You just need to get out more SoNic 😉 Even my cheap 4 * TDA1543 knocks my Asus Essence ST (PCM179X) into a dung heap.
In what respect subjectively speaking? I hooked up my Xonar STX pc to my hifi a while back to see how it faired... It sounded great and trouced the old Trichod Pulsar DAC I had at the time (a mid 90's high end unit, had a mammoth PSU section and used Burr Brown PCM63).
Lots more detail and timing - a clear improvement. No space for a pc there though, so next I tried a DacMagic azur. Was very similar in sound but lacked overall weight - anaemic and thin in comparison.
Lots more detail and timing - a clear improvement. No space for a pc there though, so next I tried a DacMagic azur. Was very similar in sound but lacked overall weight - anaemic and thin in comparison.
Tonal accuracy - particularly on brass - and dynamics. The latter being the surprise factor of the music - the perceived (rather than measured) dynamic range. S-D designs somehow manage to compress dynamics.
What do you mean by 'detail' and 'timing' ?
What do you mean by 'detail' and 'timing' ?
Haha, try using some decent headphones and a better source - SACD. Oh, wait, you can't play SACD!
And Asus? Fed from the noisy PCI bus that originates in a switched-mode PC power supply??? Did you swap the OpAmps (R4580, 2114 and 5532) with something like LM4562 (I see that they use those on line out only?).
Don't forget it uses 1792 - voltage otput, that has internal I/V OpAmp... It makes a slight difference in my Denons.
All in all, it uses the rebranded CMedia chips to drive those PCM1792 and I never liked the CM sound.
And Asus? Fed from the noisy PCI bus that originates in a switched-mode PC power supply??? Did you swap the OpAmps (R4580, 2114 and 5532) with something like LM4562 (I see that they use those on line out only?).
Don't forget it uses 1792 - voltage otput, that has internal I/V OpAmp... It makes a slight difference in my Denons.
All in all, it uses the rebranded CMedia chips to drive those PCM1792 and I never liked the CM sound.
Last edited:
I find headphones rather uncomfortable and inconvenient. I have two SACD players (or perhaps better to say players capable of playing SACD) - one Pioneer and one Sony. Both suck, the Pioneer sucks most.
"Detail", meaning an improvement in overall clarity - particularly in the mid-upper range and treble (hi-hat and cymbals in particular). I like to use RHCP's Blood Sex Sugar Magik album as a tester as it's drum track is really well recorded.
"Timing", meaning that music seem to communicate better rhythmically, all in my subjective opinion of course.
The Trichord Pulsar I was comparing it to at the time wasn't that great, nice mid-range but overall detail and clarity seemed to be smothered over. Ideal to tame a bright system, but not for me.
"Timing", meaning that music seem to communicate better rhythmically, all in my subjective opinion of course.
The Trichord Pulsar I was comparing it to at the time wasn't that great, nice mid-range but overall detail and clarity seemed to be smothered over. Ideal to tame a bright system, but not for me.
Ah - I have a hypothesis that what you call 'detail' is what I've been working on getting rid of in my system for the past couple of years 🙂 I call it 'sibilance' - a sharpening of the edges. AKA MSG, flavour enhancer. Its normally associated with digital, analog doesn't have it much.
I think with PCM63 you should be able to get an improvement in dynamics over the PCM179X but perhaps not up to the level of the Philips DACs. Its mostly a matter of taste and educating your ears 😛
I think with PCM63 you should be able to get an improvement in dynamics over the PCM179X but perhaps not up to the level of the Philips DACs. Its mostly a matter of taste and educating your ears 😛
Hi folks!
I know it's not the subject of this topic, but I would like to know your opinions of Teradak Camaleon DAC which uses 16 x TDA1541. Is it possible this DAC sounds as good as modern DAC chip based external DACs?
TDA1543 NOS DAC-V4.5 - TeraDak Audio Electric Company
I know it's not the subject of this topic, but I would like to know your opinions of Teradak Camaleon DAC which uses 16 x TDA1541. Is it possible this DAC sounds as good as modern DAC chip based external DACs?
TDA1543 NOS DAC-V4.5 - TeraDak Audio Electric Company
Yep 16 * 1541 would be a tad extravagant these days, and not likely to improve anything. I have no experience of that DAC but I'd bet it needs modding before sounding decent. There's a thread on HeadFi about it - check it out - Chameleon DAC listening and modifications
I don't understand this term: might have some issues
how do I translate "ISSUE" in this case? Some problems/some trouble, some revisions/some versions? Or some certain characteristic? And which issues you mean exactly?
The description of the I/U converter under the stated URL sounds like the japanese version of Nelson Pass' D1 I/U resp. I/V converter (see attached schemas). Also close by Jan Didden's I/U about
http://www.linearaudio.nl/JDpubs/iv.pdf
Are there a schematic diagram of the YDA-01 for download?
Attachments
Last edited:
"Issues" reffers to intermodulation products and other things (settling time) that are not showing up in datasheets.
I recently found out (with surprise) that my PCM179x sound perfect on SACD, but less than a good multibit DAC (like PCM63) on PCM signals. It still sounds better than my TDA1541 thou.
I recently found out (with surprise) that my PCM179x sound perfect on SACD, but less than a good multibit DAC (like PCM63) on PCM signals. It still sounds better than my TDA1541 thou.
Have found some more info on the old AVI DAC, courtesy of gramophone. It compared very favourable to a Meridian 208:
"The circuit is a multi-bit type (which Grindrod prefers to the single-bit Bitstream types) and is based around a selected Crown SI version of the Philips TDA1541A and four-times oversampling SAA7220P/B chip-set. The rest of the circuit is entirely due to AVI and in particular the use of a special tuned amplifier circuit rather than the conventional phase-locked loop has made the unit universally reliable in locking-on to the clock signal coming out of the CD transport (Grindrod has found a surprisingly wide deviation in the performance of third-party transports and players in this respect). The analogue output is taken direct from a simple L/C filter driven from a variant of the line-level amplifier developed for the preamplifier."
Still have a nagging feeling that the Asus E1 may well be audibly/technically superior, given 20 years of d/a advances... I think I will give one a try and see how it goes!
"The circuit is a multi-bit type (which Grindrod prefers to the single-bit Bitstream types) and is based around a selected Crown SI version of the Philips TDA1541A and four-times oversampling SAA7220P/B chip-set. The rest of the circuit is entirely due to AVI and in particular the use of a special tuned amplifier circuit rather than the conventional phase-locked loop has made the unit universally reliable in locking-on to the clock signal coming out of the CD transport (Grindrod has found a surprisingly wide deviation in the performance of third-party transports and players in this respect). The analogue output is taken direct from a simple L/C filter driven from a variant of the line-level amplifier developed for the preamplifier."
Still have a nagging feeling that the Asus E1 may well be audibly/technically superior, given 20 years of d/a advances... I think I will give one a try and see how it goes!
I'm not aware of any schematic better than the block diagram on Yamamoto's site. As far as I can tell, the YDA-01 I/U circuit is quite similar to Pass' D1 except, the YDA-01 circuit utilizes a PNP (probably referenced to ground by an identical PNP configured as a current-mirror). Another difference appears to be the choice of omitting an voltage-follower output buffer with the YDA-01.
Its true to say that the advances in D/A technology over 20-odd years have been significant. However these haven't shown up much in audio, if at all - rather in communications and industrial applications.
Excellent idea - no substitute for hearing it for yourself 😀
This gets more interesting again... Borrowed a Cambridge Audio Azur DacMagic for the afternoon, to compare to the AVI. This is no ordinary dacmagic, it's been pimped out internally and has a toroidal PSU instead of the usual wall wart:
Result? Either my ears need cleaning or there's barely a hairs breadth in it! Both sound excellent, the DM may be a *little* more resolving with finer details but apart from that I can scarcely hear a difference.
I'm surprised but a little disappointed if I'm honest - I was hoping there would be an obvious worthwhile improvement switching between the two... Looks like this 20 year old unit is as good as it gets without spending serious ££!
- 1x Spower low noise voltage regulator (DAC)
- 11x Panasonic FC power supply capacitors
- 1x Rubycon ZA dac supply decoupling capacitor
- 4x Oscon SEPC dac decoupling capacitors
- 2x Oscon SEPC for dac Digital decoupling
- 2x Rubycon ZA dac Analogue decoupling capacitors
- 4 x LM4562MA (LME49720MA) low pass filter audiophile opamps
- 2 x LM4562MA (LME49720MA) output audiophile opamps
- Output Capacitor bypass (RCA only)
Result? Either my ears need cleaning or there's barely a hairs breadth in it! Both sound excellent, the DM may be a *little* more resolving with finer details but apart from that I can scarcely hear a difference.
I'm surprised but a little disappointed if I'm honest - I was hoping there would be an obvious worthwhile improvement switching between the two... Looks like this 20 year old unit is as good as it gets without spending serious ££!
Thank you for your explanation. Mr. Pass tell me similar reasons when I asked him several years ago, why he no longer builds his own model "D1" with TI's successor generation of the PCM63.
Fortunately there are several threads concerning this on this forum - e. g.:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...ter-followed-high-gain-amp-stage-tda1543.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/9910-nice-dac-complement-aleph-x.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/9226-simple-i-v-tda1541.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/6121-easy-build-i-v-stage.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/diyaudio-com-articles/172983-zen-i-v-converter.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/173291-zen-i-v-converter.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/grou...-diamond-non-feedback-i-v-stage-tda1541a.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/173540-transformer-output-zen-i-v.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...ter-versions-ti-pcm-r2r-dacs-e-g-pcm1704.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/168093-hawksford-discrete-iv-twist.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/165443-discrete-dac-i-v-stage.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/34719-discrete-i-v-conv.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/131703-quoll-balanced-discrete-iv-stage.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/35258-yadis-yet-another-discrete-iv-stage.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...ous-i-v-iu-i-u-converter-sonic-character.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/131010-discrete-i-v-converter.html
Last edited:
Yes, I'm aware of those. I'll venture to say that I'm probably familiar with most transimpedance converter topologies intended for digital audio. I'm a bit confused however. Weren't you inquiring about a full schematic of the TDA-01?
Last edited:
I don't necessarily expect a revolutionary design - thus a full schematic isn't really necessary for me. OTOH a full schematic is always the best.
Because it is a diy kit, I don't expect the reply, full schematic is confidential and thus not available.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.