General Impedance Converter GIC Low Pass Filter DAC

This post is about understanding the General Impedance Converter or in short the GIC filter. This is the type of audio filter that has been forgotten in few decades.

So here I am, back again to the DAC topic and will only focusing on the specific analog section.

I thought I will fully stop to make any DAC project but in fact it is hard for me to do it. Especially like in this post, the GIC type of filter has ben around my head since the very first time I built my own DAC last year, so I think I will do it now.

But before I am going straight to this GIC filter topic, perhaps for clearer understanding about this, I should first introduce the various type of audio filter in the DAC analog section.

Nakamichi PA-200 Car Power Amplifier

If I remembering in my teenager age, there is only one car audio brand that really takes me to this audio hobby, which is the Nakamichi.

The 90's is the year full of great stuff. Car audio is also one of them. Nakamichi at that era is all made in Japan. The sound is so special because it has in-house sound signature.

Like what I have right now is the Nakamichi PA-200 car power amplifier. I bought this unit quite cheap and it is looks so neat. So in this post, I will exploring this unit and find what I got on it.

Nakamichi DAC-41 Car Audio DAC

The original Nakamichi is all made in Japan, before the acquisition to others Asian company. This original Nakamichi is so much different in quality compares with the recent Nakamichi. Like this one, this is the latest DAC from Nakamichi is DAC-41 that released on 2001. This is the successor of the famous Nakamichi DAC-101.

Nakamichi DAC-101 is 16 bit DAC using dual TDA1541A S1. I have did some review for this unit here and here.

This Nakamichi DAC-41 is 20 bit DAC. I will reveal the internal components in this post shortly. At that time, the war for highest bit number is just started. "The higher the number, the better the sound", this is a good point for a sales person.

So let's continue to see this DAC unit closely.