I've got to build a 1541 based DAC just to see what it sounds like. I came across a blog or website that I cant find again. It was a single 1541 chip on a green pcb and the person had like eight or so of the PCB's stacked on top of one another. Has anyone seen something like that?
If not, what is the best layout available today? I'd like to build one with balanced output as well.
If not, what is the best layout available today? I'd like to build one with balanced output as well.
Okay. That's the first problem. There are many fakes on the internet, and chips are not made any more. Once you find a legitimate seller with a real chip you can buy, then making a board shouldn't be so hard. Of course, you can spend a great deal of money making the best TDA1541A dac possible. If you want to go that route it could end up costing a few thousand dollars by the time you are done.
Also, IMHO there are better dacs today. Not necessarily saying better chips if you like the TDA1541A sound, but there are discrete dacs that can probably do even better at getting that type of sound some people like. The discrete approach can be expensive too, however.
Also, IMHO there are better dacs today. Not necessarily saying better chips if you like the TDA1541A sound, but there are discrete dacs that can probably do even better at getting that type of sound some people like. The discrete approach can be expensive too, however.
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I'll need to do my research to find real ones for sure. I'm just going to put something together to see what it sounds like. I've built 3 Twisted Pear Buffalos and am in the process of assembling iancanada's dual mono ESS9038 dac using the super cap power supplies. I just wanted something to flip flop back and forth and to see what all the hype is about so to speak
Have a read there , you'll find good infos along this thread regarding the TDA1541A 
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...ltimate-nos-dac-using-tda1541a.79452/page-429
.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...ltimate-nos-dac-using-tda1541a.79452/page-429.
No wonder you're looking for a different type of dac sound. The ESS Hyperstream 2 modulator in the dacs you mention has been superseded by the Hyperstream 4 modulator in the new ES9039 series dacs. The new ones are claimed to sound significantly better.
The ESS chips are pretty good if you get the right PSU's in the right place. I figure the iancanada DAC is probably the best diy implementation and I was curious as well as impressed with the I2S over HDMI support, Supercap PSU's, and the focus on clean and dirty. I figure it was worth one more try.
I love the sound of the Chord products but the $5k price for the Hugo 2 TT and $10k for the Dave with another $5k for the multiplexer I just couldn't swing it at this point. I had considered the Hugo 2 and them feeding that to a pair of cinemag xformers for balanced output but I was drawn into one more ESS project I guess. If it sounds better than a TPA setup great. If not, I can get 90% of my money out from a sale and try a Hugo 2 I guess
But as far as trying a 1541 I figured like more than half of my library is 44.1/16 bit so why not experiement with one once the Iancanada setup is done. Nothing ventured, nothing gained
I love the sound of the Chord products but the $5k price for the Hugo 2 TT and $10k for the Dave with another $5k for the multiplexer I just couldn't swing it at this point. I had considered the Hugo 2 and them feeding that to a pair of cinemag xformers for balanced output but I was drawn into one more ESS project I guess. If it sounds better than a TPA setup great. If not, I can get 90% of my money out from a sale and try a Hugo 2 I guess
But as far as trying a 1541 I figured like more than half of my library is 44.1/16 bit so why not experiement with one once the Iancanada setup is done. Nothing ventured, nothing gained
If you like high-end dac sound, there are some diy options. Right now I am using various boards and components from forum projects, Acko Labs, TheWellAudio, JL Sounds, etc.
Pic of experimental RTZ DSD FIRDAC in use now can be seen in my dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2u4e...etup.jpg?rlkey=b0k9o2yxkserprl89y9s8prs7&dl=0
Sounds very good. Probably compete with a Chord or something in that league pretty well.
Something very good but a little less extreme in the thread at: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/return-to-zero-shift-register-firdac.379406/
Good FPGA-based DSD modulator project at: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/simple-dsd-modulator-for-dsc2.370177/
IMHO this stuff is far ahead of a dual ES9038Q2M dac (one which I already tried a long time ago).
Pic of experimental RTZ DSD FIRDAC in use now can be seen in my dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2u4e...etup.jpg?rlkey=b0k9o2yxkserprl89y9s8prs7&dl=0
Sounds very good. Probably compete with a Chord or something in that league pretty well.
Something very good but a little less extreme in the thread at: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/return-to-zero-shift-register-firdac.379406/
Good FPGA-based DSD modulator project at: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/simple-dsd-modulator-for-dsc2.370177/
IMHO this stuff is far ahead of a dual ES9038Q2M dac (one which I already tried a long time ago).
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My dac output stage is discrete and powered by 4 shunt regulators (no opamps in the system, except some DC servos)). The output stage and the dac boards are from TheWellAudio. More advanced than anything here in the forum so far. From there the audio goes into transformers that are for now under NDA, as is much of the following circuitry. Eventually the analog audio goes into a pair of Marantz SA9M2 mono blocks, then into large format Sound Lab ESL panels.
We had a visitor here two times total, back when the system was less evolved than it is now. Here is what he had to say:
When I was there, Mark's speakers were one of the Soundlab behemoths, probably the Majestic series, which is a large electrostat. There were subs for the very bottom end. This was powered by high power amps. Front end was one of the DACs Mark was probably experimenting with. Vinyl was the new SP-10 Mk3 with a laser cartridge (?) plus a custom preamp for the cartridge. My speakers are a two-way, 15 inch pro woofer plus large horn mated to a compression driver.
The first thing I noticed was that the electrostats could play loud with little to no distortion. Much more so than my horn speakers, which can go plenty loud. I had heard electrostats before and was always disappointed that I couldn't turn it up without hitting the limit. On these, the limit is high enough that you can enjoy realistic sound levels and stunningly low distortion.
This low distortion from the speakers resulted in a lot of transparency and ability to hear down into the preceding components. And it is those components whose sound we are interested in. What I heard was an extremely natural, live-sounding tempo. This was a revelation to me. Even on music I am very familiar with, the tempo was much slower and much more natural. It was unbelievable really. On one piece of music, I had to check with Mark that he was playing the exact same recording I had heard so many times. The difference was that stark. You would want your system to have this ability to get the tempo (or flow, or beat, or whatever you want to call it) exactly right.
And of course all the other stuff, such as natural timbres and textures of instruments and voices was there. But the tempo was the standout thing for me. We listened to the vinyl too and of course that sounded very good, probably goes without saying.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/dac-recommendation.376015/post-7560022
Only point here is that everything matters. Of course its not just the dac, but an output stage is usually considered part of the dac (certainly that's true for Chord dacs). Then however good the dac is, the rest of the system has to be able to reproduce the resulting analog signal well.
We had a visitor here two times total, back when the system was less evolved than it is now. Here is what he had to say:
When I was there, Mark's speakers were one of the Soundlab behemoths, probably the Majestic series, which is a large electrostat. There were subs for the very bottom end. This was powered by high power amps. Front end was one of the DACs Mark was probably experimenting with. Vinyl was the new SP-10 Mk3 with a laser cartridge (?) plus a custom preamp for the cartridge. My speakers are a two-way, 15 inch pro woofer plus large horn mated to a compression driver.
The first thing I noticed was that the electrostats could play loud with little to no distortion. Much more so than my horn speakers, which can go plenty loud. I had heard electrostats before and was always disappointed that I couldn't turn it up without hitting the limit. On these, the limit is high enough that you can enjoy realistic sound levels and stunningly low distortion.
This low distortion from the speakers resulted in a lot of transparency and ability to hear down into the preceding components. And it is those components whose sound we are interested in. What I heard was an extremely natural, live-sounding tempo. This was a revelation to me. Even on music I am very familiar with, the tempo was much slower and much more natural. It was unbelievable really. On one piece of music, I had to check with Mark that he was playing the exact same recording I had heard so many times. The difference was that stark. You would want your system to have this ability to get the tempo (or flow, or beat, or whatever you want to call it) exactly right.
And of course all the other stuff, such as natural timbres and textures of instruments and voices was there. But the tempo was the standout thing for me. We listened to the vinyl too and of course that sounded very good, probably goes without saying.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/dac-recommendation.376015/post-7560022
Only point here is that everything matters. Of course its not just the dac, but an output stage is usually considered part of the dac (certainly that's true for Chord dacs). Then however good the dac is, the rest of the system has to be able to reproduce the resulting analog signal well.
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Or, you can try this:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-268#post-7159210
with basic psu: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-268#post-7159210
and output DC protection: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-285#post-7187720
... you can skip digital logic on the DAC PCB and instead use my CPLD solution which can sounds better: https://electrodac.blogspot.com/p/i2s-to-tda1541a-converter-tutorial.html
There are many solutions with TDA1541A.
I will highly recommend TDA1540, which sounds even better (in my opinion): 😎
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-309#post-7272246
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-309#post-7272253
https://electrodac.blogspot.com/p/tutorial-how-to-programm-altera-cpld.html
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-268#post-7159210
with basic psu: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-268#post-7159210
and output DC protection: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-285#post-7187720
... you can skip digital logic on the DAC PCB and instead use my CPLD solution which can sounds better: https://electrodac.blogspot.com/p/i2s-to-tda1541a-converter-tutorial.html
There are many solutions with TDA1541A.
I will highly recommend TDA1540, which sounds even better (in my opinion): 😎
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-309#post-7272246
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...s-input-nos-r-2r.354078/page-309#post-7272253
https://electrodac.blogspot.com/p/tutorial-how-to-programm-altera-cpld.html
@miro1360 this looks really interesting https://electrodac.blogspot.com/p/i2s-to-tda1541a-converter-tutorial.html
So I would program the board and then connect I2S input to it them connect the output to the dac chip correct?
This is the pcb I am planning on using
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...anced-dac-pcb-batteryman.403720/#post-7652248
So I would program the board and then connect I2S input to it them connect the output to the dac chip correct?
This is the pcb I am planning on using
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...anced-dac-pcb-batteryman.403720/#post-7652248
Correct, and the input for TDA1541A must be configured as simultaneous (not I2S) but I assume this is what are you looking for (see datasheet tda1541a table 1 - input data selection ... check if the PCB has it like that)
There is also a good compact alternative jlsounds I2SoverUSB which can outputs simultaneous for TDA1541A after configuration.
(see datasheet tda1541a table 1 - input data selection ... check if the PCB has it like that)There is also a good compact alternative jlsounds I2SoverUSB which can outputs simultaneous for TDA1541A after configuration.