Re: Ultimate Twin TDA1541a Non-oversampling DAC with tube buffer & reclock set...........
Dear Thomas, thanks your kind assistance. Using as a standalone DAC with I2S conection , I guess, the shortest length may be 30 cm between two connectors for direct connection without any additional connectors. However, I think there should be one connector at least for convenience. Rememer that there are 4 lines for I2S.
I am attiching a figure to assist your understand.
The cable length is less than 10cm in my current CD Player as shown above post. But as you know, it is so crowded and I lost something (additional vibration or so(not sure))
Regards,
Kiyull
tube-lover said:
Dear Thomas, thanks your kind assistance. Using as a standalone DAC with I2S conection , I guess, the shortest length may be 30 cm between two connectors for direct connection without any additional connectors. However, I think there should be one connector at least for convenience. Rememer that there are 4 lines for I2S.
I am attiching a figure to assist your understand.
The cable length is less than 10cm in my current CD Player as shown above post. But as you know, it is so crowded and I lost something (additional vibration or so(not sure))
Regards,
Kiyull
Attachments
kiyull said:
Hi Kiyull
CD-PRO2's suspension is pretty much useless. It will only do bad to the module. My temp fix is to put a layer of sorbothane pad under the 4 legs. If you can find any better solution, please do let me know about it. As for transformers, I simply put sorbothane under them, too.
I2S signal can not go very far. I will say 15cm is the limit. You may stretch it to 30cm but the signal quality will be doubtful. One trick is to put a reclocking module between the DAC and CD-PRO2 which can also serve like a repeater, still, I do not think putting CD-PRO2 and DAC in two boxes is a good idea. It's better to put power supply to another box instead.
As for the cable, pure silver wire with correct shielding is great. Even Giga-bit network cable works OK. The main issue is the connector. I will definitelt solder the wires to the board directly, if possible.
Your CD-PRO2 is impressive! What's the board for on the right hand side, right beside/under the CDPRO2 module? Is it the power supply for the DAC? I also notice that you use OS-Con polymer caps on the DAC. Neat! I use NCC's PSA for Thomas'es DAC instead. Are those 1541 decoupling caps PIO caps? How do them sound, when compared to PP caps?
Thanks.
-finney
finneybear said:
Hi Finney,
Thank you for your advice for the suspension and cable length. One guy in here is making hand-made tone arm and turn-table etc. He may get some good results, hopingly.
What do you think about the treatment of Elso? : http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=378059#post378059 . I am going to try this first.
Anyway I agree with your two boxes configuration.
The board you mentioned is dual PS for each TDA1541 : this was from the idea of Danny : http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/tubediy/messages/36367.html
The caps are Russian PIO on Ebay years ago, and the sound was softer than Philips PP though somebody did not recommand those cap for decoupling. I replaced PIO to PP , but I returned immediately, Probably I have to age PP first, but my first impression for the PIO was not bad.
Tube rectifier and WE-417 with CCS enhanced sound quality too : I tried 6dj8, 5842 and 6c45pi too.
Maybe I did not get optimum solution with tubes since I am not expert in this field.
Since the sound of my Cd-Pro2 with Non-OS Dual 1541 (double crown) was not bad, a few of my friends who are using very high-end system including analog LP source (of course, they are not not diyer) are interested in my CD player. I am in charge of building (electronic part) a few of CD players.
thanks again,
Kiyull
Ultimate Twin TDA1541a Non-oversampling DAC with tube buffer & reclock set...........
Dear Finney, Kiyull & Jonathan D,
your three parcel were all posted already in this afternoon. By EMS,
Finney--EE671169709hk.
Kiyull--EE671169765hk.
Jonathan D--EE671169757hk.
Pls all preare two 82ohm resisters for connect betweeen the DAC & the Opa2604 PCB. THis resisters was for adjust the signal from 1541a to 2604pcb. I forgot to put into the parcel. I will use small letter post back to U.
The parcel totally contain 5 cables.
three digital cables.
one Gotham 10070 silver digital cable.
one Junkosha ultra-fast speed silver digital cable.
one professional AES/EBS digital cable.
one ATM KA Mic cable for rca output from 2604 PCB.
one Belden silver plated RCA cable for rca output from 2604 PCB.
U will all get a standard XO on the small parts bags for test the clock.
Finney & Kiyull contain TCXO too.
Pls let me know when parcel arrived.
thx
thomas
Dear Finney, Kiyull & Jonathan D,
your three parcel were all posted already in this afternoon. By EMS,
Finney--EE671169709hk.
Kiyull--EE671169765hk.
Jonathan D--EE671169757hk.
Pls all preare two 82ohm resisters for connect betweeen the DAC & the Opa2604 PCB. THis resisters was for adjust the signal from 1541a to 2604pcb. I forgot to put into the parcel. I will use small letter post back to U.
The parcel totally contain 5 cables.
three digital cables.
one Gotham 10070 silver digital cable.
one Junkosha ultra-fast speed silver digital cable.
one professional AES/EBS digital cable.
one ATM KA Mic cable for rca output from 2604 PCB.
one Belden silver plated RCA cable for rca output from 2604 PCB.
U will all get a standard XO on the small parts bags for test the clock.
Finney & Kiyull contain TCXO too.
Pls let me know when parcel arrived.
thx
thomas
kiyull said:
Hi Kiyull
It will be great if your friend can come out some good solution. We need something rigid enough yet with a good Q value to damp the vibration.
Have you replaced the XO? Also most parts used on CD-PRO2 are of very low quality, industrial grade parts. Try to replace those e-caps with OS-Con SVPs. You will be amazed to hear the difference.
