs unusable. You seem to be the only one in the world who could make use of what have become 'WORLD'S GREATEST DAC' mugs.

[@Gabster1]

you just have to build a dac now :)

[@saleemahmad6255]

Thanks!

[@Gabster1]

Wow Thank you so much :) Appreciate the support

[@bernhardmichaelfux308]

LOL! I can´t help myself, but the Bass Speaker, the Baffle reminds me at a WC Seat.... The Design of it, the Straight Line on top, and the round shape afterwards... Amazing..lol... But nothing to be ashamed of. The Speaker look great. Fact is, i am just a mischievous Joker sometimes...lol! I swear! Just sometimes! 🤣🤣!

[@JingoLoBa57]

All my players are fully shielded internally Keeps the music signal clean. People aren’t familiar with the science of damping and shielding and the results. I’m thrilled to hear a credible guy like you talk of doing this. Thanks for sharing.

[@Gabster1]

Thank you yes damping and shielding are important.

[@De132an]

So nice to see the dyi community helping others. Which I had the skill. I just have to buy already produced models but still enjoy the passion on the group.

[@mannybarbosa9312]

That’s very impressive. Love the quality of the workmanship

[@sseim5654]

Excellent post. Thank you for leading on this. I'm going to take on the DAC.

[@derekdean7580]

I learned quite a bit from watching your wonderful video. Thank you for taking the time to document your adventures in hifi DIY. By the way, your style of presentation is perfect, completely at ease, very concise and to the point, with excellent flow from beginning to end. Well done all around.

[@Gabster1]

Thank you glad you liked it

[@69drguitar]

That looks and sounds awesome! You're very talented, Gaby.

[@hushpuppykl]

A lot less money ... let's factor in his knowledge, skill, time and effort. I admire your ability/capability to finish this lovely looking component. Congrats!!!

[@калитингаджонов-с5ш]

I love the approach and precision craftsmanship - this is how a high quality component is made! Good luck in the future!

[@AverageNiceGuy]

I am very impressed 😎👍 I've had to watch so many videos to begin understanding the value in what you have built.

[@Gabster1]

Thank you, building a finished products is fun but takes a lot more effort. There is a plan to do a upgrade on it in about couple month.

[@AverageNiceGuy]

@@Gabster1 I look forward to hopefully see the video of your journey. I have the skills, but I need a bit more knowledge of the technology, and to decide what I would be most happy with building. I love that parts can be changed for the future. I'm currently learning the sounds of what I like most with different streamers and DAC's. I'm realizing the importance of quality individual components.

[@BARTSKI75]

What a build quality....I bet it sound phenomenal

[@Gabster1]

Thank you Very happy with it

[@vaneast411]

what a cool idea running the dac off of the capacitors... look forward to studying what you are doing. thx

[@Gabster1]

Cool, thank you

[@JustBrowsing777]

Just wow! What a beautiful build. 🤩 Congrats on the achievement 👏

[@pliedtka]

Nice... I bet it was a lot of work and hardcore listening. I like your loudspeaker x-overs on the floor - easier to tune them when they're out the boxes - the most proper DIY ;) Just saying 'Hi' from Ottawa and all best in 2023.

[@Gabster1]

Thank you I used to live in Ottawa years ago nice to hear

[@Th3_Gael]

Subscribed for the IanCanada stuff. So glad I did, this is easily in my top 3 audio channels. This looks like a very good build

[@roofermarc1]

Very nice build. I'm sold on it and want to do the same. Thanks.

[@blaqjackk796]

REALLY BEAUTYFUL SETUP!!! AND GREAT BUILD!!

[@raybudau9920]

Best looking dac streamer I've seen congratulations on it

[@Gabster1]

Appreciate that

[@krelldragon151]

Best of the best . How I wish I could have those tools 😊.

[@aldoantoniovicentesilva6996]

great great G R E A T WORK !!! CONGRATULATIONS !!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵💪💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@tan143danh]

curious: what was the reason for not putting the ultra capacitors in the power supply , would the cable length cause an issue ? Would covering the clocks cause them to get too warm ,

[@Gabster1]

the cable length would be a an issue

[@johnsavard7583]

I'll have to admit that I'd be interested in a somewhat less perfectionist version of the design that uses a very high quality DC power supply instead of ultracapacitors.

