WTB: Sony Bus System (Unilink) compatible Phatbox

[mrblack]

Am looking for a Sony compatible Phatbox, and have come up empty so far.  Anyone with some sources that they'd care to share with me?  Thanks!

[sbingner]

they're all compatible with that - you just need a cable

[mrblack]

Right, but I find myself confused by which units have RCA outputs and which don't.  There are multiple VW and Audi PB's on Ebay that are reasonably priced, just not sure which would be the best for my situation.

Plus, I honestly don't know if I'm handy enough to splice the end of a Unilink cable onto a PB one.  Are there any better sources for PB cables or am I stuck with attempting to ruin a cable on my own?  

[sbingner]

VW/Audi do not have RCA output, but you could solder them onto the board with parts from mouser...   otherwise, get any Kenwood model (or the PhatBox if you want to pay lots)

[sbingner]

Oh yes, I can speak from experience that it's a b*tch to splice in a new end to a unilink cable   But it's possible....

[mrblack]

Do you know which models have what DAC's built into them?  I read that the Kenwood Music Keg specifically has 24 bit Burr Brown DAC's.  How about the OEM PB's such as Audi/VW models?  Also, what is the normal method of going about tapping into the audio of the Audi/VW models that have no built in RCA's?  Is this just a splice and solder situation, or is there a cleaner method of doing this.

[sbingner]

The board is exactly the same as the Kenwood boards, you can buy the RCA plug jacks and solder them on --- it's even got solder in the connection points already

[mrblack]

So really the only difference between the majority of these things after doing a firmware update is the outer shell and the cable that Phatnoise makes so hard to find?  I'm beginning to understand why certain information on these things seems to be a little difficult to come across.

I also read somewhere that some PB's came with 16 bit CSM DAC's instead of the 24 bit burr brown.  Do you know if there were specific models that had the CSM DAC's instead of Burr Brown?

[sbingner]

I don't know for sure but I'll try to look at the 3 I have at home....  I believe the upgraded DAC was on the KHD-CX910 and the normal one was on the KHD-C710

Try looking at the pictures linked from http://wiki.phathack.com/Hardware_FAQ for the C710 and the CX910 and see if you can figure it out

I'll update http://wiki.phathack.com/Versions_and_Compatibility and http://wiki.phathack.com/Hardware_FAQ assuming I remember to check tonight... or if you can figure it out, update it yourself

[mrblack]

After seeing those pictures it looks to me as if the 24 bit BB DAC is in the C710 and the 16 bit CS DAC is in the CX910.  Interesting.

Do you know off hand which of the two boards were used in other model PB's such as the Audi/VW systems?