One of the great aspects of DIY projects is that they can be customized to the builder's wants/needs. However, there is also a significant drawback, and that is the lack of input from other very capable minds.

Attached is a picture of a Dual Mono Buffalo III. It is almost complete, except for a USB transport and remote control. I also am planning to configure the Input, Mute, and Lock LEDs in a different way than I have seen previously, so they are not configured in this prototype as they will be in the final version. The only significant change I have made is to use 2" heat sinks instead of the 1 1/2" sinks supplied. I don't think one can have too much cooling in this situation, especially with shunt-regulated power supplies.

The fiinal version will be placed in a ventilated Hammond cabinet with a separate chassis (which I will also additionally ventilate). I chose this cabinet because it has a chassis, as well as front and rear panels that are replaceable (just in case I change my mind about lay-out). The cardboard box used in the pictures has about the same footprint at the permanent chassis, so final lay-out should be fairly simple. The fact that it is a Clorox box should help keep the signal clean.

All of the standard digital inputs (AES/EBU, coaxial, and Toslink) work fine. I have not been able to try any higher-resolution inputs because I don't have a USB Transport (yet). I'm hoping that the TPA USB Transport will be out soon. I would really like to try it with my Windows-based music server (that I also built).

Your constructive criticism of any aspect of my lay-out will be greatly appreciated.

Edited by user Saturday, June 23, 2012 12:08:45 PM(UTC)  | Reason: revised text

Thanks. Rick. I've found tbe posts of others very helpful as I've planned and built my DAC. I like that you are adaptively reusing a chassis for your dac.

Before stacking the toroids, I contacted A-L technical support. They said it should not be a problem, and indeed, it has not been.

Edited by user Sunday, July 1, 2012 11:34:22 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I'm still waiting for a USB transport for my TPA dual mono DAC. I have only been able to use it with 16 bit/44.1kHz sources.

My high-resolution digital system consizts of a custom-built music server feeding an Audio Research DAC8 via USB.