[protoss]

Great amazing affordable dacs under $200 that are better than $2000 dacs! All have the legendary chips !

This small dac that cost $25 outclass dacs in the $1000 range check it out. Can not go wrong with a TDA1543. TDA1541 is the prefer option. Owell!
If you wondering? Yes, I own 5 of these!!!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HIFI-L1543...500772?hash=item1ec2e055a4:g:cIkAAOSwWxNYvq3~


Next you want a $130-60 Dac that has 16 TDA1543!! Out class any $1500 dacs

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32838252587.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000060.1.74a7bcfcPkbKpj&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller&scm=1007.14977.161853.0&scm_id=1007.14977.161853.0&scm-url=1007.14977.161853.0&pvid=1ee2bda9-969c-4a8f-b423-c99fe7cb2f4c&_t=gps-idcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller,scm-url:1007.14977.161853.0,pvid:1ee2bda9-969c-4a8f-b423-c99fe7cb2f4c,tpp_buckets:668#0#131923#3_668#808#4094#199_668#888#3325#7

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328...a2g0o.store_home.smartJustForYou_100814320.17


The famous WM8740 Chip. But is it better than TDA? $70

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/400...home.smartNewArrivals_100814323.4000717019786

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328...5.0&pvid=5099b104-97b5-4083-935e-d4dc7697c4ac


This is a small little goodness. No USB

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/400...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_


Well known Teradak TDA1543. $180

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/329...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

 

[sajunky]

I saw a famous Lee design above. This one $42 I use with my phone is also a version from the same author:
Nobsound 8x TDA1387?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32881225029.html

This is portable R2R DAC with a decent HPA. Compatible with most phones. Passive I/F conversion.
Note: S/PDIF connectors are outputs, not inputs, can be used to record music.

There are also similar stationary designs with PSU from the same author all marked L1387 on the PC board with 8 or 4 chips in parallel. All of them are DIY friendly and sound will be improved a lot after tweaking. Check diyaudio.com.

This is my first post, welcome all.

 

[matts19]

I have that $25 L1543, it consists of 4X TDA1387 claiming to be equivalent to TDA1543. No, it does not outlcass $1000 DACs. On very poor recordings all hell breaks loose with static sound. It sound fine with good recordings though.

But a better cheap DAC would be 2X TDA1305 DAC I bought for $50 or so which is much smoother and more refined. But its performance also degrades badly with poor recordings. On good recordings it is almost as smooth as Denafrips Ares 2, with less forward / more laid back mid-range (which I prefer) while losing out on details and separation. So if you don't care much about finer details and if you're willing to skip poorly recorded music (like certain 50s, 60s remastered tracks, but occasionally encountered in today's music also), then this TDA1305 is amazing.

I can see how it might compete with $1000 DACs if it had finer details and did not degrade with poor recordings. But then, such DAC would cost $1000 wouldn't it? I wonder how $200 Aliexpress DACs would fare with poor recordings.

 

[toni2068]

Picked up a Lite TDA1543 as my first proper desktop DAC for $120 plus shipping.

Coming off of exclusively portables/dongles like the Cayin RU6, Fiio BTR5/Q3 (old versions), all the frequencies feel more accounted for. Better controlled.

Good stuff.

One annoyance was it seemed my Optical out of my windows PC didn't work. So I bought a cheap little SMSL PO100 USB to SPDIF tiny little DDC and a coaxial cable and now it works great. Dunno if the DDC ultimately also gives better sound quality than what I would've had out of my computer, but probably? I trust the clock on that thing more than my soundcard tbh.

edit : further impressions
The space, and all the sounds in it, feels bigger. more resolution. the edges are better defined, everything feels more 3D.

again, this is coming off of portable dongle stuff like the Cayin RU6, so I wasn't sure what to be expecting.