Once in a while I hear the odd slight click.. They usually come in little groups of clicks then don't happen for a while....?
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Once in a while I hear the odd slight click.. They usually come in little groups of clicks then don't happen for a while....?
Maybe the lack of muting causing this?
Mine are only slotted into the sockets I took the active thing out of... I thought that meant the muting thing was still in there?
Muting only happens between tracks. If you hear clicks during listening then it's errors in the data or original mastering.
It's not happend again for ages now... And I can't remember which track it was on rumours I heard it... Il have to listen to it all through again sometime. I know something right is happening as I just realised I have just been listening to the music for the last 20 mins and forgot about the dac...
I've finally done the passive mod on my 7520. The only mod it had was a THS4032 opamp. For capacitors I used Obbligato 1uF, these capacitors are well used so burn-in really isn't needed. Transport is XP/Foobar/ASIO/USB.
The effect was very dramatic. Sound stage is much deeper, there's more bass and the bass is tighter. Treble is less splashy. Overall it sounds a heck of a lot less digital and more like my record decks, especially with regard to sound stage depth.
Hmmm, Wolfson next I suppose.
Thinking of going the wolfson route too but Im unsure if it would really make that big of a difference after the passive mod :scratch:Quote:
Originally Posted by Clive
I must admit I'm unsure. The only aspect that betrays the 7520 passive as digital is a slight harshness on sibilants, this is a redbook trait I just about always hear. I worry that a Wolfson could make this worse due to greater clarity, or could it be smoother?Quote:
Originally Posted by drumlins4ever
Sounds good Clive,and the kind of sound I'm after.I'm waiting for some Obbligatos from diyhifisupply.
Ali, if you get the same result I'm sure you'll be pleased. I can't imagine that any polarised caps can be as good, even BGs, though they may get close. Larger values such as 47uF I expect won't help either.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
This sound is seriously good.....previously I'd stopped listening to my wavs as my record decks were not simply better but had a much more musical character. The main deck / arm / cartridge is close to being a £5k combination. The 7520 passive isn't disgraced, it's not as good but it's possible now to swap between them and not feel short-changed.
:) It's 47uF I have coming! The Pre 2 has a 100k pot though,so I should get away with 1uF also.I'll get some 1 uF's too..
Here's how the 1uFs fit, no problem closing the lid. Sorry to say but smaller caps almost invariably sound better. Bass is great via my 18 inch dipole bass drivers.....nothing's missing!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...1007220002.jpg
I'll see how are against a smaller value.
Nice installation, Clive. I have a pair of Claritycap ESA arriving soon to try, should be a similar fit to your Obbligatos.
You really should do something about those regulators and tantalum caps, though
:)
Clarity Cap MR's look nice,not tried them before.A pair is half the price of the dac though!
Indeed, I don't need to pay that much for what is essentially a secondary source for me.
Oh dear, Hannah just got home and said "what have you done to the hifi, it sounds boring"
I have some Clarity SA waiting to go into a phono stage, they are about half the diameter of the Obbligatos.Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
I agree about the tants and regs. I have some older type Burson regs I could drop in. I expect better caps will help the slight top end harshness vs my vinyl rigs. I'm in a quandary about the Wolfson though, is it any smoother than the 7520 DAC? More detailed yes, but if it's not smoother I might not be happy.
Will the cap upgrades reduce harshness? I must add, the DAC is not especially harsh, indeed it's harsh of me to compare it to a £5k vinyl front end.
You still playing the Ting Tings ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
No bleedin' wonder !!! ;)
... Ha, no that finished... Mgmt when Hannah got back (that she likes) and arcade fire now... Same effect... I guess it's a matter of taste.. Il let these'uns run in and try her blind in a week or so see what she says
The Wolfson DAC is both detailed and smooth and the Elna Silmic II caps to replace the tants improve the bloom and midrange transparency. Better regs (in my case Dexa) also help. In no way is the Caiman harsh, just very detailed and dynamic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clive
OK, you've sold me. I'll decide on whether to use my Bursons or Murata, the Bursons are a little large, the one near the phonos would be tight.Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
I've just got some caps (and a solder station, since my iron broke) for this, and was about to crack on. However it is a long thread, and while I think I've read it all, can anyone confirm:
- Is the summary on the first page by Stan still up to date?
