As an ex Young owner (and someone who took my dac to my local high end Naim dealer and who’s head was full of all things Naim Dac at the time...
Short version, fit the cap and be happy.
That done it’s easily a £1000+ Dac, and then some. substantially beat the Naim Dac, the dealer felt a bit odd afterwards and wanted to pair the Naim Dac with its £££ 555 power supply...
Real world? says it all, really.
(Talking from experience)
Took a 7K dac to beat it with cap fitted, Was on a mission to upgrade my digital and was willing to spend the wonga...my thanks to Simon (Forum name SQ12348485858399394949w309940w0939303) or what it actually was, the Young with cap fitted is an absolute Giant Killer.
Dont sell it till you’ve fitted the cap.
From your photos it’s pride of place and you obviously love what it does.
The cap Mod elevates it...and then some.
Seriously, don’t sell it, it’s easily a thousand pound DAC (in today’s prices)
Last edited by Gazjam; 03-08-2019 at 14:58.
AC POWER
Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
AMPS
Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
SPEAKERS
Wharfedale Evo 4.4
DAC
PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
TURNTABLE
Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
PHONOSTAGE
Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
DIGITAL
OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
MUSIC PLAYBACK
Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
Ipad Roon Remote.
Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
SPEAKER CABLES
Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
INTERCONNECTS
All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables