I think this one is pretty old school :
TDA1543, NOS, no output buffering, tube power supply, etc.
Seems to be getting attention on CNET (Steve Guttenberg)...
A kinder, gentler sound for digital audio - CNET
...AudioStream ...
BorderPatrol USB DAC | AudioStream
and (just yesterday) on Guttenberg's YouTube vlog:
YouTube
The "SE" version is pretty $$ (at $1300).
I'm sure many here on DIYA are waaaaaaaay past DACs like this in terms of their own in-house stuff.
Soekris, Ultimate NOS, etc. Even souped-up mods of Chinese cheapies are pretty good (e.g., 8x TDA1387, etc.)
In any case, the subject question stands: why are pop-press reviewers raving about this design?
The company has the specs and claims on their web site incl:
TDA1543, NOS, no output buffering, tube power supply, etc.
Seems to be getting attention on CNET (Steve Guttenberg)...
A kinder, gentler sound for digital audio - CNET
...AudioStream ...
BorderPatrol USB DAC | AudioStream
and (just yesterday) on Guttenberg's YouTube vlog:
YouTube
The "SE" version is pretty $$ (at $1300).
I'm sure many here on DIYA are waaaaaaaay past DACs like this in terms of their own in-house stuff.
Soekris, Ultimate NOS, etc. Even souped-up mods of Chinese cheapies are pretty good (e.g., 8x TDA1387, etc.)
In any case, the subject question stands: why are pop-press reviewers raving about this design?
The company has the specs and claims on their web site incl:
Absolutely!
Quite. Are you sure about that last one though?
I dunno either but it would be fun to find out. Could be that commercial stuff in general is really far, far behind what DIYers have been achieving for decades.
If you look at a 2015 version of the BP usb dac, there's not much in there ...
As far as why some of the pop-press 'viewers are suddenly fascinated by this design ... you got me??!!
Are they GENUINELY impressed by it? Did they get a free 'view sample and now owe the manuf. a reciprocal backrub??
One somewhat redeeming comment Guttenberg makes in the video post is about how decent plain ol' 16/44 can sound ... and that's the "domain" where most lossless digital software resides.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
As far as why some of the pop-press 'viewers are suddenly fascinated by this design ... you got me??!!
Are they GENUINELY impressed by it? Did they get a free 'view sample and now owe the manuf. a reciprocal backrub??
One somewhat redeeming comment Guttenberg makes in the video post is about how decent plain ol' 16/44 can sound ... and that's the "domain" where most lossless digital software resides.
Looks like the BorderPatrol made it "big"....
BorderPatrol Digital to Analogue Converter SE | Stereophile.com
... meaning airport magazine stores and bookstores will give the TDA1543 some fame ... for a few weeks, anyway.
All you hoarders buyin' from eBay and Taobao ... you did stock of on 1543's, right?
BorderPatrol Digital to Analogue Converter SE | Stereophile.com
... meaning airport magazine stores and bookstores will give the TDA1543 some fame ... for a few weeks, anyway.
All you hoarders buyin' from eBay and Taobao ... you did stock of on 1543's, right?
Excuse me for yelling but...
HOW THE HECK ARE THEY GETTING 5V OUT FROM A TUBE SUPPLY??
Im thinkin a tube rectifier then a passive or ss regulator?
And yes the 2015 looks like a joke. The actual dac module is from a korean vendor, and the supply looks to be clc?
HOW THE HECK ARE THEY GETTING 5V OUT FROM A TUBE SUPPLY??
Im thinkin a tube rectifier then a passive or ss regulator?
And yes the 2015 looks like a joke. The actual dac module is from a korean vendor, and the supply looks to be clc?
The review states this clearly: the tube rectifiers are bypassed with ordinary diodes, which apparently do all the rectification. There is also a switch which disconnects the tubes and apparently changes the sound. Please don't ask me why.
The weird paralleled arrangement of good and bad rectification can also be seen in some of Kondo's amps.
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Come on boys. Gary Dews and Borderpatrol is known to make som very fine audio equipment.
