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In the Forum: Didital Things
In the Thread: The Museatex Bidat pages.
Post Subject: Better vs. worse vs. acceptable vs. parts countPosted by Paul S on: 4/10/2008
One thing I can say about the iDAT 44+ is that there really isn't much to it, ie, don't buy one for its parts count.  It has a small power supply/regulation, for sure; small caps and not a lot of them; a few small chokes and a small Torroidal tranny.  Lots and lots of "discreet" units on the small board, however.  I suspect the whimpy stock PS is one reason why the battery helps this unit so much; but who knows for sure?  While I wouldn't know "the" chip if it bit me on the ass, I do see a couple of TDA1549T chips, FWIW.

My understanding from the beginning has been that part of what people pay for in the way of John Wright's upgrades is having him remove lots of stuff from the stock units.  My own unit also has several jumper wires jumping things around the stock board.

I have never heard a stock iDAT, iDAT 44 or iDAT M, so I have no basis for comparison to my iDAT 44+.  The original IDAT I heard was in a recording studio, and the Bidats I heard were in unfamiliar systems, so no way I can recall/say much about "comparisons".  I can say that I found all the units I heard to be "acceptable" to me as digital sources, and all the units I heard had more going on in terms of lower MF "weight" and digital "harmonics" and ambience than other DACs I have heard as such.  None of these units except the original IDAT improved on my analog bass.  Although it was hard to tell about bass harmonics with the music I heard, the original IDAT kicked ass with deep bass and absolute SPL.

Best regards,
Paul S

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