Mini Dac TDA1543 X 4 NOS - Page 48

I have done the mod remove 2n2 capacitor and the result is very clear: bigger sound stage, more detail ... after that i removed all 4 caps between 4 chip tda1543 but it won't sound so can you tell me to do this mod properly?

And how to do the mod you mention above? Just solder 4 wire that connect r01 and 4 tda chips?

Great that you heard the improvement from taking out the 2n2s. But why remove the 4 caps between the 1543s? I haven't done that and can't at the moment see the value of it. The mod I just mentioned needs to be done in conjunction with the pin4 lifting mods shown in the pic - run 4 more wires to 0V end of R01 and connect them to the 0V ends of the 3 SMT resistors I soldered to pins 6-8.

 

I removed those caps because of this post: http://www.head-fi.org/t/512389/mini-dac-tda1543-x-4-nos/660#post_7786893

What is the value of the resistor that was soldered at r01 and what does it do? And i didn't see any smt resistor in your picture which you said that it was soldered to each TDA, just pin 4,5,6,7 soldered together? Does the reground mod need to be done with the extra yellow wire at the back of the board? and i think you soldered something with each tda caps?

P/s: sorry for my stupid english 

 

 

Edited by proid - 10/13/11 at 9:08am

i bought one of these after reading this thread.  it sounds good but i always wonder if it is the bottleneck to my system and if i should try a bifrost, y2, or other dacs in that price range.

i had different caps than that of proid for my board (104 from memory). i took them out and it opened up the sound but introduced some hf. i ended up putting some muse caps as a replacement.

In my personal experience, my audio-gd NFB-3 is in a different class to my modded Muse. The Muse sounds decent enough with simple, uncomplicated music, but I find it falls over with complex music - the sound stage compresses and lacks in definition. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Still, the Muse is a lot of fun for the meagre cost, even after a few tweaks are thrown in.

 

thank you for that. :) exactly what i wanted to hear.

I think it depends on what you're looking for; the Y2, NFB-2/3, etc. sigma-delta sound is very different to NOS chips, the TDA1543 in particular. It's hard for me to get into the sigma-delta sound having heard dacs using the AD1865, PCM1704, and TDA chips. Sigma-delta dacs just have this metallic sheen and/or upper frequency tizz that I find distracting. Although my (heavily) modded Muse does not have as much musical detail/information as the sigma-delta, it sounds much more 'real', 'natural'. Having just auditoned the streamer ii, vdacii, and dacport lx, only confirmed my impression although the VDAC II is really, really good. The dacport lx outshone them all, and surprise,  it's not a sigma-delta. So try and get a listen to different types before settling.

 

 

Removing those caps is of value if you're not isolating the pin4s of the TDAs and re-grounding them. Otherwise its counter-productive.

 

The added resistor at r01 is only necessary if you want to add a passive filter to the input of the regulator. Seeing as nobody has shown interest in this mod, I haven't mentioned it. The value I can't recall off the top of my head - its reducing the reg's output by 0.5-1V.

 

Just because you don't see resistors in the photo it doesn't mean they're not there. There's no 'soldering together pins4,5,6&7' - that would produce no sound at all. As the saying goes 'look closer!'. The regrounding mod regrounds various 0V connections, its up to you how many you do. The more, the better the sound - this mod really addresses the problem mentioned in petemac's comments about the sound getting more confusing. With regrounding, this confusion on complex music is greatly reduced. Yes I soldered some SMT 0805 1uF caps in parallel with the green ones. I dunno if it made any improvement so I haven't talked about it.

I agree - I'd given up listening to sigma-delta even though I loved the sound for a few years myself. Having heard NOS, its easy to hear the deficiencies on returning to signa-delta. I fired up my old Asus Essence ST soundcard (PCM1792) this week because someone was asking about mods to it. Even with my mods the sound on massed brass instruments is filled out with this 'metallic haze' which you've described. TDA1543 brings clarity and naturalness to the sound of trumpets, horns and of course, human voice. Funny thing is, I never noticed this haze (I call it MSG myself) before listening to NOS and hearing how its absence dramatically improves the sound.

 

It's definitely a personal choice thing. The NFB 2/3 are very un-sigma-delta sounding compared to many other offerings out there. I've heard many and couldn't live with them long- term in my system.

I've heard four different TDA equipped DACs and the TeraDak Cameleon was clearly the best to my ears. The other DACs with four TDA chips I found to be lacking. The Cameleon would be my choice as a NOS upgrade over the Muse, although in standard form it exhibits the trademark NOS rolled-off treble.

Anyhow, this isn't intended to be a bashing of the Muse - it's just one man's opinion in response to the question asked earlier. I've still got my Muse as a modding/back-up DAC which I use as a reminder of how good cheap DACs can sound.

Sure, but that muddled sound you noticed - its not a function of the cheapness of the Muse, its down to poor PCB layout. Fixing that costs nothing in components 

 

 

It's not so much a 'muddying' of the sound... the rolled-off treble extension and a lack of definition in the lower bass doesn't suit me. To be honest I'd be very surprised if the grounding mods can help in this regard - every NOS DAC that I've heard has been very similar in this regard.

 

I can see how they would sound good with some music types, but at this stage it simply isn't resolving enough for me and my choice of music.

 

I will look into the grounding mods when time permits, and perhaps some of the resistor replacements as outlined earlier in the thread. I need to get some other audio projects out of the way first.
 

 

Well, I just ordered another one. So it's over to a new round of mods. I'm not going to put to much effort or risk in it because I already sold it. So no trace cutting. I only do caps, reduce V and add on/off switch.

Sapientam, you'r not really helping with your secrecy. I keep looking at the photo's but I keep seeing things that make no sense to me. Why do you keep me guessing like this.
- I can see you made some crude cuts on the pcb but I can't see what you cut. The traces aren't visible.
- On the TDA you have some bare wires across pin 4 5 6 and 7. So what pins are shorted together?
- And where is the wire on C9 going to?
- What did you do near U03 (what was there anyway)?
- C8 and C9 are just removed, not shorted right?
- where is the wire on C6 going to? Why not simply short C6 and C7 with a blob of solder or a short wire. Or pin 6's and 8's straight to the outputs? No traces, no solder no muck.




Can't you make a drawing in the photo per mod (if needed a color per mod) to show what you did? Like I did on page 24...

This is all for the shorting of the outputcaps.

Use a little rod or wire, or just solder it over with a blob of solder. You can leave the caps in situ.
Edited by ]eep - 10/14/11 at 8:33am

]eep, are the caps you show shorted above the ones that will provide the greatest benefit if replaced? I don't want to retool this whole thing but if replacing these caps will provide a large sonic benefit, I would like to do it. I would just short them, however this isn't a good option for me because of my amp (CTH). If these caps are the ones to replace, any suggestions of what to replace them with? Also does anyone have a picture pointing these caps out from the top?