My 2019 Update Thread - My final system I think.

[struth]

that should keep u busy gary... hows the espressos working out??

[Macca]

Done any room treatment?

[Gazjam]

Done any room treatment?

Tried that Martin,
felt it robbed the music of some "life"?
Luckily, any bass room nodes seem to be out of earshot

Something that worked though was when I got the new speakers I measured out the room, with "correct" distance ratio's for placing the speaker away from rear and side walls.
That worked well for soundstaging and bass, nice improvement.

Technically my rooms a good candidate for treatment, huge glass picturframe on back wall, large windows to one side, but it kinda just works.

[Macca]

Tried that Martin,
felt it robbed the music of some "life"?

yep that can happen. Not something you can do haphazardly. Plus sometimes a room just works with the normal furnishings and more is overkill.

I just have a little to absorb first reflections and in one corner to kill some bounce I was getting. Need to do the opposite corner too but haven't got around to ordering the glue to put the foam tiles up. I'll do that now I think while it's on my mind

[Gazjam]

that should keep u busy gary... hows the espressos working out??

Enjoying my (sensibly moderated) two cups of black gold per day.
Have the Sage Grinder dialled in to give the right ammount of coffee for the PID settings I've settled on with the Lelit.

There's two programmable brewing Presets you can dial in,
after a bit of trial and error I'm more than happy with the results, and as both grinder and machine are programmed in the results are consistent too.

Santa Claus brought me some 'propa' accessories for the machine, improved on the coffee quality a fair bit?



Using a heavy Tamper with the machine makes things a lot better than the plastic lightweight dollhouse patio table that came with it.
The 58.5mm size was recommended for my machine, so went with Lelit's own.
Makes for a far better result,
Weighs a ton though!

[Gazjam]

yep that can happen. Not something you can do haphazardly. Plus sometimes a room just works with the normal furnishings and more is overkill.

I just have a little to absorb first reflections and in one corner to kill some bounce I was getting. Need to do the opposite corner too but haven't got around to ordering the glue to put the foam tiles up. I'll do that now I think while it's on my mind

[struth]

looks good; nice jug too

[Gazjam]

Was Marco's recommendation,
he was right on this one!

...don't let on I said that though

looks good; nice jug too

[struth]

Was Marco's recommendation,
he was right on this one!

...don't let on I said that though

lol.. what is it? a fellows maybe?

[Gazjam]

First up for 2022

PS AUDIO Directstream Dac Upgrades
The push here is to try and improve on what is already a great sounding Dac?

Its unusual in its FPGA architecture in that it doesn't have a "dac chip" as such, and its sound can be improved with firmware updates.
It came out in 2015 and every year since PS Audio has provided these free upgrades.

All things come to an end though,
PS Audio are working on a MKII version with improved internal components, higher spec FPGA chip, improved transformers and the like.
So no more annual Firmware improvements.

Not all's lost though.
The Dacs designer Ted Smith, a frequent poster on the more technical aspects of his Dac on the PS Audio forum
suggested a few ways his older MKI Dac could be improved, as He wont be writing any more firmware updates for it.

There is a LONG "Modding the Directstream Dac" thread on PS Audio forum and all of these mods have been successfully done by many folks.
All say they lift the Dac up to the next level.

I've already fitted an SR Orange fuse internally in the Dac,
it responds well to clean AC power, so lets find out.
I'm gonna do them all.

NAMELY:

1.
Improved analogue output board Transformers
For BOM cost savings they went with cheaper ones in 2015, the better ones the Dac was designed around are still available, and are a straight pin replacement swap out.
I have the improved Transformers, and will ship out the Analogue board to get someone handier with a soldering iron than I to swap them out.

2.
EMI/RFI suppression inside the Dac.
Placement of this material at key "noisy" areas inside the Dac to reduce electrical noise.
(Complete underside of digital board, Rear of the display, key chips etc)
I have several sheets of Stillpoints ERS Fabric for the job.

3.
Independent linear power supply/ Isolation of the Digital and Analogue stages of the Dac.
High End digital designs like DCS, MSB and the like make effort on clean power, and separating the digital and analogue stages.
Its all about reducing electrical noise and cross-talk inside the Dac.

As luck and circumstance would have it,
A community spirited, US based PS Audio fan and Electrical Engineer over on the Forum:
Designed, manufactured and sold as a Forum "Group Buy" a power supply control board, to do exactly this and allow the Analogue board to be independently powered by its own linear power supply.
I was in on the Group Buy, and have the linear power supply board. Will be buying quality LPS for the Dac later this Year.

SO WITH ALL THAT SAID,
Some open heart Dac surgery to commence!



Can't do everything right away:
1. Don't have a linear power supply to isolate/separately power the analogue board
2. Getting improved Transformers fitted by a 3rd party


What I can do though:

1. Have the Stillpoints ERS fabric, will fit it in recommended places to reduce internal RFI/EMI in the Dac.


2. Will fit the power control card anyway, as its designer says it lowers noise "as is" in the dac due to its high quality filtering.



Here goes,
Wish me Luck!