Audio Note Kit DAC 2.1 Build

Yes and the person who builds them has a great reputation from what I've seen, so that is a good option to get around all the problems that have been documented here. But many of us actually want to build the kit, but I've held off because of the numerous problems posted here.

 

No kidding...

I have built kits from as young as 11-years old. Kits with tubes... Kit building is OK, I guess... But... actual kit construction is no longer a thing to me.

I am glad that things with ANK are improving, but there is no way that I would order a kit from them.

This is not about technology. I work in restaurants. If somebody orders a pizza, hamburger, salad or whatever, you look at the ticket and that is how you prepare the order.

Usually with more complicated kits, they put parts for a particular board or sub assembly into separate bags.

You pull your parts, put them together in small piles on a table, check them and put them in little bags. There is no rocket science or engineering here.

People who work at the local Taco Bell can usually assemble an order correctly (more often than not).

 

Hopefully their problems do get sorted out. It's for the better that ANK exists and that they thrive. I wish them well.

 

I suppose each individual has to decide for themselves their own tolerance for that kind of issue. It certainly made me a bit gun-shy on purchasing from ANK again, although I do love the finished product.

My larger concern would be, rather than someone not receiving a few parts, but a novice builder receiving incorrect power supply parts for instance, creating a potential safety issue that they may never even be aware of.

 

Liability issues are probably one of the main reasons that most kit projects have gone away.

I started building science kits when I was in the 6th grade and got a 9 Kit Master Lab for Christmas.



You could get all nine kits for under $40, in one shipment.

I mean it had all tubes for the electronic stuff, no transistors!

It was all P2P wiring.

Soldering SS parts on to PC boards is not the same experience. Kits today have pre-cut wires and everything.

Operated off of AC power and high DC plate voltages were required for the tubes.

Then everything was just piles of parts.

I got my share of "Zaps", today I'm a little gun shy of being zapped. It is a feeling that I never got used to.

But back then, this was normal for 11-year olds.

 

Per my experience it wasn't that bad folks. If my dac burned in a fire today I'd order a new one tomorrow. I'd go through the minor pain of putting another one together for myself if I had too. The 4.1 is a nice kit and well worth the dough. It's just not a Bob Latino level kit building instructions but if you know what you're doing and NOT in a hurry, you can figure it out.

 

I believe ANKits has a company called Digital Pete who builds the kits for you - they charge 10-15% of the price of the kit. They have been building the kits for people for years.

What is the story on ANK Finished Products?
ANKits is true to it’s DIY roots, but over the last 5 years we have been getting increasing requests for built units of the highest calibre. Finished products currently comprise 25% of our business and this aspect has benefited the DIY models as we voice / bench test completed units and continuely enhance the designs.

We are able to offer this custom services to clients buying our higher Level 4 and Level 5 products. It is an opportunity to own an exquisite piece of art you will not want to put the cover on. Our finished products are burnt in and tested with on/off cycles before shipping. All our products are expertly packed in double boxes, come with instructions and are fully guaranteed by us.

We offer the build service for the US market . Please enquire for ASIA or EURO professional builds at [email protected]

 

I suppose this is opposed to the exact same product assembled by any other competent kit builder...

 

Well I am sure you are correct but if you order it built by them you are probably assured to get all the parts

 

Bottlehead kits are still mostly P2P wiring. Nothing like flipping your newly built kit upside down with some serious DC Voltage for live testing. My Elekit kit was more stuffing PC boards, but still a great experience.

 

Well I answered my own question. I bought a used 4.1x LE. With quite a bit of mods already done by the previous owner. It has a bit more detail than my heavily modded 2.1. However, my modded DAC2.1, the openness, clarity and dynamics blows away the 4.1x. A/B compare there is no competition.

I am still waiting for a pair of Tungsol 5687 as the 4.1x only came with RCA ones. Not sure how much more that will bring to the 4.1x.

Now the question is how to mod the 4.1x to surpass my 2.1.

The reason I bought the 4.1X is mainly for the better output stage with the 5687 line board and output tranny.

 

Good to know that with a little love the 2.1 can hold its own among such competition. Dredging my memory I do recall a similar comparison and it pretty much came down to a matter of taste between the 2.1 & 4.1

If you're really going to lean into this, could I also suggest you try some 5670 tubes with an adapter in the 2.1?

 

I can try it. I do have some 5670/2c51/396a but not the adapter. What was your experience? I am currently using Telefunken 6DJ8.

