[poseidonsvoice]

This is an excellent video complete with die exposure and actual testing of said TDA chip to illustrate the dangers of not buying your favorite chip at an authentic parts warehouse (i.e. Digi-Key, Mouser, Newark, etc...):

https://youtu.be/R2J5xrSiNrI

Moral? Don’t cheap out. It’s not worth it. And...pcb layout is extraordinarily important.

Best,
Anand.

[Steve]

This is an excellent video complete with die exposure and actual testing of said TDA chip to illustrate the dangers of not buying your favorite chip at an authentic parts warehouse (i.e. Digi-Key, Mouser, Newark, etc...):

https://youtu.be/R2J5xrSiNrI

Moral? Don’t cheap out. It’s not worth it. And...pcb layout is extraordinarily important.

Best,
Anand.

Thanks for the link and information Anand. Much appreciated.

Cheers
Steve

[Dieterle Tool]

^ Agreed, good post Anand. I wonder how many ESS Sabre chips have been counterfeited and implemented into the cheaper Chinese made dacs? Same goes for audio grade caps like Nichicon Muse or Elna Silmic... list goes on.

-Dieter

[poseidonsvoice]

^ Agreed, good post Anand. I wonder how many ESS Sabre chips have been counterfeited and implemented into the cheaper Chinese made dacs? Same goes for audio grade caps like Nichicon Muse or Elna Silmic... list goes on.

-Dieter

Dieter,

Excellent point. Especially with the Chinese made DACs, some of which that are quite inexpensive, I emailed an AC colleague as such. I didn't know which used authentic monolithic chips and which did not. Which used authentic dacs and which did not. Measurements can clarify these things as well as brute force testing as the video above shows.

Do yourself a favor, don't use Ebay to buy these types of parts.

Check out Christiansen's thread here where he shows the differences in an LM3886 design: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/chip-amps/294032-xy-lm3886-kit-review-measurements.html

Regards,
Anand.

[dburna]

That video made it completely clear -- no cheap Chinese DACs/amps for me. 

Thanks for posting this, Anand.  A fine public service.

Regards,  -dB

[jules]

Good post Anand. Some time ago Rod Elliot [of Elliot Sound Products] made the point that many Toshiba transistors are in fact fakes. The commonly used output devices 2SA1302 and 2SC3281 being cited as the most commonly faked transistors of all. They are also out of production by Toshiba!

It's a worry because externally the fakes look good, so avoiding cheap Chinese products might not keep us safe. There's a fair chance that people other than the producers of "cheap Chinese" products have been fooled.

I'm off to cut apart a sample transistor from my own parts bin to see what is exposed .......