A few posts back, I mumbled something about starting to build things more along the lines of Hi-Fi gear (but don’t worry, there’s plenty more synth gear to build- I just need to be able to listen to it and record it better…). My original plan was to build something like a gainclone/chipamp amplifier (yes, sneer at me tube fans!). That may still happen, but my first piece of audio gear is going to be an implementation of this USB ADC/DAC.
For a while now, I’ve been desiring an external audio interface for my computer(s). Unfortunately, price on the high end, and other reasons I don’t want to get into on the low end have been preventing this. After enough frustration with this and some helpful Google searches, I’ve decided to go ahead and build my own. Mine will be a little different from the one at that link – it will have Neutrik XLR-1/4″ combo inputs and 1/4″ outputs, as well as S/PDIF input and output. It won’t have built-in preamps, but that’s OK, because they’re coming later, via an INA217-based design on that’s still forming in my head.
Will it be the best USB audio interface ever? Probably not, but it’s the best reasonably simple DIY one I’ve found thus far, and it will be the best one I’ve ever built 😉
Now I need to go practice surface-mount soldering, since the PCM2902 is SSOP-only. Good thing I’ve accidentally ordered SOIC ICs several times, and got some little adapters, so I can get my skills honed now.