fake tda dac quality...

[smithie]

hi
as ive got my tda1451 dac head on over this last month,and every other mention seems to involve "fakes" i was just curious to see if anyone has ever sat down and listerned/compared the "fakes" to the real thing??
if so i would be intrested to hear there comments on them.
obviously everyone would love the real thing,more so the s1 and s2 varients,but thats getting harder by the day,both by silly cost and lack of stock,and then you may always wonder if its original
couldnt it be possible with modern advances etc that these fakes may be half decent,or is that just wishful thinking?
any input...hard test.infomation???
all the best
smithie

[oshifis]

I have some fake TDA1541As and I will to test them using the method described here:

DAC linearity test CD

One of my fake chips is shot circuited at one supply pin. In general, fakes were fallen out of the manufacturer's test, were discarded but not crushed. They are faulty or badly out of spec. Some guy collected them from the waste bin in the backyard and tried to make money of them. I don't expect much from my fakes. Why I bought them? Just because I was cheated (and this was an electronic part shop with proper invoice etc., not an online order). I could have brought them back, but my time is more expensive, so I will use them for experiments.

[musicomputer]

Originally posted by smithie
couldnt it be possible with modern advances etc that these fakes may be half decent,or is that just wishful thinking?

I don't think anyone is actually manufacturing new tda1541 (Unless someone is moonlighting at TSMC )

What does happen is that normal tda1541/tda1541a get remarked as S1 or S2.

[smithie]

hi guys
thanks for your replies...youve shed alittle light on the subject,i was under the impressin that someone was churning them out rather then going thro dustbins!
shame no one was having a crack at reproducing...still would be avery small market and not worth the effort i guess,unless they charged more then people are for the originals!!!
once again thanks for the insight
all the best
smithie

[amc184]

I doubt any true fakes of this chip would work at all. There are probably out of spec reject being sold, but I would say actual fakes would be remarked DIP28 chips of a totally different function. Can't say I have come across any myself, but its not unheard of.

Remarked S1s and S2s on the other hand must be almost as common as the real thing on places like eBay. Easy to remark, hard to spot fakes as Philips were so inconsistent with the genuine markings, and they sell for 6 times the price, so plenty of motivation.

Anton