What 8-channel DAC's are available suitable for active speaker setup as of September 2022

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Ultima Thule

Ultima Thule

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Joined 2004
#1
Have been thinking already for quite some time putting together a DIY active speaker, so far probably based on CamillaDSP running on a RaspBerry Pi PC, and for that a multi channel DAC solution is needed, there's the excellent Okto dac8 or Topping DM7 but it's price tag is a bit too much, and I am not in need for the absolute bleeding edge DAC, rather the emphasize is on budget and preferably as much DIY as possible.

For instance, this could be a good 8 ch DAC candidate from DiyinHK, I assume..
https://www.diyinhk.com/shop/audio-...c.html#/dac-xmos_and_dac_pcb/fifo_option-null
but the disclaimer part says:
ES9038pro can playback multichannel DSD and 8 channel 384k PCM, but the current xmos firmware only playback 2 channel DSD and 8 channel 192kHz PCM. User can wait for the newer firmware from XMOS or user can modify the firmware themselves to support multichannel DSD and 8 channels 384k PCM immediately.
Click to expand...
I must also admit that I am not very well acquainted with all aspects of digital audio, such as, is DSD connection really needed and when, such as, will I come across a situation where it is needed for an active speaker setup?
Or what features should a DAC come with so we can use it for active speakers?

Another candidate I have been looking at is ESI Gigaport eX 8ch DAC, not so much DIY here but attractive price and a good solution (I believe?) to just get by with.
https://www.esi-audio.com/products/gigaportex/
It is currently sold by Thomann in Germany for ~160€ as far as I can see, seems rare as I can't find it in Finland where I am, but not a problem though.
https://www.thomannmusic.com/esi_gigaport_ex.htm
Measurements:
https://prosound.ixbt.com/interfaces/esi-gigaport-ex.shtml

Besides 8ch DAC's, are there any other possible solution using 4 pieces of 2ch DAC's instead of a single 8ch DAC, and how would one sync them together if any such thing exist at all?

What other 8ch DAC's or other solutions out there would you suggest me looking at?

Thanks everyone! :)
 
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#2
Ultima Thule said:
Besides 8ch DAC's, are there any other possible solution using 4 pieces of 2ch DAC's instead of a single 8ch DAC, and how would one sync them together if any such thing exist at all?
Click to expand...

I have a fairly compact two channel DAC design where a 1off would cost about 40USD in parts (if being 16bits isn't a limitation). They'd sync together by virtue of being fed the same clock signals (WS and BCK in I2S). You would still need a USB->4 channel I2S converter to provide the I2S signals.

https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/toscanini-nos-dac.389937/#post-7115368
 
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#3
@abraxalito
yeah, I have only seen very few sporadic posts on syncing several 2ch DAC's to get more channels, isn't it something that could be done on most DAC's using some kind of distributed clock signal sharing (like the WS and BCK in I2S you mentioned), the opposing voices seems to revolve around the worries of higher jitter or so, if I now understood it?

When you say "USB->4 channel I2S converter", that's what gives us the data bandwidth providing for 8 audio channels, that is, the I2S protocol contains 2 audio channels embedded in 1 channel.. quick browsing while typing here I see at the Wiki page, the 2 audio channel in one I2S channel are the Left and Right channels, ok I got it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I²S
 
#4
Ultima Thule said:
yeah, I have only seen very few sporadic posts on syncing several 2ch DAC's to get more channels, isn't it something that could be done on most DAC's using some kind of distributed clock signal sharing (like the WS and BCK in I2S you mentioned)
Click to expand...

Yes that's right. The only DACs that wouldn't be able to be sync'd would be async USB DACs which each have their own internal clock reference.

Ultima Thule said:
, the opposing voices seems to revolve around the worries of higher jitter or so, if I now understood it?
Click to expand...

I'd guess the longer the digital interface wires the higher the jitter but with a NOS multibit DAC jitter's not something I tend to worry about too much. The extra jitter from longer wires I reckon is insignificant in the scheme of things.

Ultima Thule said:
When you say "USB->4 channel I2S converter", that's what gives us the data bandwidth providing for 8 audio channels, that is, the I2S protocol contains 2 audio channels embedded in 1 channel.. quick browsing while typing here I see at the Wiki page, the 2 audio channel in one I2S channel are the Left and Right channels, ok I got it.
Click to expand...

I vaguely recall that miniDSP were marketing such a USB-> 4 * I2S box but I don't know if they still do. Yes I was referring to a stereo pair (L,R) as one I2S channel.
 
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#5
Ultima Thule said:
What other 8ch DAC's or other solutions out there would you suggest me looking at?
Click to expand...
All the commercial/pro multichannel options use deltasigma DACs like the Sabre. Many prefer a multibit DAC for the timbral quality. The new commercial 8-channel DACs are cheap but you could DIY for even less thanks to abrax:

abraxalito said:
I have a fairly compact two channel DAC design
Click to expand...
👍

abraxalito said:
You would still need a USB->4 channel I2S converter to provide the I2S signals.
Click to expand...

MCHStreamer Lite
https://www.minidsp.com/products/usb-audio-interface/mchstreamer-lite

1663157289498.png

I2S: 8ch X 24bit/384kHz
$125USD
 
#8
For high performance applications:
MOTU: Ultralite mk5
Topping: DX-7
These both use balanced outputs, which I prefer in noisy environments.

But for something a bit less expensive, I strongly recommend that you look at the:
Behringer UMC1820
I use these in a couple of my DIY systems. You can likely find a used one at a good price, too.

You can always upgrade the audio interface later, when using software based DSP. It's one of the perks of that approach.

I would familiarize yourself with a new reality: No DSD. No bit perfect. Always resample to a common rate. Use LPCM format, e.g. S32LE/F32LE.
 
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#9
Ultima Thule said:
Besides 8ch DAC's, are there any other possible solution using 4 pieces of 2ch DAC's instead of a single 8ch DAC, and how would one sync them together if any such thing exist at all?
Click to expand...
The problem is that you cannot keep the DACs synchronized. CamillaDSP does not support doing that or using multiple endpoints. The only way to do it is to use cheap DACs with a adaptive-USB chip. For example, I used to try this with stereo ES9023+SA9023 DACs like this one:
https://hifimediy.com/product/sabre-dac-uae23/
Buy these days I would not recommend that approach, when a multichannel DAC is much better.
 
#10
Asus Xonar U7 - cheap, reasonable quality 8 channel output, works perfectly with Linux/RPI, has global volume control for DAC and nice spin wheel on top that can easily be used as a system volume control.
Downsides - only 1V output so might not drive all amps fully, probably not lowest noise solution. Only 2 of the 8 channels have the higher "115dB" dynamic range advertised.
 
#13
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