[PurpleAngel]

How reliable is this Muse DAC?
Does it break easily?

 

[rasmushorn]

It is fairly reliable. I have been carrying it in my bag for some time and nothing happened and it is still working. I would expect the toslink port to be the weakest point if it is being used much. But for the price I can live with a short lifetime for the product.

 

[lordearl]

Thought I'd update the thread on a a few changes I've made.
 
I've changed the voltage drop resistor (510R on the stock board) to 390R, which gets 6v to the TDA1543 chips.
 
This then (refer an earlier post) necessitates 200R iv resistors, and the vref resistor of 250R.
 
After all these changes, and with 10uF Siemens MKL capacitors, I must admit this is one of the finest sounding DACs I've yet had the pleasure of hearing. 

 

[rasmushorn]

  Thought I'd update the thread on a a few changes I've made.
 
I've changed the voltage drop resistor (510R on the stock board) to 390R, which gets 6v to the TDA1543 chips.
 
This then (refer an earlier post) necessitates 200R iv resistors, and the vref resistor of 250R.
 
After all these changes, and with 10uF Siemens MKL capacitors, I must admit this is one of the finest sounding DACs I've yet had the pleasure of hearing. 

It would be great to compare a stock one with the modded version.

 

[enusbaum]

I've been working on creating a 12v power supply to replace the Chinese wall wart that came with my MUSE DAC. The challenge in doing this was really just being able to build one that can provide enough current to this power hungry DAC. I sourced out the parts and was able to throw together a breadboard prototype and the other night soldered together a first pass protoboard prototype. 
 
The only challenge at this point is keeping the voltage regulator and rectifier cool due to the 2A current
 
I'm unable to attach pictures to posts (yet?), so I'll post these links to two crappy cell phone images I took:
 
Picture 1 - 12v Protoboard Power Supply
Picture 2 - 12c Protoboard Power Supply

 

[Hendrik]

Hi have receive an new dac because it does not work totally dead.
now i have listen to the dac distortion at some levels, using other dac now distortion
 
any solution?

 

[Hendrik]

I have solder all TDA 1543 of the defect board, and place new one
it works fine now.
 
but i have notish 
 
both chips have Philips logo
one TDA 1543 HnH1272 (21412) work
one nH9051Y (11895) work not only noise
 
both are new what is the difference?
 
 
regards
 
 

 

[fridokl]

Hello forum,
 
I recently bought the muse dac because i needed a dac and was curious about nos.
I expected to be blown away or so, but wasn't.
I find most dissapointing the soundstage, which is better with my onkyo integra cdplayer.
For the rest i find the sound quite satisfying and probably need more hearing to get a good understanding of how the dac sounds. I do find there are good merits too, allthough i cant pinpoint at them yet.
I read a major part of the forum to learn more about the muse and see if i could attempt a mod. I have quasi no knowledge about electronics, so most of it sounds like hocuspocus to me and it discouraged me, but I read
 
JEEP
 
does mods, and i believe he is Dutch? I am too, which would make the logistic part easier (when Living in Holland)
Maybe you still do Jeep. I might be very interested in a modded dac, or maybe assistance.
 
I do have some soldering experience, due to my DIY loudspeaker hobby/interest.
 
greets

 

[fridokl]

Hi again,
 
no one on this forum anymore?
Well, i replaced the outputcaps with claritycaps mkp (the cheapest ones, cant recall their name)
i also took out the small, bypass/filter caps (right next to the outputs), but i am not sure i like the effect, i might put some back in, but i have to get new ones because their legs were cut short.
Is it usefull to put in higher quality? And what about their value? Original is 0,0022 uF.
What are those caps for anyway?
 
The clarity caps are nice though, much better than the original nichicons, it opened up the mids/highs and also the soundstage got, well, more 3D.
 
Original, i found the sound very centered, all the instruments were at the same place, on the same depth, together with the voice(s).
 
I still very much like my stock cdplayer though. I would describe the difference so:
the dac brings the musicscene to my room, the cdplayer takes me to the scene.
 
So different flavors, more than a preference for nos i think.
I wonder if people that like nosdacs so much dont rather just prefer the rolloff in the highs, quite inherent to nosdacs (according to my findings on the net). In that case, they should really just get better voiced speakers/headphones (just my thinkings) take a look at troels gravesens website on diy speakers, his voicing of speakers always has a slight rolloff. just google troels gravesen.
 
cheers

 

[SP Wild]

I think no one posts anymore because this thing broke on everyone...so yeah its a piece of crap.

I just visited this site you mentioned and realised I been there millions of times already. Bear in mind this seemingly knowledgeable individual prefers also vinyl with tubes on his speakers...so take that for what its worth.

However I would like to add that had I the funds...I would most certainly be pursuing nos DACs all the way to tube heaven.

 

[fridokl]

hi,
 
thanks for the reply.
Allthough i read the entire thread, and yes there seemed to be quite some failure, i didn't realize it is that crappy. Soundwise many were impressed, has that also faded?
 
You probably know lampizators site if you are pursuiing tubed nosdacs.
 
But how about the other things i mentioned? about the bypass/filter caps? What are they for and are they worth replacing with better caps?
 
The fact that troels is into vynil doesn't contradict that the voicing of a speaker is way more important than any other compound in a system. I do beleive though many perceived betterings from huge expensive caps vs allready good mkp caps, are between the ears, at least overrated.
 
But i dont have the gear to be able to discern such findings, my thinking is solely based on internet and logic. So what do i know. Me too am trying to tweak something out, where there might be nothing to tweak.
 
cheers

 

[DavidK35]

Not in my experience. Since I changed the power supply to a PE regulated supply set on 9v it has performed perfectly.
 
Sounds very good too, but not as good as the TDA 1541 I have since bought on my vintage Nakamichi & Magnavox players.
 
Still remains a bargain IMO, & only $25 for the power supply.
 
Still use it for computer sourced music (movies) & with a more recent CD player for CD-RW's

I think no one posts anymore because this thing broke on everyone...so yeah its a piece of crap.

I just visited this site you mentioned and realised I been there millions of times already. Bear in mind this seemingly knowledgeable individual prefers also vinyl with tubes on his speakers...so take that for what its worth.

However I would like to add that had I the funds...I would most certainly be pursuing nos DACs all the way to tube heaven.

 

[DavidK35]

Even though I got scared by some other posters who talked endlessly about overheating,
and went ahead & drilled a series of holes in the top, it was not necessary.
This thing does not even get warm. Works like a charm.
 
p.s. If it ain't broke, why fix it.

 

[SP Wild]

I can't even find this DAC on eBay anymore. I wonder where you guys are getting them from?

When I say its crap, it was about reliability and not the sound.

I agree that the sound is less dimensional than more expensive DACs, but it was a good tradeoff for getting rid of the digititus that existed in delta sigma DACs I heard at that time. Not sure how things have progressed since.

The best improvements in sound would be the outputcaps and power supply IMO.

 

[fridokl]

hey, the thread lives again,
 
mine doesn't get overly warm with stock psu, i figured muse might have optimized the circuit but what do i know. might still get a better one, when i am sure it will be a keeper.
The muse still sells on amazon, don't know about ebay.
As mentioned, output caps are allready replaced, but removing the small bypass caps didn't work for me, they need to go back in, but i need replacement for the originals, can i take just any cheap cap i can find, or better take some good ones?
 
cheers