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Glad he likes the CD-777 SE. It and the original CD-777 have very low jitter circuitry with their global digital timing. Valve output stage gives good tone. Even better is the mighty CD-77 with its uncompromising dual mono valve output stage, copper chassis and TDA1541 dac. It’s operated in a special way that increases its performance beyond normal TDA1541 implementations. DP-777 SE has best digital resolution to connect your computer to.
Any AMR servicing needs write to me!
New AMRs out soon....

AMR-iFi R&D

It's always interesting / surprising to hear that the old Philips TDA1541A can still cut the mustard as a high quality DAC.

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Where are companies sourcing TDA1541's from ?

Are there still large NOS supplies in the wilderness ?

They’re NOS afaik. When they’re gone, they’re gone! I wish Philips (Nexperia now) would just remake it. If you cut one open it’s actually a small silicon chip, so could be made into a modern surface mount IC easily enough. Recent developments in precision manufacture mean they could perhaps use a similar architecture to make a 24 bit version. The latest dacs are pushing the envelope with 32 bit architecture. And then we could have.....oh wait, I’m dreaming again.
Do we really need 32 bits when 24 have been found to be adequate sonically? 96k 24 bit (and better for studios) ADCs for recording are becoming more common. A 16 bit dac driven with accurate timing can achieve the full 16 bit resolution. Less accurate timing means more jitter and can degrade it to (at worst) 12 bit resolution, and typically 15 bits. It’s hard to get a 24 bit dac to achieve the full 24 bit resolution with normal timing circuitry. The finest low jitter clock sources can get near that. When you add things like valve output stages with a lot of noise relative to a 16 bit noise floor (96db theoretically) the performance wouldn’t seem to be very good. But it’s been shown you can hear music with random noise at the same volume laid over it. So having an output stage with relatively high endemic noise floor is still an ok solution.
So do we need 32 bit? I think it’s a numbers war out there. 

AMR-iFi R&D

I've just switched from a well regarded Sabre dac to the Borderpatrol SE-i which uses the TDA1543. It sounds very nice but that's probably the power supply and output caps as much as the chip. It's staying in the main system.

Jan 22, 2021 12:01:34 GMT 12 Rob E said:

I've just switched from a well regarded Sabre dac to the Borderpatrol SE-i which uses the TDA1543. It sounds very nice but that's probably the power supply and output caps as much as the chip. It's staying in the main system.

I also have my eyes on a Border Patrol dac. Good to know you're enjoying it!

It's an absolute bargain! You really do need a couple of hundred hours on it to get it fully on song though.

I used to have a CD77..wonderful machine . Beautifully made. Re homed it for the Esotric PO3. Was it better..pass. Was it different..?..yes. Really liked the vid a few posts back. No bs