... and of course nothing bad to sell a pcb, you just need to be aware of what you buy though and the quality behind.
Then it's you're own responsibility to buy what you buy.
- errors often lie where you don't know, so the designer matters here, imho, of course YMMV and it's a free world.
We are sure John, Pedja, Thorsten, ?, know what they do. Paste and copy is not as easy what one beleive -me the first-... Of course I'm just talking about pcb; rest is qa matter of design, choice (powersupply, etc). I wisch John made a diy edition for the tda 1541A despite the story is continuing towards greater improvements, discrete designs and so on.
I'm of course fan of Rogic's pcb to have testing several design with the chip of this thread. But all the people that have readed this thread as I did, see there is a lot here and it's not that easy to copy what we beleive to be simple ! Not a question of layers numbers (prown to have more errors btw if you don(t know, cause testing is difficult with the vias and groundS.) but how you know to use ir, make slices on the pcbs in spite of copying multiuple sources you maybe don't understand. So no offense, reality is just difficult !
I like a lot what is doing Miro1360 with a sort of humility behind. Doe sit sold his pcb ? NO !
Then it's you're own responsibility to buy what you buy.
- errors often lie where you don't know, so the designer matters here, imho, of course YMMV and it's a free world.We are sure John, Pedja, Thorsten, ?, know what they do. Paste and copy is not as easy what one beleive -me the first-... Of course I'm just talking about pcb; rest is qa matter of design, choice (powersupply, etc). I wisch John made a diy edition for the tda 1541A despite the story is continuing towards greater improvements, discrete designs and so on.
I'm of course fan of Rogic's pcb to have testing several design with the chip of this thread. But all the people that have readed this thread as I did, see there is a lot here and it's not that easy to copy what we beleive to be simple ! Not a question of layers numbers (prown to have more errors btw if you don(t know, cause testing is difficult with the vias and groundS.) but how you know to use ir, make slices on the pcbs in spite of copying multiuple sources you maybe don't understand. So no offense, reality is just difficult !
I like a lot what is doing Miro1360 with a sort of humility behind. Doe sit sold his pcb ? NO !
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Per diyiggy's suggestion, I was reading into the work of Pedja Rogic, wow he has done much to extract the best of the TDA1541A...I was so impressed, I thought that I will just buy one of his DACs instead of my own TDA1541A design LOL that is what I am going to do.
BUT I still want to make my own DAC, and I have decided I will make it a more simple design by using AD1865 instead of TDA1541A. Will change the configuration of the I2SoverUSB boards for AD1865.
I've continued playing with different power supply design ideas for this DAC, reviewing much of the tips left here by John and others. I think I am going to use series regulation rather than LDO ICs or shunt.
For AD1865, I will need three +5V supplies (two digital, one analog) and one -5V supply (analog). From my reading and learning, it is preferable to use the lowest possible rated power transformer with minimum interwinding capacitance to reduce primary-to-secondary noise coupling. The most efficient way to do that is to use series regulation over shunt regulation since additional current draw is required in a shunt device.
So the supply I am targeting will use two series regulators in cascade - a capacitor multiplier and a TL431 adjustable series regulator, both using Darlington BJT. As it stands, it is a very simple design and does not have the noise rejection of John's more advanced common mode supplies, but for a first attempt I think it will do. Ripple rejection is very high, output impedance is low, and the TL431 serves as adjustable reference to fine-tune the output voltage. I am planning to use four separate transformer windings, one for each supply, to minimize digital contamination of the analog supplies. Design is not finalized, but here is the gist (there will be a potentiometer in series with R4/R6 for adjustment).
I know it is not the most advanced, but I am no engineer, so for me I think it is a good first attempt at a DAC supply. I have Sowter 1465 I/V transformers on the way, will try taking the output from the transformers directly as opposed to additional tube gain stage and see how it sounds. Will spend some time fine-tuning the supply, then test in the real world.
BUT I still want to make my own DAC, and I have decided I will make it a more simple design by using AD1865 instead of TDA1541A. Will change the configuration of the I2SoverUSB boards for AD1865.
I've continued playing with different power supply design ideas for this DAC, reviewing much of the tips left here by John and others. I think I am going to use series regulation rather than LDO ICs or shunt.
For AD1865, I will need three +5V supplies (two digital, one analog) and one -5V supply (analog). From my reading and learning, it is preferable to use the lowest possible rated power transformer with minimum interwinding capacitance to reduce primary-to-secondary noise coupling. The most efficient way to do that is to use series regulation over shunt regulation since additional current draw is required in a shunt device.
So the supply I am targeting will use two series regulators in cascade - a capacitor multiplier and a TL431 adjustable series regulator, both using Darlington BJT. As it stands, it is a very simple design and does not have the noise rejection of John's more advanced common mode supplies, but for a first attempt I think it will do. Ripple rejection is very high, output impedance is low, and the TL431 serves as adjustable reference to fine-tune the output voltage. I am planning to use four separate transformer windings, one for each supply, to minimize digital contamination of the analog supplies. Design is not finalized, but here is the gist (there will be a potentiometer in series with R4/R6 for adjustment).
I know it is not the most advanced, but I am no engineer, so for me I think it is a good first attempt at a DAC supply. I have Sowter 1465 I/V transformers on the way, will try taking the output from the transformers directly as opposed to additional tube gain stage and see how it sounds. Will spend some time fine-tuning the supply, then test in the real world.
