Question about voltage vs current output for DAC

GroupDIY Audio Forum

Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

trashcanman

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
104
Hey,

I have an old piece of gear that needs a new DAC which is no longer produced. The chip the circuit uses is the Burr Brown PCM53, current output version. These chips are pretty scarce now but I've found some cheap used ones that are the voltage output version and was wondering if it would be possible to use this and just stick a voltage to current convertor on the output?

My other possibility for a solution is to use the slightly newer and more available PCM54, which has a slightly different pinout but should be workable with an adapter board I assume.
 
Current output DACs are usually followed by a current to voltage converter so you get a regular voltage output. The simplest form of this is just a resistor to ground (V = I  x R). More commonly a an op amp is used - essentially an inverting circuit with the current injected directly into the - input.

Either way, if you have a new DAC that produces a voltage directly then you might well simply bypass the current to voltage stage.

Cheers

ian
 
ruffrecords said:
Current output DACs are usually followed by a current to voltage converter so you get a regular voltage output. The simplest form of this is just a resistor to ground (V = I  x R). Mor
e commonly a an op amp is used - essentially an inverting circuit with the current injected directly into the - input.

Either way, if you have a new DAC that produces a voltage directly then you might well simply bypass the current to voltage stage.

Cheers

ian

Interesting . I’ll have a look at the schematic and see what’s going on there. Thanks.
 
Back
Top