- Do I need to reverse the channels from his photo?
Cheers
Having done the mod and been pleased with the results on my 7510,today I wired up a regulated linear power supply,similar to this.I managed to liberate a few from work,and I've got one feeding the Touch also-
http://uk.farnell.com/tdk-lambda/sws...-nw/dp/1817240
I've not modded the dac before apart from part of mod21,fitting some BG caps,and of course the passive mod,but fitting the linear supply has really made a difference.In fact the Beresford is now approaching the AN dac,though that is still better.Gary has been kind enough to agree to come over with his modded Caiman to compare tomorrow,so we'll see how that goes.It'll be interesting to see if this linear supply makes a difference to it,fitted as it is with the Murata regs.
With a linear reg supply of 15V, especially if this is a Teddyreg, Burson, Dexa, MuRata etc, shouldn't we be removing the 10,000uF cap in the DAC and replacing with a 10uF film type?
If you are running a 7520 or Caiman, you may prefer the approach described in the following links:Quote:
Originally Posted by amdismal
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showp...&postcount=117
and
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showp...&postcount=381
By the way, still loving the Rubycon NA's - great weight and body while sounding even more tuneful and more open than before (starting to approach the Black Gates in that respect).
Andrew
Oo Oo Oo I am liking this mod. Only got a few cheapy polarised caps my dad had hanging around but so far so good!!!
Leaving on tonight to burn in methinks.
Butuz
Well maybe one mod too many.
Caiman just gone really faint after changing capacitors for this passive mod. Was using Rubycon non-polar CA's the grey ones, the same as I used on the op amp board mod 7 months ago. I used the version of the mod that pushed the caps into the PIN3B sockets. It was working great, loved the improvement. But you know how the life of a modder goes, someone suggest some slif=ght change and you know you have to try it.
I saw a post 2 or 3 days ago that showed a picture of laying one capacitor to the right and one to the left. Supposedly gave better channel seperation. Well changed one over to try that and now the music is really really faint. So tried putting the op amp board back in, but still really really faint.
Obviously somethings wrong. Checked both PCB's top and bottom looking for signs of burning, broken traces, loose components, cannot find a thing wrong.
Any suggestions guys how to start diagnosing the problem ?
Help !!!!:(
Frizzup
Hmmmm... Have you plugged the DAC in via its variable output and with its volume knob turned down?
The other culprit could be PIN3B socket as it is a bit delicate, although you have checked the board. Might you have wobbled it when changing caps and loosened its soldering joints underneath? If it is not faint over the headphone output (via the op amp board), then that could also indicate you've cracked one or more solder joints under PIN3B.
The only other thought is static, or if you made the change when the unit was powered up.
Andrew
I would check that you have plugged your amp into the fixed output of the DAC, just in case it is the volume control.
But my biggest fear is that you might have swapped the caps round whilst the DAC was still connected to the mains supply. The WM8716 might have been knocked out. It's a 15 minutes job to change the WM8716, if you have steady hands like a surgeon, nerves of steel, and eagle sharp eyes.
Andrew,Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewR
I've tried the variable output, the fixed output, and the headphones output. All the same very faint sound on full volume. I've checked all the grey ribbon connections between the two PCB's with a multimeter all show to be ok. Looking under the PCB now around PIN3B, no obvious cracks. :scratch:
Bit of a mystery, a very expensive mystery, with the the murata regs, elna II's, god knows how many ops amps I've bought in the last 12 months. :(
I'll keep checking but may have to just bite the bullet and start again.
Hello Stanley any weekend Caiman specials coming up ?:eyebrows:
Frizzup
Checked that it is plugged in correctly. No the DAC was taken from the lounge into my office to change the capacitors.Quote:
Originally Posted by StanleyB
Frizzup
I would change the WM8716, or ask someone with the relevant skills to change it. The chip is not expensive from Mouser or Digikey.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frizzup
If you are really stuck on replacing the chip, I can sort you out with a replacement unit under my beta tester scheme. Make me an offer via PM :).
That is indeed very easy. I opened up the Caiman, pulled out the output board, stuck in the caps and it worked perfectly - five minute job, easily reversible.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewR
Sadly I cannot talk about the quality yet as I haven't listened to the DAC on the main system before, and am in the process of swapping my amp! I may get onto that next weekend. It does sound very nice, although the loss in gain means that it doesn't go quite loud enough in the main system. The second system (which is where the B DAC was always intended) should be fine though.
