Squeeze upgrade PSU for m2tech young dac

[gilesw]

Hi Aosers,

I just got one of these into my system and it made a massive difference, I didn't hear as much when I tried the one they make for the Beresford Bushmaster but with the young dac it's definitely worth demoing.

http://www.squeeze-upgrade.com/m2tech-m-43.html

[sq225917]

You can make more difference for £2.

Open the Young, see that electrolytic cap near the power input, take it out and replace it with a Panasonic FC of the same value (you'll need the dwarf version). More dynamics and slam.

You can actually use a 24 volt supply with the Young if you like, that cap is rated for 25v. The Young also uses a large number of switching regulators internally, which are noisy, Paul Hynes could make it a whole lot better for not much money.

[gilesw]

Heya I'm interested in your response but this isn't a cheap dac, if I drop some solder in the wrong place it's a lot of cash in flames, along with my warranty. If these are such cheap changes how come m2tech haven't done them?

By Paul Hynes do you mean this chap? http://www.paulhynesdesign.com/

[colinB]

Glad you had success with your upgrade. I cant help think that if a unit sounds better with a third party power supply , either the original power supply was poor quality or the circuit was not designed properly.
Yes thats the chap.

[StanleyB]

Glad you had success with your upgrade. I cant help think that if a unit sounds better with a third party power supply , either the original power supply was poor quality or the circuit was not designed properly.
Yes thats the chap.
You can get subtle but noticeable improvements with a far more expensive power supply upgrade in even a well designed DAC. But if the improvements are massive then yes there is something wrong somewhere.

I can only comment on my own Bushmaster DAC. If you take into account that I use a SMPS the DAC is still very quiet and SMPS noise is not audible at the output of the DAC which in turn makes the use of a noise muting circuit redundant. The same cannot be said for many other designs where SMPS noise would be clearly audible during zero music period if a muting circuit was not implemented.

[sq225917]

Yeh he could have decided to blow his price point at put £500 of psu in the box with the Young, but every designer has that choice. Just because a designer chooses to go with a lower price point doesn't mean the product is badly implemented. You cut your cloth according to yOur market.

I was the first person to sell commercial psu upgrades specifically for the Young, there are modest gains to be had with any external supply as there are multiple noise sources inside the box that also need addressing.

[gilesw]

Heya sq225917, you seem pretty familiar with this dac then! They do sell an external power unit as well but it's pricy:-

http://www.m2tech.biz/palmer.html

I do love the dac so I'm willing to try anything to make it sound even better. Keith at purite is hopefully going to send me one to try out but do you sell a different psu that you would recommend or are you recommending I send the dac to this Paul guy and get him to mod it?

[sq225917]

The external battery back from Keith will be good, it's convenient with the trickle charge option. I always used mine on 4x 18650 LiFepo batteries for serious listening. I don't currently make any PSU's too busy with my real job.

If I still owned one and was looking at upgrading it then I'd send it to Paul Hynes for an external psu and internal regs. That will always yield more than just an add on external PSU.

[gilesw]

Wicked cheers for your response.

[gilesw]

Paul contacted me and he seems like a very nice chap. He asked me to take some shots of the dac internals:-

https://plus.google.com/photos/115993215471274180263/albums/5787388801558553297?authkey=CIPN2uWc2fK5Ug

capxon are really not liked on badcaps.net!

I've found this site does various caps:-

http://www.hificollective.co.uk/components/elna_capacitors.html

http://www.hificollective.co.uk/catalog/elnas187-1000uf-elna-silmic-electrolytic-capacitor-p-7899.html

seems cheap enough.

[Cans]

Hi I've had a young dac for almost a year now. I bought a linear psu for it. I think it sounds beautiful. I would be amazed if it could be improved upon any further but as always I will keep an open mind.
I think you're likely to be very happy with it.
I just wonder what the bushmaster might sound like with a linear psu.......