Bashing the Dac without having even heard it is embarrassing.
He has always put a lot of money in the PSU. I think it was a standalone choke input PSU that was the first product they made.
If he puts a tube rectifier in parallell with SS, it has a purpose.
Bashing the Dac without having even heard it is embarrassing.
He has always put a lot of money in the PSU. I think it was a standalone choke input PSU that was the first product they made.
If he puts a tube rectifier in parallell with SS, it has a purpose.
I would suggest that he is known to make some fine marketing prose and spin a good yarn.
I just got one of these things in for repair, so I am showing you this exactly as it came to me and as I observed it after taking the cover off.
This is what I have found:
One of the 33 ohm resistors attached to the rectifier tube has completely smoked up, unsure why.
The wiring isn't great, some of it is solid-drawn copper - looks like CAT6 wire pulled from a cable.
It has two transformers in a series-parallel arrangement (they could have used just one transformer with the right current and voltage ratings) for the main supply and another transformer for the filaments on the tube.
The switch on the front controls just the filaments on the rectifier tube.
The tube rectification is effectively bypassed by silicon diodes, why this has been done I really don't know.
There are wires straight-soldered into holes in the PCBs that look like they were an afterthought.
A 1 watt resistor has one end soldered into a PCB hole, the other end is in mid-air with a wire soldered to it and goes to the LED on the switch.
There's a 3-terminal regulator just stuffed into some utility holes on the rear board, and the wire to it from the 'tube' rectification is just soldered to the outside of the pin.
The front board has a huge electrolytic cap just jammed into the utility holes at the front, off the board and soldered in at an angle.
The SPDIF output is disconnected - wires taped to the rear panel with orange masking tape. I expect this has been done by someone, I would not expect it to come from the supplier like this.
The same orange masking tape is around one of the screws holding the rear board down - why?
There is a choke in the middle of the unit, which the LV passes through.
The output is fed to two large 47 uF 600 V Musicap 'audio' capacitors, which are cable-tied down then fed to the output sockets which are badly soldered.
The rear board is supplied by DIYINHK (DIYINHK) which looks to be a chinese supplier of generic audio boards, none of which I would say fall into the expensive or esoteric high end of audio.
The front board is a DAC-NOS-1 and can be had for about $40 on ebay.
For those curious about the voltages, there's 6.3 V on the heaters of the tube so it lights up.
There's about 17 volts coming off the tube-diode arrangement, which then feeds a 3-terminal reg which provides the 5 volts to run the boards.
My thoughts:
The unit is an amateurish arrangement of cobbled-together chinese/korean made boards, both of which are screwed to a bit of wood. Really?
I don't understand why they've done the hack with the rectifier tube and diodes. Is the tube just for show? It lights up, that's about it.
Maybe they had to pretend to run the power through it in case someone took the cover off.
This unit has the USB connector and SPDIF, and according to their website (BorderPatrol Digital to Analogue Converter) retails for $1850 USD.
Seriously?
There is probably $100 of parts in this thing at best.
The website has some pretty glowing (over-hyped?) reviews from notable music industry people. I think they're either all seriously deluded, the reviews are fake, they were all trashed when they wrote them or they've been paid a shed load of money to endorse this thing.
It has the look of something that a college kid has tried to assemble one night while watching TV. Aside from the case and the power switch which aren't actually too bad.
This is what I have found:
One of the 33 ohm resistors attached to the rectifier tube has completely smoked up, unsure why.
The wiring isn't great, some of it is solid-drawn copper - looks like CAT6 wire pulled from a cable.
It has two transformers in a series-parallel arrangement (they could have used just one transformer with the right current and voltage ratings) for the main supply and another transformer for the filaments on the tube.
The switch on the front controls just the filaments on the rectifier tube.
The tube rectification is effectively bypassed by silicon diodes, why this has been done I really don't know.
There are wires straight-soldered into holes in the PCBs that look like they were an afterthought.
