I do and many found the same so there must be some truth in there. Still it is not a good thing to use unshielded cabling as many existing but also passing by polluters may have a negative influence and this varies during the day so the benefits are outweighed by the drawbacks IMO. Only usable if one lives in a Faradays cage 🙂
If people are really serious about environmental EMI/RFI, the best solution is to put the whole dac in sealed steel case. Aluminum can work too but the walls have to about 1/2" thick, so steel is more practical. What I do here is put the dacs I am working on inside emptied-out file server steel cases. Sweeping around with a spectrum analyzer and an E-field probe shows most of the EMI/RFI at this location comes in from the West, across Sacramento Valley. That being the situation here, I don't find it makes much difference if I put the lids on the server cases, mostly the needed shielding is done by the West facing side of the server case. Could be different for other people in other locations.
You mean this one: In the old days we called the mucon caps...it looks brown...to me..
Built some test devices to work inside a Faraday room for measuring brain currents in rodents (< 1 fAmp).
For interconnects it seems the best method might be to use symmetrical balanced lines. Although it can be viewed technically better it is still of questionable advantage in audio. Anyway, I am switching over to symmetric balanced lines and do believe this is the way to go.
A friend brought over his Atma-Sphere P2 tube preamp so this was installed. This was inserted between the XLR output DAC and XLR power amps. It was a little leaner sounding overall, though the 3D space was better along with the content sounding more natural. Don't know why.
For me the dac journey started in earnest with a Subbu DAC (2.8) with your awesome psu. I compared it to a bunch of other DACs over the years, and it held up amazingly well. After reading quite a few posts around the net about die-hard vinyl aficionados finally finding a contender in Abbas i was curious, so i took a nibble in the DAC 0.1SE (TDA1543) and was blown away. So in a way the Subbu was a gateway drug 🙂 I built my Subbu without a power switch and it ran flawlessly for many years, did i say i loved the psu in it? Overall I feel that I need a year or two of listening for things to stabilise and the synergies to become apparent or not, some audiophiles are impatient and chase audio nirvana with more fervor.
One thing i like about the Abbas DAC is how insensitive it is to rf intereference. It sits on my desk at work and i sometimes lean my iPhone on it, no trace of interference even when the radios are active. I also bought his rca interconnects and his power cable. But it's plugged into a regular power strip, no conditioner yet. I only power down and unplug his DACs when i leave the country or there is a thunderstorm (Abbas states his gear can be left on 24/7).
The spdif receiver is slotted so can be changed, Abbas is happy to accept special requirements in his products (or will be as soon as the war is over), and is a great guy to deal with. He will repair his gear unmodified for free, if you mod it and it breaks he will still repair it, although at a cost.
The only thing to take note of is his dacs have hot outputs, generally around 4-4.5V rms, so plan your gain structure accordingly. I don't use a preamp in my main setup, wire all my digital sources into an automatic switcher from Tindie, into the Abbas DAC and straight into a Dennis Had Inspire KT-88, volume control in the digital domain.
YES! I share the same opinion, after ear some modern Sabre ES9018 implementations (sounding so flat and boring), and the acclaimed BB PCM56 (very good mids, but not have the crystal highs as TDA1541), BB PCM1702 (very impactful and detailed, but not have the mids and the body as TDA1541). IMHO seated in an AYA DS board the TDA1541 shines as nothing else in this planet - running in simultaneous mode protocole.
I think Abbas ans his DACs should be safe if not in one of the numerous bombed civilian building or not stolen by a soldier though they still the food in fridges and ligth devices...
The Subbu dac is nice. I still have two and I should sold one. The PSU lacked of slam but was easy to tweak with better values and model of caps.
The DAC needed solid caps tweak too in my setup though the 2.5 mm Wima as ref was good but not as good as a 1 uF BG std or a CDE FCA smd at ref pin (charge pump?)... also swaped some XR7 and put better lythic and polymers and it becomes another league in my setup at least.
I am not using it as I do not use spidf interconect on digital side. For me the main default was the lack of uf=l or USB input... I do not know if the Wolfson receiver could manage that though.
The Subbu dac is nice. I still have two and I should sold one. The PSU lacked of slam but was easy to tweak with better values and model of caps.
The DAC needed solid caps tweak too in my setup though the 2.5 mm Wima as ref was good but not as good as a 1 uF BG std or a CDE FCA smd at ref pin (charge pump?)... also swaped some XR7 and put better lythic and polymers and it becomes another league in my setup at least.
I am not using it as I do not use spidf interconect on digital side. For me the main default was the lack of uf=l or USB input... I do not know if the Wolfson receiver could manage that though.
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Answering the question: why all the love for the TDA1541 I must say that this chip, when in a good environment, is better than all the ones I know on many levels, but I highlight just one: Coherence of the musical program. It doesn't have excess or defective bass, mids or treble, it doesn't lack body, dynamics, clarity or detail. It reproduces the music with an almost perfect coherence that fails all other competitors. As an example I can mention the famous BB PCM1702 which has a more crystalline detail, or sometimes dynamic moments that are scary (because they are not predictable), but it is all incoherent and disintegrated from the rest of the music.
A brief off-topic note: is big brother TDA1540 has an even much better mid-range and low notes, but the treble is a bit recessed. Going from the plastic "P" version to the ceramic "D" version is an even bigger leap than from the TDA1541A to the S1 version! There are a lot of people who claim that the TDA1540, for some reasons, is the perfect DAC chip.
Sorry but I cant resist to one last note, perhaps to enrich everyone's general culture: Ennio Morricone had a (famous) DAC based on the TDA1541A chip in his house and if you visit the Sistine Chapel you will hear background music presented by a TDA1541A double crown! Enjoy life and music!
A few years ago I spoke to a gentleman who works at the Sistine Chapel (a non-professional musician) and he told me that the background music was presented through a DAC with the famous Philips double crown, and also that Mr Morricone had in his house a DAC made by Tim Paravacinni with this chip too. I dont asked nothing about brands.
Nice anecdote.
Curious to know what conf you used with the tda1540 for I/V.
Maybe one could force a little the climbing of the treble by a particular selection of resistor and caps around the I/V ?
Curious to know what conf you used with the tda1540 for I/V.
Maybe one could force a little the climbing of the treble by a particular selection of resistor and caps around the I/V ?
Wait till you hear an 8 bit DAC. The summum however are the 1 bit DACs.
@Kris0603: that PSU is extremely well measuring. It was using a slow but very good regulator. Very clean stable low noise DC output and thankfully no slam. DC power supplies are not supposed to have the latter. Effect generators might create that but our little DAC was designed to get the best out of a 4 $ DAC chip and neutral sounding. Many expensive DACs and certainly those with tube outputs are adding something which is not my cup of tea.
TDA1543 IS an effect generator in a way. I liked it for ease of implementation but it is by no means neutral sounding and measuring it gives tears in the eyes. Korg Nutube category 😀
@Kris0603: that PSU is extremely well measuring. It was using a slow but very good regulator. Very clean stable low noise DC output and thankfully no slam. DC power supplies are not supposed to have the latter. Effect generators might create that but our little DAC was designed to get the best out of a 4 $ DAC chip and neutral sounding. Many expensive DACs and certainly those with tube outputs are adding something which is not my cup of tea.
TDA1543 IS an effect generator in a way. I liked it for ease of implementation but it is by no means neutral sounding and measuring it gives tears in the eyes. Korg Nutube category 😀
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I suggest you have a look at nos droop filter documented by our forum member abraxilato. I breadboarded it in the past and it was stellar sounding. Did what its suppose to very unobtrusively. It was for 1543 tho
