Anyway, on an entirely different subject (shame!) I would like Ashley's opinion on this discussion about the TDA1541:
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...=6993#post6993
:)
Marco.
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Anyway, on an entirely different subject (shame!) I would like Ashley's opinion on this discussion about the TDA1541:
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...=6993#post6993
:)
Marco.
Nah, Mike Hawthorn, Werner von Braun, Neils Bohr, and Graham Hill.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
I can remember Racing Cars with engines in the front, and Julie Christie in A for Andromeda, and the first edition of "six five special" with Pete Murray and Jo Douglas, and Bill Haley live, and George VI being King of England, (and Scotland), and Food Rationing, and Utility furniture and clothes.
And some other things too, like Homosexuality, and Abortion being offences carrying prison sentences.
And the Introduction of the Birth control pill, and the death of some of my friends due to poliomyelitis and tuberculosis.
It wasn't all wonderful. :)
Records sound nothing like real for reasons already given and with Digital material the source is irrelevant, it's the DAC that dictates sound quality.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Compressed digital material on a good system varies from indistinguishable from the CD to barely distinguishable and never with distortions as unpleasant as those from a turntable whose material has had to be distorted to get it on to vinyl. In my opinion (and many others) 128K MP3's, which are worse than what you actually buy, sound appreciably better than records and quite musically involving.
As I've already explained the TDA1541 was rendered obsolete because it wasn't as good sounding as Burr Brown DAC of the early nineties. It also came with a poor digital filter which upset Naim and Quad Amps and is Linn/Naim shrieked about CD not being ready yet.
Current DACs are all 24 bit parts and appreciably better sounding. To put it another way, the DAC in an iPod Shuffle would be better than a TDA1541.
Ash
Hahahahahaha... What a load of complete bollocks! :lol:
I won't even dignify most of it with an answer, Ashley. Vinyl still has the highest resolution of any music carrier - fact. Digital is a compromised second best.
Anyway, bring an iPod Shuffle along to our forthcoming meeting and we'll see how well it does against my DAS-R1. Be prepared to have a very rude awakening!! :eyebrows:
I attended a meeting recently at Owston, you may have read the thread, and the DAS-R1 was recognised as and appreciated by very experienced and discerning enthusiasts as a superb sounding piece of equipment. Indeed, a test was carried out against various other DACs, some high-end ones from a similar era as the Sony, some very good D.I.Y ones, and some well-regarded modern DACs such as the Beresford.
The Sony was voted the clear winner, and by people with no preconceptions or bias towards it. The Beresford was quite clearly the worst of them all - I've got no idea what chip is in it, but it completely disproves your assertion that modern DACs are better. People with discerning ears recognise that the TDA1541 is one of the best, if not the best, DAC chip ever made. If you had brought an iPod Shuffle to the meeting it would have been laughed out the room and shown as the piece of junk that it is, in comparison to the Sony or any other DACs there!
Read what Leo has written in his thread in the D.I.Y room. He builds DACs to a very high standard and recognises that the TDA1541 is the best. You're alone on this ridiculous viewpoint of yours about Burr Browns, so give it up before you make yourself look even more ridiculous than you have with your claims about ADM9s and valve amps!
Leo wrote (on the D.I.Y DAC thread):
Hear, hear Leo! - A man who knows what he's talking about.Quote:
TDA1541A double crown is still my favourite chip to date, I've tried and heard so many different commercially made units using BB, Wolfson, AD, Cirrus etc, I've also built quite a few diy dacs using these various chips and I always come back to this classic, implemented correctly no other device has that realism in the midrange, decay of piano that this one has IMHO.
Marco.
Another discerning TDA1541 fan joins our merry band...
Tony knows the score.Quote:
Hello from Chester!
I was at the Owfest meeting last weekend but I arrived late and didn't get chance to chat to Marco, catching up as we were on all the new systems and meeting up with everyone again the time just flew past. I liked the sound of his Sony DAC though. But then I would as I am "tuned" to the 1541!
I am from Chester, my system at the moment is:
IPL S5TL Gold transmission line speakers
WAD Kit6550 amp. (Soon to be WAD 300B PP amp)
CDPro2 CD player (custom built case - see above!)
TDA1541A DAC (custom built - Pedja Rogic main pcb - See above!)
SqueezeBox 3 with Tent clock mods, psu mods, etc.
As they say in Glasgow, Ashley, 'get it right up ye!' :lol:
:ner:
Marco.
It's obvious that these guys know how to make the best of a tda 1541, and they suit their design and construction methods .........
BUT ! ...............
It doesn't mean that the 1541 is the best chip by any standards. :)
It was designed 25 ago and if it had been able to hold it's own against more recent designs, then it would still be in production now.
The reality is that it has been superseded by newer chips particularly the Wolfson ones which an overwhelming majority consider to be vastly superior. But they are not quite so easy for amateurs to design with since there is as yet no "hobbyist" following and ideas pool, to provide guidance.
This is of no consequence to a manufacturer who has his own design facility and who wishes to obtain the best performance advantages available.
:)
Marco
I quite happy to have an informed debate with you, but there's no point at all if you don't read and understand what I've said.
1. You must understand that all modern DAC chips have remarkably similar performances and are virtually impossible to tell apart. Therefore when you listen to a commercial DAC, you're hearing the designers implementation of the instructions he'll have been given and you may also be hearing interaction between the Amplifier and the DAC if that's no good as well. Just as though you'd given your mother and several of her friends a collection of ingredients and asked them all to bake a cake, they'd get different results. With cakes it doesn't matter but with DAC's it does.
2. Vinyl has at least 100 times as much distortion as CD and it's all nasty stuff. I can't keep explaining this and I can't understand how anyone can put up with it.
3. I think you should give us greater credibility than you do, because we do have track record for outstanding sound quality and because Martin probably is one of the most able designers in the UK.
4. I also would ask you to remember that if I make statements it'll be because great care has been taken to establish that what I'm saying is provable and has probably been verified by people who visit us but aren't employed by us, some will be professionals whose livelihood depends on good hearing.
Ash
Ashley,
You can waffle on as much as you like. I don't give a toss what 'professionals' think, nor do I have the time or the energy to argue with you on this matter. You're assertions about vinyl are laughable and your credibility is reducing by the day. I'll bring my Technics down with some mint vinyl and we'll see what happens shall we? That is if you can switch off your ridiculously biased head.
The proof of the pudding will be in the listening. This is all that matters.
I tell you something, though, given all your endless posturing on the TDA1541, and toy iPods, etc, you better hope that they're better than my DAS-R1, because, although I will be constructive as usual, if they're not better I will show NO MERCY in my criticism - believe me!! :eyebrows:
Marco.
i can see where this is going, [i can almost here the keyboards being hammered at this moment]Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
your better will be a diffrent type of "better" than his, and vice/versa!!!:scratch::confused::eyebrows:
Perhaps some real world listening may help Ashley.
Then again perhaps not :lolsign: