Has anyone else discovered that their power button on their dac now has no effect when using this mod?
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Has anyone else discovered that their power button on their dac now has no effect when using this mod?
My lights do odd things... When I turn it on sometimes 2 of them light up?
An update a day after changing the caps for the 6.3V version of the 47uF Nichicon Muse ES. These are really getting surprisingly tuneful - singers really sound like they mean what they are singing. On top of this, the rhythm is very persistent and unshakeable, particularly as it shares the Black Gate trait of excellent clarity in a dense mix, making rhythmic turns background musicians/sound even more evident.
Bass is also improving and giving better impact on drums. Upper bass is starting to fill out. Great tonal texture, brilliant with electric guitars - perhaps the Black Gates were a smidgen better (i.e. a barely noticeable difference).
Andrew
Same here, without this particular mod in effect.....Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
I would think that only happens when you bypass the muting relay by soldering direct. I think the DAC chip is permanently powered.Quote:
Originally Posted by Carson
An update on the Rubycon CE bipolars, they have now come fully on song and sound very good indeed with transparent and detailed midrange, clean extended top and very deep, tight bass. The latter has got the air moving in the way that the Caiman did with the op-amp board, but with all the benefits of added clarity throughout the frequency range.
I have a pair of Claritycaps to try next.
Which ones Martin,and what value?
Sorry, Rubycon CE bipolar (grey) 47uF 16V.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
No,the Clarity Caps.
1uF, 630V type ESA.
Thanks,let us know how they sound.I was considering the MR's,but a bit pricy!
Very pricey and too large to fit too.
I've put the Rubycon 47uf 50v in place of the opamp board and I am stunned.
Whilst the bottom end seems a bit lacking the mid & top are fantastic. Lost that bit of grittyness I didn't like and opened up the sound.
I have a 7520. I removed the USB board whilst in there.
I will put two new phono sockets on the back and make a daughter board and connect this to the PCB bypassing the automutes.
Give it time. The bass comes in beautifully after about a week of running. Are yours the CE or NA types?Quote:
Originally Posted by BoD
the rubycons i got from Tirna have been in my 7520 close to a wk now and ive been running them 24/7.
Cant see myself ever putting the opamp board back in , Sound is natural ,smoother than ever before and bass is glorious gaining a good deal of extra weight and control.
Bass texctures are also more descernable.
My proac's are very revealing and id struggled to get a hint of siblance on treble to back down always figuring it was down to room acoustics.
Doing this mod has solved my problem , any unnatural siblance is gone and the speakers sound really high end, treble is highly detailed but smooth and natural.
It seems to me that the opamps were adding something akin to a filter on the sound ,
I have SCR Obbligatos in, which are already too big.Running with the lid off at the moment.If I find caps I like enough I'll rehouse the dac.Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
Ok, project for tomorrow: replace the large reservoir cap with a WIMA 22uF, replace the resistor feeding the 5V Dexa regulator with a link, fit the Claritycaps in place of the (very good) Rubycons. Stand back and wait for the blast...
Um... They're from Tirna.Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
:)Quote:
Originally Posted by BoD
Do they have the letters CE or NA on them? Are they grey or black?
the tirna ones are black
blackQuote:
Originally Posted by drumlins4ever
I think the black ones are NA. I only know the CE (grey) ones which are very good.
I've pulled out the caps and reinstalled the daughterboard - I was getting some horrible high frequency noises when playing DVDs, the noises occurring usually at the start of the main feature.
It wouldn't be a problem, but or the fact that the volume control is generally cranked higher for DVD movies than it is for music, as the movie discs are generally mastered at a lower level.
And with the elevated volume levels the noises become too much.
So, sitting back and thinking of earlier posts in the thread, I remembered this one.
My thoughts are along these lines - if I remove the left hand op-amp and add the wire links, then if I place the caps somewhere in circuit between the DIL socket for the op-amp and the pins on the board connector then I should get the benefits of the passive mod with the muting circuit still functional.
Anyone concur ?
Odd, I listened out for noise and didn't here any and I play at exteremely high levels 100db+. I will have another listen to some piano\classical.
What's the benefit of the muting circuit? It annoys me endlessly as everytime a music track starts & ends and got massive cracks (pre mod) and now I get very low volume pop noise (post mod).
Please do tell what happens!Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
Scrub my last post - it might be a problem specific to 1 DVD disc.
Make sure your DVD DVD player's optical output is set to Stereo and not surround. Also make sure the actual DVD's audio settings are set to stereo if the DVD has that option.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stratmangler
I've noticed on mine if my Blue Ray / DVD / Xbox is set to surround all I get via the 7520 is ultra loud white noise / screeching.
