same
feel tda15xx are the closest to analog ive ever had and heard
Arcam, B&O , Philips and other popular cd players using 15XX chip sounded rather poor , even with mods. I'd even risk saying that they were "bottom feeders heaven only " And even now , people wax lyrically bout them because they can only compare them to cheap Chinese dreck with all the hoopla of technology inside.
Yes they definitly quited the train of DAC too soon but few spidf TDA 1541A DAC devices here and there till the Marantz cd7 cause the chip was NLA.
However with further research some later designs like Zanden or AMR or Audial made good cd players or DAC with the TDA1541A. Then the diyers with all the literature and diy modules avialabe... Better front ends were a substantial plus from 10 years .
TDA1541 tweaked cd players when tweaked with care were good.
However with further research some later designs like Zanden or AMR or Audial made good cd players or DAC with the TDA1541A. Then the diyers with all the literature and diy modules avialabe... Better front ends were a substantial plus from 10 years .
TDA1541 tweaked cd players when tweaked with care were good.
Yes AMR was a nice player but never quite managed against the mainstream upper shelf players. As I typeI listen to Bach suites through Abbas 2.2 dac I put together from the buts Abbas Sent from Ukraine and its a killer dac .Full of weird topological choices with tube clock , germanium and tube stages and half wave rectifier PSU. Old Telefunken ,& soviet era parts and wires , definitely Mambo / Jambo territory but sounds like a raw meat / kick in the teeth sort and it's my best audio purchase among a mountain of idiocy....Whom knows where Abbas is now , maybe in the trenches eating porridge .
Always crazy rich men that send young men to invade in order to be even richer... Yeah disgusting. I wisch I was able to listen an Abbas Dac.
Just a remark. That Abbas DAC is at least 1500$ to even 2250$ depending on version. It should/must be a better performer compared to the average 250 to 500$ ESS/AKM DAC. The last one I bought was below 100 Euro...NIB. So the challenge could be to build a ΔΣ DAC for about the same money that would outperform the TDA. That's honesty in comparing.
Curiously the Abbas still has the CS8414 like many older devices have. In some circles I regularly hear those to be way better but in reality they are quite jittery so maybe it is true that distortion is liked or maybe jitter works out differently with R2R DAC chips?! Now I can tell that using a low jitter new receiver will break that magic the owner experiences which I find amazing.
Curiously the Abbas still has the CS8414 like many older devices have. In some circles I regularly hear those to be way better but in reality they are quite jittery so maybe it is true that distortion is liked or maybe jitter works out differently with R2R DAC chips?! Now I can tell that using a low jitter new receiver will break that magic the owner experiences which I find amazing.
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Well me I still try to understand in a simplier way why people prefer subjectivly sd card to usb Xmos to send the datas. Way above my head but I would like to understand what happens here. I can understand the use of germanium diode but less the use of germanium transistor but if we corelate the spectra distorsion to subjective likings.
An equipment could measure well but sound bad and vice versa as we all know. I bet the ukrainian dac performs bad but has globs of h2 h3 and sounds rather pleasant. Which's whats needed in the reproduction chain more often than we care to admit because theres just no other way around bad recordings.
Ofcourse the ideal is to have something that measures well AND sound good. Tho ss amp technology has matured enough for that accompliment i dont think delta sigma dacs are there yet.
Ofcourse the ideal is to have something that measures well AND sound good. Tho ss amp technology has matured enough for that accompliment i dont think delta sigma dacs are there yet.
Then it stands to reason that if globs of h2 and h3 is what pleases the end user then it is performing perfectly well.
Well, in a kit form , without enclosure and TDA1541 chip it was half of that but yes , the best incarnation of this particular version would cost close to 2.5k if built by Abbas and it was a medium range of his offering.
2500 is a lot of money for just a DAC. I think it should sound OK. Those last 5% cost a lot 😀
For many a satisfying challenge is to find the best sounding current technology for a good price also supporting todays standards which makes recent developments and ΔΣ a fact of life. I just finished listening for hours to high res material on the previously mentioned modified ΔΣ DAC that cost me less than 100 Euro. Sounds relaxed and neutral/musical and no coloring or fatigue at all like it should be so quite rewarding.
I don't think there are many willing to compare a 2500$ ΔΣ DAC (if these exist) to the Abbas. For sure I am curious about the outcome.
For many a satisfying challenge is to find the best sounding current technology for a good price also supporting todays standards which makes recent developments and ΔΣ a fact of life. I just finished listening for hours to high res material on the previously mentioned modified ΔΣ DAC that cost me less than 100 Euro. Sounds relaxed and neutral/musical and no coloring or fatigue at all like it should be so quite rewarding.
I don't think there are many willing to compare a 2500$ ΔΣ DAC (if these exist) to the Abbas. For sure I am curious about the outcome.
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I agree the average philips CD player implementation of 1541A sounds sub par and sloppy by fair margin. My Creek CD60 with single crown 1541A smokes alot of modern DACs, as it has a good PS design which places individual current sources throughout the analog stages, isolating alot of the supply noise that would typically deteriorate low level detail. It isn't however even close to as good as my RME ADI2 PRO-FSR, but still manages to paint such an amazingly deep holographic sound stage.
I fully agree. $500 should be the most one have to spend for modern dac of top end quality. Now , my $600 two years old refrigerator broke and the control board which is as sophisticated as the hammer and the size of a postage stamp retails for almost $300 ..
I can enjoy music from a cellphone or a table radio but learned over the years that there are no giant killers in Audio. Also that this hobby tend to be more ruinous than other ones. ...
For me it had bass to die for from Philips cdp with S1 chip. That system was playing through an 845 amp
on Altec Vott speakers. Tough resolution was so so but it sounded pretty un digital then. With properly designed
Nos dac like Aya it really does sound very very very good even when compared to present day dacs
on Altec Vott speakers. Tough resolution was so so but it sounded pretty un digital then. With properly designed
Nos dac like Aya it really does sound very very very good even when compared to present day dacs
What I like about it is that that it has dense opulent , moist sound with weight in the low octave. It sounds earthly. Doesn't have that eteral ,sophisticated quality which I kind of detest but most people love because it is a clear indication of " high end " . You know Magnepan and upper echelon of Audio Research electronics and smooth jazz studio record which sounds like it was recorded in outer space and aliens were holding mics and you can hear deep into the huge space ....because the soundstage is a galactic size and the background is the blackest shade of black
...a wallet lifted veil...I agree that this hobby is a monney black hole...though I liked the Nagra on the picture above.