Caiman Mods

[trailer]

Gawd.....

muhahaha

How are you finding your Tirna'd BDac now it's warmed up a bit Gaz?

[Gazjam]

The Elna caps have only been switched on for the first time a few hours ago, too early to say really and Im trying not to make any judgements but it IS quite different sounding to what I had before - even this early.
No proper listening from me for a couple of days... I heard the sound of new opamps change over the first few days..so Im wondering if the new Elna caps need that too before making a judgement?

That said, from cold "out the box" the quality of vocals from a DVD soundtrack really did surprise me how "realistic" sounding they were...bigger, more solid than before...but natural sounding?

Had a sneak peak at Bruce Springsteen "Magic" album, the production on that one is quite "busy" and I was curious about the revamped Dac and how it would handle that one?



very good, roll on the next couple of days..

Oh, to hear that the Bdac even APPROACHES the Naim Dac.....what can you say about that?!
Bit of a change for Naim...NOT being the one that sounds "in your face?"

[quadsugdenman]

im happy waiting for him to get the parts too...less room for error on my part!

Too right Hamish. I am about as useful with a soldering iron as a chocolate teapot!! Always best leave it to someone who knows which side of the elastoplast is which!!!

Garry

[leo]

The Elna caps have only been switched on for the first time a few hours ago, too early to say really and Im trying not to make any judgements but it IS quite different sounding to what I had before - even this early.
No proper listening from me for a couple of days... I heard the sound of new opamps change over the first few days..so Im wondering if the new Elna caps need that too before making a judgement?

That said, from cold "out the box" the quality of vocals from a DVD soundtrack really did surprise me how "realistic" sounding they were...bigger, more solid than before...but natural sounding?

Had a sneak peak at Bruce Springsteen "Magic" album, the production on that one is quite "busy" and I was curious about the revamped Dac and how it would handle that one?



very good, roll on the next couple of days..

Oh, to hear that the Bdac even APPROACHES the Naim Dac.....what can you say about that?!
Bit of a change for Naim...NOT being the one that sounds "in your face?"

Hi Hamish,

Those Elna Silmics are going to sound a lot different to the stock Tants, a totally different made cap

[The Vinyl Adventure]

yeah? i have read some of your comments before about not being so sure about them (i think)... i was hoping to read about peoples experiences before finally commiting my self to anything ... ...

[trailer]

If anyone is after a standard BDac PSU I have one spare. Tenner to the UK.

[HighFidelityGuy]

I finished installing the Elna caps in my Caiman yesterday.
They definitely change the sound. The good points are that I'm now hearing more micro detail, vocals seem clearer, especially towards the top of the vocal frequency range. The sound stage seems a little higher and possibly deeper. Overall it sounds more airy and "live", as though I'm hearing more of a performance than a recording if that makes sense.

On the bad side there is more brightness to the sound which can get a bit tiring on some recordings. Bass seems to be a little more subdued but that may just be due to the extra brightness tipping the balance.

I've only clocked up a few hours since performing the mod, so the new caps are no where near run in yet. So I'm hoping the brightness will tone down a bit over time. If it does and the other changes stay the same I'll be happy with the results.

In addition to the Elna caps, I've previously performed the Rubycon and Wilma cap mods on the opamp board and installed the Murata regs. I'm still using the stock opamps and Caiman 15V PSU. I should also mention that I've recently performed a couple of other mods as well that may be affecting the sound a little. I've swapped the resistor behind the 5V reg for a wire link as the Murata regs can cope with more voltage than the old ones. I've also swapped the main reservoir cap for a 25V Mundorf MLytic SI 10000uF cap that I've laid on it's side. This is in preparation for swapping the Caiman switching PSU for a 16V linear supply that I'll be building soon. So I really do have a lot of new caps that need to run in.

I'll hopefully post an update in a week or two on how the sound is progressing. I'll also try and post a pic of my handiwork.

[StanleyB]

One mod that I use with my power amp is designed to increase the gain and dynamic range. I tried both 10K and 12K resistors and found the 12K mainly suitable when paired with the Murata regs.

http://www.homehifi.co.uk/images/mod...an/pa_gain.jpg

[StanleyB]

One mod that I use with my power amp is designed to increase the gain and dynamic range. I tried both 10K and 12K resistors and found the 12K mainly suitable when paired with the Murata regs.

[StanleyB]

The other one I have been trying is the shortening of the track length from the DAC chip to the line opamp. I have been testing these two mods with the AD826 and haven't had a chance to try out other opamps with it.