Go to a couple of conferences for two weeks and another 200 posts to catch up on. Interesting to read peoples different findings with different output coupling capacitors. Looking at Rubycon CE's, they seem to used in flash guns etc, ie. rapid high current discharge. Can we correlate designed usage to sound quality I wonder?
Cheers Andy
These are just coupling capacitors, the same rules for sonics apply as they do for phono stages, preamps, power amps etc. Polarised generally sound poor in comparison to film, some will like PIO. Smaller values will sound better than larger values. There will be some very cost effective caps for the sound, eg photoflash. 47uF is used by Stan as it's good for a big range of preamps though this does push towards electrolytics, quite a number of people will have preamp with a high input impedance, eg 47k to 100k. Those of us can be using film or PIO of around 1uF.
Even for a 10k preamp input impedance, 3uF should be fine so a film is very viable. Or have a I missed something?
Hi Clive,
Is there an upper limit on dielectric strength that can be used, lots of the polyprop film caps are 600 or 1000 Vdc whereas electrolytes are down at a few 10's Vdc. I'm sure somewhere buried in the thread there was a comment about this but I've lost track.
Cheers Andy
I commented that someone I know tried high voltage caps in his diy dac and was unimpressed with the sound.I've fitted some SCR Obbligato 47uF 250v,which are too big for the case so I've just left the lid off for now.I may recase the dac if I like the caps enough.
The Obbligatos I'm using are 630V (they sound good), I agree it makes sense that 64V or 200V are used but in polyprops these ratings are rare, 450V or 630V being more common. Maybe there are some good MKP block style caps in 64V, possibly by EVOX / Rifa.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
Re OLEDs comments, yes electrolytics can be got as 10V versions but you don't normally see electrolytics used as coupling caps in decent hifi gear, there's a reason for this.....they aren't the best sounding!
Some lower voltage caps are in the list described here:
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html
I was reading that site earlier as well, interesting if a bit diminishing returns ish. My original question was more to ask if the high rated dielectric strength causes any problems in this low voltage and current application? I cannot think of a reason why it should but would be interested to find out if there was.
Cheers
Having some success now with the 6.3V version of the 47uF Nichicon Muse ES. More promising than the 16V version (brief listen did not impress me as much as the 6.3V version).
Nice sweet treble, excellent clarity and harmonics (about on a par with the Black Gates), extended bass and a quick break-in time. The delicacy/texture of mids and sweet/controlled treble gives a fast sound that's groovy when the music is groovy. Very similar to a Rega-style of presentation. Slight downer is that I could do with a stronger upper-bass (like the Rubycon NA has a good quantity of), but that may come in time.
This is fast becoming my favourite cap.
Andrew
I don't believe a high voltage rated cap necessarily sounds good or bad, other factors are probably more important but it's one of those suck it and see aspects. Most aspects of hifi are about finding the best mix and compromise, with coupling caps this is very much the case.Quote:
Originally Posted by OLED
The Obbs sound good but a but all over the place at the moment,however bass seems better and deeper than the Mundorfs.I suspect at these voltages they may take quite a while to run in.
Biggest problem though is that no two peoples systems are the same (probably) and definitely no two people here the same way. Suck it and see is spot on, not much science can do for us here, but it all adds to the fun of it.
I've got 28p worth of non polarised 10uF electrolytics from Maplin running in my Caiman at the minute.
I was astonished at how easy it was to perform the mod (open case, remove daughter board, fit caps, replace lid) as it never seemed to be as easy working on the TC7510.
The change in sonic output is not subtle - I'm going to run with this for a good while before coming to any conclusions.
Where did that extra octave of bass come from ?
:cool:
Good innit?
You're not jesting !!!:)
Hello - first post - this is a FANTASTIC site.
I'm going to use the Rubycon 47ufs from the board to two new sockets.
My Marantz power amps are 30kohms input impedance. Should I be putting in a resistor in series and if so what value would you recommend?
Thanking you.
No, leave the input impedance at 30k, with 47uF Rubycons you will have a very low frequency roll-off anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by BoD
You probably need to get over to the welcome area to introduce yourself before the membership police get to you :)