Persephone (TDA1541) NOS DAC: owners’ reviews

Owners of Demograf Audio converters on the Philips TDA1541, the chip now offered as Persephone in the Reference Tube DAC, describe a coherent, flowing sound in which musical lines stand out clearly, with high detail that never pushes itself forward. Below we summarise their posts from 2010 to 2014: the sound by range, how they heard it in their systems, how it compared with PS Audio, Naim, Audio-GD and Mytek DACs, a PCM1704 converter and the other Philips chips, and the listeners it did not win over.

These impressions are summarised and translated from owners’ posts on an audiophile forum. They are the subjective views of their authors, not measurements or claims of Demograf Audio.

Which units the owners describe

The owners quoted here received non-oversampling (NOS) converters on the TDA1541 or TDA1541A with a tube output stage, built to order by Dmitriy Gubchenko between 2010 and 2013. One later two-box unit used a selected “crown” grade of the TDA1541A. Sources ranged from computer sound cards to Philips CD players used as transports.

Today the TDA1541 version of the Reference Tube DAC is called Persephone. It takes 16-bit / 44.1 kHz PCM over S/PDIF coaxial with no upsampling; the stock output stage is solid-state and a tube output stage is an option. In the designer’s voicing, Persephone is fast.

Sound, range by range

Bass

• One owner heard the bass become much deeper and, to his surprise, faster at the same time; he had expected that to depend mainly on the amplifier.
• Another, comparing it with his CD player’s own output, heard the low range become more varied in timbre and, at that stage of warm-up, denser.
• A newcomer building his first system writes that his loudspeakers had always lacked bass, and with a good digital source it “appeared as if by magic”.

Midrange and treble

• Owners describe colourful, varied timbres with no harshness or grain, and a flowing, natural, unified sound.
• One owner heard the highs and mids become cleaner and freer, with no “drilling” on violins or high notes.
• Another listener hears the TDA1541 as slightly bright in the speech range, which makes vocals more emotional and colourful. Others replied that how pronounced this is depends on the circuit around the chip.
• The owner of the two-box unit with the selected chip heard a very airy sound with an abundance of treble, and found his Sylvania tube slightly bright. In his system that helped: it filled the dip of his Audio-Technica ATH-W5000 headphones between roughly 3 and 10 kHz, and for the first time he heard the full sweep of violins with their halo of overtones.

Detail and its order

One owner describes detail in a way others echo. The detail is high, but it is sorted by musical importance: the musically significant details come forward and the secondary ones step back. The sounds of strings and fingers wait quietly at the back rather than pushing in ahead of the notes. On CDs transferred from old LPs, the surface noise separates from the music and is heard as a layer of its own, which no longer clouds the music.

Rhythm, phrasing and polyphony

• The same owner heard the sound become more varied rhythmically: in some places the tempo seemed slightly faster, in others slightly slower, than through his CD player’s own DAC. Accents, strong beats and sudden pauses came across more clearly.
• In complex music, Renaissance polyphony by Dufay and Machaut or King Crimson, he heard clear melodic lines and the connections between them emerge from what had been a mix of sounds. He stresses that the lines are brought out, not separated.
• His test of “perceptual dominance”: even when he puts on music as background, it pulls his attention back.

Soundstage

• Owners describe a large-scale stage with good depth. One calls the delivery soft, with scale, emotion and involvement; another hears a sound that is not dark and is quite spacious.
• The listener who hears a bright speech range also hears a deep stage, noticeably deeper than many delta-sigma DACs; on metal he found it assertive, clear and comfortable.

In owners’ systems

• One owner, feeding it from an ESI Juli@ sound card, heard scale, natural timbres, high resolution and emotion, and could not stop listening to the first disc he put on.
• Another fed it from an M-Audio Audiophile 192 card into an inexpensive receiver: music filled with detail and drive, and he went back through his entire library.
• A third, building his first system, at first heard almost no difference from his ASUS sound card. Once he fed the DAC through a JKSPDIF MK3 USB converter instead of the card’s digital output, he was stunned. His conclusion: a good DAC needs a good digital signal.

Compared with other DACs

vs a PS Audio DAC on the PCM63

One owner heard his TDA1541 converter against a vintage PS Audio DAC on the Burr-Brown PCM63, brought by a friend, and the test became blind by accident. He sat with his back to the system, busy with something else, while his friend switched between the DACs. A Blackmore’s Night track was playing, music he does not much like, when he felt moved and said aloud that it sounded good; it turned out to be his own DAC.

