TPA 3116 vs the tripaths

bigx5murf,
it does allow me to set the maximum amperage, so i have it at 5. i am watching the amperage on the meter and it is largely below an amp. sounds pretty good so far. ultimately, i want to use this power supply with my 3250 evaluation board...
 
To me it looks like one resistor is 47 kOhm and the other is 100 kOhm, so it doesn't line up with the sheet. Am I reading the markings on the chip correctly?

I am thinking about doing this mod. I wonder what would happen if I just removed the 100 kOhm?

I can get 5.6 kOhm resistors for very cheap off of ebay, I'll order some.



I opened up my breeze dual chip today, looks like the gain mod is performed the same way as before. Just have to do it twice. There's less space than the single chip version, so probably better to use surface mounts instead of a remote wire like in the video.
9FhQiix.jpg


Looking at the factory resistors, you can see the factory gain setting is 32db.
r8ctgOb.png
 
To me it looks like one resistor is 47 kOhm and the other is 100 kOhm, so it doesn't line up with the sheet. Am I reading the markings on the chip correctly?

I am thinking about doing this mod. I wonder what would happen if I just removed the 100 kOhm?

I can get 5.6 kOhm resistors for very cheap off of ebay, I'll order some.

The two under each chip are labeled 100k and 39k which lines up with the sheet perfectly for 32db.
 
The two under each chip are labeled 100k and 39k which lines up with the sheet perfectly for 32db.

It is labeled that way on the board, but look at the markings on the actual chips 104 and 473, that is 100k and 47k, right? If it was 39k it should say 393 on the resistor.
 
It is labeled that way on the board, but look at the markings on the actual chips 104 and 473, that is 100k and 47k, right? If it was 39k it should say 393 on the resistor.

You're right, I pulled a screenshot from the video of the mod on the single chip, and seems the resistors there have the same values.
hZ5gl9q.png
 
So, is the dual-chip board set up in "Master" mode for both chips? I just want to make sure that if I do the gain mod, I replace both of the 47 kOhm resistors with 5.6 kOhm and remove both of the 100 kOhm resistors. (By the way, I ordered a bunch of 5.6 kOhm 1% surface mount resistors from ebay for about a buck)



I opened up my breeze dual chip today, looks like the gain mod is performed the same way as before. Just have to do it twice. There's less space than the single chip version, so probably better to use surface mounts instead of a remote wire like in the video.
9FhQiix.jpg


Looking at the factory resistors, you can see the factory gain setting is 32db.
r8ctgOb.png
 
I just did the mod, I did just what you described. I thought I screwed up since I melted some of the nearby components, very tight space to work with. But getting everything back together, it works great. Volume knob needs about an extra 30 degrees to reach same volume as before. All my issues I had with the knob and the channel imbalance are gone. With nothing playing I can turn it up to max and no hiss even with my ear right up to tweeter. It still gets plenty loud, but I'm using it near field so I don't turn it up past half.

nAGqvvs.jpg


So far it does sound better overall, can't quite explain why. I'm thinking of ordering another to compare side by side to rule out confirmation bias.
 
Last edited:
As to anyone wondering if you lose power with the gain mod. The guy who made the video has an explanation on it.

"
FFcossag1 year ago
+Andrea C No, no power is lost. We're only changing the ratio of how much the input signal is amplified. Originally, we had a gain of 32 dB, or 40 times. That means that in order to reach the maximum output of about 15 V, we needed 0,375 V of input. Now we have 20 dB of gain, or 10 times. That means that in order to reach our 15 V of output, we need 1,5 V of input instead of 0,375 V.


Adrian Black1 year ago
+FFcossag I was just looking at the datasheet and noticed that it mentions that the input impedance changes when adjusting the gain (from 15kOhm at 32db to 60kOhm at 20db.) It then goes on to say you should change the input capacitor from 5.6uf to 1.5uf when changing the gain or you'll get roll-off on the low-end. Do you think this matters?

FFcossag
1 year ago
+Adrian Black It matters if you're going up in gain (=lower impedance), but if you're going down in gain, you're just getting more LF response for basically free."
 
As to anyone wondering if you lose power with the gain mod. The guy who made the video has an explanation on it.

FFcossag1 year ago
+Andrea C No, no power is lost. We're only changing the ratio of how much the input signal is amplified. Originally, we had a gain of 32 dB, or 40 times. That means that in order to reach the maximum output of about 15 V, we needed 0,375 V of input. Now we have 20 dB of gain, or 10 times. That means that in order to reach our 15 V of output, we need 1,5 V of input instead of 0,375 V.

I saw that, but I think that functionally means you are losing power because you are losing gain/amplification. Many are not changing their inputs, so the output volume will be lowered. Note that I do not care about this, as I can barely use the volume knob as it is!
 
My TPA3116 module testing apparatus.

IMG_0291.JPG

These modules came with some small potentiometers located near the inputs. The pots are basically worthless. The best thing to do is bypass
them (that is turn them wide open), and put your own ALPS potentiometer before the input. I think these get louder than my other TPA3118 modules.
Some noise when volume wide open, but all in all I think they sound pretty decent.
 
well, my double chip red board ,10.00 from Ebay has died. I have not kept up with this thread much.

The VOLT+ WITH STEPPED ATTENUATOR looks interesting as does the
Nobsound Mini Dual TPA3116 Digital Power Amplifier HiFi Stereo Amp Audiophile-Grade 2.0 Channel 100W×2 with NE5532P Pre-Amp (Black)
VOLT+ WITH STEPPED ATTENUATOR probably has the best quality parts
but the TPA3116 is not exactly new anymore

anymore ideas?
 
Last edited:
I just tried my dual chip with a 12v 40A switching power supply. The bass definitely go stronger, but also a lot more bloated. Back to the pyramid now.
 
Back
Top Bottom