Taking orders :)

[xcortes]

My current responsibilities are keeping me grounded to my office close to 24/7 so I'm getting very little music and I hate that. And the future looks worse (this week the family is out so I'm squeezing some time to finish building the BeePre).

I have to solve the situation and analog is too much a hassle at the office (I tried!). I have never suceeded with digital but today I was very close to ordering an EAR CDP since I like TdP's products and he is an analog guy and a great designer. But hey guys, I'm a long time BH and I trust BH a lot.

And I always remember this from PJ that is veeery strong to me: "a) I HATE digital, and b) I'm buying John's design when it comes out even if I have to drive it with a $39 DVD player".

So I made the jump on a very good opportunity to buy what seems like a fantastic CD transport. It's gonna be shinny discs. Simple as it gets.

I brought the WE 755As to the office (sorry Blumensteins) and an M3 MQ Sex amp (not ideal 8 ohm for the 4 ohm WEs but who's counting).

I'm playing now a "Swenson/Rossi-mods" Toshiba DVD that isn't bad but, as usual with digital, tires after a while and the transport is noisy.

And I'm ready to buy the first BH DAC. Doc, you got the first order, firm. I know this product won't dissapoint me and I'm certain the price will be OK.

And someday in the future I'll build a Soul sister with MQ transformers at the input (B7 10k:10k Ni) and output (B7 8k:600 Co) and a pair of Co SR45s for which I have most parts. 'Cause contrary to my main system philosophy, for digital I think the mo' transformers the better to tame the digital beast.

Oh, and I promise I'll be good and build the DAC stock first.

 

[Doc B]

I have you on the list for production serial #001.

We are getting closer to being ready to take orders. I'm hoping for a prototype panel from FPE in the next day or two, which PB will build up in a manner based upon his rough layout pictured here, which is currently sitting on my desk. This layout is somewhat confusing because some of the components will actually be under the chassis, some on top.

What you see here is:

The DAC board in the front, inside an extrusion for shielding. This will hang under the chassis. There will be a slot on top with a socket for various forms of sample rate indicators and other cool things John is scheming on, and the USB, TOSLINK and Coax inputs are located there.

obviously the tubes will be on top, along with power switch, IEC power entry, and RCA jacks.

Those three chokes will be underneath, as will that board with the small power trans and power supply caps for the low voltage stuff.

The big power trans will be on top, with a PC board underneath for the power supply.

Not all of the firmware for high res and USB is done yet, but we should be playing 44k and 48K files via optical or coax as soon as we get it together.

And if you read this John, one of the extrusions is on it's way to you -

 

[xcortes]

One box. Good for the office!

No audio transformers. You were able to get rid of those since I remember John originally said a transformer after the dac followed by the IV resistor. Anyway I can use a pair of Co 8k:600 somewhere? (Ooooops, I said I was gonna behave).

 

[BNAL]

Doc,

Enough with the porno pictures. I can't wait to get one. Hope I can swing the cost. Any chance I can get one by the hour?

Brad

 

[2wo]

I would love to get on the list, I think l have been waiting the longest 

 

[Doc B]

Doc,

Enough with the porno pictures. I can't wait to get one. Hope I can swing the cost. Any chance I can get one by the hour?

Brad

Wow, I feel like I was just propositioned by a sailor! 

 

[Doc B]

I would love to get on the list, I think l have been waiting the longest 

Not quite a long as me...hang in there, this prototype should be a big jump forward.

 

[Doc B]

One box. Good for the office!

No audio transformers. You were able to get rid of those since I remember John originally said a transformer after the dac followed by the IV resistor. Anyway I can use a pair of Co 8k:600 somewhere? (Ooooops, I said I was gonna behave).

Wasn't really a matter of getting rid of the transformers. I just did a lot of listening to transformer vs. resistor and found that the bass was a lot better to my ear with the resistor, and the mid and treble sounded very close. So that's what I decided to go with. I guess you could try the 8K:600 the other way around, DAC feeding the 600 ohm input with maybe a 133 ohm resistor across the 8K side so the DAC sees a 10 ohm load (if I did the math right, it is after all the martini hour). But I would require that you compare it to what we came up with, a 50 ohm resistor.

 

[ssssly]

As far as CD players, if you can find a Norh CD1, it is by far my favorite. Rock solid transport and integrated tube DAC. Is basically a CAL Delta transport and Alpha 24/96 tube DAC in the same box.

Pretty rare to come across though. Those of us who have them, almost never sell them.

 

[RPMac]

Put me on the list!

I blew my BH-DAC stash on the BeePre...too sexy to pass on...but I'm getting some long over due inheritance money, so I'm fully funded.

If anyone can do a DAC right, it will be designers that love vinyl.

 

[Doc B]

Had a nice long conversation with John Swenson today. We have a pretty exciting new development that could make the DAC USB2.0 and 192kHz compatible right out of the gate, offer more options for DSP, have a little more user friendly layout and construction, and several other improvements (including sounding a little better). John is working on a new layout for the DAC board and we hope to have it in house by month's end in order to keep our current goal of an early summer release in sight.

PB got construction of our latest prototype about 80% complete today and we hope to be giving it a listen Monday afternoon. This is not exactly what the final version will look like. It will be a bit more finished around the display board area and may have fewer tubes. But you can get a general sense of where we are at.

 

[Demsy]

Dan, any possibilities to include balanced output?

 

[Fridgebuzz]

Hello,

Long time reader, but first post on this board...
Sorry for my poor english, i'm french 

While i'm quietly waiting for my Crack, you can count me on the list for this !

Just a little suggestion for a usefull feature : having the possibility to feed two devices with this DAC.

As numerous here i guess, i would like to use my DAC for both my speaker amp and my headphone amp.
A simple output switch would be a killer feature.
I hope my message is readable  :-[

Have a nice day 

 

[Doc B]

No balanced output. The device is single ended, going balanced just adds stuff to the signal path.

You don't need a switch to connect something that has low output impedance and decent drive to two easy to drive loads at once. Just use a Y cable or drill extra holes and install more jacks.

 

[bjorgens]

Out of curiosity, why the two power switches?
B

 

[Natural Sound]

Is that the 10" X 12" layout like the Stereomour? Looks great! Any idea of the price point? If this is to be released in the summer sometime I'd like to budget a "bottlehead" category in my financial planning.

 

[Doc B]

In this case one switch is for the DAC power supply and is intended to be left on between listening sessions to keep the circuit warmed up and sounding its best. The other is for the tube circuit so that one can shut the tubes off when not in use to extend their useful lifetime.

This is just a functional prototype and that's the kind of stuff that can change in the production prototype. There may be a few more switches added before we are done.

This chassis is 12 x 12 - subject to change also. Price is not yet determined. We have a slightly different design in the pipeline and will be comparing the two different prototypes around the end of the month. That will have some influence on size, pricing, layout, etc.

 

[xcortes]

Early summer? You could deliver it personally!

 

[Fridgebuzz]

You don't need a switch to connect something that has low output impedance and decent drive to two easy to drive loads at once. Just use a Y cable or drill extra holes and install more jacks.

Thanks for answer.
I was thinking about a switch precisely to avoid Y cable ^^
I have a few month to think about a customisation for multiple outputs...

Have a nice day 

 

[GLF]

In this case one switch is for the DAC power supply and is intended to be left on between listening sessions to keep the circuit warmed up and sounding its best. The other is for the tube circuit so that one can shut the tubes off when not in use to extend their useful lifetime.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Andrew