[@aussie8114]

It takes a lot to impress me, you have definitely impressed me. Beautiful work.

[@florisklein536]

I’m very impressed with you skills! I wish i could mail you for a detailed buying list… Can you maybe upload a Google doc with all the used parts so I and everyone else can rebuild your DAC?

[@geoffreydebrito2653]

Hopefully the sound matches the very impressive aesthetics. A work of art.

[@Gabster1]

Thank you it does 😊

[@Fluterra]

World’s best clickbait! But that’s OK, you made it! That’s awesome.

[@JasonChurch1992]

Looking foward to seeing the details. Thank you!

[@Gabster1]

The long 1h detailed version is scheduled to be released on Dec 26

[@linnemeyerhere]

Well done Sir......well done!

[@shokrykhaledful]

If it sounds as good as it looks, you’ve got a remarkable Dac, bravo & thank you for sharing 🙏🏼

[@Gabster1]

Thanks for listening

[@adauridavid7760]

Nice job master! Congratulations from São Paulo - Brazil

[@bukeksiansu2112]

When art and technology united.

[@ST-bm8pj]

Enjoy every much of your video and it's a beautify unit, how can I get a BOM listing to build one, thanks

[@Gabster1]

This a series of 5 or 6 videos you will see a list in the descriptions but you need to have experience as it can be very dangerous working with ultra capacitors

[@phillipwaters7041]

Loved the b roll

[@matthiasmartin1975]

Now that's a NICE enclosure! Well done!

[@Gabster1]

Thank you :)

[@niallclyne2127]

Great Video and lots of ideas, for the dual Mono DAC, it has three power inputs, I believe the center one is VCCA - for the onboard clock - which you are not using as you have the Master clock from the FIFO, have you look at that ?- as saving an Ultra Cap unit would be nice in this build. I have tried this and the system still works fine - and you will see a floating voltage of about 2.6V across the VCCA terminals - which is a bit strange. Would like to hear your considered opinion

[@Gabster1]

Yes you are correct it does work without the center VCCA but I start getting issues the ess controller not recognising the Dual mono dac ....... not always. I spent hours trying to figure out the problem it seems to happen with UCPure batteries something to do with a tiny delay between the ess controller powering before the Dac ended up leaving it powered. I plan on renovating the Dac with the new parts hopefully i can free the VCaa this time will see.

[@Mapledrip40]

Looks great! Thanks for sharing with us

[@usim3g]

Thank you for such a great videos about my lovely audio DIY topics. Even if I will not find free time for those (yet), I am enjoying so much of those DIY audio equipment - I think its amazing Idea to build such a device by yourself

[@numusique]

I like your woody theme and give electronics shielding but with open air 👍🏻 Looks amazing

[@abdelzidan8189]

This guy looks like he’s making cakes make it look so easy

[@barthrop]

Fascinating video, thanks for sharing it all with us, truly amazing.

[@yurykorol8715]

Master - golden hands!

[@pablogad]

I like how it looks, it seems a commercial product. But I think that the metal box should have some holes to let some air pass through the electronics, it seems that part will suffer overheating as it cannot evacuate heat easily. Probably the DACs will get quite hot when working at high frequecies.

[@JuanManuel123ify]

Sin palabras Maestro.....Una joya....Una obra de arte....Enhorabuena y felicidades por su gran labor solo al alcance de unos pocos....Un abrazo fraternal desde Las Islas Canarias (España)....

[@user-od9iz9cv1w]

Congratulations. Really nicely done. I also built a Streamer / DAC using Iancanada FIFOPi and consider it amazing. The attention to isolation and power supplies is key to go from great to state of the art. Well done. BTW, your case with the wood trim is awesome.

[@Gabster1]

Thank you glad you are experiencing the beautiful journey

[@user-od9iz9cv1w]

@@Gabster1 Thank you. You as well. It is an extremely fulfilling hobby. Like you, I had to figure out what makes stuff work well. How to solder. How to lay it out and isolate. Then wood working and metal working. It's engaging. And then like today, I listen and am amazed and proud.

[@stevehamilton3181]

Beautiful work! Much to be proud of here. Just stumbled onto the channel. Subscribed.