A 1 watt resistor has one end soldered into a PCB hole, the other end is in mid-air with a wire soldered to it and goes to the LED on the switch.
There's a 3-terminal regulator just stuffed into some utility holes on the rear board, and the wire to it from the 'tube' rectification is just soldered to the outside of the pin.
The front board has a huge electrolytic cap just jammed into the utility holes at the front, off the board and soldered in at an angle.
The SPDIF output is disconnected - wires taped to the rear panel with orange masking tape. I expect this has been done by someone, I would not expect it to come from the supplier like this.
The same orange masking tape is around one of the screws holding the rear board down - why?
There is a choke in the middle of the unit, which the LV passes through.
The output is fed to two large 47 uF 600 V Musicap 'audio' capacitors, which are cable-tied down then fed to the output sockets which are badly soldered.
The rear board is supplied by DIYINHK (DIYINHK) which looks to be a chinese supplier of generic audio boards, none of which I would say fall into the expensive or esoteric high end of audio.
The front board is a DAC-NOS-1 and can be had for about $40 on ebay.
For those curious about the voltages, there's 6.3 V on the heaters of the tube so it lights up.
There's about 17 volts coming off the tube-diode arrangement, which then feeds a 3-terminal reg which provides the 5 volts to run the boards.
My thoughts:
The unit is an amateurish arrangement of cobbled-together chinese/korean made boards, both of which are screwed to a bit of wood. Really?
I don't understand why they've done the hack with the rectifier tube and diodes. Is the tube just for show? It lights up, that's about it.
Maybe they had to pretend to run the power through it in case someone took the cover off.
This unit has the USB connector and SPDIF, and according to their website (BorderPatrol Digital to Analogue Converter) retails for $1850 USD.
Seriously?
There is probably $100 of parts in this thing at best.
The website has some pretty glowing (over-hyped?) reviews from notable music industry people. I think they're either all seriously deluded, the reviews are fake, they were all trashed when they wrote them or they've been paid a shed load of money to endorse this thing.
It has the look of something that a college kid has tried to assemble one night while watching TV. Aside from the case and the power switch which aren't actually too bad.
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Sounds like Studio1's enlightened the masses now on the internet as to the JUNK being sold disguised as something special.
But have no fear, this type of thing is far broader than you may think.
Just the fact that this thing, whatever its supposed to be, is "in for repairs" already shows the lack of good design and testing.
It's junk, plain and simple, and priced to satisfy the greed of whoever made it.....
At the expense of the typical consumer.
Other "greed based" consumer products aren't as obvious to the consumer.
They're products that gradually slipped their way into the market under the cover of some previous "reputation" of the manufacturer.
As a long-time service tech, I've seen my share of crap come across my service bench too.
Wake up people!..... you're being duped!
The internet is part of this duping, including "reviews" and accolades designed to make you think something's worthy of purchase.
It's a sad state of affairs out there, honestly.
But have no fear, this type of thing is far broader than you may think.
Just the fact that this thing, whatever its supposed to be, is "in for repairs" already shows the lack of good design and testing.
It's junk, plain and simple, and priced to satisfy the greed of whoever made it.....
At the expense of the typical consumer.
Other "greed based" consumer products aren't as obvious to the consumer.
They're products that gradually slipped their way into the market under the cover of some previous "reputation" of the manufacturer.
As a long-time service tech, I've seen my share of crap come across my service bench too.
Wake up people!..... you're being duped!
The internet is part of this duping, including "reviews" and accolades designed to make you think something's worthy of purchase.
It's a sad state of affairs out there, honestly.
Why not make the digital output DSD... then simply use a 500MHz-capable 5V in 80V out shift register to switch the power to a valve thus modulating the output of the power supply to a load?
Example Microchip do both 500Mhz and 100MHz speeds. If you want more fun... simply add more valves to each of the bit output pins.
Sort of bypassing the need for amplification completely. 😀
Example Microchip do both 500Mhz and 100MHz speeds. If you want more fun... simply add more valves to each of the bit output pins.
Sort of bypassing the need for amplification completely. 😀
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