• The PS Audio had a sharper, more precise sound that helped its bass, but in his view coarsened the treble.
• Its stage was wider but flatter, less deep. He adds that his small room and loudspeakers close to the wall made stage comparisons uncertain.
• Above all, he heard it simplify nuance and intonation. Mark Knopfler’s voice, which he knows well, sounded harsher and more monotone: “a voice for giving orders, not for singing”. Violins sounded as if the bow moved with constant pressure and speed.

Weeks later another listener, choosing a DAC to order, compared a TDA1541 converter with a vintage PS Audio PCM63 DAC on headphones and came to the opposite view. Taking the PS Audio as his reference, he heard neither an advantage nor parity in detail, stage or separation of instruments. Unfamiliar classical music pleased him, but familiar recordings lacked openness and clarity. In his summary the PS Audio has an unmusical lift in the upper midrange and lower treble but a more technically accomplished sound, while the TDA1541 converter presents everything more simply, without strong frequency distortions. Another forum member read the same notes differently: a lifted upper midrange makes a DAC seem more resolved, and an even balance is easily heard as simpler.

vs PCM1704

The owner from the accidental blind test heard a forum member’s PCM1704 converter and liked it very much; at the designer’s home he had even preferred a PCM1704 converter to the TDA1541 at first. Taste aside, he still found his own more alive on vocals and live music. A visitor to the designer’s home who heard both found the PCM1704 slightly brighter, with beautiful decays, and the TDA1541 more evenly balanced, calm and comfortable, similar in character to the HiFiMAN HE-6. He heard stunning detail from both.

vs Naim DAC

In the same session a Naim DAC sounded slightly veiled to the visitor next to the PCM1704 and TDA1541 converters, constrained at the top and the bottom. On loudspeakers the difference grew; he suspects the Naim’s op-amps.

vs Audio-GD DAC-19

At a listening get-together, one listener expected a large step up from his Audio-GD DAC-19 and heard only a small difference, largely a matter of taste. On vocals another DAC he had heard earlier impressed him more. He stresses that he is an amateur.

vs Mytek 192-DSD DAC

One owner of a TDA1541 converter heard a Mytek 192-DSD DAC as more constrained and slightly poorer in timbre, though with good space and air. A TDA1540 owner who owned the Mytek found it hard to beat for detail, but heard it make timbres much poorer next to his own converter.

vs TDA1540 and TDA1547

Owners who heard all three Philips chips differ:

• One owner of a TDA1541 converter heard the three side by side at the designer’s home and at first rated his own chip last: the TDA1547 was more striking, dynamic and precise, the TDA1540 more involving. On the way home he was already planning to save for a new DAC. That evening he switched his own on and realised he could simply enjoy music with it. In his view the TDA1541 is not a compromise between the other two but has its own character, closer to the TDA1540, and keeps an analogue quality the TDA1547 lacks. As a single DAC he finds it reasonable and self-sufficient, and sees no point in replacing it.
• Another owner, who chose the TDA1547, found the TDA1541 converters he heard the most debatable of the three: more comfortable and relaxing, easier on headphones, but less informative in quick switching.
• A third preferred the TDA1540 for its bass, vocals and larger stage.

Our Calliope (TDA1540) and Aphrodite (TDA1547) reviews give the other side.

Reported problems

• Owners note that the sound keeps changing during warm-up; one leaves the DAC on day and night.
• The result depends heavily on the digital source: one owner heard almost no difference until he replaced his sound card’s digital output.
• Next to the TDA1547, owners heard less striking dynamics and precision.
• One unit with a selected chip and a Sylvania tube sounded bright to its owner, which suited his headphones but not every system.
• Not every listener was won over: one heard a simpler, less open presentation than a PS Audio PCM63 DAC, another only a small step over an Audio-GD DAC-19.

Summary

Owners describe the TDA1541 converter as coherent, flowing and colourful, with deep, fast bass, high detail sorted by musical importance, clear phrasing and polyphony, and no harshness. One heard it hold its own against a vintage PS Audio PCM63 DAC in an accidental blind test; another, with the same kind of DAC as his reference, heard it as simpler and less open.

In side-by-side sessions some listeners preferred the TDA1540’s involvement or the TDA1547’s precision, but owners who live with the TDA1541 describe a DAC they stop analysing and simply listen to. It rewards a good digital source.

Which Demograf Audio piece fits

• Persephone is the TDA1541 version of the Reference Tube DAC: 16-bit / 44.1 kHz PCM over S/PDIF coaxial, no upsampling and no DSD, a solid-state output stage as standard and an optional tube stage on 6Zh4, EF14, EL8, AL4 or ML6 with a 5Ts4M rectifier.
• Our guide to NOS multibit DAC chips explains how the TDA1541 differs from the TDA1540, TDA1547, PCM63 and PCM1704.

Every converter is made to order by Dmitriy Gubchenko, with a one-year warranty (extra warranty available: +1 or +2 years).