Re: DAC 80 - availability

Who is the manufacturer on those DAC800's? I ran this through Part Miner and the
only thing it came up with was Burr-Brown. On the Burr-Brown home page it is
listed as a discontinued part, but they say that Insight Electronics (apparently
where the discontinued parts go) has them---for $32.16 each in quantities less
than 20! (By the way, the only version they had was the current-output version
that will NOT work on Cinematronics. That doesn't mean that someone doesn't have
the voltage output version, I just didn't find it.)

Either you happened onto a VERY good price from a surplus dealer or you found
another vendor. Who makes yours? I'm not pointing fingers or anything, just
curious. Wish I could find a spec sheet to see if it really is the same part or
not.

By the way, even though Burr-Brown lists the DAC800 as obsolete they still list
the DAC80 as a current part. It's not the same part as what was used in the
games, though (that was a hybrid, the newer ones are monolithic which reduces the
price a lot), but it's a drop-in replacement. But it MUST have the -V ending and
not a -I to work in the games.

jwelser@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu wrote:

> On Mon, 29 Nov 1999, Clay Cowgill wrote:
>
> > I think that's probably reasonable. Best I've found in distribution is
> > about $18 each before shipping and handling charges. They seem to be around
> > $50/ea otherwise.
>
> <snipped quote>
>
> > I've never had any luck sourcing these from brokers. YMMV. ;-)
> >
>
> Maybe I'm a bit jaded, because I design 24-bit DACs that get
> sold for around $0.50 a pop, but I've found the DAC-800 (800s, not
> 80s) for single digit $s per TUBE. Since the 800 is a superior part, why
> not use those, rather than pay $25 a PIECE for DAC-80s, from John, who,
> until recently sold them for $10 a piece on his web page. Burr-Brown sold
> DAC-80s as recently as 1992 (and maybe even more recently -- that's the
> most recent product selection guide I have of theirs) and I doubt it was
> for anywhere near $25 a piece. Some bottom feeder company has what was
> left of their stock sitting around, I'm sure.
>
> Has anyone tried contacting Burr-Brown? They're sort of an
> oddball company (they're still making R-2R DACs, and trying to make
> them real high-performance -- how much more oddball can you get?) and may
> even have stock left, or be able to point someone in the right direction.
>
> I'm just calling the facts as I see them. Shop around before you
> buy is all I'm saying. >I< wouldn't pay that price.
>
> Joe
>
>
Received on Tue Nov 30 10:28:15 1999