Mood-Lab NON-OS dac

[reMC]

Any experience with the Mood-Lab (under construction) dac? I'm considering buying it. Price is $199 for the basic version "concept" with 1 digital input and $399 for "dice", which has more digital inputs includes Toslink optical, coaxial and USB input for computer.



I really like the minimal concept (no input buffer, no reclocking) while the lay-out allows it to experiment with components.

[Bas Horneman]

looks a little overpriced to me.

[reMC]

Originally posted by Bas Horneman
looks a little overpriced to me.

Care to tell why? I think it's the cheapest commercial available NON-OS dac, isn't it? Furthermore, I have no idea how it sounds! Do you?

[Bas Horneman]

Care to tell why? I think it's the cheapest commercial available NON-OS dac, isn't it? Furthermore, I have no idea how it sounds! Do you?

Sure. I look at it from the point of view of a diy'er. I don't see fancy casework. And looking at the parts I arrive at a price of say 40-90 euro's.

I have an idea how it sounds but not exactly ofcourse, since I have not heard that particular one. I have heard 3 types of TDA 1543 nos with CS8412 receivers and I liked them all.

2 of them use 8*1543's paralled and the other was with a single TDA1543.

But for a commercial product it is not that expensive ofcourse. There is the pcb design costs. Dealer markup...etc. etc.

[reMC]

Originally posted by Bas Horneman

2 of them use 8*1543's paralled and the other was with a single TDA1543.

Which one with a single TDA1534 did you hear? How did you like it compared to the 8 stacked dac's?

[dsavitsk]

Originally posted by Bas Horneman
looks a little overpriced to me.

Just a bit.

Originally posted by reMC


Care to tell why? I think it's the cheapest commercial available NON-OS dac, isn't it? Furthermore, I have no idea how it sounds! Do you?

Well, the layout is not optimal -- the PS is poorly done, the IV section should be closer to the tda1543, I have doubts about a carbon resistor for the PLL, the DAC chip is not decoupled well, if at all, the spdif input scheme is not so good, and socketing those chips is not a great idea here -- it makes sense in prototyping, but there is no reason to remove them. Also, the output impedence will be very high, so you will need to run it into an amp with an input impedence of at least 25K, if not 50K.

This doesn't mean it will sound horrible, but the tda1543 is very sensitive to the quality of the PS, and you can find better commercial versions with essentially the same schematic that will sound better. Moreover, you could build this better on stripboard for about $40-50.

-d

[reMC]

Thanks for the feedback!

Originally posted by dsavitsk

the DAC chip is not decoupled well

What's missing there?

the spdif input scheme is not so good

Again, what's wrong? Are you suggesting a input buffer? It's just that i'm glad this design doesn't have it

And you can find better commercial versions with essentially the same schematic that will sound better. -d

I'm interested! Examples?

[dsavitsk]

Originally posted by reMC
What's missing there?

The 1543 likes a high quality small value film cap right on the power pin, and an electrolytic in the 220uF-470uF range nearby.

Originally posted by reMC
Again, what's wrong? Are you suggesting a input buffer? It's just that i'm glad this design doesn't have it

Or an input transformer -- it does a world of good.

Originally posted by reMC
I'm interested! Examples?

http://www.gr-research.com/components/lite_dacs.htm

This is cheaper and corrects some of the issues. There are still some good modifications that can be done to this for cheap and it is missing the input stuff, but it is really cheap.

[reMC]

Thanks for the feedback, but I'm really searching for versions with 1 TDA1543, passive I/V and no reclocking!

Anyone?

[dsavitsk]

Well, you can buy Scott Nixon's kit and get the $50 worth of parts for $100. http://www.scott-nixon.com/dac.htm