Mini Dac TDA1543 X 4 NOS - Page 45

I honestly can't see a drop in voltage effecting the SQ that much. But I would much rather be safe, especially with all the reports I have seen of people burning up their DACs with 12V.

021311 are you running yours modded or stock on 12V or 9V?

You know the Japanese who designed a similar DAC? He suggested it in his blue print, he has specifically wrote what resistor to use from 5-8V. I use everything stock, as long as my room temperature lower than 20 C degree, it won't get too hot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharkz 

The only other weird issue I have is some interference. When listening to music through my Dell laptop, I get interference when scrolling via my touch pad in Firefox. I know this sounds bizarre, but I can't replicate the interference under any other conditions. The interference is like clicking and hisses, it almost sounds like a CD skipping. Scrolling through word documents or Chrome with the touch pad seems fine. It also seems diminished even in Firefox when running off my laptops battery. Has anyone else experienced anything similar to this or am I the only one with weird issues like this?

Its an all too familiar story - common-mode noise carried through the ground connections mainly. That's why its lower when the laptop is running on battery. The Muse is not designed to minimize it - you can reduce it by hacking the groundplane on the PCB, but that's not a job for the faint hearted as it requires desoldering the input and output sockets and taking a craft knife to the copper. The big upside though is that sound quality improves quite dramatically - I've done this to mine and it elevates this piece of kit to a whole new level. Mind you I don't feed mine from a laptop, partly because these noise issues are IME the main reason for getting crap sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sinae 

I would be really nice if past Muse TDAx4 modders would give a complete list of mods with priority and details on how to do the mod.
 

I've modded mine extensively and am happy to share the details provided there's a fair chance people will attempt them and share their own findings. I've done this in the past (on a Rotel amp, on diyaudio) and nobody followed up with the mods I suggested. So what level of mods are you comfortable with doing? Component changes for example (at the easy end) or PCB reworking with groundplane hacks and component desoldering and replacement (challenging)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sinae 



I think the best is to separate mods by order of importance and in group base on how easy to hard it is..

for example output cap change or bypass could be #1.

Also I think it would be nice to say the company name used for the component..
I tough of using Elna Silnic II for the output cap.. or ceramic cap
.

Of course PCB reworking could be interesting if it has a positive dramatic effect on the sound.
For me I just want to mod it to be at least good enough to be my main dac for now... but im a little difficult and just cant accept failure in any part of important aspects of the sound..Like sloppy bass and incoherent soundstage from the original muse

since its the source to my headphone amp and headphone and speakers... afterwards i might go with Schiit dac or something else..... will see
 

The shorted mod is very very easy, so if your amp have coupling cap, just do it, after mod, if you want to change the Dac to original, it's very very easy too. You can always have it done by some one who is familiar soldering, the mod take less than 5 minutes.

And how about it compare to RME 9632?

LOL!

Wow.  I'd also like to know what "maxed out" means there.  I'll take whatever he's smoking.    BTW, I received all the pieces (USB isolator, 12V SLA battery, Teralink X2 USB to SPDIF, TDA1543x4 dac, and +3.3V replacement regulator for the dac).  I should be ready for the regulator replacement soon.  Was hoping to have it done already, but vacation and laziness had its way.  I have played with the first three items on the list connected like so: HP laptop -> USB isolator w/battery -> Teralink X2 -> toslink -> Outlaw 1050 receiver.  Am really impressed with the improvement in the soundstage and deeper base so far.  Once I get the regulator on the dac done, I want to try: HP laptop -> USB isolator w/battery -> Teralink X2 -> TDA1543x4 dac -> Adcom 555ii pre -> Adcom 545ii amp.

The regulator replacement operation is a success! :-)  Currently have it hooked up to the preamp.  The sound is better than the stereo mini jack for sure.  However, am not as impressed as I was when I first tried the USB isolator.  Maybe need to put 50 hours of operation on the dac for it to "break in."  It is really loud through the preamp.  Only need the volume up to 9 o'clock (1 quarter turn) for normal listening levels.  Am looking forward to some more mods but will probably abort my plan to replace the 3.3V regulator with a tentlabs shunt.  I think I pulled up part of the Vin pad during the replacement so had to cross fingers and carefully solder it to the pin.  Will get chipquick for the next time...

Quote:

Originally Posted by ]eep 

WTF?
I just wonder what this guy did to warrant a 10x price increase... $399 for the single TDA. Hand Soldered w Audio Grade Silver Solder. Maxed Out!
I'd like to see some pictures from those intestines. I bet it doesn't even sound as good as our 4xTDA.

Doesn't he also sell his own line of cheap DACs, the Destroyer, or something like that? 'Maxed out', ha ha!

Also has anyone tried removing the smaller .0022uf caps near the output? I read a post over on the diyaudio that recommended removing them. I did so last night. Not sure if I like what I hear. More top end and

you can hear more low level detail but there is also a touch of 'hi-fi' to the sound. Curious if anyone has tried this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wushuliu 

Also has anyone tried removing the smaller .0022uf caps near the output? I read a post over on the diyaudio that recommended removing them. I did so last night. Not sure if I like what I hear. More top end and

you can hear more low level detail but there is also a touch of 'hi-fi' to the sound. Curious if anyone has tried this.

 

Yep, tried and its a keeper - much much deeper soundstage. No downside that I noticed to the sound though removing those caps means the downstream kit sees sharper edges so the touch of 'hi-fi' you got probably is a result of your pre or amp following. If you look on the Chameleon thread this is a mod done to that and gets recommendations. For me this mod was the best 'bang for the buck' that I've done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sapientiam 

Yep, tried and its a keeper - much much deeper soundstage. No downside that I noticed to the sound though removing those caps means the downstream kit sees sharper edges so the touch of 'hi-fi' you got probably is a result of your pre or amp following. If you look on the Chameleon thread this is a mod done to that and gets recommendations. For me this mod was the best 'bang for the buck' that I've done.

 

 Thanks. I agree that I am probably hearing something else in the chain. It is only slightly noticeable and I'll find the culprit eventually. This is a mod that gets a thumbs up, it is on par with replacing the output caps (wish I could get rid of them altogether but that's too risky).

Could someone mark on photo which resistors are in signal path ? Especially for passive conversion. Thanks

replaced resistors with amstran

replaced bypass caps with vishay .1

removed bypass caps altogether

removed caps between tda's altogethe

i have yet to replace the output caps.

also it seems they used smaller caps for the 47uf caps =\ might try upgrading that last.

anyone have results from upgrading to something like a UF4007 4007 1A ????? ? ? 

any other suggestions as to removing parts?

caveat: listening all done through k701's running off battery with wasapi->uca202->tda with the white pcb.