A dying breed?

For the last 20 years or so, “Chipamps” based on class AB ICs have been a part of the DIY audio scene, both as beginner’s projects and also for more serious designs that can deliver superb value for money and genuinely high-quality sound.

I’ve tried most of the common chip varieties including some commercial amps and I’ve more or less always come away impressed with one of these “all-in-one” devices can deliver. However, with more and more of the “usual suspect” ICs being difficult to obtain or facing uncertain futures here’s one I haven’t tried before – the TDA7297.

On paper this chip is not that interesting for “serious” audio use: Low-ish power, single-supply, fixed gain and originally intended for TVs and small cheap stereos. I only know of one or two serious designs with this chip (like this one) and most discussion seem to start from the fact that you can buy TDA7297-based amplifier boards from China for less than what you might spend on a cup of take-away coffee in a big city in Europe. However, read a bit further around the various discussion threads and it actually seems like the chip gets excellent reviews for sound quality so maybe there is something to come for anyway?

This project is one of those that were on the list for a long time and then suddenly I felt inspired to start. The circuit is more or less straight off the data sheet, and while the plan was to follow Folsom’s lead and do something that looked “audiophile”, when I got into designing it actually made more sense to keep it small and simple instead. No major issues with the PCB and the amp seems well-behaved and easy to use.

“Lab” listening is pretty positive, but with active speakers in the main system my ability to judge the quality of a power amp is severely compromised. I could do some “proper” evaluation, but rather than leaving everyone waiting for me to get my act together on that I should probably just put the project files up and let anyone interested have a go themselves 😉