I went back into the Aliexpress orders from way back to check the listings for the yellow cards I bought before - if I am reading it right, they always had that same text "5: only support a sub-directory, only supports 32GB of memory card (memory card must be CLASS6 and above the level, must be HC card)."
But like you, they work just fine with lower capacity cards. The 32gb thing is a significant enough issue if you are using SLC cards
@Abraxalito - could you check the black board with other SD cards? Also can you comment do you think there is any advantage in the black board over the yellow, particularly in the sound?
But like you, they work just fine with lower capacity cards. The 32gb thing is a significant enough issue if you are using SLC cards
@Abraxalito - could you check the black board with other SD cards? Also can you comment do you think there is any advantage in the black board over the yellow, particularly in the sound?
Attachments
I'm curious, too.
Richard, I'm sorry the Pin7 caps didn't make an improvement for you. I tried the Rubycon MU series, very much like what you used. I thought they sounded very close to no cap at all, but emphasized the treble a bit. MKP2 is also super transparent, but seems to make the presentation meatier, which strikes me as the most natural balance for my single chip DAC.
Just curiously, and if you be willing to say, what amp & speakers were used for listening?
I dug out another old collection of SDcards (nowadays I mostly use TF) and was surprised to find they all worked. These are mainly 8Gb capacity and class4. But the player is flaky, it needs two presses on the 'restart' button, one doesn't give a successful reboot.
Another off-putting issue with this player is that it randomly swaps L/R channels - not during playback but on initiating play of a track. I never noticed this effect on the older yellow board player.
As regards SQ comments it'll need to wait for more time living with the beastie. It certainly doesn't sound any worse than the yellow one.
Its too early to say whether they're making an improvement for me. They might be but I need more time to listen and compare. The difference is pretty subtle, assuming there is one. Not like changing the I/V opamp from AD829 to LT1028, that one was an obvious change.
@Markw4 - the amps are my own designed TDA8932 modules - Transformer input TDA8932 mono amp with the experimental permalloy trafos (rather than stock ferrite ones) and fed from my bench supply. The speakers are a local brand I've been using for the past 5 years or so : PAIYON??P6??HIFI?????????vifa?????????-???
I read the STM32F407ZET6 has an internal clock, do you think the yellow SD player is using it, alongside the audio clocks?
The external MCU clock for black board could be a really big advancement then, Id say the quality of this clock will have a pretty big impact aswell.
What frequency is the MCU clock btw?
Its strange, I remember seeing a listing for the black player with close up HD photos where you could see all the details on the PCB, but after checking every taobao/aliexpress link in my history I dont see it anywhere.
The external MCU clock for black board could be a really big advancement then, Id say the quality of this clock will have a pretty big impact aswell.
What frequency is the MCU clock btw?
Its strange, I remember seeing a listing for the black player with close up HD photos where you could see all the details on the PCB, but after checking every taobao/aliexpress link in my history I dont see it anywhere.
Thank you. Wondering if you also use an HPA and cans for checking audibility of things?
Yes I do from time to time - I use my SE classA HPA and a variety of HPs. Drop HD6XX are the ones I use most as I find them the most comfortable.
PhiAMP SE ClassA headphone amp
@lasercut - do you mean the MCU clock osc frequency? Its 24MHz - the CPU clock will be a multiple of this, via a PLL.
PhiAMP SE ClassA headphone amp
@lasercut - do you mean the MCU clock osc frequency? Its 24MHz - the CPU clock will be a multiple of this, via a PLL.
Last edited:
Really interesting @Abraxalito - you'd be doing a service to us all if you let us know about your more mature thoughts on the black player SQ when you have had time to listen. I'd have to reconfigure my player to run the 12V needed for it (seems very high?) but it would be worth it if there was any gain in SQ.
Yes, that's the one.
24MHz is good, Crystek and NDK clocks not hard to find at that frequency.
I was listening to the TDA1387 today with many upgrades to the surrounding setup compared to the last time and the result is very surprising.
