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DIY TDA1541A PCB "D3"

Would you like a through hole version of the D3?

  • Yes

    Votes: 12 52.2%
  • Maybe, depends on the performance

    Votes: 11 47.8%

  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .
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Since your making a new board, perhaps you should include the I/V stage on it as well Ryan. Don’t think many will adopt passive with opt as suggested by John.
Cost is at play here. You were playing with Cen Zen I/V, perhaps you could seek the designer’s blessing to incorporate this into your board ? Yes a new thread is the way to go.

Cheers

I've asked EUVL about using his circuit on a PCB... I got the feeling hes not overly thrilled about the idea. Plus Im not 100% sure im going to continue using it.

On the new PCB i've got some passive IV options, but it doesn't need to be populated.
 
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Hi Guys,

I've started to design a new PCB for the TDA1541A to make space for the 14 decoupling caps that are needed for a 50Hz DEM.

We can use this thread to start an interest list to get an idea on numbers, and a general discussion.

Eg: "ryanj x 1"...etc

I suggest allowing for two 1541s, either in parallel or balanced. Maybe you could add some hardware to produce bit perfect inverted data for the second one.

Below is my version using IanCandad's I2Sto PCM board.
 

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Well I can understand your predicament Ryan. Your providing a service for use diyers to make things easier for us. Like John he's been so gracious all these years to share his wealth of knowledge & we all should be very thankful. I take it that John is ok with your efforts ? Back to D3 hmmm a tube stage would be nice. Lot's of experts here could chime in to share their thoughts.

Good luck
 
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I suggest allowing for two 1541s, either in parallel or balanced. Maybe you could add some hardware to produce bit perfect inverted data for the second one.

Below is my version using IanCandad's I2Sto PCM board.

I plan on giving ECdesigns "signed magnitude" idea a go in the near future, so I want to make sure it is upgradable by just adding another D3 PCB. Also want to keep it as simple as possible this time around, and not everyone is going to be interested in running dual mono/parallel/balanced.
 
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Well I can understand your predicament Ryan. Your providing a service for use diyers to make things easier for us. Like John he's been so gracious all these years to share his wealth of knowledge & we all should be very thankful. I take it that John is ok with your efforts ? Back to D3 hmmm a tube stage would be nice. Lot's of experts here could chime in to share their thoughts.

Good luck

Yeah its a balance of designing how I want it to be designed, and how I think would make it useable for DIYers.

Yes I asked John about these PCBs, and he graciously had no problem with it at all. Bless him.
 
I plan on giving ECdesigns "signed magnitude" idea a go in the near future, so I want to make sure it is upgradable by just adding another D3 PCB. Also want to keep it as simple as possible this time around, and not everyone is going to be interested in running dual mono/parallel/balanced.

If you could make the new pcb stackable using 2.54 pitch connector strips this would be a good way of covering all bases. (or a master / slave approach)
 
Hi BarG01
Hi Gábor

I know there are a lot of guys with that name in Hungary, but could it be you , who are visiting Kurt 20-21 October?


Hi Koldby,
No, it is not me, I'm not planning to visit any Kurt in October. I know that there are some Hungarian guys in this forum but not too many. My nick is an expanded abbreviation of my name, Bar***** Gábor, you know inversely to any other nation.
Gábor
 
I have also posted this in the "building the ultimate nos dac using the tda1541A":


A little story on my progress in TDA1541A DAC building.
I modded two Red Baron PCB to accept 50 Hz DEM mod and used them with Ian Canadas I2S to PCM converter in balanced mode and with passive I/V converter. This immediately bettered my, uptil now , preferred DAC with Ian Canadas FIFO and dual clock with isolator and custom designed I/V converter.

I had to dismantle it again as it was kind of a rats-nest construction and I want to put it in a nice box with remote vol. control etc.
So I had a third red baron pcb and I just got two pcb from ryanj with ecdesigns version of a I2S to Simultaneous converter (worked perfectly first time , thanks ryanj!) and I wanted to make a dac I could use , while building the balanced dac (it also needs to have 4 channels, as I want to make a digital corssover for future subs).

The dac was unmodded (besides 1uF acrylic SMD capacitors for DEM decoupling) and had the original single MOSFET I/V converter. Hmmm good but not great. Then I switched to passive I/V converter and I got a step closer, but not enough. I then modded it with 50Hz DEM and , wow, what a difference! This is a very good mod especially when you run the TDA1541A in simultaneous mode... Spaciousness and perspective is much better and the there is black darkness in the space between and behind instruments, so you can easily hear the recorded rooms response to the instruments..
The output from the passive I/V is too low for my amps , and I did not have a good enough preamp to deal with that, so I desided to try to mod. my TDA1543 I/V converter to work with TDA1541A. It was rather an easy mod and now I had plenty of output to my amps. Comparing the passive I/V to the modded active I/V, @ the levels that the passive could obtain, showed that the active was at least on pair with the passive solution. I had to turn down the digital vol quite a lot for the active I/V and I get lesser resolution that way. When I turn up the vol. the active performs even better.

The active showed me, when the digital vol was turn way down, that there was some noise overlaying the weak signals. Most of it was probably quantization noise, but when I added 100nf smd parallel to the 100 uF DEM capacitors, it was reduced, so I would recommend that.

Both the MOSFET I/V and the modded I/V (also a non-feedback circuit) have way lower distortion figures than the passive solution (FFT analyzer result)....Makes one wonder ...........

Concerning the I/V stage: I like MOSFETS and especially JFets as input devices and prefer them to bipolar, but in the event of an I/V converter bipolar are IMHO much better. They shine when they are used as current operated devices (that is their nature).
 
Thanks for sharing your story!

Much of what you said is in line with what I've experienced.

Thanks for the tip to parallel 100uF with 100nF, ill see if I can put this on my PCB.

I'm glad you got the I2S2SIM pcb working ok, and very quickly too, nice.

Cheers.

I have also posted this in the "building the ultimate nos dac using the tda1541A":


A little story on my progress in TDA1541A DAC building.
I modded two Red Baron PCB to accept 50 Hz DEM mod and used them with Ian Canadas I2S to PCM converter in balanced mode and with passive I/V converter. This immediately bettered my, uptil now , preferred DAC with Ian Canadas FIFO and dual clock with isolator and custom designed I/V converter.

I had to dismantle it again as it was kind of a rats-nest construction and I want to put it in a nice box with remote vol. control etc.
So I had a third red baron pcb and I just got two pcb from ryanj with ecdesigns version of a I2S to Simultaneous converter (worked perfectly first time , thanks ryanj!) and I wanted to make a dac I could use , while building the balanced dac (it also needs to have 4 channels, as I want to make a digital corssover for future subs).

The dac was unmodded (besides 1uF acrylic SMD capacitors for DEM decoupling) and had the original single MOSFET I/V converter. Hmmm good but not great. Then I switched to passive I/V converter and I got a step closer, but not enough. I then modded it with 50Hz DEM and , wow, what a difference! This is a very good mod especially when you run the TDA1541A in simultaneous mode... Spaciousness and perspective is much better and the there is black darkness in the space between and behind instruments, so you can easily hear the recorded rooms response to the instruments..
The output from the passive I/V is too low for my amps , and I did not have a good enough preamp to deal with that, so I desided to try to mod. my TDA1543 I/V converter to work with TDA1541A. It was rather an easy mod and now I had plenty of output to my amps. Comparing the passive I/V to the modded active I/V, @ the levels that the passive could obtain, showed that the active was at least on pair with the passive solution. I had to turn down the digital vol quite a lot for the active I/V and I get lesser resolution that way. When I turn up the vol. the active performs even better.

The active showed me, when the digital vol was turn way down, that there was some noise overlaying the weak signals. Most of it was probably quantization noise, but when I added 100nf smd parallel to the 100 uF DEM capacitors, it was reduced, so I would recommend that.

Both the MOSFET I/V and the modded I/V (also a non-feedback circuit) have way lower distortion figures than the passive solution (FFT analyzer result)....Makes one wonder ...........

Concerning the I/V stage: I like MOSFETS and especially JFets as input devices and prefer them to bipolar, but in the event of an I/V converter bipolar are IMHO much better. They shine when they are used as current operated devices (that is their nature).
 
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Your in Jkt sthcoaster ??? Wazzz if your ever in Batam drop me a line.
Nothing like meeting up with fellow diyer. Btw did you make your score in Jkt ?

Thanks Sumo
Be in Jkt for another 2 weeks before moving on to Vientiane, Laos! So all projects on hold until settled there (hope my freight doesn’t fall off the back of the boat!) Going to be even harder to get parts locally!! Wonder if I will be the only DIYer in the village in Laos?