[@willianoya6927]

You are at another level!!! Gabster sounds like a great hifi company name

[@landiepete]

Why did you go for the Ian Canada ES9038Q2M DAC if you're spending that kind of money on everything else ? Are there no high-end alternatives available ?

[@l.b.stringfellow2413]

Some amazing craftsmanship!! Love your videos

[@rtacconi]

Where did you find the hat separating the FifoPi Q7 and the DAC? Clearly you put the copper over it and I guess I does not have anything metal under the copper sheet!

[@Gabster1]

Ian used to have a shield board for free I added copper to it but you can do the same with a double sided copper board can buy them from any electronics place usually used to make your own circuit boards just watch the edges not to contact anything :)

[@kjeltsalimans2297]

is there any chance you will do a detailed step by step tutorial on how to build this? love the video!

[@Gabster1]

There are 5 other videos on my Chanel that do just that

[@captfoong]

Hi Gabster, is it for sale?🤪

[@Venu.Shankar]

Awesome... Thank you sir, great works 🙏

[@Gabster1]

Most welcome

[@bernard3690]

May I please inquire total cost. Thank You Kindly

[@Gabster1]

close to $3000

[@johnlenerd]

I did not hear you talk about the voltage regulators. What is your opinion on choosing the best ones? I'm thinking of ripple.

[@marcomeneghini323]

hi…. i’m trying to do a similar dac and i have here a iancanada lifepo4 mkiii powersupply and the same thoroidal transformer as yours in the video. how can i transform thoroidal 12vac to 12v dc for lifepo4? thanks!!

[@gee3883]

sorry for the dumb question but can a wooden surround be used with just an aluminum base and rear? Amazing build by the way.

[@Gabster1]

Sure you can if it is for yourself but it will not be safe for fires also not ideal for noise shielding. Ideally should be metal all around grounded to earth and wood outside the metal

[@gmnguyen]

Really amazing project. You got it right

[@pitfisch1]

Great work done. But, in the end, everything said and done, total amount is ????$

[@Gabster1]

$3000

[@pitfisch1]

@@Gabster1 Thx

[@haroon420]

How many of the parts did you have to fabricate yourself?

[@johnlenerd]

Nice one!!! I remember a Danish amplifier which used batteries as psu. I think it was a Thule back in the early 90's.

[@balfadk]

Holfi...

[@johnlenerd]

Yes. Now I remeber. It was made of 100% wood. Even the volume controll.

[@mertkoraytopalak]

Wow thats work of art !

[@henrysiegertsz8204]

By Jeeves this was a brilliant video. So absolutely no disrespect in my one rather petty observation, no offence intended, but those Woofer Facia panels, for the life of me I couldn't get the image of toilet seats out of my head!

[@zyghom]

man, that is from another planet ;)

[@edverbeek6292]

Impressive. Congratulations

[@Gabster1]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@necbd8893]

Congratulations & welcome Go Ahead

[@harislondo2962]

Great ...... very amazing !!!

[@Truthseeker2000-e1s]

How do the Bisesik output transformers compare to the op-amp I/V output module?

[@Gabster1]

I made a Video just about that with live recordings from both to compare . kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3OVhJt-ftGAq7ssi=sRW2N9uay91Ndi1d Hope that helps

[@audiohertz2341]

Very nice setup

[@ronnyskaar3737]

Impressive. But how is the RPi connected to Q7? Is it happening through the GPIO?

[@Gabster1]

Correct

[@991carreras3]

Nice work but mixing old style sound meter with a modern media screen just doesn't blend well. It just looks weird.

[@jrhammond95003]

you decided not to use the reclockPi?

[@Gabster1]

Could not tell a difference with or without the Q7 has a built in one

[@jericlee1509]

hope you could built small compact dac

[@eremas]

I want to build the same. May I get documentation, please.

[@Gabster1]

Part 1 to 6 are all available documentation it is all in there

[@ibrahim-alani]

I hope you review the HoloAudio - May DAC - KTE May a lot call it giant killer

[@shiraz1736]

Great work, do you have schematics for the wiring?

[@Gabster1]

Not really the long video to be released on the 26 has a bit more info.

