In spite of its humble origins, I praised the musical abilities of the Philips TDA1543 DAC chip found in late 80s to early 90s budget CD players. Below are two affordable (under $30) Non-OverSampling DAC boards I sampled that use this ubiquitous chip.
 |
| Non-Oversampling 16bit/44.1kHz TDA1543 DAC Boards |
Don't even consider the DAC board to the left, which can be found all over eBay
for $16-$20/shipped. Powered by this beefy linear wall wart PS, this is by far the worst-sounding DAC I ever heard! It has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Enough said. 😣
For another $10 + the same linear PS, the DAC board to the right is a decent music maker. Unfortunately, it went out of stock as soon as it was delivered to my doorstep. Even if the Muse Mini TDA1543x4 (more info) sounded dynamically more appealing, this single chip'd DAC board seemed harmonically purer and more authentic. In hindsight, I should have hoarded all the units offered by that lone seller. 😆
!!!WARNING!!!
The voltages found in this circuit can be lethal! Build at your own risk!!!
 |
| Tube Buffer Circuit (one channel) |
Since this TDA1543 DAC was configured with a passive I/V converter that already has a decent voltage output, I thought a med-mu 6CG7 tube buffer/cathode follower might mitigate the slight opaqueness in the midrange, improve both dynamics and the (lack of) definition in the frequency extremes - qualities which betray the budget origin of this rather musical DAC chip.
 |
| The Ugly 😄 |
Even if the TDA1543 was [and always will be] a budget DAC chip, the experiment paid off, taking this NOS DAC board to another level. 😊
Listen to lots of music, build a project or better yet, do both!
Stay safe! 🍻
Stay safe! 🍻
Thanks for keeping up the flow of interesting audio stuff, Joseph. Can you give more info about the board you liked so we can keep our eyes peeled for it?
ReplyDeleteThanks again, and stay well!
Pete
Hi Pete,
DeleteI can't provide any more details beyond the picture above (click to enlarge). It just came up when I used the keyword TDA1543 in my eBay search. The ad was modest and the price was right so I followed my gut feeling that it must be good. There's an "unmarked" tiny 28 pin SMD which might be a DIR9001 digital receiver?
Your query made me explore further, this single chip'd Muse TDA1543 DAC is very similar to my good sounding board - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32846283725.html - unfortunately it's also out of stock. :(
Just stay clear of the "bad" sounding board which can still be found on eBay via key words "TDA1543 +CS8412".
JE
I bought one of the tda1543+cs8412 last year. I can confirm it's 'meh' at best. It didn't last in the test system very long at all.
ReplyDeleteVery nice to see the tube buffer on output :D
Thanks for chiming in Gable! I'm tempted to shoehorn the buffer inside a Magnavox CDB492. :)
DeleteJE
Did you try the same chip on both boards? One of them may have a fake TDA1543...
ReplyDeleteRoscoe
Hi Roscoe,
DeleteGood point! I forgot to mention that in the text. Yes I did, that's why both boards have an 8-pin socket. I even sourced a TDA1543 in the USA.
Hope all's well!
JE
Hi, Joseph,
ReplyDeleteCould you suggest me a simple psu for buffer? I'd also like to use two 6J5 that I have instead of one 6CG7...
Many thanks,
V
You can use the power supply in the loctal preamp -http://jelabs.blogspot.com/2017/12/jel-loctal-preamp.html
DeleteThanks!
DeleteI purchased the 'bad' dac a few years ago. The reason it sounds so bad is that there is a passive 2nd order filter on the output that starts rolling off around 5kHz. I removed this and replaced the passive I/V converter (1k resistor) with a jfet based I/V converter and it sounds pretty damn good, so good in fact that I built a case for it and use it in my workshop system for the last two years!
ReplyDeleteIf you have a link to your blog as to what you did to the "bad DAC", please share it here. I'm sure readers will be interested to read about it. Thanks!
Delete