IMPORTANT UPDATE!! CAUTION!!!

Do not, we repeat, DO NOT, absolutely under ANY condition, purchase any TDA1387 product from "abraxalito" (diyaudio.com forum member and crook). You will get ripped off as he infamous for taking orders and NOT DELIVERING.

Similar warning against the hosting site (diyaudio.com) for FRAUDULENT trade practices and robbery-committing members. Specifically, this refers to diyaudio's diyaudiostore.com -- patrons of which have lost their purchase over never-received or non-functioning products.

https://diyaudiostore.com/pages/about-us

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/blogs/abraxalito/1191-new-year-new-dac.html

======UPDATED Aug. 2, 2021========

A popular misconception, especially among the DIY audio/hifi community, is that classic multi-bit digital-to-analog conversion is "superior" (both subjectively and objectively) to more-modern delta-sigma.

This debate has raged for years ...

Unfortunately, those making these claims base their opinions on highly-subjective and (more importantly) non-standardized "tests".

Potentially seeing a sales opportunity, the Chinese market has been flooded with "Philips TDA1387" SOIC DAC chips. One can readily see abundant availability by simply visiting...

eBay or Alibaba/Taobao.

(above left and right: TDA1387 offerings from China eshopping outlets. Real or fake? Low-spec ('C'-grade) or std. grade? No comments on this issue thus far!)

Prices for the 8-pin SOIC chips are not high ($2.50 - 5.00 each, plus shipping, all from China/HK sources) -- but are they genuine Philips [debate about fake Chinese TDA Philips is not new]? And even if they are real (and now avail , from China, in the thousands) -- and sooooooooooo multi-bit good!!! -- why aren't they being used by high-end mass-market manufs. (Ayre, Bryston, Classe, Bel Canto, Rega, Arcam, Cambridge Audio, NAD, etc.)?

There are also some TDA1387-based DAC+I/V kits or ready-to-go (in chassis) units, from China/Hong-Kong, as shown here:

(above: TDA1387 8x parallel DAC from China. Caution!! The DIYAUDIO blog page seems to be promoting sale via the shopping-cart link)

The recent (and abundant) availability of these kits, concomitant with fanboy threads on myriad DIY sites, seems a bit suspicious. As indicated on the home page of this site, the very-similar TDA1545 has proven to be quite unspectacular.

In any case, the DAC chip, by itself, is only ONE SCIENTIFIC PART OF THE DIGITAL STORY. The entire implementation (how carefully it is planned/designed and executed) is the bulk of the story. In other words, a decent (clean) power supply, pcb layout, I/V stage and output topology can make even poor-reputation 1-bit ** bitstream (or MASH) DACs sound decent. (Pejoratively stated, this is sometimes referred to as polishing a turd)

Here's an example of a polished turd (via massive tweaking of power supply) using the TDA1387. HINT: The confused designer of this device seems convinced it is the multi-bit DAC (1387) that's pulling most of the weight:

(above: PFFFTTT and LOL !! Utterly ridiculous -- even for proof-of-concept -- and entirely impractical)

Source:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/blogs/abraxalito/1191-new-year-new-dac.html

Notes:

** The classic (and infamous) Radio Shack Optimus CD-3400 portable CD player (from 1993-1994) is still highly sought after for its analog-like sound quality. It is a 1-bit, 8x oversampling design.