Be honest to you, I do not feel Elso's circuit is a good idea. First of all, 2N4401's bandwidth is still a bit low. I2S does not have any error correction capability, to run for 70cm, differential line will be the way to go. The interface design will become very complex. In this case, probably I will just go for SPDIF!
Those PIO caps looked familiar to me hence the question. I also got lots of ex-Soviet PIO caps from eBay, probably from the same guy?
The silver mica caps he's selling are very good, too. I still feel PP caps are the way to go for those decoupling caps due to its better HF performance. Those caps are the by-passing caps for the 6 small 2bit DACs per channel running in the DEM (dynamic element matching) config. The decoupling caps have to remove the HF switching noises as well as supply immediate current. This is why you can not make the caps too big; this will ruin the resolution; they can not be too small either, you will lose the dynamics. My current solution is to use 0.1uf PP || 0.01uf PP for the lowest 2 caps. 0.1uf PP || 0.1uf PP for the mid 2 caps, BG NX .47uf || 0.01uf PP for the upper 3 caps. Still, your finding with PIO is very interesting. Good to know it has a soft and smooth sound. I will try your setup some time. I also use two 1541 S2 on the DAC. The +-18V is provided by a separate board. I will post the photos soon.
-finney
Coulomb said:
Hi Anthony
Probably I can answer this for Thomas. The changes are mainly minor fixes. Better layouts, better part spacing, etc. An OPA627 active buffer is added. The AD844 board is replaced by a OPA2604 solution. A re-clocking board is added in. Sure, I think the biggest difference is the choices of parts. Thomas has learned a lot from Version 1. I also shard a bit of my experiences with him on Ver.1. You can refer to prior posts for the list of part changes.
The main DAC board comes in fully assembled this time. You can still swap the parts if you want to.
-finney
finneybear said:
Thanks Huckleberry,
Does the Reclocker and OPA2604 make a big difference in your opinion?
This is my DAC.
http://www.briangt.com/gallery/coulomb-dual_dac/DSC00034?full=1
Those CAPS on the DAC are BGHQFX .1uF
Regards
Anthony
Coulomb said:
Anthony,
As usual, your work looks beautiful! Have you compared it to any other DAC yet?
I have not heard the OPA2604 output so be honest I have no idea whether it's worthy or not. One thing for sure is that the sound will be different from AD844. Another benefit is that now you can try different OPs for fun.
Still, based on the stuff you have done so far, I think probably it will be wiser just to spend the money on different parts instead. I think the main strength of Thomas'es Ver.2 is to bring the lovely 1541 sound to more DIYers. I did buy the second set myself. With two sets, it will be easier for me to do part/board mix to fine-tune the sound.
So what do you feel about the .1uf BG? .47uf is really too heavy for some people's taste. Also, I noticed that you placed the BG caps above the second hole, not the first one, the one closest to the DAC chip? Any particular reason for this?
-finney
Coulomb said:
Hey Finney, that last responce was for you, you know, Finn, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain?
EDIT - Wow that was a fast responce, I had not even finished typing.
Regards
Anthony
Hehehe.. yeah, friends called me Hucky Finn all the time. Just done the latest project hence have some free time to hang around here now.
-finney
finneybear said:
Thanks for the feedback Finn, the Cap is in the first two holes closest to the DAC, must be an optical illusion. I did try some .47uF caps when the boards were in the testing phase, but during the almost completed phase I changed to the .1uf caps after reading some of the posts around the Digital thread.
The BG caps was an easy choice as they have an excellent Price Point/Value. They sound some much better in the Midrange, most noticeably how well they get sibilance in the vocals just right. Technically I would have to say they are probably just more nuetral in the mid to high frequencies. Also being one of BG's (no not the Bee Gees) last caps that were introduced in the new Jel Max lineup, they do need running for about 30 hours or so to get rid of a little harshness as the Caps form properly.
Regards
Anthony
Coulomb said:
Anthony,
Sorry for the confusion... yes, the caps are sitting on the first two holes, but I was talking about the cap body itself. The cap bosy is sitting above the second hole, isn't it?
0.1uf gives you good resolutions yet less dynamics. This is why I came out the idea to have different cap value mixes. Probably you can do some experiments yourself, too?
Yes, the new Ver.2 boards are beautifully done. The tube board now has holes for battery bias or external power. I just could not resist but bought another set.
-finney
finneybear said:
Anthony,
Sorry for the confusion... yes, the caps are sitting on the first two holes, but I was talking about the cap body itself. The cap bosy is sitting above the second hole, isn't it?
0.1uf gives you good resolutions yet less dynamics. This is why I came out the idea to have different cap value mixes. Probably you can do some experiments yourself, too?
Yes, the new Ver.2 boards are beautifully done. The tube board now has holes for battery bias or external power. I just could not resist but bought another set.
-finney
Oh I see what you mean, well call me a nutter, but I wanted to move the cap away from the noisey chip and vice versa. I am in the process of shielding the tops of the DACs with Pure Copper foil.
Regards
Anthony
finneybear said:
Anthony,
Sorry for the confusion... yes, the caps are sitting on the first two holes, but I was talking about the cap body itself. The cap bosy is sitting above the second hole, isn't it?
0.1uf gives you good resolutions yet less dynamics. This is why I came out the idea to have different cap value mixes. Probably you can do some experiments yourself, too?
Yes, the new Ver.2 boards are beautifully done. The tube board now has holes for battery bias or external power. I just could not resist but bought another set.
-finney
Well here is a possibly idiotic idea, but as the DACs are run in paralell, how about 0.1uF on one chip and 0.33uF on the other. They should still sum together to form some sort of cacophony of sound.
Anthony
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.