[@tomaskonopac9431]

Jo super nápad tohle je asi jeden z nejlepších zdrojů co jsem viděl . Sice je to trochu až moc veliké a drahé , ale dává to smysl. Dobrá práce .

[@n.lyndley.9889]

Masterful! 🫡

[@marcomaiulini6421]

Amazing work!

[@maudeboivin6690]

I have no skills in electronics building. If you were to build and retail one of these for a client, what would the end cost be in CDN$ ?

[@Gabster1]

In a few weeks I will be building something similar that is a lot easier to put together, stay tuned. This one is very time consuming hard to justify a $ value for a month of work at least.

[@boatscarsmotorcycles8518]

Im having a hard time with the parts list it seems to be missing half the components...displays, station, volume pot, shield between dac and q7.....

[@Gabster1]

The small display and volume are both part of the ess controller if you scroll the iancanada link you will find all the parts I listed He no longer has the shieldpi but a any metal square piece will do The big screen is a simple raspberry pi 7 inch screen Hope that helps

[@khubfhd4332]

Have you consider using optical fiber for the ethernet link (SFP)? It is not as expensive as it used to be and it is a good means of galvanic isolation from the network.

[@GadgetyMV]

A high tech work of art!

[@RogierYou]

Total cost?

[@garykarczewski6678]

I really enjoy your channel. Just so I understand when claim World's Second Best DIY DAC. What was the first again? I have very strong feelings your DIY DAC is amazing, however have you compared to other DACs out there in the retail market? Do you provide a Kit for this DAC?

[@8Fynjy]

Great job!

[@Gabster1]

Thanks!

[@avinut]

Magnificent Obsession!

[@paulf.5261]

Well it certainly looks good 😍

[@hkcccc2889]

Haha, I'm also have this idea to modify our DIY Pre and Power amp like that !!

[@versus023]

Hi! Subscribed from your 10 song videos, but when I saw that beautiful DAC, I had to see the video. It’s so beautiful, and live everyone says, incredible craftsmanship. Just finished a modest build of CSSAudio Criton, and would never thought of DIY’ing a DAC, but now I’m curious! Don’t know if I missed it, or I’m not there yet in the video, but how much that build cost? Thanks.

[@mariuszs9263]

Hi. I wonder if you can design and build crossovers for my open baffle speakers or maybe you know somebody. I'm from New Jersey USA My unts are Raal The Lazy Ribbon 210-10 Compremag, Lowther PM5a,Great Plains Audio Model 416-8B Frame is from Pure Audio Projects

[@Gabster1]

on Raal site they have a nice crossover design you will need to test it at your place you can try GR research or just watch a lot of Vides get a mike and free Rew software and try it

[@johnsnowlow1883]

Hi ....top end craftsmanship and implementation. Admire your woodwork and electronic knowledge. Would you be open to building just the case similar to what you have for the dac ?

[@clemleg123]

Hi Gaby Awesome project. What was the total costs, roughly?

[@rtacconi]

A fantastic project. Are you happy with the Sabre based DAC? Do you think an R2R could improve the sound? I would also like to add an input I2S board to connect a SACD/CD player, do you think would be possible with your setup? Otherwise I could remove the DAC completely and use an I2S output board and connect the streamer to a Denafrips DAC.

[@Gabster1]

Yes, absolutely, Ian has a hat with inputs could slide it under the Dac happy with the Sabre can’t here a difference from the terminator in a blind a b test my Sabre May be a tad better

[@LevonArakelian]

Thanks for the great videos and amazing work! Is there going to a more detailed, maybe even step-by-step video of the assembly of all the parts?

[@ducefichnix]

Hello, fine build and great information. How did the Z-foil Resistors perform in comparison to the hand wound Resistors by Ivan? Or do you have any other recommendations?

[@Gabster1]

For me I preferred the Z foil but I think it is system dependant I am using a tube preamp. One good thing about the Z-foil is they are compact and small and less prone to outside noise but some people find them too clinical..

[@ducefichnix]

@@Gabster1 Thank you for Reply!

[@OrganNLou]

Gorgeous equipment! You really should try a ladder dac (R2R) as I have found them to sound the best.

[@Gabster1]

Looking at trying one soon

[@neilwhiteaker53]

@@Gabster1 I'd also like to learn about your findings.

[@wwoolworth]

Amazing job.