Tda1387 has great bass, dynamics and is really smooth, that much is definite about the chip, but with a 'poor' source (XMOS and desktop PC) and 'poor' power supply (lt3045) it manifests as a severe loss of microdetail, and I had totally wrote off this chip because of it.
Major points of current setup:
source- Yellow SD Player with double regulated LT3045 supply (not ideal) and NDK2520SD.
Tda1387 1x- passive I/v 250r, 3uf PP cap pin7, Janzten coupling cap, UltraBib supply with very large capacitance on C2 vref and an ultracap bank on output
HPA- LMH6321 as pure buffer, UltraBib again with very large capacitance to c2 vref, large 40uf polypropylene decoupling caps.
This source and DAC power supply were used with a few DACs before tda1387 (ak4493, AD1862, dam1121), the effect it had in those cases was mostly unremarkable. ''Worse'' HPAs were used with these for the most part however.
The TDA1387 has scaled an unbelievable amount in this setup and I think is the best DAC I've heard to date, if not solely because of the low end... why does it seem like this is only DAC that can produce realistic bass and dynamics? Is the TDA1541 also like this?
Effects from power supply tweaks have never been clearer than with TDA1387.
I wonder if more advanced/sophisticated internal reference circuits in the other DACs to reduce supply sensitivity also leads to a bottleneck when the quality of external supply exceeds the internal reference quality?
This is definitely what it felt like with dam1121.
Or they just arent as good as Philips CC
All this must be pretty obvious to any of you who experimented with it extensively, but was really eye opening for me that TDA1387 was hiding this much potential.
The USB powered Topping D10s with its gleaming report card, sounds just pitiful in comparison, virtually unlistenable... which is the modern SOTA tech again?
Tda1387 has great bass, dynamics and is really smooth, that much is definite about the chip, but with a 'poor' source (XMOS and desktop PC) and 'poor' power supply (lt3045) it manifests as a severe loss of microdetail, and I had totally wrote off this chip because of it.
Major points of current setup:
source- Yellow SD Player with double regulated LT3045 supply (not ideal) and NDK2520SD.
Tda1387 1x- passive I/v 250r, 3uf PP cap pin7, Janzten coupling cap, UltraBib supply with very large capacitance on C2 vref and an ultracap bank on output
HPA- LMH6321 as pure buffer, UltraBib again with very large capacitance to c2 vref, large 40uf polypropylene decoupling caps.
This source and DAC power supply were used with a few DACs before tda1387 (ak4493, AD1862, dam1121), the effect it had in those cases was mostly unremarkable. ''Worse'' HPAs were used with these for the most part however.
The TDA1387 has scaled an unbelievable amount in this setup and I think is the best DAC I've heard to date, if not solely because of the low end... why does it seem like this is only DAC that can produce realistic bass and dynamics? Is the TDA1541 also like this?
Effects from power supply tweaks have never been clearer than with TDA1387.
I wonder if more advanced/sophisticated internal reference circuits in the other DACs to reduce supply sensitivity also leads to a bottleneck when the quality of external supply exceeds the internal reference quality?
This is definitely what it felt like with dam1121.
Or they just arent as good as Philips CC
All this must be pretty obvious to any of you who experimented with it extensively, but was really eye opening for me that TDA1387 was hiding this much potential.
The USB powered Topping D10s with its gleaming report card, sounds just pitiful in comparison, virtually unlistenable... which is the modern SOTA tech again?
Last edited:
As I mentioned a few posts back, going forward filter variations are going to be in software rather than hardware and hence I felt another thread with an MCU flavour was the more appropriate place to introduce the next generation of TDA1387 DAC - Cheap ARM MCUs for RBCD audio
You have been listening to dacs designed to measure well on an AP. Obviously, there is more to good sound than the particular figures of merit an AP provides.
There are some dacs designed by people who both measure and listen. The better dacs often selling for >$2.5k can be really quite good. OTOH, some up in that price range are mostly bells and whistles. One dac I have not heard but would like to is a 'Chord Hugo TT 2' running on an owner-supplied linear power supply. Some people seem to think its the best sounding dac available at any price.