This one seems to be getting some good press:
http://www.mother-of-tone.com/attraction.htm
See this review:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0506/zero_oversampling_dac.htm
Sounds like the second coming from the review. Anyone care to speculate what makes it special?
http://www.mother-of-tone.com/attraction.htm
See this review:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0506/zero_oversampling_dac.htm
Sounds like the second coming from the review. Anyone care to speculate what makes it special?
RE: What NON OS DAC chip?
In the seventh paragraph from the bottom of the page in this review http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0506/zero_oversampling_dac.htm it says the chip is the TDA1543. Also says there are 5 OPA134 per channel.
In the seventh paragraph from the bottom of the page in this review http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0506/zero_oversampling_dac.htm it says the chip is the TDA1543. Also says there are 5 OPA134 per channel.
The Altman uses one TDA1543 and several OPA134 as output stage. Asyncronus reclocking and a non standard SDIF receiver, so no Crystal device is used. Most of the parts are SMD parts.
With regard to the sound it is always difficult to describe that in writing especially if your mother language is German.
My system is using a CDMPRO2 as transport a K&K Audio line stage and a kind of Ultrapath 300B SE Amp.
Speaker used are Lowther Academy's and Open Baffles using the Ciare 250. Just to give you an indication about the setup used.
The Altman was very natural sounding on voices, i believe this is due to the fact, that one TDA1543 is always more natural than the n * TDA1543 versions.
The Altman was kind of harsh sounding in my system. The n * TDA1543 sounds a lot smoother. With my Lothers this is a very important point. The strange thing was that even it sounded a little bit rough, it lacked top end resolution. The n * TDA1543 had a clearly better soundstage and overall resolution.
I also had kind of problem with the output volume of the Altman, the OPA's push the output to more than ~3 Volts RMS. This makes a linestage obsolete.
So in short words this DAC is not bad at all, but as this is a DIY forum i believe you can do better or at least equal if you build it yourself. Also the parts cost for a single TDA1543 DAC will not cost your more than a 100 bucks with top notch products and without OP's as output stage.
With regard to the sound it is always difficult to describe that in writing especially if your mother language is German.
My system is using a CDMPRO2 as transport a K&K Audio line stage and a kind of Ultrapath 300B SE Amp.
Speaker used are Lowther Academy's and Open Baffles using the Ciare 250. Just to give you an indication about the setup used.
The Altman was very natural sounding on voices, i believe this is due to the fact, that one TDA1543 is always more natural than the n * TDA1543 versions.
The Altman was kind of harsh sounding in my system. The n * TDA1543 sounds a lot smoother. With my Lothers this is a very important point. The strange thing was that even it sounded a little bit rough, it lacked top end resolution. The n * TDA1543 had a clearly better soundstage and overall resolution.
I also had kind of problem with the output volume of the Altman, the OPA's push the output to more than ~3 Volts RMS. This makes a linestage obsolete.
So in short words this DAC is not bad at all, but as this is a DIY forum i believe you can do better or at least equal if you build it yourself. Also the parts cost for a single TDA1543 DAC will not cost your more than a 100 bucks with top notch products and without OP's as output stage.
Hi everyone,
to answer your questions:
On the Attraction DAC I use the TDA1543 because it is R2R and because it can be used with a single-ended power supply.
As you already know, the Attraction DAC is designed to be powered by a Optima Red Top 12V car battery which eliminates the need of wall powered (noisy) supplies.
I use active I/V conversion 1 OPA134 per channel, and 4 OPA134 per channel as output buffer. The DAC can power a speaker directly
The output level is as high as it possibly gets with a 12V supply, so it is about -3.5 Volts to +3.5 Volts full scale (which btw. seemed to be enough to overdrive DUC's preamp).
The input (spdif) receiver is custom. I programmed it into a Xilinx device. It has a switchable JISCO option and all DACs come with the UPCI (ultra-precision PLL) which synchronously reclocks the data.
There is 2 custom made VCXOs for the frequency generation and tuning and one custom XO for the JISCO function.
All features programmed into the Xilinx, which was really fun, but no walk in the park, btw
The Attraction DAC runs up to 192kHz on spdif input. It uses neither upsampling nor oversampling. Just straight conversion.
So above the more obvious stuff. But why is it so damn good ?
Okay, the pcb is flat on the bottom, which means that all through-hole solderjoints have to be flat.
There is no housing and the high-quality RCA jacks are not connected via wire, but directly soldered to the pcb.
Then this pcb is screwed on a spruce board which is the reason the pcb-bottom has to be flat.
Mounting to the spruce board adds body to the sound (which otherwise is not there).
Then there are a couple of other tricks I apply with the DAC which I better not mention here, in order to prevent some avalanche-kind of response
However, now you have something to play with ...
Fun
Charles
ALTMANN MICRO MACHINES
Thanks, Charles, to your answer here - highly appreciateted!
Spruce: I also do that occasionally - mostly because I am too lazy to make a proper case - but why not! But we should not forget to use some layes of C37
DAC: Can you explain how the TDA1543 can take a SR of 192kHz?
And: You do have to explain to us your "tricks", but please tell us a bit more, will you?
Spruce: I also do that occasionally - mostly because I am too lazy to make a proper case - but why not! But we should not forget to use some layes of C37
DAC: Can you explain how the TDA1543 can take a SR of 192kHz?
And: You do have to explain to us your "tricks", but please tell us a bit more, will you?
lohk said:Thanks, Charles, to your answer here - highly appreciateted!
Spruce: I also do that occasionally - mostly because I am too lazy to make a proper case - but why not! But we should not forget to use some layers of C37
You do have to explain to us your "tricks", but please tell us a bit more, will you?
Your intuition goes into the right direction
serengetiplains said:
I think it would mess up performance.
However, the OPAs get the pure battery current, then comes the DAC (regulated) and then comes the digital section (regulated separately). Ground plane separation plays an important role too among other things.
I think if anyone of you would spend 5..10 years of his life tweaking with DAC issues - add a portion of luck - add an extra portion of ignorance - you would all come to quite similar results ...
Charles
Charles said:
Your intuition goes into the right direction
I think it would mess up performance.
However, the OPAs get the pure battery current, then comes the DAC (regulated) and then comes the digital section (regulated separately). Ground plane separation plays an important role too among other things.
I think if anyone of you would spend 5..10 years of his life tweaking with DAC issues - add a portion of luck - add an extra portion of ignorance - you would all come to quite similar results ...
Charles
Charles,
If I may ask how do you make a dual supply for the op-amp with a single 12vdc ?
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