[scottiebabie]

i've been powering both the Muse & a V-DAC (over a month now) without much issues. most times i leave both powered on till i unplug for recharging. i do find that the voltage out of the booster psu spikes up to 16v if the walwart charging is plug'd in. otherwise i've had zero issues even now as i try to leave the Muse on 24/7 playback to cook the output film caps i just installed. 
 
i also have a Jensen 1700 walwart that works great & seems to output a very stable 11.9v of which i use when i have to recharge the booster battery.
 
hopefully i dont experience any of the "death" issues as im thoroughly enjoying the sounds of my Muse as its currently configured. i think i can put it against alot if not most mid-end DACs out there without much embarressment. infact i think its thoroughly embarressing my MF V-DAC!
 
all for the ginomous sum of $50. anyone else not embarressed?! LOL

 

[T.IIZUKA]

Quote:

 

 
Hey T.IIZUKA.
Have a few questions.. if you dont mind

1. The panasonics ECQV  are in the signal path?
2. If I use a 47uF coupling caps would extend/improve the bass?
3. Im willing to buy 4 more TDA1543 and parallel then using de backside of the pcb, would it work using the defaults caps.. or do I need to recalculate somenthing?
 
Thanks again =D

A1
 
Please refer to the data sheet of TDA1543. 
 
 

 
 
It is a capacitor between the 4th and the fifth pin. 
Bypass capacitor of the power supply. 
 

 
 
A2
Cut-off frequency can be calculated with the CR filter. 
 
A3
This DAC uses 4 pieces in parallel. 
Do eight pieces run parallel?
 
If the constant is changed, it might be possible. 
I think that the problem of heat occurs to put in a small case and to operate it. 


 

 
 

 

[say thatagain]

Hi folks,
 
just out of curiosity has anyone tried piggybacking a second set of the TDA 1543 on top of the existing set? This would eliminate the issues of having to reverse the legs if you were going to put a second set of chips on the underside of the board as one person suggested earlier in this thread. Is there room under that Muse labelled plate in the middle of the dac? Is it a heat sink?
 
Just a thought!
 
I am very tempted to get one of these Muse Dacs myself following a bit of research as to why the Audio Note gear I heard a while back sounded so good and significantly different to the rest of gear on demo.

 

[T.IIZUKA]

 
I purchased a heat sink in ebay. 
However, I do not yet arrive. 

 
 
I installed the heat sink which was in the part box.
 
It seems like a warship. lol
 

 
 

 

[Chefano]

This litle thing really sounds so good!
Piggybacking will be a issue, in my case the heat amount could not be dissipated. Using the backside of the pcb I was thinking to use the case itself as heatsink ( yes I think there is enough space ).
If does not work, It sounds so good I would not care to make my own case =D
 
Tomorrow Im gooing to a local audio shop and buy 4 more TDA and some audio grade caps.. like cerafines and blackgates( hope to find ) gonna try some film caps also =D
 
Gonna keep posting here =D
Quote:

Hi folks,
 
just out of curiosity has anyone tried piggybacking a second set of the TDA 1543 on top of the existing set? This would eliminate the issues of having to reverse the legs if you were going to put a second set of chips on the underside of the board as one person suggested earlier in this thread. Is there room under that Muse labelled plate in the middle of the dac? Is it a heat sink?
 
Just a thought!
 
I am very tempted to get one of these Muse Dacs myself following a bit of research as to why the Audio Note gear I heard a while back sounded so good and significantly different to the rest of gear on demo.

 

 

[]eep]

I think a good heatsink makes sense, but this is a bit over the top. Considering the chip get only moderately warm.

What I did to improve heat dissipation (learned from over-clocking my pc) is: make the surface flat (the mustard caps between the chip stick their head out to far). Just resolder them and push them in farther. Then stick some video card memory heatsinks on like these and you have a much bigger cooling surface already. Plus more space for mods.

And if you use some thermal compound that is a bit more effective than the stick of chewing gum on the original heat-plate you'll have even better heat-dissipation.

This cost only €6,50: Arctic Cooling VR001

 

[Chefano]

My SLA battery output is 13.4V. Everytime I try to turn the dac on using it, the dac simply refuses to start.
Btw, I think I need a switch or something..sparks just fly when I conect the positive of battery.
Im I doing somenthing wrong?
Thanks.

 

[lordearl]

I haven't gone any higher than 12.5v (this works fine) - I would probably put a switch on it though, just to be safe (maybe even a fuse).
 
