[mgburch]

 
Quote:

When you get rid of the resistor you shut down your High pass filter, so no filtering at all. I think i its there to avoid some undesirable behavior or artifacts (Transient oscillations) coming from the DAC, so leave it there =D.

But isn't there another resistor across the input of the preamp? I guess you can't count on that. Anyway, if there is a resistor at preamp, then corner freq is based on sum of both 47K plus preamp, right? (By sum I mean formula for parallel resistors, not arithmetic sum, of course).
 
Anyway, everyone says leave it, so I won't mess with it. I don't think it hurts the sound as its not directly in the path. Just wanted to be sure. With this simple I/V every part matters!

 

[Chefano]

Quote:

 
They are marked in photos by T.IIZUKA as 47K earlier in this thread. They are right in between the coupling caps. The resistors are not in series (path) but are parallel to output.  In the circuit, they are after the 10uF coupling cap and are connected directly from signal to ground at the RCA output connector. They are the load the cap sees (plus preamp input load impedance).

The resistors used in the filter are not in the signal path
 

 

[ardilla]

OOOPS - 1900 GBP - those zeros are so confusing...
 
Quote:

 

Wow. That ain't cheap.
 
Has anyone tried putting some Arctic Silver between chips/heatsink?
 

 

 

[petemac110]

Quote:

So I thought I read this DAC held it's own or close to an AudioGD Ref 7. Is that correct? I'm guessing that the key to the Muse's performance is the very short signal path with only the few resistors and coupling caps to contend with.

 
To be honest, it isn't even close.
 
As I posted a little earlier in this thread, my friend and I compared his standard Muse with my Muse with poly film output caps only a few days ago.
 
The difference between the modded Muse vs the standard Muse was plainly clear. The standard muse was very rolled off in the upper mids and treble, whereas with the modded output caps, the Muse sounded like a serious contender. We were quite impressed with the difference.
 
For the sake of comparison, we then compared the modified Muse with my friend's Audio-gd Ref 7.1 and, much to my friend's relief, the Audio-gd knocked it out of the park in every single aspect - clarity, dynamics, refinement, punch. Part of us was hoping that it would be a much closer result but it really wasn't.
 
Whilst the  7 and 7.1 are different DACs, based upon what I've heard (and even in direct comparison to my own NFB-3) the Muse is not in the same league. It's still a cracking little DAC for the money though (especially after decent output caps mods, or bypassing them altogether as some have done!!).  
 
 

 

[ardilla]

I believe terms like "knocked out of the park" are subject of discussion.....

 

[Chefano]

Come on, TDA1543 is a great DAC... but it was made to be and entry model, you cant compare to an PCM1704UK.
 
For $60 + mods the  muse cost benefit blow away audio GD ( that already has a great price).
Just my 2 cents..

 

[wushuliu]

The Naim DAC uses PCM1704UK... The chip used isn't as important as the implementation. I'm curious because one person preferred it to their Bryston and now another person prefers it to the Naim. Not too shabby.
 

 
Quote:

Come on, TDA1543 is a great DAC... but it was made to be and entry model, you cant compare to an PCM1704UK.
 
For $60 + mods the  muse cost benefit blow away audio GD ( that already has a great price).
Just my 2 cents..

 

 

[wushuliu]

 
Quote:

 
To be honest, it isn't even close.
 
As I posted a little earlier in this thread, my friend and I compared his standard Muse with my Muse with poly film output caps only a few days ago.
 
The difference between the modded Muse vs the standard Muse was plainly clear. The standard muse was very rolled off in the upper mids and treble, whereas with the modded output caps, the Muse sounded like a serious contender. We were quite impressed with the difference.
 
For the sake of comparison, we then compared the modified Muse with my friend's Audio-gd Ref 7.1 and, much to my friend's relief, the Audio-gd knocked it out of the park in every single aspect - clarity, dynamics, refinement, punch. Part of us was hoping that it would be a much closer result but it really wasn't.
 
Whilst the  7 and 7.1 are different DACs, based upon what I've heard (and even in direct comparison to my own NFB-3) the Muse is not in the same league. It's still a cracking little DAC for the money though (especially after decent output caps mods, or bypassing them altogether as some have done!!).  
 
 

 
 
     Was the Muse powered by a linear power supply or the stock SMPS?
 
 

 

[Chefano]

The chip is important as implementation.
The TDA1543 is a 13-14bit effective(resolution) DAC, you cant compare a el cheapo dac , to a thousand dollars implementation using a top quality chip
And.. the principal, its just taste and a $60 that does a hell of a job
Quote:

The Naim DAC uses PCM1704UK... The chip used isn't as important as the implementation. I'm curious because one person preferred it to their Bryston and now another person prefers it to the Naim. Not too shabby.
 

