The ESS I hear was the Pear audio and some other, very opposite in sound to TDA. I only listened to ESS with headphones.
I could listen to hours without fatigue with the TDA, it always sounded good, but no one listening to it was impressed, people were very indifferent to it, it just played music, not hifi.
I could listen to hours without fatigue with the TDA, it always sounded good, but no one listening to it was impressed, people were very indifferent to it, it just played music, not hifi.
IME those were pretty bad. We know how to do much, much better now.
I built at least two of the TPA dacs and had no problem with them but, the ESS chips are very fussy with board layout and the PSU made all the difference. I had one for I2S, one for V-Digital and one for V-Analog. Then two more for the output stage. I could've replaced the lower voltage regs and put the Amanero on it's own 5V supply but I think I would've had 8 PSU's at that point. I was moving and broke down my setup and sold it and have used a Chord Mojo for two years until I built the TD1 and I'm very pleased.
It is very easy to listen to for hours with no fatigue as you say. I've got 30 hours on it now and it sounds better every ten hours or so as the caps break in I think its very musical.
I knew Ian Canada had the right idea with the ESS chips when I saw all the effort that went into the power supplies so I'm hoping his dual mono ess build is just as rewarding. I enjoy my high-res files too!
But I'm pretty sure my TD1 final build will be a permanent source!
Then there is the pcm56, and 68, I had a 2xpcm56 and it sounded very dark (straight to cathode follower buffers) with the most crazy bass ever, it was so dark sounding and so much incredible bass, but on the other hand none of the delicacy and easiness of the TDA.
Right now I am looking to replace my emu0404 which has a 4396, I just got fed up with the sound as I upgraded my amplifiers and loudspeakers, I need something seriously better in terms of musicality.
When I heard the 4396 with tube unbalance I thought that was it. However it is lacking the micro-detail. I don't want to go back to something worse.
Right now I am looking to replace my emu0404 which has a 4396, I just got fed up with the sound as I upgraded my amplifiers and loudspeakers, I need something seriously better in terms of musicality.
When I heard the 4396 with tube unbalance I thought that was it. However it is lacking the micro-detail. I don't want to go back to something worse.
I've got the PCM58 and 63K chips. I haven't built them yet but I will eventually see what they sound like. There's a member on here that does a quad PCM58 board that I bought but have yet to assemble and another member that does a PCM63 stereo board with a foot print for the JL Sound USB board. I wanted to wait until I had a permanent 1541A DAC built before I went ahead just so I could compare it back and forth all day long for a while.
I never had an emu but had heard they were great when modded. I felt like I didn't want any of the PC noise to get near an analog signal so that's why I chose to only use the PC for the digital part as technology has improved so much over the years. It's all personal preference I guess. I just got tired of switching discs in the player honestly and I wanted to experience Hi-Res files as well so that lead me down the PC only path and I haven't looked back since.
I never had an emu but had heard they were great when modded. I felt like I didn't want any of the PC noise to get near an analog signal so that's why I chose to only use the PC for the digital part as technology has improved so much over the years. It's all personal preference I guess. I just got tired of switching discs in the player honestly and I wanted to experience Hi-Res files as well so that lead me down the PC only path and I haven't looked back since.
Yep, the emu is easy to modify and sounds decent, it has this ultra clarity of phase which means the attack and decay of speech is accurate, It also have only little filtering by summing up balanced out. Compared to what I tried with TDA it has a more honest presentation of all registers and that little prat in the higher frequencies, the TDA is mid-range focused.
Probably the most realistic was the pcm56k which I could not appreciate back then, it had this solid foundation in the bass which you would dream off, the TDA didn't even come close nor the ak4396 which is very brutal in revealing the mix, it plays what is there nothing more, if there is air it plays air, if there is no air or soundstage it doesn't play it.
I can't remember using the pcm63, but man I am anxious to hear what you are doing there.
