Just received today. Slapped a cheap 19v@6A surplus brick. Hooked to a Piano.2.1/Kali.
Left and right outputs backwards, so check back to the board. Not a big deal.
This thing is something special! I have been playing with a lot of D’s of late. The smaller
Volt D was nice but bass shy and not enough power for real full range speakers.
It totally blows the 3255s I have here for eval. Its got space and air. No fatigue yet.
Bass is still a little slopy, but spage, spacials, mids and highs are spot on!
Much closer musically to my reference NCore NC400s than my pool of TPA3255 boards.
I have the TI3255EVM and the 3e (2x260W). Running 3 different SMPS (51VDC).
They are stock. Both are limited by their lame frontends ($1 op-amp and
very basic regulation).
They have lower end punch, but musically, they are both are inferior and in different
ways to both the little 3116s executed by Allo. The 3e is fine for LF sub work which
is where I intend to use it.
I didn’t bother with the YJ (red/blue) Ali clones. Too many counterfeit parts.
Both 3255s need reworking of the front-end and cap tuning. It is an issue of
GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). I think the 3255 itself is fine.
It is difficult to convey to people the necessary qualities for real equipment.
Signal measurements are only the beginning. Most people don’t know what
the good stuff sounds like unless they have heard scary setups which
few have. So the comments back from DIY forums have to be taken with
a grain of salt.
For under $150-$200 price mark, the Volt Double make better music.
Work on the 3255 will require $100 range to refit op-amps and rail regulation.
Which will push it out of the $200 range.
Either way, TI has given me hours of fun with these chip Ds.
Nice collection . I own TPA3251 from 3e-audio. I choosed it for good reviews and measurement. Can you tell me more about tweak this boards? What you mean “reworking of the front-end and cap tuning”. I have five big caps on my board, I think, it is enough.
Everything about the dual opamp should be redresssed. The 3e approach follows
the TI EVM. Wide band regulators like HxR will improve all opamp based frontends.
Go discrete opamp, but each one cost as much as the entire TPA board and you need
2 of them still. Trippling the cost even before a good PSU.
Low ESR 2700ufd were also suggested to replace the 4 x 1000ufd next to the inductors.
Still missing space and air. Great dynamics and bass which feed the masses. The
money has always been with “air”.
What is most surprising is the Paino2.1 dual mono Kali linear supply triple punch.
Playing off a fast local USB key, it has not been the weak link in my various configs.
A change of the capacitors is easy. Change opamps it’s harder. It would be better if manufacturer used DIP8 socket. I happy with my TPA3251 for now. Are you tried this mods in your boards?
![IMG_0140[1].JPG](/uploads/default/original/2X/1/1fb28a14e0a4f4b0981137dd44bb488aa12a9ec8.jpeg)
Here is my mess of wires and evals on the dynamic speaker setup.
. I own TPA3251 from 3e-audio. I choosed it for good reviews and measurement. Can you tell me more about tweak this boards? What you mean “reworking of the front-end and cap tuning”. I have five big caps on my board, I think, it is enough.