Apple's use of Tripath chips
I'm not sure whether they were used in external speaker units by Apple, they could have been, but Tripath (TA1101?) chips were used in a few PowerMac G4 models, the G4 Cube and perhaps some other types. The "PowerMac G4 Digital Audio" type, and a few later models AFAIK, are thusly equipped.
Out of curiosity, and delight with a T-Amp I'd recently heard then, I tried connecting Grado headphones to an old G4 tower we have around. It sounded very nice. Not that much punch, but that yummy "glassy" clarity I'd heard coming out of the T-Amp.
In case anyone's interested in Apple's usage of Tripath chips, there's some minimal info on these computer models on http://everymac.com/
A vigorous googling also turned up some random links:
http://www.google.com/search?q=apple+tripath
I find this interesting as a chapter in the story of the acceptance of Tripath's chips, and their rise to fame. Nobody really seemed to give a shift when Apple used these chips
phase_accurate said:
I'm not sure whether they were used in external speaker units by Apple, they could have been, but Tripath (TA1101?) chips were used in a few PowerMac G4 models, the G4 Cube and perhaps some other types. The "PowerMac G4 Digital Audio" type, and a few later models AFAIK, are thusly equipped.
Out of curiosity, and delight with a T-Amp I'd recently heard then, I tried connecting Grado headphones to an old G4 tower we have around. It sounded very nice. Not that much punch, but that yummy "glassy" clarity I'd heard coming out of the T-Amp.
In case anyone's interested in Apple's usage of Tripath chips, there's some minimal info on these computer models on http://everymac.com/
A vigorous googling also turned up some random links:
http://www.google.com/search?q=apple+tripath
I find this interesting as a chapter in the story of the acceptance of Tripath's chips, and their rise to fame. Nobody really seemed to give a shift when Apple used these chips
You know this kind of seems like a very small market for this product. For the cost of it most people dont' seem willing to lug it around. Maybe if they don't have a computer at the cottage they'd like to take it out there, but otherwise all you need is a USB and you can listen to anything you like. It seems to me if they're actually trying to exploit the high end market, they failed to even introduce people to it, and given the price your average off the shelf receiver probably offers more and does it better.
Prediction of things to come:
Microshaft's Ipod killer will try to do them one better by making their own class d, then anyone with a breadboard will get sued.
Prediction of things to come:
Microshaft's Ipod killer will try to do them one better by making their own class d, then anyone with a breadboard will get sued.
If you plugged your headphones into a PowerMac G4 then you didn't hear the Class D amp which is the tripath 12V part. Apple had a smaller connector so you couldn't just plug anything into the Class D amp, like to drive a line level input to a stereo. The connector was for the Apple speakers. You should see two connectors back there and one is just too small for a typical headphone plug.
-SL
-SL
iPod Hi-Fi's amplifier is a Texas Instruments TPA3004D2 12W Amplifier IC The iPod Hi-Fi uses two of these chips. It has a dual voice coil subwoofer (yes it is a subwoofer. It only produces the low notes) The frequency response Apple says is a joke. It has no issues producing frequencies and notes lower 53Hz. I can get a clean 20Hz tone from it.
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