I just don't know if I should go for a resistor board R2r, or just pcm56k or 63, I don't want to deal with the deceptive I/V stage of the TDA, and the ak4396 has most of the fluidity. Sorry for being so long, I am very passionate about this!
I am asking myself the question what is the advantage of using a pcm63 when there are external R2R dac being produced?
Probably the most realistic was the pcm56k which I could not appreciate back then, it had this solid foundation in the bass which you would dream off, the TDA didn't even come close nor the ak4396 which is very brutal in revealing the mix, it plays what is there nothing more, if there is air it plays air, if there is no air or soundstage it doesn't play it.
I can't remember using the pcm63, but man I am anxious to hear what you are doing there.
I just don't know if I should go for a resistor board R2r, or just pcm56k or 63, I don't want to deal with the deceptive I/V stage of the TDA, and the ak4396 has most of the fluidity. Sorry for being so long, I am very passionate about this!
I am asking myself the question what is the advantage of using a pcm63 when there are external R2R dac being produced?
I regretted much doing resistors i/v conversion on the TDA, as well as using NOS, or discrete i/V with symmetrical stages.
It was all the best stock with a first stage of opamp i/v converter, then i/v filter opamp, and 4xOS.
On my PCM56k I used something way off charts to get to that sound.
It was all the best stock with a first stage of opamp i/v converter, then i/v filter opamp, and 4xOS.
On my PCM56k I used something way off charts to get to that sound.
Gabi seems to have found a great OPAMP, I was reading the datasheet of pcm53, what a great chip! it needs a very specialized power supply and set of opamps, not anyone can properly design this. Slew rate 20v/us unconditional stability, set time 1.2ns etc wow.
I've got the SEN IV stages for a balanced set for the output of the PCM58P. Supposedly they're excellent for those chips. That's the first one I'll try to get working. I have another slightly different output stage for the PCM63 by @EUVL but haven't bought the matched J-Fet's yet. I need 4 PCM63-K for the full balanced setup and I only have two so I will have to probably sell some of the TDA1541A's that I've collected to do that.
Once I get a balanced set of TD1's working I'll build the @ryanj TDA1541A board and compare. One of the neat things with his board is you can use his glue logic board for four total TDA1541A's for a balanced setup. Probably gonna be 4-6 weeks before I start that one but once it's working I'll make a decision on which one stays and which one gets sold. Then repeat that process for the PCM58P and PCM63K dacs
Once I get a balanced set of TD1's working I'll build the @ryanj TDA1541A board and compare. One of the neat things with his board is you can use his glue logic board for four total TDA1541A's for a balanced setup. Probably gonna be 4-6 weeks before I start that one but once it's working I'll make a decision on which one stays and which one gets sold. Then repeat that process for the PCM58P and PCM63K dacs
I had something similar to the sen, with more complex , no caps, a dc servo, regulated etc, sounded very lethargic and way too clean on the TDA. On my PCM I fed it directly to cathode follower after i/v passive resistor...
In a full balanced setup if you sum up accurately you will be able to almost get rid of the filter.
That is the advantage of the cirrus 4396, it has V out of good amplitude, almost no noise, insensitive to most outside parts and very easy to implement, its hard to go wrong with it.
In a full balanced setup if you sum up accurately you will be able to almost get rid of the filter.
That is the advantage of the cirrus 4396, it has V out of good amplitude, almost no noise, insensitive to most outside parts and very easy to implement, its hard to go wrong with it.
https://iancanada.ca/products/6b-opa861-zero-feedback-balanced-i-v-board
I was talking about this, but there is no schematic, and I don't like that the same power supply power the R/L opamps.
I was talking about this, but there is no schematic, and I don't like that the same power supply power the R/L opamps.
yeah I first saw that one when I was planning the build. I decided to try something different as I'd already heard ESS through opamps. Tubes also seem to be complicated for ESS as well. I figured I'd try this one https://iancanada.ca/products/7a-transformer-i-v-kit with Lundahl LL1545A transformers. I'm anxious to set it all up just to see what it sounds like