Modding of a CD player with TDA1541

[Gary Indiana]

Could you change caps in the tube preamp to improve the punch and crisp?

Tubes are known (and liked) for producing somewhat "velvet" audio. And some music is meant to sound like it.

Besides that, different tubes in this setup might sound differently, and the preamp's equalizer or the "loudness" filter can spice it up to a certain degree.

 

[mr_RBG]

This is what I'd highly recommend whenever buying something on a Russian website.

It is not so bad, by the way

 

[guiller]

Nice thread, thanks for the sharing!

 

[junkaudio]

very cool mods like pimping my philips on mtv soon

 

[Tripqzon]

Very nice. Great work.

 

[Mr. Lin]

Excellent, thanks for taking the time to post the pictures, which are also great. I recently bought a CD player with oversampling, my first experience with it, and I'm starting to find that I prefer it to my non-oversampling tube CD player (Jolida), to my surprise. I wonder if improvements in the technology have made oversampling more palatable now; the CD player in question is a Musical Fidelity A3.5, made in 2005.

EDIT: Sorry, I meant to say upsampling.

 

[Gary Indiana]

I prefer it to my non-oversampling tube CD player (Jolida), to my surprise.... the CD player in question is a Musical Fidelity A3.5, made in 2005.

That's great to know to avoid hasty generalizations. You've got two superb machines to compare.

Your 2005 Musical Fidelity very likely has the newer PCM1732 DAC used it the "top of the line" players. But in the past, Musical Fidelity players used to run on TDA1541 - same as my 20-years-old Goodwill bargain.

 

[Mr. Lin]

Your 2005 Musical Fidelity very likely has the newer PCM1732 DAC used it the "top of the line" players. But in the past, Musical Fidelity players used to run on TDA1541 - same as my 20-years-old Goodwill bargain.

Gary, that's interesting, I didn't know that. But I'm still relatively new to the world of hi-fi CD players new and old, so there's a lot I don't know. This is all the A3.5 owner's manual says under 'DAC architecture':

24-bit Delta Sigma (Bitstream), Dual differential, 8x oversampling, Upsampling: 96khz

 

[Mazeppa]

Does anyone have an opinion on the LM4562 op amps. Maybe compared to the OPA2604's.

I can compare the LM4562 to the OPA2134 from experience with both in 2 CDP's
and a low$ CS4397 DAC card. In every application I found the LM4562 to be more dynamic, with better separation and more detail. Caveat is that the LM is more sensitive to load capacitance and can be a little harsh if the connected load is not to its' liking.

In addition, I found the OPA 2134 to be generally better than the LM833 in these same applications.

 

[Tripqzon]

I can compare the LM4562 to the OPA2134 from experience with both in 2 CDP's
and a low$ CS4397 DAC card. In every application I found the LM4562 to be more dynamic, with better separation and more detail. Caveat is that the LM is more sensitive to load capacitance and can be a little harsh if the connected load is not to its' liking.

I have tried the OPA2134 and the LM4562 in a Pioneer PD-M90X cdp and found that the 2134 sounded like it was holding back the sound. It may have been just the circuit design. I tried the LM4562 and the sound was more dynamic and better detail in my experience as well.

 

[Gary Indiana]

In every application I found the LM4562 to be more dynamic, with better separation and more detail.

I tried the LM4562 and the sound was more dynamic and better detail in my experience as well.

Your opinions made me splurge $13 (s/h incl.) at DigiKey on a pair of LM4562s.

My first impressions are: very "musical" and more "dynamic" than OPA2604. I'm strongly tempted to leave them in for good.

I did, however, take the lazy man's approach - I did not recalculate and change the sorrounding RC elements - I just replaced the factory opamps with sockets and popped in new opamps in them without changing anything around, as long as the supply voltage did not exceed the opamps' max values. So, this may affect the sound as well.

 

[Tripqzon]

I haven't tried the 2604 so I can't comment on it. I've had the LM4562 in my cdp for I'm guessing 6 months or so and I still think it sound fantastic.

 

[Synchro-bias]

Hello Gary,
Awesoem work. The TDA1541 is one fo the best DACs.