 

I haven't heard any 5670 tubes, but replacing the 6N23P with the 6N3P in my DAC 2.1 was a small but welcome improvement. And the 6N3P is supposed to be the poor cousin of the 5670.

It interests me mostly because there seems to be some tube aficionados that consider the 6922 family to be easily bettered for audio use. That may be a baseless interpretation on my part though, although I have personally found the alternative tubes I've tried to be more to my liking than any 6922s I own.

 

If you remember, I eventually landed on a E288CC as my favorite, so I tend to agree.

 

Did a bit more listening, mostly for the music and casually swapping between the 2.1 and 4.1x. Both heavily modded. the 2.1 has more warmth, dynamic, clarity. But the 4.1x has a lot more detail, something texturally rich like a violin is scarily realistic. While the same piece via the 2.1 seems too smoothed out. The 4.1x also has better imaging.

 

Enjoying the comparisons very much! Would it be too simplistic to say it's a case of musicality vs transparency in regard to your two DACs?

 

You know after years of listening, I still don't have a good grasp of the definition of "musical" (or musicality). I can describe sound in more concrete terms like detail, texture, tonality, transparency, etc. But I don't know how to define musical.

The 2 ANK DACS I got are not really representative of a factory 2.1 and factory 4.1x.

I got the 2.1 used in factory built condition. I have since made extensive mods to it. The 4.1x was also used, the previous owner has also made quite a bit of mods. But they are different mods. The 4.1x has full silver cabling (which may explain the gob full of detail). The 2.1 has changes to the I/V transformer and using different caps.

 

Hi All,
I am new here. I built the DAC 2.1. I all my voltages were correct. I had been emailing Brian for help. The thing is, I am not really sure how it hooks up to my CD player. I presume that is what I do with it. I asked Brian and he sent me a Ebay link to some kind of board to install in the DAC. I am a bit embarrassed That I don't really understand what it does. I presume That I hook my CD player into the DAC and then hooks to my preamp. My experiment was going to be to attempt to record on my reel to reel from the CD sourced material ran through my new DAC

Thank you,
Greg

 

Hi greg
The back of your cd player should have a digital output connector, looks like a single RCA connector, probably marked "digital output" or "coaxial digital output". You will need a digital rca cable to run from this to the input on the back of the AN DAC. The streo RCA cables that were previously in the back of your cd player should be connected to the out puts of the DAC.
You may need to buy a digital RCA cable £20-£30
Does the AN DAc have a small rocker switch near the connectors on the back, if so you may need the switch that, when all setup.
Enjoy

 

Hi Mr T.

Thank you for your help. The Cd player I have had for many years is a Sony RCD W500C/W100. It is a CD recorder. It has analog in /out RCA jacks and a digital optical in/out jacks. I think this is the board that Brian wanted me to buy for the DAC. He said I could have got a board from him but sent a link from ebay for a board that was around forty bucks, I think. What do you suggest I do?

Thank you,
Greg

 

Greg can you post a pic of the back of the Dac you built? It should have inputs and outputs already. Ok actually I think I know what the problem is your CD recorder you said has digital optical in and outputs but your Dac doesn't have an optical input. Hence you need a signal converter of some sort that must be the "board" Brian is referring to something that can convert an optical/toslink out put to coax/SPDIF to go into your Dac.

 

Hi Greg
I had a look on the web for your CD player, and yes its only got a digital output. so you’ll need the board Brian going to send you.
Brian can take a while to respond, frustratingly so at times.
I made the 4.1, but didn’t put a digital card in mine, so I’ unable to help with any alternative solutions with that.
Phenomenal DACs when all sorted. Sorry it’s being a bit of a pain for you.

 

Hi Mr T,
Yes that is what he suggested. If I were thinking about a new CD player, What might be a good purchase? I also just started to build my Trascendent Sound SLIDER preamp tube kit. I just wish it had more inputs.

Thank you,
Greg

 

I use a Cambridge Audio CXC transport into my Audio Note DAC 0.1x. The CXC version 1 was $350. Unfortunately, the price went up when they put out Version 2 to like $599.

If that is too expensive I would look at a Marantz CD player. The Marantz units sound decent on their own. So if you ever have a problem with the DAC you can still listen to music - with a CXC you can't because there is no DAC on board.

Anyway - I did a quick look at for $299 you can pick up a Marantz refurbished CD player from Music Direct. Marantz - CD5005 CD Player **FACTORY REFURBISHED**

One nice ouch is that it has a headphone output and a volume control built in - these never sound all that great but hey at least it's an option if your amp doesn't have one. It has the coaxial output for your DAC.