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Hi Pedja,
The AYA II i got from you has been singing for some weeks, really nice sound.
last week i got a couple of TDA1451A S2 double crowns from Elib , since Peter Daniel says they are the real deal.

Poped one into the AYAII and lo and behold ...seemed like someone had cleaned out the top end ....so much so that i had to
readjust my active filters on my systems to cut out the excess top end.

It seems now much more open and cleaner, with the TDA sound was gorgeous but a little veiled, lacked top end definition.

This could be from my set-up i thought; i have a UGS preamp ( from François Torres ( Cheff de Gaar , Flat ))and ORION+ speakers ( Siegfried Linkwitz design )
but i thought i would try the TDA first, what are your experiences on this front ? have you tried this as well during development ?


Regards,

CeeVee

Hi CeeVee,

Thanks for reporting back and, of course, I'm glad that you like your AYA II.

No, I personally never tried Elib’s S2, but if it works well in your system, that is it.

The chip I put in your DAC is from the series I've found best among those I tried so far, including S1 samples. This applies both to my subjective impression (most refined with most ambiance and all the resolution), and to the objective measured performance (measured distortion at -60dBFS). And I did tried many 1541(A) series.

FWIW, above mentioned S1 did sounded a bit more open, however not entirely in a positive way in my opinion. As said, it is mostly refinement and resolution I am searching for, and I actually don't need much more open sound than I have with the chips like the one originally put in your DAC. It is only the extreme top end I miss sometimes, but it is what you can not really avoid with non-o/s DACs, due to -3.5dB treble roll-off. Fortunately it mostly boils down to the color of (some) cymbals.