The DIYGenie DAC on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/24-96-CD-DAC-DI...ryZ14980QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
has eight parallel TDA-1543 at 24 Bit...isn't the TDA1543 ony 16 Bit? Doesn't doubling the # of paralleled chips gets 1 full bit added (so really a 19 Bit with eight)?
Anyway, I have built the Mini DAC at HiFiDIY (same guy thats selling the Extreme DAC on ebay) and for $40 am quite happy..., I am planning on adding three more TDA1543 chips (xtra chips are $2, and a relatively simple mod - stacking the chips and changing three resistors) to improve sound even more...a cheap, fun tweak...
I vote for the Extreme DAC...or the mini DAC and modding it...
http://cgi.ebay.com/24-96-CD-DAC-DI...ryZ14980QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
has eight parallel TDA-1543 at 24 Bit...isn't the TDA1543 ony 16 Bit? Doesn't doubling the # of paralleled chips gets 1 full bit added (so really a 19 Bit with eight)?
Anyway, I have built the Mini DAC at HiFiDIY (same guy thats selling the Extreme DAC on ebay) and for $40 am quite happy..., I am planning on adding three more TDA1543 chips (xtra chips are $2, and a relatively simple mod - stacking the chips and changing three resistors) to improve sound even more...a cheap, fun tweak...
I vote for the Extreme DAC...or the mini DAC and modding it...
True...standard CD output is about 2V, and the miniDAC is about .7V...
Thanks Anonymous1...
I am hoping the addition of a few more TDA1543 and changing the IV/Vref Resistors will help out on the gain a bit...check out the attached TDA1543 calc that shows what the resistors and #TDA1543 paralleled chip combos you can do...I do not think you want to overdo the output, as you will change the sound quality quite a bit (from what I have read)
Hey Anonymous1...how did your Entech Number Cruncher DAC work out? It would be yet another DAC option here...no soldering, as it is complete unit with power supply for under $50 on eBay...
I don't know if you have another DAC to compare it to, but I would be interested in hearing what you think of it...
Thanks Anonymous1...
I am hoping the addition of a few more TDA1543 and changing the IV/Vref Resistors will help out on the gain a bit...check out the attached TDA1543 calc that shows what the resistors and #TDA1543 paralleled chip combos you can do...I do not think you want to overdo the output, as you will change the sound quality quite a bit (from what I have read)
Hey Anonymous1...how did your Entech Number Cruncher DAC work out? It would be yet another DAC option here...no soldering, as it is complete unit with power supply for under $50 on eBay...
I don't know if you have another DAC to compare it to, but I would be interested in hearing what you think of it...
john65b said:
yeah, you are right. i guess the thread was just getting off-topic (or at least what i wanted the topic to be).
i guess most of these kits or suggestions just wont be much better than what i have. the ones ive narrowed it down to should be pretty good, but im looking to beat a relatively decent dac, not just some crummy one inside a $100 dvd player or something.
john65b said:
I don't have any other external DAC's to compare it to and thats probably a good thing. If I can't compare it to anything better there's no way for me to find any flaws in it.
In other words; I'm very content with the way it sounds. Its a major improvement over the output of my Audigy sound card that I was previously using. The highs are a lot less fatiguing and the mids are 10 fold smoother.
The Entech has gotten a lot of positive reviews over the years and being able to buy them at the current going price; its hard to beat.
I built new power supplies using dual secondaries with separate bridge rectifiers and caps. This is a major improvement over the original supply that was in my opinion the DAC's only major drawback.
Here is a pic of my yet to completed project....
http://i12.tinypic.com/334q34m.jpg
....and attached is a pic of how the original supply was setup. I'm not quite sure what this scheme is called; but I think its a half-wave voltage doubler. Feel free to correct me. The input is AC, I couldn't find a symbol without the + and - on it.
Attachments
theAnonymous1 said:
I don't have any other external DAC's to compare it to and thats probably a good thing. If I can't compare it to anything better there's no way for me to find any flaws in it.
In other words; I'm very content with the way it sounds. Its a major improvement over the output of my Audigy sound card that I was previously using. The highs are a lot less fatiguing and the mids are 10 fold smoother.
The Entech has gotten a lot of positive reviews over the years and being able to buy them at the current going price; its hard to beat.
I built new power supplies using dual secondaries with separate bridge rectifiers and caps. This is a major improvement over the original supply that was in my opinion the DAC's only major drawback.
Here is a pic of my yet to completed project....
http://i12.tinypic.com/334q34m.jpg
....and attached is a pic of how the original supply was setup. I'm not quite sure what this scheme is called; but I think its a half-wave voltage doubler. Feel free to correct me. The input is AC, I couldn't find a symbol without the + and - on it.
what is that project you are working on? is that 3 entech's? will it be a 6-ch dac?
cowanrg said:
Yes sir, my project is a 6-channel DAC using 3 Entech 203.2's with an IR motorized volume control. The input signal will be from the 3 optical outs of a custom header for my Audigy card running kxdrivers.
I noticed when the Entech doesn't have a digital signal it puts out quite a bit of noise, not sure why. If you look on the left of the pic you will see 3 DPDT relays. I plan on connecting them to the "signal locked" LED output so when there isn't a signal it shorts the inputs of the amp its connected to. The relays only use 30ma, about the same as the LED. I've tested this out on one board already and it worked as planned.
The whole project cost a little over $300, and that includes 3 Entech 203.2 DACs, IR control board, Alps 6 gang pot, chassis, power supply parts, and other misc parts.
john65b said:
I'll be using two rehoused and modded DCP-501 boards configured as 4-channel amps. One will be mids/highs and the other will have one 15" per channel for OB bass.
I'm still undecided about whether I want to build new power supplies for the boards or use the one they came with. A new supply would cost almost twice as much as I paid for each 501.
This started out as a budget Hi-Fi project but has far exceeded what I considered a "budget". I havn't even bought the $500 worth of speakers yet.
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