Is it too ambitious of a beginner project to try and do like, a BantamDAC and Mini^3 or Pimeta in a single enclosure? Note that my experience with casework and surface mount soldering is zero, not even having made either standalone.

I think the casework is going to be the hardest part of this, based on what I've read from past DIY stuff, and I guess the question boils down to "is the casework for two-in-one a bad idea to do before doing a single?" if I'm not mistaken.

Casework for two-in-one isn't going to be any more difficult than two separate cases IMO. At a minimum, you can fumble through it, it will look like crap, and it will still be functional.

But your first go at surface mount soldering being a PCM2702? *whistles* That would be very ambitious......

Soldering of SMD parts will be the tricky stuff as casework is more annoying then hard. I would recommend a good drill press though and good drillbits to start off with.

I've always wanted to put a great headphone amp and dac inside of an old dell pc case for the office. Cleaning staff and others would be none the wiser

Is it too ambitious of a beginner project to try and do like, a BantamDAC and Mini^3 or Pimeta in a single enclosure? Note that my experience with casework and surface mount soldering is zero, not even having made either standalone.

I think the casework is going to be the hardest part of this, based on what I've read from past DIY stuff, and I guess the question boils down to "is the casework for two-in-one a bad idea to do before doing a single?" if I'm not mistaken.

It's certainly been done.

But yes, you are correct in assuming that the casework is probably the most challenging bit, especially if overall size has to be limited. Some parts of the Alien DAC can also be tricky if you are not all that familiar with SMD soldering.

You could pick up one of these:

The USB Receiver Module

and avoid surface mount soldering for the DAC at the very least.

You could pick up one of these:

The USB Receiver Module

and avoid surface mount soldering for the DAC at the very least.

Good call, they claim that it's ok driving headphones directly and would probably suffice as a decent office amp/dac if you don't mind software manipulation of the volume.

Good call, they claim that it's ok driving headphones directly and would probably suffice as a decent office amp/dac if you don't mind software manipulation of the volume.

Yep, although I haven't used it directly with headphones. It would also allow for some upgrade path.... use the module as a DAC then later it could be used as a USB receiver with an Opus or Buffalo. If the OP configured it right, they could even leave enough vertical room to stack modules later and still keep it in a relatively small case (although one would need to have an outboard PS in that situation).

Is it too ambitious of a beginner project to try and do like, a BantamDAC and Mini^3 or Pimeta in a single enclosure? Note that my experience with casework and surface mount soldering is zero, not even having made either standalone.

I think the casework is going to be the hardest part of this, based on what I've read from past DIY stuff, and I guess the question boils down to "is the casework for two-in-one a bad idea to do before doing a single?" if I'm not mistaken.

I think I have a pair of PIMETAs that are basically finished. You could use the pair of them and make a balanced PIMETA, if you are at all interested I also have a toroid and I think a single TREAD. So, you'd have to buy a second TREAD, which is a fantastic first project. If you are at all interested, let me know and I can post pics.

Thanks for all the responses, I think I'll pass on the DAC for now and learn some basic PCB soldering first.

And luvdunhill, thanks for the offer but I have to do this myself