AYA dac

[Yomanze]

Seen this Leo?

http://www.dddac.de/ma_dac31.htm

I will be picking up the SPDIF to I2S board (DIY SPDIF reclocking way out of my league!) and feeding it to a TDA1541A 'module' done deadbug style on copper sheet. I/V will be done by this kit I have waiting with my parts:

http://diyparadise.com/ssiv.html

Excellent work on your DAC Leo, nice neat job. Was also wondering if the reclocking brings a worthwhile improvement? Great that you can bypass the reclocking for comparison.

[leo]

Hi Leo, have you spent time swapping between the standard, S1 and S2 DACs? Any findings if so? I have read that the differences are subtle. I have also read that in testing, different years of DAC ( different production / locations) have sounded different!

The differences I heard here was the S2 clearly had the best bass, tighter with more depth, mids and highs sounded cleaner

The S1 did not have that bass of the S2 IMO, its sound altogether lacked the finer details, only really noticeable when doing a direct A and B comparison, in each case the DC nulling on the dacs output had to be finely adjusted

You are indeed correct regarding the standard A grade, the Taiwan stamped one sounded different to the philips stamped one, also channel noise varied with the A grades

Theres also an R1 which sounded the worse out of the ones I tried

[leo]

I will be picking up the SPDIF to I2S board (DIY SPDIF reclocking way out of my league!) and feeding it to a TDA1541A 'module' done deadbug style on copper sheet. I/V will be done by this kit I have waiting with my parts:

http://diyparadise.com/ssiv.html

Excellent work on your DAC Leo, nice neat job. Was also wondering if the reclocking brings a worthwhile improvement? Great that you can bypass the reclocking for comparison.

Thanks

Asynchronous reclocking on the I2S lines does make a difference, it makes the sound more upfront , lively which some people like with the NOS dacs.
If you find it better is hard to say, I find it can lack that natural quality with some material.
The AYA I have uses Asynchronous reclocking on the bottom of the board using a SMD Crystek oscillator, I've modded the board to allow easy bypassing if needed

[Yomanze]

Thanks

Asynchronous reclocking on the I2S lines does make a difference, it makes the sound more upfront , lively which some people like with the NOS dacs.
If you find it better is hard to say, I find it can lack that natural quality with some material.
The AYA I have uses Asynchronous reclocking on the bottom of the board using a SMD Crystek oscillator, I've modded the board to allow easy bypassing if needed

Interesting comments, thanks I do have a CS8412 sat here which I know is capable of very good results, maybe I'll forego the reclocking... would cut down the cost quite dramatically.

[SolidState]

The differences I heard here was the S2 clearly had the best bass, tighter with more depth, mids and highs sounded cleaner

The S1 did not have that bass of the S2 IMO, its sound altogether lacked the finer details, only really noticeable when doing a direct A and B comparison, in each case the DC nulling on the dacs output had to be finely adjusted

You are indeed correct regarding the standard A grade, the Taiwan stamped one sounded different to the philips stamped one, also channel noise varied with the A grades

Theres also an R1 which sounded the worse out of the ones I tried

Is there actually a way of telling from the fake S2's that come from taiwan?

Also were there any S2's without the taiwan label?

[Audiocom AV]

Is there actually a way of telling from the fake S2's that come from taiwan?

Also were there any S2's without the taiwan label?

Hello

TDA1541A S2's with the Taiwan stamp does not necessarily mean they are fake. The Marantz CD7 used a batch of the S2 chips with the Taiwan stamp and are genuine S2 chips.

It has been possible to buy S2 chips with the same batch code as those used in the CD7 from a company in the Far East and UK parts supplier. I have 6 pcs, 4 from the Far East and 2 from the UK supplier and both are identical in finish although I have not A/B compared performance. The date stamp is RSH9713 2, a photo of the S2’s in the CD7 can be viewed here;
http://www.marantzphilips.nl/img/inf...oot/cd7-36.jpg

I have not seen any S2 chips without the Taiwan stamp available as NOS, although you may be able to find the chips S/H pulled from a defunct CD player or DAC.

Regards,
Mark Bartlett

[SolidState]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for that, anybody actually done an A/B comparison of the fake S2's with a genuine one you know of?

[Audiocom AV]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for that, anybody actually done an A/B comparison of the fake S2's with a genuine one you know of?

Hello

I do not know anybody that has received fake S2's. What makes you suspect that there are fake S2's on the market?

Best Regards
Mark

[SolidState]

There was a thread on pfm on them and there was a seller over on diyaudio selling them from hong kong.

[Audiocom AV]

There was a thread on pfm on them and there was a seller over on diyaudio selling them from hong kong.

Hello

Might the suspicions of fake S2's be because of TDA1541A's had the Taiwan stamp and therefore deemed as a Chinese copy or was there proof to substantiate it?

I cannot see how there would be a great market to 'copy' the S2 when potential sales would be to the DIYER, could be wrong.

Best Regards,
Mark