This is a USB-C Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) and headphone amplifier that turns your boring digital audio into sweet, sweet analog music that your ears can actually appreciate.
- USB-C Interface: Because it's 2025 and we're not savages using USB-A anymore
- PCM2902 Codec: High-quality audio conversion that makes Spotify sound like you're in the recording studio
- Dual Power Supplies: 3.7V and 15V because sometimes you need to power a small village with your headphone amp
- Baxandall Volume Control: Fancy name for "makes things louder or quieter" but sounds more expensive
- NE5532 Op-Amps: Because good audio is all about those op-amps, baby (8 of them to be exact!)
- Audiophile-Grade Components: Your music deserves better than those $5 earbuds that came with your phone
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- Input: USB-C (5V)
- Output: Stereo audio that will make you question why you've been listening to music through your laptop speakers
- Power Output: 5W - Enough to drive most headphones without setting them on fire
- Voltage Rails: +15V for the analog section (because more voltage = more better, right?)
- Components: Various resistors, capacitors, and ICs that you'll inevitably place backward at least once
- Plug the USB-C connector into your device
- Plug your headphones into the headphone jack
- Adjust the volume using the fancy Baxandall volume control
- Experience audio nirvana and wonder why you ever thought those $10 USB dongles were "good enough"
- No Sound: Check connections, power, and whether you remembered to actually plug in your headphones
- Weird Noises: Probably ground loops. It's always ground loops.
- Smoke: Unplug immediately and review steps 2-3 of the building instructions
- Friend says they can't hear a difference: Get new friends with better ears
Designed by Anirudh Madhusudhan, becuase I apparently have too much free time and very particular audio standards.
Feel free to build this for yourself! If you decide to sell it, at least change the silkscreen to make it less obvious you stole it.
Note: No audiophiles were harmed in the making of this DAC, though several claimed they could "totally hear the difference" between the prototype and final version despite them being identical.