I have a Marantz CD65DX,modifed
I also have Marantz CD50SE ( NOS), which i bought from ebay

 

[Dave W]

Marantz CD-40 w/o TDA DAC

Where did you come across that one?

 

[tylerdurden]

I find this absolutely fascinating. I new you could have some high end stuff modified. But it never occurred to me to do it yourself.
I have a Dennon DVD-2900 I picked up at a second hand store. It doesn't read Red book cd's.
I have been scouring the thrift stores looking for the CD-40 (good one) with no luck. I didn't expect to.
I would be curious to know what other sleeper brands/models are out there. Has anyone ever taken the time to compile a list??

Bobby

OK never mind my last question. I found this
http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/TDA1541 corner/TDA1541.html

I am sure most of you already know it.

 

[chadbang]

I have one of these chips inside my Rotel 855. But I'm curious about something. There is this whole mythos building up around the ULTRA RARE TDA1541A Double Crown dac. People counterfeiting them, and whatnot. Typical audiophile madness ala the Asian Market, like "White Belly" (a certain label color) LS35/A loudspeakers. I'm sure somewhere, some on is prying these dacs out of old equipment and slipping in fakes before selling their stuff. Anyway, the other say I stumbled across a Philips spec sheet on the web comparing these dacs. According to the specs, the TDA151A Single Crown and the TDA151A Double Crown all share EXACTLY the same specs in a range of performance points except the single crown has THD of -95%, the double crown has THD of -97%. Is this really THAT big of deal is the scheme of things?

 

[gearhound]

My 22 year-old Magnavox CDB460 (TDA1541) is still going strong as a daily player.
However, it would probably *behoove (*behoove....Stevie learn new word) me to replace/upgrade the existing capacitors.
While I usually do NOT subscribe to the.....if it ain't broke, don't fix it theory.....I dread putting this player under the knife, for fear of changing it's sonic character?

Steve

 

[Cpt.Beyond]

Thanks

Due to this valuable info, I passed on one of the imposter cd-40 units. I am surprised one company has 2 models with the same model number! Any mod info on a PHILIPS CDB 582? Is the op amp choice model number dependant?

===== Posted March 6 2010 =====

Another v. good & cheap CD player joined my growing collection today. Philips CD-40 (exactly the same as Marantz CD-40) for $4.99 at GW. I plan to modify it to get the best possible sound, but even as is, this thing put instant smile on my face the moment I took it for a spin.

It has modest plasticky looks, but a TDA1541 DAC inside, made 1990 in Belgium, and has addictively beautiful sound even without any mods.

Compare the looks with Marantz CD-40 (random pic from the web):

==== Edit April 7, 2010 ====

I came across another version of Marantz CD40 with a Yamaha DAC and transport inside and without TDA1541.

The Marantz CD40 sans TDA1541 is Made in Japan (vs. Made in Belgium for the good one). It has simple 2-digit green LED display (vs. multi-digit turquoise tube display). and it has no IR remote sensor.

I'm posting a picture of it, so people would avoid buying it on ebay and such. Philps CD40 with TDA1541 is in the bottom, and the good Marantz CD40 should look almost exactly like that Philips (compare with picture posted above). But if it looks like the Marantz CD40 sitting on the top of the Philips posted below, it will have some Yamaha DAC and not the TDA1541 inside.


Click on the thumbnail above, and then click again to see detailed full image.

Bad Marantz CD40 on the top of good Philips CD40:

 

[GreatTone]

This is a great thread. I am a committed vinyl addict, but I have a ton of CDs and no good CD player...until recently. Last month I grabbed a Harman Kardon HD7500II from the thrift store. The pickup was hanging up about halfway along its travel, so after a few tracks it would randomly jump back. I took it apart and cleaned it and last night got it working right. I wanted to get it working because the little I heard at first sounded so good, I wanted it in my system.

I think it has a Wolfson DAC. The player was built in 1990 in Japan. I've been thinking of doing the Lampizator tube mod, but it sounds really good like it is. Up till now I've just used a cheap Sansui DVD player for CDs, and the difference is huge -- the Sansui has absolutely no soundstage; it's just like a flat wall of sound. The HK is totally 3D sounding, much warmer and more natural, while still being detailed.

That tube preamp you got -- did it come with a transformer for the heater and plate voltages?

Thanks again for the great info.