Signalyst DSC1
DSC1 is an Open Hardware, “discrete” delta-sigma D/A-converter specifically designed for 256x and higher sampling rates and optimized for seventh order modulators used in Signalyst HQPlayer.
There is no hardware support for PCM at all and minimum recommended sampling rate is 5.6448 MHz. Playback of PCM and lower rate DSD content is accomplished by using realtime software conversion such as provided by Signalyst HQPlayer.
Features
‣ Pure 1-bit direct delta-sigma design (DSD128+ compatible)
‣ 33-level multi-level conversion
‣ Transient optimized analog reconstruction filter
‣ Supports up to 24.576 MHz sampling rates
‣ No magic “black boxes”
‣ No ultrasonic noise bumps at 22.5792 MHz and higher rates
Design principles
This design was made specifically to be combined with Amanero Combo384 USB interface board since it is generally available and has support for 256x and 512x DSD rates. Overall guiding principle is to make the design “as simple as possible but not any simpler“. Thus overall to implement 1-bit D/A conversion as simple as possible but still in a way considered correct without oversimplification.
Design documents
Note! There are various configuration details for this design, with the given components VDD is rated for +5VDC. This is by no means final design, Open Hardware will never be “final”, it is always evolving. These documents only represent current state of the design.