Caiman Mods

[chrism]

Greater clarity and improved depth of sound. I did the Rubies first and had them in for about a month before doing the Murata's.

Regards

Chris

[Covenant]

My 7520 with Wolfson/4562 op-amps has just arrived back from Tirna after the Rubycon, WIMA/ Murata upgrade and sounds stunning-this is with the old PS in at the moment.
Just to confirm Tirna's fix only prices:
Regulator upgrade £20
Rubycons/WIMA £15
Insured delivery £8.50
Then add vat on to the lot.
Bargain or what?

[StanleyB]

I'll put the Caiman PSU on the order page my site in April for those who have done the Murata mods.
A few TC-7520 beta testers have been trying out the Caiman PSU on their unmodified TC-7520 to see if there are any reliability issues.

[Gazjam]

My 7520 with Wolfson/4560 op-amps has just arrived back from Tirna after the Rubycon, WIMA/ Murata upgrade and sounds stunning-this is with the old PS in at the moment.
Just to confirm Tirna's fix only prices:
Regulator upgrade £20
Rubycons/WIMA £15
Insured delivery £8.50
Then add vat on to the lot.
Bargain or what?

Jerry, I've had mine on since Friday.

Sounded fab "out of the box"..now a week later I can say that there IS a case of the new components running in and sounding better.
Watch out for it.

Id expected an improvement - yeah, but this sounds like a different product to what I had before the upgrades..
There is practically NO mush in the background..dead quiet.
A rock solid "walk around" soundstage and a very VERY detailed sound make for a hair tingling listen.
Reminds me actually (again) of a Marantz KI63 Sig/ Densen Beat100 combo I heard years ago...so "real" sounding...just grabs your attention.

The only thing I'd like to try is running the Dac with Stans proper Caiman power supply. I'm currently using the Maplins variable one at 15V...I know there is a lot more to a PSU than just its Voltage output so maybe my current PSU is putting a lot of noise into the Dac? I dont know, but its one of those little niggles I'd like to address.

That would be the last little "could it be made better?" niggle I'd have with my Dac. (but dont quote me on that! )
Stan, its good your making it available again for us modders, cheers.

Playing around with opamps again this morning...I was running the AD826 pre upgrades with NO amp in the headphone socket.
The sound was better for some reason with no headphone opamp in place?

Now its the opposite. Put a LM4562 in HPA socket and the sound changed for the better?
Go figure.

Currently running Caiman spec LM4562 in both sockets...but going back to try OP2132 and AD826 (which I found far better than 4562 pre upgrades).

Keep y'all posted.

Sounds astonighing - really - a very worthwhile upgrade and thanks to Jerry for the 11th hour reminder that the group buy on the components was about to close.

[MartinT]

Stan - for a future model, have you thought about using +/- power supply rails so that the op-amps can be run DC coupled, avoiding the coupling caps altogether? You could then more easily provide balanced outputs too.

Just a thought!

[StanleyB]

Stan - for a future model, have you thought about using +/- power supply rails so that the op-amps can be run DC coupled, avoiding the coupling caps altogether? You could then more easily provide balanced outputs too.

I have been thinking about a lot of things. Those ideas are for something a bit more upmarket (for me anyhow). The only problem I still have, but that I can't solve, is a simple to implement High Speed USB Audio chip.

[chrism]

Sorry to ask but why are balanced outputs an advantage over the fixed / variable RCA outs? The variable out provides a great preamp and as I have found betters most of the preamps out there.

Regards

[Labarum]

The balanced output could be both fixed and variable.

Balanced outputs come into their own for long cable runs which are not usually needed in domestic installations.

Many active speakers have balanced inputs but can usually be driven from an unbalanced output.

If the entire DAC design is balanced, as already noted, DC coupling may be used reducing the number of capacitors used.

[MartinT]

All other things being equal, balanced connection sounds superior provided the connected equipment is internally balanced in design. For an entire system, balanced offers extremely low noise, resistance to RFI pickup and, to my ears, better sound. It is not just for studio use and there are planty of components, especially in the high end, that offer XLR connectors.

[bergdus]

Greater clarity and improved depth of sound. I did the Rubies first and had them in for about a month before doing the Murata's.

Regards

Chris

thanks Chris,

that's exactly what I needed to know.

Ron