[maczrool]

From what I have read, the AD1896 asynchronous upsampler chip has been discontinued. Sad considering it hasn't been in production for that long at all. Luckily, I did buy a couple of them. Not sure if they are still available, but it would be best to get them now if you can.

Stu

 

[aos]

WHAT????????

The chip just started production what few months ago?? And they got an innovation award for it and it's the best there is!! What the hell is going on? I just sent them an email asking about status of the chip; hopefully they'll get back to me.

 

[maczrool]

aos,

I knew that would grab your attention. I read it on the DIY digital forum. Someone else already e-mailed them and they replied that it had been discontinued and was out of production. It also does not bode well when the status of the chip is listed as "Contact ADI" rather than "Production."

If they get back with you, I'm afraid they will be telling you the same thing. Now we aren't left with much in terms of async. oversamplers are we?

Stu

 

[aos]

Actually there's still AD1895 which is similar to AD1896, and is still listed as in production. They still let you order eval board for AD1896 and claim you need to order chips from distributor, so it might not have been discontinued only removed from online shopping. Analog sells almost everything they make directly but some stuff is exception, and for some reason they might've decided to make AD1896 an exception. At least I hope so. Otherwise AD1895 will do just as well.

 

[maczrool]

Cool! I wasn't aware of the AD1895. Numbers aren't nearly as good as the 1896 though.

The distributor for the 1896 sold its assets to Arrow who says the 1896 is unavailable. Oddly enough, the 1896s I got a few months back came packaged identically (5 lbs of cardboard for .01 lbs of chips) to the Analog regulators I ordered direct from Analog. I think they even came from the same location, so it is strange that Analog won't allow direct ordering of everything.

Stu

 

[aos]

Oh my GOD!!!! Pioneer electronics, one of my MAJOR sources of components, has been bought out by Arrow!!!!! That is TERRIBLE! They had an excellent website and truckload of parts that no one else carried, plus fast service. This is a catastrophe!

 

[maczrool]

Sorry to be the bearer of so much bad news! But Arrow is pretty nice too. Maybe they will take up the slack, who knows.

Stu

 

[aos]

Arrow doesn't really carry most of the Analog Devices parts I need, starting with voltage regulators etc. Pioneer was selling almost everything. There is however a local sales office, in my experience they can be quite helpful but you never know.

 

[maczrool]

I did some additional reading on the AD1896. It seems that bugs kept popping up in the chips. Maybe they just decided it wasn't worth it to continue. I guess Bel Canto with have to use the AD1895 instead for their DAC 2.

Stu

 

[aos]

Buggy chip eh? So they were a bit too ambitious with it? It had everyting but the kitchen sink. However its numbers were so good that they were above thermal noise levels and well above DAC chip performance levels so I don't think going with AD1895 would be a step back in real world. It' still a second-generation upsampler. I guess it's good that I haven't bought an eval board, as I was very close to doing that a few times.

 

[maczrool]

Quote:

Originally posted by aos However its numbers were so good that they were above thermal noise levels and well above DAC chip performance levels so I don't think going with AD1895 would be a step back in real world.

Actually the Burr Brown PCM1792 has numbers that exceed the AD1895. 132 dB dynamic range!

Apparently if you ran the first issue of the AD1896 (what I have two unused one of) at anything other than 24 bits you would get a clicking noise on the output. They came out with a revision, which introduced noise problems with the bypass mode.

Stu

 

[aos]

BB has upsampler chips?? Now that's news for me! I had no idea.

AD1896 was built in newer technology and had quite low power consumption considering all the features. Wonder what the BB chip is like.

Looking at the webiste... they have something called SRC4192 but not even their own website has info about it!!! They give a link from their own Q3 audio solutions guide claiming "industry best" but they don't even have datasheets yet! That's called HYPE.

PCM1792 is not upsampler, but their newest DAC chip. Sporting unbelievable numbers, it too is not yet listed in datasheets. Either someone in their marketing dept. is on crack and posted company secrets on the web or they're just playing hype. Usually there's some kind of datasheets when a chip is anounced, at least.

 

[maczrool]

Quote:

BB has upsampler chips?? Now that's news for me! I had no idea.

No, my point was that there are DACs out there or will be shortly, that exceed the performance of the AD1895, meaning that there will soon be a need for better performance than can be achieved with that chip. AFAIK, there are no BB upsamplers.

I can't wait to get my hands on a pair of PCM1792s and tie them to one of my AD1896s (in 24 bit mode of course).

Stu

 

[aos]

>>AFAIK, there are no BB upsamplers.

That's what I thought too - but as I've just said, the same marketing document that tells you about 1792 that doesn't even have datasheets yet (which means what, 1 or 2 years away still?) also tells you about SRC4192 and SRC4193 - BB's very own upsamplers, with numbers rivalling the AD1896 (now resting in peace)!!

 

[maczrool]

Quote:

the same marketing document that tells you about 1792 that doesn't even have datasheets yet (which means what, 1 or 2 years away still?) also tells you about SRC4192 and SRC4193 - BB's very own upsamplers, with numbers rivalling the AD1896

Really? Could you post a link to the info, however sparce, for the two sample rate converters? I can't find anything about them on TI's site. They also claim here that the PCM1792 will be entering volume production this month. Although, as you said, there are no datasheets (other than a 5 page Japanese one with a bunch of missing numbers), so they are probably running behind.

Stu