I think once more that is a question of taste.
I think that Infineon chips sound warmer than TPA325x chips. Spec Corp that is a famous Japanese firm is using Infineon chips in their $ 3500 best amps....
Both Merus and Tpa325X chips have a great thd+n figure but they sound totally different in term of "sound signature."
There, all is said...
no big reputable brand uses a TPA chip.In this amp range from another world ... 😳
no big reputable brand uses a TPA chip.In this amp range from another world ... 😳
Im not talking about changing filters. And there is no pure direct mode on any DAC chip. You always need to choose 1 filter type.
Yes there’s 2x 2 channel chips. Each a different package type. 1 has the worlds best opamp after it that you can optionally add into the signal chain. Many different clocking schemes are possible, as well as power regulation schemes. And different ways to get the digital signal to the chip. And that doesn’t include the infinite ways it can be tuned in the internal firmware.
You re right. All counts, specially the caps, the OP amps, and implementation that surround the chip.
It is true, I remember when I bypassed the NC500MP Hypex OP amps (very simple to do by the way). It sounded fantastic BUT :
When you do so, you lower the input gain dramatically, so you need a good preamp to compensate for this....
Not just a good preamp, you need a high current gain stage with low output impedance, combined with 10v+
I got an SMSL Merus based amp to test the sound and I don’t like it as much as TPA3255. Hard to say but it doesn’t sound as clear and the bass was not as hard hitting. But how much of this is implementation vs the chip intrinsic sound. I like other SMSL products.
That’s 512 DACs. I mean literally a DAC that doesn’t use any DAC IC and no FPGA either. We are working on a DAC-less DAC.
Yes I have seen that project going on for years. Has anyone achieved good results yet? Like as in comparable to this $25 USB dongle