 


 

 

 

[wushuliu]

Quote:

The chip is important as implementation.
The TDA1543 is a 13-14bit effective(resolution) DAC, you cant compare a el cheapo dac , to a thousand dollars implementation using a top quality chip
And.. the principal, its just taste and a $60 that does a hell of a job


 

 
You say 'you can't', but the thing is other people HAVE! I'm not disagreeing with you per se, but others have clearly expressed differently.
 
Having played with my fair share of DACs and modding, I could see how the Muse could be competitive given the extremely short and simple signal path and some minor
modifications. Also I consider Audio-GD an exception: their DACs are ridiculously well built and underpriced. A name brand company like Rotel or Naim, etc would sell the Ref 7 at least twice the price. So I admit I would be surprised if the Muse was as good as or bettern than the Ref 7!
 

Oh and you might want to consider that there are >$1000 DACs that use the TDA1543, like the Altmann and an $11,000 Wavelength...

 

[Chefano]

Quote:

 
You say 'you can't', but the thing is other people HAVE! I'm not disagreeing with you per se, but others have clearly expressed differently.
 
Having played with my fair share of DACs and modding, I could see how the Muse could be competitive given the extremely short and simple signal path and some minor
modifications. Also I consider Audio-GD an exception: their DACs are ridiculously well built and underpriced. A name brand company like Rotel or Naim, etc would sell the Ref 7 at least twice the price. So I admit I would be surprised if the Muse was as good as or bettern than the Ref 7!
 

Oh and you might want to consider that there are >$1000 DACs that use the TDA1543, like the Altmann and an $11,000 Wavelength...

So, what is the point to compare different  dacs using different implementations, and of course lot different budgets.
Lets get back to the Muse 4 X TDA1543, before we get a flame war here.
 
 
Oh.. I know audio note 1.0
 

 

[wushuliu]

Quote:

So, what is the point to compare different  dacs using different implementations, and of course lot different budgets.
Lets get back to the Muse 4 X TDA1543, before we get a flame war here.
 
 
Oh.. I know audio note 1.0
 

     You lit the match. No problem for me if you want to blow it out!

 
    I will post my thoughts when I get my Muse and compare to the DAC19MK3 (using the Digital Interface with both).
 

 

[petemac110]

 
Quote:

I believe terms like "knocked out of the park" are subject of discussion.....

Hehe... I know how touchy people can be about using such hyperbole when comparing audio gear.
 
Regardless of the terminology used, my ears (and the ears of my very experienced friend) consider both of the audio-gd DACs that I've heard to be superior to the modded Muse. Others may disagree of course!
 
Quote:

 
 
 
     Was the Muse powered by a linear power supply or the stock SMPS?
 
 

It was running via a TeraDak linear power supply - we did everything that we could possibly do (in the circumstances and with the available items on hand) to give the Muse the best chance to sound great. And don't get me wrong... with the improved power supply and output cap mods it DID sound great, and much improved over the standard Muse. We were both quite amazed at how good a budget DAC could sound.
 

 

[wushuliu]

Quote:

 


Hehe... I know how touchy people can be about using such hyperbole when comparing audio gear.
 
Regardless of the terminology used, my ears (and the ears of my very experienced friend) consider both of the audio-gd DACs that I've heard to be superior to the modded Muse. Others may disagree of course!
 
Quote:


It was running via a TeraDak linear power supply - we did everything that we could possibly do (in the circumstances and with the available items on hand) to give the Muse the best chance to sound great. And don't get me wrong... with the improved power supply and output cap mods it DID sound great, and much improved over the standard Muse. We were both quite amazed at how good a budget DAC could sound.
 

Thanks, I was just curious.
 

 

[]eep]

I believe terms like "knocked out of the park" are subject of discussion.....

I second that.
I'm not saying it's the best there is, but all matters DAC you can only improve so much. "clarity, dynamics, refinement, punch" is only part of what makes hifi high-end. And some parts could be artificial to boot. That is the great discussion between fans of NOS and delta-sigma DAC's. Natural ease and effortless musicality and sense of space are allso part of it. It's not just frequency range and rise-time.

I just had a small lesson in humility, or truthful rendition this saturday. I thought I heard harmonic distortion and dynamic compression just like the electronics are sub-par. Point is: I was at a classical recital in our old 12th century church listening to 21 unamplified singers.

Totally pure direct sound, only the real deal. That was a wonderful calibration of my ears and whats in between! That was Grieg like your floating on clouds. IRL there are things you just cannot hear that I still manage to insist on hearing from my stereo. Ain't that weird. :rolleyes: