[gimmeheadroom]

At the end of May, I looked into replacing my dac1421 with the dac1541 for its fully balanced properties-- Soren told me that he had no stock of the dac1541, but was going to introduce the dac2541 meant to replace it in a few months. That said, I am sure he is struggling with delays because of COVID like everyone else.

Actually received an answer today that the 1421 is out of stock. But I already bought an Audio-gd R2R in the meantime. When I get home I'll consider contacting him again.

Delays are understandable but reasonable timeline on email seems possible anyway. And the site could be updated to describe any delays in response, out of stock, etc. The site is not very helpful.

 

[bouscadie]

i have a 1541 for sale, mint, pm me so interested. Thanks.

 

[audionewbi]

I've got the R-2R fever, can't get enough. Can 2541 power the hd800s?

 

[soekris]

I've got the R-2R fever, can't get enough. Can 2541 power the hd800s?

Yes, easily, I actually use a HD800S for test....

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Any chance the website could be updated with some info and availability of existing DACs?

 

[adeadcrab]

So the new 2541 is now 28bit precision, over 27bit of the previous 1541.. headphone output impedance is slightly lower too, and has abandoned USB 1.0 for all USB 2.0

I have to say using the USB 1.0 during the day on my work computer, and switching over to Optical on my work PC (working from home atm) the Optical sounds much fuller and wider. Althought the convenience of no driver installation for USB 1.0 is very useful as my work PC has been severely locked down!

I was contemplating the Topping D90 last night for its balanced output to go with my new preamp, but the 1421 is so damn perfect already... why bother? good things can come in small packages

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Where are you getting the info? I didn't see anything on the soekris site.

 

[adeadcrab]

Where are you getting the info? I didn't see anything on the soekris site.

I just compared the Soekris 1541 and 2541 specs side by side on the soekris site.

 

[Baten]

Where are you getting the info? I didn't see anything on the soekris site.

http://soekris.dk/dac2541.html

 

[sajunky]

A pure DAC with headphone amplifier. It has support for remote control device, so I would expect preamp functionality, but is missing. TL;DR, Some good news, but still no NOS!

PSU - industry standard SMPS module. No separate cage, not even shielded, but the analog section follows with LC filters and a discrete regulator.

All digital inputs are galvanically isolated and internally reclocked, including USB. This is a strong feature. Unlike Denafrips that do all input processing in FPGA, it use XMOS chip for USB. However USB is still subject to reclocking, while it could be avoided. USB rates are fairly limited comparing to the competitors, but it is not an issue. Unlike Audio GD and a top Denafrips DAC there is no I2S input. It becomes a mandatory feature for the best SQ.

There is still the same weakness: a mandatory DSP processing. Signal is pre-processed, oversampled and oversampling rate is a matter of internal affairs. There are mandatory filters to chose from, it is the only things user have control. There is no pure NOS mode, sans DSP. Ares II has NOS, but it is still subject to DSP filtering. Audio GD R1/ R28 has a pure NOS mode.

D/A conversion is a common opamp based convenient solution. Denafrips chose a passive I/V conversion in order to avoid SQ loses in opamps, Audio GD pass the output current through a dedicated internal ACSS link and a non-feedback discrete class A amplifier. When using a companion amplifier with ACSS input, a final I/V conversion is made at the receiving device. This is very advanced solution.

Volume control is a silicon based stepped actuator, this is cheap. I would prefer analog pot instead. For comparison Ares II has no HPA, but is much cheaper. In the same price range Audio GD R28 comes with Class A pre-amp and a discrete relay-based stepped actuator.

Headphone apmplifier looks like made of discrete components and has a nice bleeding option.

 

[Tugbars]

So the new 2541 is now 28bit precision, over 27bit of the previous 1541.. headphone output impedance is slightly lower too, and has abandoned USB 1.0 for all USB 2.0

I have to say using the USB 1.0 during the day on my work computer, and switching over to Optical on my work PC (working from home atm) the Optical sounds much fuller and wider. Althought the convenience of no driver installation for USB 1.0 is very useful as my work PC has been severely locked down!

I was contemplating the Topping D90 last night for its balanced output to go with my new preamp, but the 1421 is so damn perfect already... why bother? good things can come in small packages

There are no 21 bit R-2R dacs in the world. The bits after 20th are either sign bits or they are for dsd.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

http://soekris.dk/dac2541.html

Thanks, I see it now. It is missing when you click on Products on the top of the website but shows in the list on the left.

 

[soekris]

There are no 21 bit R-2R dacs in the world. The bits after 20th are either sign bits or they are for dsd.

There are, as all my DACS are sign magnitude with 26-28 bits, please read up on sign magnitude....

 

[soekris]

A pure DAC with headphone amplifier. It has support for remote control device, so I would expect preamp functionality, but is missing. TL;DR, Some good news, but still no NOS!

PSU - industry standard SMPS module. No separate cage, not even shielded, but the analog section follows with LC filters and a discrete regulator.

All digital inputs are galvanically isolated and internally reclocked, including USB. This is a strong feature. Unlike Denafrips that do all input processing in FPGA, it use XMOS chip for USB. However USB is still subject to reclocking, while it could be avoided. USB rates are fairly limited comparing to the competitors, but it is not an issue. Unlike Audio GD and a top Denafrips DAC there is no I2S input. It becomes a mandatory feature for the best SQ.

There is still the same weakness: a mandatory DSP processing. Signal is pre-processed, oversampled and oversampling rate is a matter of internal affairs. There are mandatory filters to chose from, it is the only things user have control. There is no pure NOS mode, sans DSP. Ares II has NOS, but it is still subject to DSP filtering. Audio GD R1/ R28 has a pure NOS mode.

D/A conversion is a common opamp based convenient solution. Denafrips chose a passive I/V conversion in order to avoid SQ loses in opamps, Audio GD pass the output current through a dedicated internal ACSS link and a non-feedback discrete class A amplifier. When using a companion amplifier with ACSS input, a final I/V conversion is made at the receiving device. This is very advanced solution.

Volume control is a silicon based stepped actuator, this is cheap. I would prefer analog pot instead. For comparison Ares II has no HPA, but is much cheaper. In the same price range Audio GD R28 comes with Class A pre-amp and a discrete relay-based stepped actuator.

Headphone apmplifier looks like made of discrete components and has a nice bleeding option.

There are a number of errors here:

I2S input, there are no standard for that, and its an input needed only if you don't have anything to fight the jitter there per definition always are in the SPDIF inputs. My DACs all reclock and buffer all inputs, removing jitter completely....

Non Over Sampling node is a personal decision. In my opinion it should be avoided as it create additional distortion products, which some likes to color the music.... Anyways if you insist of NOS, then you can load new filters....

The opamps are buffers only, all my DACs are voltage out, no I/V conversion needed.... The buffers are some new high end TI opa1656 cmos opamps, which are very good....

The volume control in my DACs is a perfect digital volume control, that why it's good to have 26-28 bits R-2R networks. No seperate chips, or crappy portmeters or even worse, mechanical relays.

 

[sajunky]

There are a number of errors here:

I look again at my post and based on your reply it is clear I made no errors. You are making an error saying there is no I/V conversion. That is revolutionary: absolutely no conversion!!!

It is conversion indeed - on the resistor. Do you use non-inverting buffers? Fine, your choice, the same as a decision for not using opamps in a signal path Denafrips made, but inverting stage designs are recommended in every application note for a ladder type convertor and reasons are well known.