Stan,I may get a chance to do the mod today,so can compare to my Audio Note Dac Zero,once the caps have settled.
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Stan,I may get a chance to do the mod today,so can compare to my Audio Note Dac Zero,once the caps have settled.
Leo, how does it compare to the AYA and Buffalo DAC's?
Just done my 7510 with some Mundorfs.They were quite large so had to move them to one side in order to fit them in.First impressions are very favourable.Sorry about the crap picture.
Hey that's pretty work!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
I have some of those in my speaker network. They are not too expensive either. Kinda wet in Dunfermline today, eh? :)
Thanks.Yes,it's been peeing it down here.It had stopped momentarily so I nipped outside for the photo cos of the crap camera on my phone.The great Scottish summer!
Just been watching some telly through this.You were not kidding about the bass Stan!
Not quite up to the modded Buffalo32 yet although its not really fair to compare it to that . I'll compare it against the stock BuffaloII when it finally arrives.Quote:
Originally Posted by NRG
The Caiman has more detail in the high's than the AYAII but the AYA has a bit more focus and a bit more solid with vocals. The gap is certainly much shorter now though :)
This is by far the best I've heard the Caiman , in all honesty the commercial competition should be quite worried imo . I certainly don't know of anything in this price range or quite a bit higher to touch it
Sounds like Stan should do a commercial version of this.
i was just thinking that!
You can adjust that by trying 10, 22, or 33uF.Quote:
Originally Posted by leo
As in dac with passive output? The only problem is it might not suit all set ups , it sounds great if your gear is suited though .
This mod is so easy to try , the beauty is if it doesn't suit its no problem to stick the active audioboard back in:)
Indeed, Stan was asking over on the linear thread (hope you don't mind me posting this Stan):
"Actually, on reflection, you make a very valid point. Here I am dreaming up all sorts of mods etc. for people to try on my DACs. But that might give the impression about the product. One only has to look at my competitors who do not have a long list of mods to recommend. So maybe I should halt thinking up any more mods for the rest of the year or even longer. I can ask a small company to advertise mods etc. instead. Worth me thinking about, since business is slow right now and other means of income need to be looked at."
Firstly please keep the mods and ideas coming and how about you commercialise these mods and role them into a new high end DAC with suitable case to go with it?
I know this probably goes against your 'ethos' so to speak but this is what SlimDevices did with the transporter, took a bunch of well understood mods and tweaks and rolled them into a high end product and added a few other touches. I'm sure people would buy it as the sound quality as far as I can tell is right up there, its just the packaging that IMHO puts people off and also why some quarters dismiss it off hand without even hearing it....just my 2p worth....
Thanks Stan!Quote:
Originally Posted by StanleyB
Do you still have the Benchmark dac? Hows the Caiman compare now ? I bet its quite a bit infront now isn't it ? :eyebrows:
At least Stan gets the feedback from current owners who are willing to try some of his mods and little tweaks , it gives him an idea what people like, don't like etc .
Yes indeed,as Neal said,perhaps a higher-end dac in a nice case would sell well.Quote:
Originally Posted by leo
I'll have to borrow a few DACs again to compare :).
A higher end DAC? I call that a midrange DAC :lol:. I am still working on such a beast, but progress is dead slow with many technical hurdles still to be overcome even after two years. The modest Caiman is turning out hard to surpass by even me:scratch:.
If you build it, they will come. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by StanleyB
Maybe in the next 12 to 18 months if the economy does not collapse again.
A lot of that has got to be down to the brilliant Wolfson DAC, placed in a nice environment (Caiman) and fed a diet of lovely clean DC (mods). I can imagine that it's going to be difficult to beat. As it stands, it's only a smidge behind my Ayre player's sound and that is a £6k beast with Minimum Phase filters!Quote:
Originally Posted by StanleyB
Can you not just add a switch to enable the user to toggle between the passive mod and the standard Dac? Then it could suit all tastes
Yes,switchable filters could be a good selling point.
let me get this straight... if i bought a couple of the apropriate caps from jimmy at tirna... if i got a mate of mine (who is a bit less fat handed than me) to take out that active board thing, i could litterally slot the cap into the right socket the right way round and there is a good chance i would have a better dac ... for £2...?
ThereaboutsQuote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
do the ones from tirna have to go in a particular way round?
as a side not Stan if it is as good as the akurate ... you are on to a fucking winner!!
if i do this, i will happily tell you how well it stands up against the majik ds-i
Have a look here ,Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...t=6910&page=17
post number 164
It's like stripping down the interior of your car, removing the catalytic converter, and putting on some wider tyres:eyebrows:.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
The disadvantage is that the headphone output is then dead. If you need the headphone output then there is an alternative mod shown somewhere.
i have no interest in headphones they all sound shit to me anyway :)... alternatively to give me the benefit of having a headphone out should i need one for making my ears bleed or something... how about...
taking 2 wires from the active board (where the ones jimmy atached go to) to the 2 caps then to a pair of extra outputs on the side or the back... it would mean drilling a pair of holes.... but how hard can that be.... does that make sence? would it work? and would i have complete function as well as an extra pair of passive outs?
If you don't use the variable output, you can convert that to a fixed passive out, and leave the other fixed output active. I can do it for you for a small fee plus return postage if you get stuck.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
My caiman is fairly mobile within the house... It's living upstairs at the mo as a pre, but downstairs it would just be a dac... So I'd like to keep as much function as possible really...
Its worth trying Hamish, its possible it may not suit your set up but if it does you may be surprised . Its really something you have to try in your own system to know if it works well for you or not
Which caps do I ask jimmy for, and could I get a clearer photo of exactly how to slot them into these holes... Which holes and which way... That will give me a clue if it works for me eh
Hamish - if you use bipolars then you don't have to worry about direction. You could do a lot worse than a pair of Rubycon CE or Nichicon Muse bipolars.
Remove the op-amp board, taking care to cut the gunk holding it down to the main board. Then fit a cap to the top two holes and another to the bottom two holes of the left socket, leaving the centre hole empty.
Take care to mute or set the volume to minimum when you start running music, then you'll be ok once the charge on the caps is constant. Leave at least 48 hours before starting to listen seriously. That's 48 hours of music, not standing idle. You can leave the amp turned off.
This way, you've done no damage to the Caiman and can put it back the way it was at any time.
I would suggest you "turn them mostly clockwise".Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
Aren't these instructions also applicable to the 7520 ?Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
And to verify the cap values are Rubycon 47uf 16V ?
Yes and yes. Although 6.3V caps will also be fine as no more than 2.5V will ever go through them. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by drumlins4ever
Any cap of at least 6.3v rating and up to 47uF is fine.You could try 10 and 33ufor so too to tune to taste/system.Changing the value will alter the bass response.
I've got the following caps on order:
Mungdorf 47uf 35VAC-100VDC MLytic Bi-Polar AL (BR100-Raw)
Mundorf M-CAP RXF 22uf 350V
Mungdorf M-CAP MKP 15uF 250V
AXON 47uF 250VDC True Cap
Nichicon ES 47uf / 6.3v
Blackgate FK 47uf 16v
Panasonic FC 47uF 10V
ARD(ROD) 47uF 35V bipolar (from RS)
I'll also try and get some of the Rubycon bipolar caps from Tirna.
Its going to take me ages to run all these in and compare them but I'll try to post a little review asap. :)
Anything between 10uF and 47uF will do, but 10uF will be more suited for rooms that suffer from too much vibrations with your current speakers. 47uF would suit subwoofer owners. I am quite happy with 33uF, but they are not as common as the 47uF. So some people sell them for more than the 47uF.
Not sure if the high voltage caps will suit.They don't seem to work well at low voltages.
Where did you get the FK's from?
So I need to ask for 47uF bipolar caps from jimmy and they will go in either way round in the top an bottom 2 of the 5 hole slot on the left looking at it from the button side... Right?
Start reading from page 1 ;).Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
Yeah, I have done that.. I'm trying to get an accurate summary for my non techy mind :)
Yeah, I heard about that. I've tried to go for the lowest voltage ratings I could find but a few are fairly high. I didn't go for any stupidly expensive ones though so I've not lost too much if they don't work out. I couldn't resist a couple of them though as they looked really good on paper. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
PartsConnexion :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
If I get it wrong I'm gonna have o get you to fix it... We can avoid that if I get it right
See my post here: http://theartofsound.net/forum/showp...&postcount=117Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
BTW, I'm still getting great timing, detail, spaciousness and texture from the Black Gate FKs - but not really getting the bass power I am after (my Linn Genki still betters it in that respect) - this is likely a factor of the Black Gates and probably needs about six more weeks to overcome that deficit :( Also extreme left and right of the stage sound very convincing - it's just the centre image that the BGs portray as a bit flat.
Andrew
Ok ta.
Ah, sweet... Sorry that's the second time I have been shown that... I just missed the text below... Cheers buddy... Sorry for being a nuisance everyone else :)
Thats exactly what I started hearing with the BG FK, I fitted the standards today (used ones) , tbh these seem to be doing the same sort of thing so far although the top and bottom is more lively, I'm going to try the grey non polar Rubycons again in a few days if the standards don't improve :lol: I cannot be doing with this varied performance, its one of the reasons I never liked BG's in the past.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewR