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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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In Reply to: Re: Here's one suggestion... posted by pendergast on September 18, 2006 at 08:10:04:
The pcb's are beautifully done by Thomas. The tda1541a dac requires 14 decoupling capacitors, and since there are two dac chips, hence the reason why the dac board is so much larger than many other dac kits using tda1543 or tda1545. Good thing the board was finished.The sonic character of the tda1543 is reportedly results in a lively, immediate presentation (47 Labs, DDDac) while the tda1541 is very smooth and musical (Zanden), with the tda1545 somewhere in between (Ack Dac). Different people, depending on their priorities, prefer one over the others.
Since this was my first pcb-level project, I "punted" on the assembly of the tube board and paid something like $35 for assembly. Kit was $330. Reportedly, the tube board takes a few hours to stuff and solder and does not have nearly as many parts. Some builders have tweaked the tube stage, although the stock form is very good. Some have implemented PIMM CCS (or derivation thereof).
The kit came with an integrated iec/fuse inlet, but I wanted to have a switch on the front panel so I bought a fururtech iec, panel mount fuse holder and on/off switch.
The kit comes with another switch that allows you to switch between BNC and RCA (all jacks included) but I opted to only install BNC...hence no switch. The kit comes with 2 or 3 flavors of digital and analog cable, including belden 1505a (which I used to make a diy digital cable) and magomi microphone cable, as well as one or two I don't recall offhand. The boards come with terminals for easy cable connections. Users have reported better results by soldering signal cable directly to the boards.
I did purchase the barrier strip to connect the mains AC cable to the 3 transformers. I bought some captive-O ring crimp lugs to connect the mains cable and trans primary leads to barrier strip. The transformers are dual voltage (110v and 220v) and have black insulated earth leads.
I'm going to experiment a little with mechanical resonancy with this project. Bought all brass bolts/washers/nuts. Using Isoloss constrained layer-type grommets under the pcb mounts. Permanent chassis will be combination of wood and probably aluminum. I've read very good reviews of using a wood chassis, although some will strongly object on any number of grounds. I did purchase nickel conductive paint that Peter Daniel (DiyAudio) sprays on the interior of his wood chassis to provide some shielding. I plan to shock-mount the transformers on a base of microsorb and EAR C-1002 (from Percy Audio). All this will be installed on a 3/4" solid Mahogany board treated with a natural resin recipe of dammar crystalls dissolved in 100% pure gum turpentine.
Also, the kit comes with 2 different reclocking pcbs (without parts) and with an assembled op-amp output stage (which I have not installed). Regarding the reclocking circuit, I plan to instead install a usb-to-i2s module. Also, there's a blue LED that indicates whether the receiver has locked onto the digital signal which is not yet installed.
Lot's of family in town presently so no critical listening for a while, but the dac sounds very good based on casual listening. Truth in timbre. Excellent on vocals.
Good luck with your project. Also, you may want to look at dddac.de and peter daniel's tda1543 project on diyaudio.com. Both are proven designs, and both could accomodate usb.
Just basic tools needed: needlenose, cutters, miniature screwdrivers, soldering station, drill, hemostat, centerpunch, wirestrippers.
Hope this helps.
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Follow Ups
- A few build comments - RioTubes 11:27:16 09/18/06 (1)
- Re: A few build comments - pendergast 12:30:00 09/18/06 (0)
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