Clock upgrades for VRDS 7

[Dingdong]

I've been looking at clock upgrades for my recent purchase. There are quite a few out there at different prices. Does anybody have a recommendation?

[DSJR]

I can't believe my Trichord Clock 2 is now fourteen years old :eek: so i have to give a shout for them.

However, Audiocom are well thought of here, so you ought to have a word with them. I dare say that the main improvement though, will come from attention to the audio output buffer circuit and power supplies. Jitter is a funny thing, once very fashionable to get het up about, it seems that most of the issues were dealt with twenty years or more ago, in decent machines at any rate.

The cheaper VRDS series disguised their humble Sony roots very well, but IMO they were decent stable mechanisms and the electronics around them deserves a good tweaking IMO :)

[Dingdong]

The Trichord was high on the list of clocks. That was the only bit I wasn't sure of, as there are a lot of options. The 2 seems a decent price as well. Some clocks seem to be bloody expensive for what they are, and the Chinese ebay stuff maybe a bit too cheap and nasty.
The i/v and buffers and even the filter are pretty much decided on.

See here for the filter.

http://www.audionautes.com/Altriprodotti/ASE/digital.htm

The op-amps will probably be replaced by Burson modules and a new psu made for the analogue stage. Possibly with 317/337 regs or some fancy modules off tinternet.

And I must find a proper remote. My old 4 iron just doesn't look cool enough for when ladies visit.

[Dingdong]

Forgot to add there will be a few caps changed as well.

[AlexM]

Audiocom fitted Superclock 3's to my CA 840C, along with nicer caps and op amps. Very happy with the results, so speak to Mark Bartlett and see what he proposes.

I believe that Marco has a lot of work done to his Sony CD by Audiocom, and is very pelased with the results.

Regards,
Alex

[DSJR]

One thing to watch - what reference are you using with all these expensive upgrades? if it's a "nicer" sound to your ears then I'd be very suspicious myself - but then, I'm getting cynical in my old age. Where Marco's CD player is concerned, I very much look forward to hearing it one day, but so much has been done to it it makes me wonder if Sony's engineers really knew how to design CD players at all??????? - especially in a top-line model as his is..... S'cuse me for saying this, but don't go too mad thinking that the original designers didn't know what they were doing in the first place - please :)

[Reid Malenfant]

They were still building to a price that they considered saleable ;) Therefore things can be improved - there is no such thing as perfection :cool:

[Dingdong]

I'm sure the original designers did a fine job on my cdp within their cost restraints and the available parts at the time.

I have a cunning plan to obtain another vrds 7 and use that as a comparison.
The plan is to upgrade the clock and probably filter. Then a bit of work on the power supplies and the analogue stage. The use of 8-pin sil op-amps makes this a bit of a pain, but can be done with a bit of jiggery-pokery.

[DSJR]

Brilliant idea... I'm sure the VRDS7 is perfect for fettling :)

[Dingdong]

Might have been a lot easier if I'd just kept hold of the Copland CD288 or the Wadia 16 I have owned in the past:doh:

[leo]

The Audiocom Superclock 4's are excellent, I've tried Burson, Trichord and a Tent XO, the Audiocom gave best performance, their XO's are also discrete.
Marks also extremely helpful so highly recommended .

[jon1]

Mark ever thought a about just using as a transport and buying a dac?I have a vrds25x as using it as a transport throught a eastern elecric mini tub dac.with great results:eyebrows:




jon

[leo]

One thing to watch - what reference are you using with all these expensive upgrades? if it's a "nicer" sound to your ears then I'd be very suspicious myself - but then, I'm getting cynical in my old age. Where Marco's CD player is concerned, I very much look forward to hearing it one day, but so much has been done to it it makes me wonder if Sony's engineers really knew how to design CD players at all??????? - especially in a top-line model as his is..... S'cuse me for saying this, but don't go too mad thinking that the original designers didn't know what they were doing in the first place - please :)

Regulation and clock circuits have greatly improved over the years , upgrading an old classic unit with these improved things can give great results. It may seem a faff but can honestly be worthwhile :eyebrows:
Performance increase will vary depending on the unit and quality of existing clock circuitry.

[Dingdong]

Mark ever thought a about just using as a transport and buying a dac?I have a vrds25x as using it as a transport throught a eastern elecric mini tub dac.with great results:eyebrows:




jon

Part of the fun of it for me is to tweak older stuff to improve the performance. I learn stuff along the way and I almost never get the soldering iron out at work these days. I've got a speaker build going on in the background as well.

If you're just using it as a transport would you like to swap your 25x for my 7?:eyebrows:

[jon1]

Part of the fun of it for me is to tweak older stuff to improve the performance. I learn stuff along the way and I almost never get the soldering iron out at work these days. I've got a speaker build going on in the background as well.

If you're just using it as a transport would you like to swap your 25x for my 7?:eyebrows:





er NO:lolsign:


jon

[Dingdong]

The Audiocom Superclock 4's are excellent, I've tried Burson, Trichord and a Tent XO, the Audiocom gave best performance, their XO's are also discrete.
Marks also extremely helpful so highly recommended .


I've looked at the Audiocom stuff and the clock 4 and psu looked a bit on the expensive side. But if it is good value for money. I'll have to do some more research and convince myself a bit to splash that sort of cash.