Hi All,
Just wanted to share my impressions of the TI PCM5242 DAC chip. It is super easy to set up, cheap and sounds great. Only tested in Hardware mode so far but performs as advertised. Only a small number of parts needed for operation.
Setup
- Toroid supply to run of the mill +3.7V regulators. Separate digital and analog supplies. Some inline resistance for LP filtering.
- +3.7 dropped to ADM7155 +3.3V regulators to PCM5242. No other fancy filtering.
- Plugged in directly to minisharc header.
- 4 x PCM5242 for a total of 8 channel DAC. Minisharc has enough drive to do all 4 dacs.
- Using MCLK as well.
- Toslink in from PC to minisharc
- 8 channel out to amplifiers.
- Schematic pretty much as per recommended datasheet. Single LP RC filter and no output buffer. No caps on output and my amp says 47k input impedance.
Subjective comparison is coming directly from 2x minidsp 2x4. Transfer functions for crossovers and speakers are all the same, using minisharc in 48khz mode.
Sounds at least the same or better so far (only 1 hour listening session). This is very subjective and not blind but...seems more midband detail. Both for upper bass and lower treble. That said it could easily be a bit hotter on the top end.
Probably not much help but if you are thinking of PCM5242 you can't go wrong. Sounds pretty good and small footprint. I have no affilliations with TI or any audio commercial ventures.
Might try and go differential to TPA3118 next but seems to defeat the purpose of the "direct path" output.
Oh ya, minisharc seems to perform well and easy to setup.
Cheers
Just wanted to share my impressions of the TI PCM5242 DAC chip. It is super easy to set up, cheap and sounds great. Only tested in Hardware mode so far but performs as advertised. Only a small number of parts needed for operation.
Setup
- Toroid supply to run of the mill +3.7V regulators. Separate digital and analog supplies. Some inline resistance for LP filtering.
- +3.7 dropped to ADM7155 +3.3V regulators to PCM5242. No other fancy filtering.
- Plugged in directly to minisharc header.
- 4 x PCM5242 for a total of 8 channel DAC. Minisharc has enough drive to do all 4 dacs.
- Using MCLK as well.
- Toslink in from PC to minisharc
- 8 channel out to amplifiers.
- Schematic pretty much as per recommended datasheet. Single LP RC filter and no output buffer. No caps on output and my amp says 47k input impedance.
Subjective comparison is coming directly from 2x minidsp 2x4. Transfer functions for crossovers and speakers are all the same, using minisharc in 48khz mode.
Sounds at least the same or better so far (only 1 hour listening session). This is very subjective and not blind but...seems more midband detail. Both for upper bass and lower treble. That said it could easily be a bit hotter on the top end.
Probably not much help but if you are thinking of PCM5242 you can't go wrong. Sounds pretty good and small footprint. I have no affilliations with TI or any audio commercial ventures.
Might try and go differential to TPA3118 next but seems to defeat the purpose of the "direct path" output.
Oh ya, minisharc seems to perform well and easy to setup.
Cheers
