Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Headphones DAC
Gyro:
--- Quote from: Kasper on December 11, 2019, 06:39:24 pm ---2 - What specs do I need to get sales?
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:o I thought you were looking at making an 'as-simple-as-possible' one-off for yourself!
It sounds as if rather more market research is needed before you start picking components.
Bud:
What is your audio source you plan to connect the DAC to? USB? Optical? Arduino?
Kasper:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on December 11, 2019, 06:50:28 pm ---
--- Quote from: Kasper on December 11, 2019, 06:39:24 pm ---Ok, let's talk specs.
1 - What specs do I need to make high quality headphone audio?
2 - What specs do I need to get sales?
In the market I've been watching, products with over the top specs get way more sales than products with good prices.
I don't want to spend $50/DAC and I don't want to hose the audiophiles. I just want to fill that void between great and good. Specs to appease audiophiles without going too far overboard and making it needlessly expensive.
I think $10/DAC at qty 100 should get specs that rival the audiophile grade over-priced stuff. Does that sound reasonable?
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As far as DACs go, any good 24-bit DAC is all you need here. A lot of choice really for a few $ each. 32-bit would really be overkill here IMO and would make your product almost look close to "audiophool" stuff. The PCM1794A for instance is a "classic", and very good ($9.9 per 100 at Digikey). Supporting sample rates over 192kHz is IMO unncessary. No audio material is routinely available with higher than this anyway, and if you look at the figures carefully, you'll find out that the DACs supporting higher than 192kHz will have degraded performance for the higher rates. Not much benefit in practice.
The "critical" part will be the power amplifier stage IMO. Whereas getting better than 100dB (or even 105dB) SNR is definitely not too hard with a decent DAC, proper supply and proper PCB layout, getting this level of SNR for the whole chain up to the headphones will be much more difficult.
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*just kidding* who cares about layout, as long as I can put 32-bit in the ad */just kidding* aside from spending a few extra bucks and potentially looking like audiophool, are there other downsides to going with 32-bit?
Can you recommend any good resources for learning more about layout practices for good SNR?
I've been learning about EMC lately and seeing conflicting advice from EMC people saying never separate ground planes even when datasheets recommend separating analog and digital. I do not have funds for multiple tries at EMC testing so I aim to make something that has good SNR and good EMC compliance.
Kasper:
--- Quote from: Gyro on December 11, 2019, 06:57:59 pm ---
--- Quote from: Kasper on December 11, 2019, 06:39:24 pm ---2 - What specs do I need to get sales?
--- End quote ---
:o I thought you were looking at making an 'as-simple-as-possible' one-off for yourself!
It sounds as if rather more market research is needed before you start picking components.
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I'll be my first customer but yes I would like to sell them too. All my research has shown big fancy numbers and new technologies get many more sales than good prices.
Kasper:
--- Quote from: Bud on December 11, 2019, 07:00:31 pm ---What is your audio source you plan to connect the DAC to? USB? Optical? Arduino?
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I hope to make it as flexible as possible. May turn into multiple products eventually and don't want to have to redo it just to add something later.
I once worked somewhere where we were tasked with designed a doorbell camera. At first the boss wanted a cheap low res camera, then every time it was half finished he decided he wanted higher quality and our camera guy's face turned red. They went through a few engineers that year. Last I heard they gave up because it took too long.
I don't want to start with something super optimized and barely good enough and kick myself later when I have to redo it just to up the specs a little bit. I'd rather start with overkill and be well set for whatever other ideas I have.
This is one of several side projects I do after hours. Progress is very slow. By the time it's finished, 64-bit might be the standard and 32-bit might be considered old garbage.
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