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It os not too late LordGwyn. I play with the TDA long time ago too then stop for a while due to work & when I restarted I found AyA & thought hmmm buy one & see what sounds like.
Well I have to say it does sounds very good but now its way way better after yrs of tweaking it but the fundamentals are very good to begin with hence it enabled me to experiment & tweak the dac to the sound that I was looking for.
Cheers
Well I have to say it does sounds very good but now its way way better after yrs of tweaking it but the fundamentals are very good to begin with hence it enabled me to experiment & tweak the dac to the sound that I was looking for.
Cheers
Thanks, Sumotan, happy to hear you have been able to improve your AYA, I bet the AYA 5 is phenomenal, really an excellent deal, even for the fully completed model considering the price of the TDA1541A chip itself. I am going to leave the TDA1541A expertise to Pedja and work on a AD1865 still, the +5/-5V supply makes the design more simple for me, also with I2SoverUSB module, the AD1865 does not require a mute circuit (the TDA1541A does). I think overall it is a more approachable chip for a first time designer! Hopefully there are no surprises (I'm sure there will be ).
).Welcome actually I have 2 Aya one to be use for computer audio in future the other which Im using now is connected directly via I2S to my SdTrans 384 Sd card player. Anyway how you feed the 3 supply line to the dac greatly affects the sound too. Lots to tweaking if you have the patience, took me a long long time.
Cheers
Cheers
We will see Sumotan! I have to get the DAC working first, then the tweaking will begin
Maybe someone on the thread knows - when it comes to Nuvotem Talema encapsulated toroidals, 7XXXXK series, can the two secondary windings be used independently, or must they be used in series / parallel?
Low Profile PCB Mounting 1.6VA to 50VA : The Talema Group
Maybe someone on the thread knows - when it comes to Nuvotem Talema encapsulated toroidals, 7XXXXK series, can the two secondary windings be used independently, or must they be used in series / parallel?
Low Profile PCB Mounting 1.6VA to 50VA : The Talema Group
ahaha, my best find is how to get rid of the Black Gate. Although still need two standard in the analog stage with my dysimetric caps stage, lol ! The caps sect !
I think I had the luck to find good R-Core enough with the old Selectronic made in India. Don't know if all R-Core (cheapest) are better than best EI or best toroids ?
@LordG : you should save time and works directly on the AD1862 or the PCM56, imho (been there, the three best PCM chips imho with the TDA1540 as well).
Best to follow John, Pedja, Thorsten works... when it comes to the TDA1541A... creative designers. You always can find a TDA1541 Distinction, Red Baron and tube it too... I will try tube as the tda1541 is a disease for some as I (but I find the two other chips very good too, it's more the whole layout, the care of the pcb design, the quality of the front-end as well that counts : see here the recent efforts of ECDESIGNS on the front-end stages...)
I think I had the luck to find good R-Core enough with the old Selectronic made in India. Don't know if all R-Core (cheapest) are better than best EI or best toroids ?
@LordG : you should save time and works directly on the AD1862 or the PCM56, imho (been there, the three best PCM chips imho with the TDA1540 as well).
Best to follow John, Pedja, Thorsten works... when it comes to the TDA1541A... creative designers
. You always can find a TDA1541 Distinction, Red Baron and tube it too... I will try tube as the tda1541 is a disease for some as I (but I find the two other chips very good too, it's more the whole layout, the care of the pcb design, the quality of the front-end as well that counts : see here the recent efforts of ECDESIGNS on the front-end stages...)
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Thanks, diyiggy, I will revisit the PCM56, I do not think it would be much different than plans underway for AD1865, similar power supply requirements at the least. As you might recall, I recently had a PCM56 NOS DAC in my home and I was very pleased with the sound
I am trying to work out the kinks of my power supply plans, but I am working on two tube amplifiers as well, there is too much DIY underway! Thanks, diyiggy, I will revisit the PCM56, I do not think it would be much different than plans underway for AD1865, similar power supply requirements at the least. As you might recall, I recently had a PCM56 NOS DAC in my home and I was very pleased with the sound
Don't we all have one too many projects to deal with . Lol
all that good wool for sealed loudspeakers...
Make me think to a story :
One day an EI in vacation on the countryside was blocked by a big dense sheeps block on a little road as your photograph.
And as he was yelling on the poor silly Shepherd, this one answered : "if you can count the number of sheeps you see in less of half a minute I open you the road"!
"Well, 38!" answered the engineer that had some experience with datas, complex numbers and math... and was confident about that!
"Give me back my dog, please!" answered the Shepherd !
Make me think to a story :
One day an EI in vacation on the countryside was blocked by a big dense sheeps block on a little road as your photograph.
And as he was yelling on the poor silly Shepherd, this one answered : "if you can count the number of sheeps you see in less of half a minute I open you the road"!
"Well, 38!" answered the engineer that had some experience with datas, complex numbers and math... and was confident about that!
"Give me back my dog, please!" answered the Shepherd !
Damn, the arcings on the mountain was a Quad ESL63... the bush was a sheep !
Anyway noone seen a churchman or a prophet making a DAC !
. But sometimes there is a shortcut, that's the sense of this story