RE the heatsinks, I don't think they are necessary at all.  The Valab ones don't use any, and they have something crazy like 16 chips!

 

[scottiebabie]

@IIZUKA dang dude tat be some super fin on steroid heatsink u got there. no sireeee no heat problems with your Muse fo sho! LOL. im wondering why on one is running their Muse naked. super heat sinks & all plus loads of room for some nice PIO coupling caps too!
 
@Chefano my battery booster pack measures low 14v at the power output tips & i've had no issues at all although the Muse housing does get warmish. i pull out the power tip to turn it off & plug it in to switch on. just a thought but any chance some solder xflow issues when u were changing caps screwing it up?
 
yaa for those who wants more TDA1543s on board, Teradak & Valab sells 8 chip & 16 chip versions. i bliv the 16 chip Teradak Chameleon has an external PSU unit & as far as i can gather, its very mod friendly. one mite be better off getting 1 of those rather than adding more TDAs to this Dac, i would lov to get my hands on the Chameleon & modding it into a world class DAC. i think its close to $500 new but im hoping i can score a used one much cheaper.

 

[Chefano]

The heatsinks are necessary coz the TDA's  voltage in this DAC are very close to the 8V.
This means alot of heat, without a heatsink you barely touch it.
 
BTW. I have pigbacked 4 more TDA1543, latter I will post some impressions =D
 
Quote:

I haven't gone any higher than 12.5v (this works fine) - I would probably put a switch on it though, just to be safe (maybe even a fuse).
 
RE the heatsinks, I don't think they are necessary at all.  The Valab ones don't use any, and they have something crazy like 16 chips!

 

 

[Chefano]

Well... 8 dacs in parallel just gave me lots of distortion and noise. I dont know if the LM317 can supply juice to all the TDA's. It really got hot in a couple of seconds of listening.

 
Btw. Battery does not work for me, no matter I try.

 

[scottiebabie]

woah buddie u actually piggyback'd 4 more TDAs on top?! LOL no wonder u have heat issues. what are u using to power it? i think u would need 1a out to fully power 8 chips as i read these TDAs are current hogs which is the reason for the heat i guess. dont see why battery wouldnt work for original Muse though as 12v is 12v whether its a walwart, a linear reg psu or battery. anychance the Ah rating on the battery's too low or worst, the battery's on its last legs & wouldnt supply the requisite VA under load? - just thinking out loud ya.
 
on another note, i had a brilliant (more likely dumb & dumber) idea to bypass the output coupling caps as i was pretty sure my amp is pre coupling cap'd. fired up the iron & shorted the dc caps with a 24awg solid copper wire. WOAAAH resolution/clarity took a level'd up'd & im totally pleased with the results. its free & easy to boot! nice.
 
i was so pleased that i did the same for the MF V-Dac with similar spectacular results. anyone else comtemplating this, do ensure your downstream amp/preamp is cap coupled as its possible the the dc offset current mite damage components eg speakers. otherwise i do bliv this is the most bang for free mod one can do! goodstuff!
 
talking bout sound since i did dc cap short'd mod on both the Muse NOS & OS V-Dac, i did quite a bit of A/B'in & found a funny phenomenon. dont know if its all in my head but i do find the NOS Muse while clear, detail & expansive, the sound feels ever so disoriented esp in complex passages & gets fatiguing for me. when i switched to the OS V-Dac, the same track feels more solidly focused (& more realistic) with the fatigue factor greatly reduced. im sure im not using the best words to describe the actual event but is anyone else hearing this? or am i a freak? worse am i hallucinating sans drugs?? LOL. maybe i should start a new thread about this "phenomena".

 

[Chefano]

Well. I could parallel 12 TDA1543's and it sound like a real gem. After lots of research I was able to extreme tweak my DAC. But Heat is a problem, there is no way to dissipate all the amount of heat produced by TDA's and the LM in such a small case.
BTW this PCB is the worst Ive seen, its not made of cooper.. kinda cheap. Gets very awful after you solder and desolder a couple times.
If I had time, I would for sure to copy the basic design and build my own cooper pcb,with all the improvementes Ive found.

 

[T.IIZUKA]

 
The big earthquake hit.
I'm alive.

 
 
An earthquake still continued, but the heat sink which I ordered arrived.
 

 
 
I got possible to finally close a case.

 

[sluker]

Dude,
I hope you and your friends and family are OK. The stories we are hearing here are horrible to imagine, but it must be ten times worse on the ground.
If you don't mind saying what is that heatsink and where can I order one from?