Hi,
Is it my ears ?
I find the Taiwan TDA 1541A from 98 quite bad in fact ! I tried 3 months to tame it ! The one I got from a said reliable source is harsch, and I had the luck to try two others from the same source exactly as bad !
There is a fatiguing treble and harchness near impossible to tame !
I have several TDA 1541A non A, even a S1 (single crown) : they are ok and the hiearchy with the S1 seems normal !
Any idea or testimonial about a real benchmark made by yourself ? Sorry to ask but I have a doubt ? Is it my chip or is the Taiwan 98 a urban myth made because the last avaliable in big quantity for OEM markett ??
regards
Eldam
Is it my ears ?
I find the Taiwan TDA 1541A from 98 quite bad in fact ! I tried 3 months to tame it ! The one I got from a said reliable source is harsch, and I had the luck to try two others from the same source exactly as bad !
There is a fatiguing treble and harchness near impossible to tame !
I have several TDA 1541A non A, even a S1 (single crown) : they are ok and the hiearchy with the S1 seems normal !
Any idea or testimonial about a real benchmark made by yourself ? Sorry to ask but I have a doubt ? Is it my chip or is the Taiwan 98 a urban myth made because the last avaliable in big quantity for OEM markett ??
regards
Eldam
Though it may measure well but could it be a case
of They Don't Make It Like The Way They Use Too
scenario ?
We all know that great spec does not equals good
sound right, besides it was already if not mistaken
at the end of it's life span commercially speaking.
Me I'll just keep on enjoying the virtues of my S1chips
of They Don't Make It Like The Way They Use Too
scenario ?
We all know that great spec does not equals good
sound right, besides it was already if not mistaken
at the end of it's life span commercially speaking.
Me I'll just keep on enjoying the virtues of my S1chips
Since I am the original source of that last batch (if they come from a seller that obtained them from me, all with the same numbers) I can confirm there are very good chips in that batch but they do sound different. I am not aware of those differences with other TDA1541A as I haven't had the pleasure to have more unused chips of one old batch of those. I lost 85 pieces of them to a chinese buyer that very likely restamped them to be S1/S2. At least that were my findings when I followed this scammer on the web. Hundreds of them went to companies producing audio equipment without any complaint.
Quite some chips performed better than old TDA chips I had in my posession then. In fact all of the examples I used myself were better than different examples of old/used and unused original S1 I had.
Maybe you should feel lucky to have obtained unused and original chips and just get used to the sound signature of your examples. Maybe you could try to use them in a non modded DAC of sorts and compare them in that device as other circumstances might be the cause.
@ sumotan: They Don't Make It Like The Way They Used To
Quite some chips performed better than old TDA chips I had in my posession then. In fact all of the examples I used myself were better than different examples of old/used and unused original S1 I had.
Maybe you should feel lucky to have obtained unused and original chips and just get used to the sound signature of your examples. Maybe you could try to use them in a non modded DAC of sorts and compare them in that device as other circumstances might be the cause.
@ sumotan: They Don't Make It Like The Way They Used To
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Hi Jean Paul
Yes I do agree with you, I have 7 stock Tda's all sound different
but even the best among them still nowhere near the S1 in SQ
but my other 4 S1's all sound pretty close in SQ.
The 1541 is pretty sensitive to tweaks. To get the best out of it
would take sometime & patience with lots of trail & error
Yes I do agree with you, I have 7 stock Tda's all sound different
but even the best among them still nowhere near the S1 in SQ
but my other 4 S1's all sound pretty close in SQ.
The 1541 is pretty sensitive to tweaks. To get the best out of it
would take sometime & patience with lots of trail & error
Since I had many TDA chips I tried, tested and listened to them often. The S1 myth has grown to abnormal proportions which are likely caused between the ears of the owner. They measure better than the old lesser graded chips but some of those 1998 chips measure equal or even better. It is also a difficult chip with regards to the multiple power supplies and PCB layout. Times are changing, we are in 2017. Best experiences were with the S2 I had but prices are absurd and no high res sound so I don't bother anymore. Although I was guilty myself too I got my freedom and now I notice many older guys in audio trying to revive what once was with some kind of nostalgia. We saw this with record players, we saw it with TDA chips, we see it now with the revival of cassette decks....
I am quite sure that if I had the chips now and would stamp them S1 many owners would be very enthusiastic
I am quite sure that if I had the chips now and would stamp them S1 many owners would be very enthusiastic
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Well let's just say it's a cross between stock & S2
which to my ears is the best in SQ.
This may sound absurd to you Jean Paul,
like fruits of the same kind when grown
in different places taste different.
So in this sense it could be different time
with slightly different materials or different
supplier that causes a change in SQ even
if it measures the same
Cheers
which to my ears is the best in SQ.
This may sound absurd to you Jean Paul,
like fruits of the same kind when grown
in different places taste different.
So in this sense it could be different time
with slightly different materials or different
supplier that causes a change in SQ even
if it measures the same
Cheers
Jean-Paul,
Off course I tried it in a non-modded version ! The genuine non modified AYA 2 ! As I said, this is the chip I have ! And yes it was from your post ! I don't say you are faulty here !
TDA 1541A sounds very good, I have plenty of them and several CD players and DACs (also non moded so easy to benchmark ) ; This chip is not good thouh don't know why ?
You have often the temptation to find people are fooler than you, non experimented, etc !
For me no doubt the S1 & even normal one sound better than this Taiwan 98 I get from your post ! But it's not about to find faulty people, I would like more testimonials !
PS : and I have plenty of the others too : tda1540 / 1545 /1543 & other dac ! So yes the TDA1541A is good but I may have falled on a bad one or it is the whole batch I dunno !
Maybe I will sent it to Pedja to have an idea !
Lol, even the Subbu (which sounds even better modded) beats this Taiwan 98... but not any of the others TDA 1541 I have : be it A, non A, normal old european, S1 from Singapor in simultaneous mode or not with genuine circuit and even after tos of caps ! It plays harsch !
Off course I tried it in a non-modded version ! The genuine non modified AYA 2 ! As I said, this is the chip I have ! And yes it was from your post ! I don't say you are faulty here !
TDA 1541A sounds very good, I have plenty of them and several CD players and DACs (also non moded so easy to benchmark ) ; This chip is not good thouh don't know why ?
You have often the temptation to find people are fooler than you, non experimented, etc !
For me no doubt the S1 & even normal one sound better than this Taiwan 98 I get from your post ! But it's not about to find faulty people, I would like more testimonials !
PS : and I have plenty of the others too : tda1540 / 1545 /1543 & other dac ! So yes the TDA1541A is good but I may have falled on a bad one or it is the whole batch I dunno !
Maybe I will sent it to Pedja to have an idea !
Lol, even the Subbu (which sounds even better modded) beats this Taiwan 98... but not any of the others TDA 1541 I have : be it A, non A, normal old european, S1 from Singapor in simultaneous mode or not with genuine circuit and even after tos of caps ! It plays harsch !
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Not at all, I am far from a snob. I just meet too much non technical thinking people that have a "problem" without giving away any valid information. One can not expect a serious answer to the question:"Is TDA1541A Taiwan 1998 chip good ?". A short answer could be:"yes it is good" as it works OK and produces a good signal
In which DAC or CD player ? Was it original or modded ? Etc etc. This all while also knowing many TDA chips sound different, regardless where and when they were made. For some kind of answer more data is needed. You can look at your own post and conclude it would have been better to state you tried the chips in a known good design like AYA 2. And to which other chips you compared the 1998 to? And,even more relevant, did you notice differences between those 3 pieces 1998 TDA?
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Yes I am a fool and please point the finger at me when giving insufficient data yourself. Also not answering questions says something. ---> For good answers one has to give more info.
I had 500+ TDA in stock and tried many of them in various designs. That is all. If the 1998 chips can be traced to my stock then I can say I tried many of those and these simply were good. It was the very last box with TDA I bought from Philips here. That was many many years after these were produced on the machines in Taiwan and the production machinery was dismantled/changed after this very batch. I just wish I had kept the box labels and papers.
Well, we did something right there. I take you meant V3 ? Maybe it was a complot
I had 500+ TDA in stock and tried many of them in various designs. That is all. If the 1998 chips can be traced to my stock then I can say I tried many of those and these simply were good. It was the very last box with TDA I bought from Philips here. That was many many years after these were produced on the machines in Taiwan and the production machinery was dismantled/changed after this very batch. I just wish I had kept the box labels and papers.
Well, we did something right there. I take you meant V3 ? Maybe it was a complot
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Well J-P, it's not about you, plot, etc ! I don't think you a bad man, just maybe a little autocentred, which is maybe even normal in the audiophil world !
And please we are don't talking about money, selling bananas per town or what ever !
If please people have testimonial and how they found it or cooked it to sonds non H3, please testimonial ! And of course even if you had the opposite experience ! It will encourage me to find the culpritt around the chip ! Maybe I just don't speak taiwaneese as said Sumotan, but the Singapors and europeans sounds way better at home at least ! And even a poorer TDA 1545A or 1543 ! Ah, no it's not a Subu plot !
And please we are don't talking about money, selling bananas per town or what ever !
If please people have testimonial and how they found it or cooked it to sonds non H3, please testimonial ! And of course even if you had the opposite experience ! It will encourage me to find the culpritt around the chip ! Maybe I just don't speak taiwaneese as said Sumotan, but the Singapors and europeans sounds way better at home at least ! And even a poorer TDA 1545A or 1543 ! Ah, no it's not a Subu plot
!
It certainly it is not about me. It is about you Please let's not try to make psychological statements based on assumptions.
You haven't even answered basic questions. Did those 3 chips all sound the same or not ? You just had bad luck and obtained 3 mediocre TDA chips. Move on and find some others that do keep the promise.
Please let's not try to make psychological statements based on assumptions. You haven't even answered basic questions. Did those 3 chips all sound the same or not ? You just had bad luck and obtained 3 mediocre TDA chips. Move on and find some others that do keep the promise.
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