Are Tripath chips still being manufactured?
Yes, I know that Tripath filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy but, that its self does not mean a company is out of business or that the product is not still being made by somone etc.
I ask this because there still seems to be an inexhaustible supply of the chips after all this time.
Can some other company possibly be making them now?
Also, given the popularity of the chips, why wouldn't some other company start producing them?
Yes, I know that Tripath filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy but, that its self does not mean a company is out of business or that the product is not still being made by somone etc.
I ask this because there still seems to be an inexhaustible supply of the chips after all this time.
Can some other company possibly be making them now?
Also, given the popularity of the chips, why wouldn't some other company start producing them?
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My guess is that the chips you see on Ebay, etc, are clones. Hopefully they perform as they should (or better). 🙂
The Tripath Intellectual Property was purchased by Cirrus Logic.
Tripath build a huge number of chips prior to bankruptcy (scaling manufacturing due to their success was basically the reason for bankruptcy); and the chips are not trivial to manufacture so I don't personally believe, nor do I know of any evidence to support, the belief they are being manufactured by unauthorized "clone" factories.
However since Tripath did contract out manufacturing it's possible factories continued to churn them out illegally after failure of the company; these may be unauthorized but not necessarily "clones" since they were authorized factories at one time.
Basically as I understand it the chips being offered today are New Old Stock that were made by Tripath prior to bankruptcy. Since no large scale manufacturer would be designing or spec'ing Tripath chips for any new product after manufacturing ceased, there are many non-Tripath options for OEMs to substitute and those original Tripath chips would then become available on the component market.
The OEMs who used Tripath manufactured in huge scales, eg Apple began using them in the late 1990's.
By all accounts the supply was enormous and they are still available basically as surplus. Even though they are popular with DIYers, you shouldn't assume that translates into a large number of Tripath-based boards or eBay amps sold up to now; we are a tiny market compared to the OEMs who were buying them at one time.
Tripath build a huge number of chips prior to bankruptcy (scaling manufacturing due to their success was basically the reason for bankruptcy); and the chips are not trivial to manufacture so I don't personally believe, nor do I know of any evidence to support, the belief they are being manufactured by unauthorized "clone" factories.
However since Tripath did contract out manufacturing it's possible factories continued to churn them out illegally after failure of the company; these may be unauthorized but not necessarily "clones" since they were authorized factories at one time.
Basically as I understand it the chips being offered today are New Old Stock that were made by Tripath prior to bankruptcy. Since no large scale manufacturer would be designing or spec'ing Tripath chips for any new product after manufacturing ceased, there are many non-Tripath options for OEMs to substitute and those original Tripath chips would then become available on the component market.
The OEMs who used Tripath manufactured in huge scales, eg Apple began using them in the late 1990's.
By all accounts the supply was enormous and they are still available basically as surplus. Even though they are popular with DIYers, you shouldn't assume that translates into a large number of Tripath-based boards or eBay amps sold up to now; we are a tiny market compared to the OEMs who were buying them at one time.
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