Butuz
Very happy. Thank you Stanley & Co for your input.
Below is my modded 7520...
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_nF_NkmjRbXg/TF...s1280/rear.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nF_NkmjRbXg/TF.../s1152/Int.jpg
ello..
I'm thinking of trying out different caps in my passive modded Dac (no opamp board) and having read through the thread again (phew!) the Nichion Muse types are well liked?
Im unsure which are the BEST ones for sound quality...Leo and a couple of others talk about the "FK" type...but I can see them on the Hificollective page?
http://www.hificollective.co.uk/comp.../nichicon.html
I'm thinking the KZ type maybe?
But going by price (and other caps descriptions) they too seem geared towards audio use.
Any thoughts, experience on which to try out?
At the price I might as well try a few, but not looking to faff about too much with this.. :)
I'm using the Tirna supplied black Rubycons at the moment, which sound great, just curious if I can get better!
Also, the Tirna ones are 50V...is there any advantage to going to a lower voltage..maybe 16v or 6.5v...as I think theres only 2.5 or so volts go across the two caps?
ta much.
Gaz.
You run the dac into the Cambridge? If so ,and you can find out the input impedance of the amp,you could use a film cap of 0.47uF,if the impedance is around 100k,in which case Clarity Cap would be a good choice at a reasonable price.
Thanks for that Ali,
the impedance on my Cambridge is 47k, how would that go with a clarity cap?
ta.
Anything between 1uf and 4.7uf IMO.
You used to be able to get free samples of Claritycaps. I got some 1uf.
1uF here-
http://www.hificollective.co.uk/comp...tycap_esa.html
These are good caps IMO.Amazing value for money.
Blimey they were about a £quid each when I got mine ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
Credit crunch!
Sounds good guys..but would they fit in the Bdac case?
Ali, you had something like this in your 7510, and I remember the case was open!
Nah that was 47uF Obbligatos,much bigger.The ESA's are 20mm diameter,so I think they'd be fine.
I take it the Clarity's aren't bipolar...?
so it would just be a case of noting which one was positive and negative and slot each wire into the appropriate hole in the opamp board socket on the PCB as per the passive out mod?
ta.
thinking of pulling the trigger on this one tonight :) (yes im bored)
Doesn't matter which way round you put them,but otherwise yes.
Though thinking about it,they may not fit there,so may need some wire soldering on so the caps can be fitted in at the side,as per the photo I posted of mine with mundorfs in.
got a link to the photo Ali?
ta.
just put my sample request into Claritycap......hopefully they ship to the USA :)
I've been very happy with the sound of my Muse caps thus far. So much so, I listed my modified opamp boards for sale.
If anyone state side needs a few 4.7uf Nichicon Muse caps to try this out, send me an email and I can mail them out to you.
That took some finding!Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazjam
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...t=6910&page=26
Cheers Ali!
The threads a bi of a monster now!
What kinda wire did you use, or does it not really matter, just something decent?
Nothing special,just some hook-up wire I have.I can do it for you if you like.
Right now my blog has been updated with the latest on my passive mod quest (see here http://www.hifiwatcher.com/?p=723&preview=true). I'm back on with the Black Gates, but would also recommend the MUSE ES (probably need a good 3-4 weeks for their performance to stabilise.
Polypropylenes are likely to be even better but haven't yet tried them out in the Beresford.
Andrew
Thanks for that Ali, I'll try a few different "normal" caps first before I bring out the big guns! :)
Andrew, that link was very informative, cheers.
I ordered a couple of the MUSE ES caps...and thought I might as well try a few others as they are so cheap.
So a cap bake off coming up soon.
I ordered..
47uF 6.3V Nichicon ES
47uF 10V Nichicon FG
47uF 50V Nichicon KZ
47uF 25V Nichicon KZ
and
47uF 10V Elna Silmic II.
Nick over at Hifi collective reckoned the Slimic's were the best sounding, so should be interesting to see how they are compared to the ones folk on here have tried.
Will take a while though, as I want to give each one time to settle in.
Gaz.
Still think the Clarity Caps will better all of those,but YMMV.
Obviously down to personal taste but I've tried both Nichicon FG and SilmicII, I prefer the grey Rubycons over both those .
Its worth trying these different types out yourself though :)
What no Sanyo Os-cons? :eek: Actually i'm being serious, Os-cons should sound better than the above as they have a solid electrolyte rather than liquid. Super low ESR over a really wide bandwidth & though it's not relevant a massive ripple current capability.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazjam
By the way, don't bother checking out the 47uf 25V KZ Attachment 2457 Go straight for the 50V version as this will give you better performance due to lower losses :)