Proven design with TDA1541A

[mefistofelez]

Greetings all,

I have found a TDA1541A in my pile of parts, and was wondering if there is a proven DIY design for NOS DAC?

Kindest regards,

M

 

[rayma]

Building the ultimate NOS DAC using TDA1541A

 

[cellularmitosis]

Lol, you’re just going to casually drop a link to a 700 page thread with no other context or guidance?

 

[savvas]

You can ask if someone has an AYA II, DIY edition somewhere. That's a full DAC with output stage included. Another option is the Distinction V3 is also available in the GB session of this forum but you have to provided your own output stage.

Do you have your mind set about what kind of output stage you want (opas, tube, fet, etc) ?

 

[mefistofelez]

Hi rayma,

thank you for the reply. I had already found the thread. However, the very initial post indicates uses of four TDA1541, and as @cellulatmitosis pointed out, it is a long read to ascertain whether the parameters have changed.

Hi savaas,

thank you for the recommendation. I essentially need just a design of the digital portion, even without a PCB. Regarding the output stage, I can either modify the several posted ones I have already found or design one (I would like a differential output one). I prefer to stay away from tubes.

Kindest regards,

M

 

[Malvin]

I have a spare AYA II PCB and a transformer from one of the previous group buys.

 

[sthcoaster]

If you want a place to start in the long thread suggested by @rayma go to post #6077 (link below)

Building the ultimate NOS DAC using TDA1541A

The 50hz DEM mod by ECDesigns gives excellent SQ. It is the implementation that is used on the Distinction V3. I have the D3 but I also did this mod on my old Arcam Alpha pcb based DAC.

This implementation uses simultaneous input.

 

[cellularmitosis]

Thanks sthcoaster! raymas, sorry if that came out a bit rude.

 

[rfbrw]

Lol, you’re just going to casually drop a link to a 700 page thread with no other context or guidance?

Lego make stuff that is more complicated.

 

[mefistofelez]

Hi Malvin,

can you point me to some information, schematics, description? I have done search both on www and diyaudio, but cannot find anything.

Hi sthcoaster,

thank you, 188 pages to read is much easier. But before I do, is the final design still using the four TDAs?

Kindest regards,

M

 

[sthcoaster]

Just use one TDA1541a chip

There are option that use multiples in parallel, or one chip per channel but you will get plenty of satisfaction from one chip

 

[sthcoaster]

RyanJ's D3 pcbs schematic can be found here

DIY TDA1541A PCB

A bit of an older one but might be helpful for you - the Analog Metric Red Baron DAC

Red Baron V.5 User Manual

 

[Malvin]

mefistofelez,

diyaudio group buy thread: GB: AYA II TDA1541A DAC (2014 Edition) PCB or Kit

I understand that AYA II schematic is not public domain, it was distributed to the group buy subscribers only.

if you browse through audialonline web site, you'll find a lot of information on design principles and a forum where builders shared their experience, mods etc.

also there a numerous pictures of AYA II board on the net that builders posted.

Overall it is a single board with power supply section integrated, it has 7 separate regulators feeding DAC chip, I/V section, spdif input, usb. it also provides 4 uf.l sockets so the board can be fed with external I2S or PCM signal. Signal switching relays can be installed to switch between spdif and i2s source. USB section is outdated by todays standard, so I believe most builders opted for an external USB board.

Hi Malvin,

can you point me to some information, schematics, description? I have done search both on www and diyaudio, but cannot find anything.

Hi sthcoaster,

thank you, 188 pages to read is much easier. But before I do, is the final design still using the four TDAs?

Kindest regards,

M

 

[sthcoaster]

For receiver section, easiest thing to do is to buy/use something like this

DIR9001

Then laying out the TDA1541 and its capacitors is pretty simple for Vero board etc. Gets you up and running pretty quickly.

However, if you want to run in simulataneous mode you will also need I2S>PCM board

 

[N101N]

You may have already discovered that there is a scarcity of nonoversampling approaches while there is no shortage of superclock approaches, which are obviously believed to be the path to Nirvana.

 

[analog_sa]

You may have already discovered that there is a scarcity of nonoversampling approaches while there is no shortage of superclock approaches

Оne of those rare instances when common sense prevails? 🙂

 

[N101N]

The ability to make sensible choices in everyday matters is useful, but it won`t get you very far. Common sense does not involve reasoned thinking and nobody is born with knowledge. What is your sensible choice of DAC?

 

[sumotan]

Don't mean to rub it inn, I played with diy TDA for long time ago even building a parallel for I2S connection to CD Pro thought it was audio nirvana until I audition AyA. Gob smack performance. Needless to say I bought AyA as well. In short if one is good or as clever as Pedja in designing a really good circuit, your better off buying an AyA board & tweak from there. Of course we have EC John but he's not selling any TDA boards.

 

[abraxalito]

You could buy this populated board (minus the TDA1541A) for about $57.

TDA1541A??????-???

 

[rfbrw]

The TDA1541A is about 30 years old and relatively easy to use with or without a digital filter. There is possibly a wider range of designs based around this audio dac than any other. If it can be done, it has been done.