Something cheap to tinker with? [Archive]

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Puffin

29-06-2011, 07:53

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/191676-shigaclone-no-clone.html

IMO it sounds a lot better than it has a right. There are a couple of set-up tweaks to get the best sound, but with a built in (digital?) volume control.....

Just a matter of finding the Dig Out when I have time.

Puffin

30-06-2011, 08:13

I took the board out last night and on the underside are markings for the power supply connectors (+5v, G, +12v, G). So easy enough to connect up another supply. There is also an unused connector which has two pins marked OP and G. I assume this is output, hopefully for the DIG out. It occurs to me though that the DIG out may only output 192kHz and not useable for CD. We will see.

By the way it sounds pretty good IMO in stock form. There are audio settings (accessed by playing a DVD) I have set it to 2 channel PCM and the frequency setting to max. Sound appears marginally better through a scart to phono lead than from the Audio RCA's.

Puffin

21-07-2011, 21:17

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i239/saxonsex/DVD001.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i239/saxonsex/Shiga-no003.jpg

Greg2010

21-07-2011, 21:30

Puffin

21-07-2011, 21:47

I was not that impressed by the Shiggy, despite all the tweaks. Ultimately I tweaked it too far and killed it. I think that this is better, but it might just be different. For the money I think it is excellent.

Greg2010

21-07-2011, 21:52

OK thanks Rob, I'll pick one up if I can this weekend:eyebrows:. It will be interesting to compare the two.

Regards
greg

nat8808

22-07-2011, 14:12

How does it compare with the shigaclone Rob?
I recently found the original thread after reading Erik's exploits on here http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11349&page=15

I found an RCEZ51B for reasonable money and I impressed with the results thus far even though it's still early days :)

Regards
Greg

Was there a particular reason that the RCEZ51B was used other than 'that's what he used and I want to copy exactly' type of thing?

I've a Sony ghetto blaster thing that already has a digital out as standard (for copying CDs to a mindisc player). Now replaced by a Pure Chronos in my kitchen so ready to use for a transport..

Is it just a matter of power supplies and clocks etc - just looking for an overview rather than details so far..

Then again, I have an old Apple CD-Rom/CD player that uses a CDM-9 mech, is top loading (will need a puck ala Naim if used without the lid) and has SCSI connections also, battery powered, nice remote. Could this be a better bet? Could be great for quality rips via SCSI.

Puffin

22-07-2011, 15:42

The JVC mechanism is what was used by 47Labs in their Flatfish transport which retailed for an awful lot of money. As there was the spawn of Gainclones following the exposure of the innards of the 47Labs Gaincard, it followed that their other stuff was going to be open to scrutiny.

Not only have the JVC innards been improved by better PS's and Clocks, but also the way it is mounted. It is probably worth tweaking the Apple CD -ROM CDM-9.

Greg. You will need to set the Audio settings using a DVD as it can't be accessed with CD.

Greg2010

22-07-2011, 19:32

Originally posted by nat8808

Was there a particular reason that the RCEZ51B was used other than 'that's what he used and I want to copy exactly' type of thing?

I read the eulogy that Erik penned in his own thread and thought it was worth investigating. After investigation it seemed clear that the chipset in the jvc units both RC-EZ31 and RCEZ51 was also present in some high end transports which are well beyond my means. The original work was in 2008 (ish) and is still available for perusal if you fancy some 400 pages of posts on the subject (which I read:mental:).
Therefore it seemed that for little money a very good transport could be fashioned, voiced to my own tastes by trying different components and boxed to appeal. As I like playing with audio that was me off in search of something similar. I was aware that Rob had been involved back in 2008 hence the query.
I'm always open to trying something low cost with the possibility of high returns, or just making smoke :lol: as sometimes happens.

(Sorry for the thread drift Rob)

Thanks for the info Rob I'll keep that in mind if I can pick one up this weekend

Regards
Greg

nat8808

23-07-2011, 00:02

Thanks for that both of you - didn't realise is was what 47labs used too, thought it was just an approximation by the original Shigaclone person and everyone blindly copied him, not 47labs.

Both of my transports do seem good starting points. The CDM-9 obviously a well regarded transport already and the Sony ghetto blaster already having the optical output (easily changed to coax).

Jonboy

22-08-2011, 16:38

Have you done anymore with the Asda special yet Rob ?

You mentioned about finding the digital out

Puffin

22-08-2011, 20:09

Hi Jon,

Too much to do, not enough time! I have recased it, but not worked out how to get the dig out working. I had hoped that the pin marked DO would have been as far as I needed to go, but I got nothing out of it:(

I think it might be easier to tap straight off the processor pin. However this requires micro surgery in the extreme.

Jonboy

22-08-2011, 20:38

Hi Rob

I picked up one the other week but its still in it's box due to lack of time etc, i been reading a bit on DIY audio about the PS1 , a bit being the operative word as there is 300 odd pages to wade through, how did you find the Asda compared to the PS1 from a straight out of the box?

Puffin

22-08-2011, 20:42

The Asda is different to the PS1. You will have to see what you think.