Caiman DAC Chip Decoupling Caps

[chrism]

Have swapped the Caiman's decoupling tants and caps for Nichicon Muse KZ's and the sound has changed a little. There is a little more detail and depth to the sound but they are a little "zingy" at times for my taste.

Has anyone else swapped them out? If so what did you try and can you explain the sound changes?

I am wondering if I can fine tune the sound by changing just one or two of the Nichicon's in the more critical locations for something else.

Regards

Chris

[Ant]

Hi Chris,

Maybe give them a little longer - My experience is the same "zingy" at first but after implementing the KZ's in many a source, I've learnt that they do take a while to settle, I'm usually one to completely dismiss and laugh at the whole 'burn in' thing but with these, I must admit - my hat doesn't taste very nice. :(




Ant

[StanleyB]

Is the zing noticeable in the line output or headphone output?

[chrism]

Is the zing noticeable in the line output or headphone output?

It is via the variable output as I use the DAC as a preamp. I also run the passive mod as well so no headphones. The zing is really the feeling that the treble is a little bit exagerated perhaps over the standard DAC decoupling tants and caps. Sounded very good before I did the mod so I know its the Nichicons that have changed the sound.

Ant, I did the mod just under a week ago so will give it longer to see if the caps smooth out a little.

Regards

Chris

[leo]

Lytic caps do alter after some running in, in some cases things can get worse or better though, its a case of suck it and see.
I tried a few different caps from low ESR types to the usual audio grade rated ones. I ended up refitting tants around the dac and receiver. Audiograde caps tend to add signature, it can be easy to over do it imo so certainly worth experimenting to see what suits your own taste.

[chrism]

Quick update. Over two weeks since swapped the Nich's in and only just starting to sound something like. The bass has become more authoritive and very well controlled - more so than with the tants. The sound is less shrill now and more enjoyable to listen to.

Will keep them for now and see if further improvements occur over time.

Thanks for suggesting long burn in Ant - I'm with you on this one and of the camp that little caps and the like don't usually need this.

Regards

Chris

[DSJR]

It was much easier back in the day when caps were chosen for value, polarity and physical size... There were four 1uF tants on the input (and feedback?) to the IC's in the IC150. Canging to Panasonic types did make a change and I've now fitted some Nichicon FG's instead, which seem "beefier" possibly. Spurred by this, I've ordered some 33uF Nichicon BP output coupling caps in the hope that 33 is better than 22 when the originals are 25uF - there's a 560 ohm resistor in series to output socket too (output impedance is 600 ohms and it was designed to produce 5V into a 600 load)....

Nowt to do with Beresford DAC's, but still a way of fine tuning a product once "renowned" for sounding like fingers down a blackboard (It doesn't, but systems designed around an old ARC or Conrad-Johnson slush-box may give that impression ;))

[MartinT]

Chris - do you need the headphone output? If not, you might want to try the passive coupling mod by removing the op-amp board so that you can use much better poly or film caps to decouple the outputs.

[chrism]

Hi Martin,

Thanks and already have the Tee Shirt ;). I have been doing quite a bit to the poor old Caiman inc. dedicated linear external 5v and 12v power supplies and removal of the internal ones.

Starting to look at the volume pot again though but a Noble just can't quite fit (use the variable outputs to a power amp).

Regards

Chris