Caiman passive output mod revealed

[StanleyB]

The resulting sound is stratospheric - maybe (with its Tirna mods included) reaching Akurate DS territory (going by audio memory)

Don't give Hamish a heart attack.

[fmzip]

Got to say, with this mod and using the Black Gate FKs I was seriously in danger of getting to sleep too late for my 6:30am start this morning.

The effect of this mod is not to be underestimated. The resulting sound is stratospheric - maybe (with its Tirna mods included) reaching Akurate DS territory (going by audio memory).

Andrew

And I thought once my Caiman arrives next week I would be leaving it alone......

[StanleyB]

And I thought once my Caiman arrives next week I would be leaving it alone......

Leave it alone. The mod is only reasonably suitable for those who want high-end sound on a shoestring budget, and know which end to hold a soldering iron. You fail on the soldering iron test.

[James G]

And I thought once my Caiman arrives next week I would be leaving it alone......

Stanley please step in if I am off the mark, but if my memory serves me correctly the Beresford house sound could be described as on the "stratospheric" side to begin with, right?

I'd give it at least 2 weeks run-in time before even considering it.

[StanleyB]

This only applies to the modded Caiman. If you add the Murata regs and a good linear PSU I very much doubt you find a better sounding DAC below a couple of grands. No amount of opamp swapping (including discrete opamps) will ever better the raw audio out of a decent voltage output DAC.

[chrism]

The new mods appear to do away with the variable out and if so is a stand alone preamp the way to go now? I thought that we all thought that the Caiman as a pre/DAC was best directly into a power amp.

Getting a bit lost with the latest mods I am afraid.

Regards

Chris

[Ali Tait]

I guess it would depend on your setup.I use a WAD Pre2,and find my Beresford sounds better through this than driving the amp direct.

[NRG]

Thanks to Stan for brining another interesting mod to the forum.

I implemented the output mod earlier today using a pair of 16v 47uF Blackgates, I noted there's only 2.5v DC across these caps so a 6.3v cap would be sufficient.

The results are interesting and a bit of a mixed bag for me...the good news is I'm liking the increased clarity and detail, I didn't think it was possible to get more from this great little DAC or 16bit/44.1Khz for that matter so it just goes to show what's on those silver disks. The improvement is across the board, top to bottom, Bass is no deeper though just more controlled and tuneful.

One other improvement is dynamics, listening to some well known tracks where I would be reaching for the volume control to turns things up to get the highs has become a dangerous exercise! I'm having to back off the volume somewhat as the contrast between high and low seems to be greater, Hem - The Fire Thief is one such track as is Angel by Sarah McLachlan...

The downside is I've detected on some tracks and with some female vocals a hardening of tone and a slight edge, this could be the new mod opening the window on the recording more coupled with the caps needing more hours on them.....another thought is I'm using Stan's upgraded Caiman PSU and maybe this mod calls out for a good linear supply.....something I'll look into.

Overall I'm happy but I have some concerns on some material that was OK before...

[HighFidelityGuy]

The new mods appear to do away with the variable out and if so is a stand alone preamp the way to go now? I thought that we all thought that the Caiman as a pre/DAC was best directly into a power amp.

Getting a bit lost with the latest mods I am afraid.

Regards

Chris

It is possible to implement the passive output mod while still maintaining the variable output. Look back a page or two to see how.

I'd give it at least 2 weeks run-in time before even considering it.

I'd definitely agree with this. The Elna caps take at least two weeks to run in. They cause some harshness in the top end before that. The caps used in the passive mod will also go through the same process. So it's best to let mods run in before trying something new to make sure you like the results of each mod.

The downside is I've detected on some tracks and with some female vocals a hardening of tone and a slight edge, this could be the new mod opening the window on the recording more coupled with the caps needing more hours on them.....another thought is I'm using Stan's upgraded Caiman PSU and maybe this mod calls out for a good linear supply.....something I'll look into.

I've also noticed this on some female vocals. I think it's partly to do with the passive mod allowing you to hear the recording more faithfully but also due to the caps not being run in yet. I think you'll find the sound will get smoother over the next week or two. Swapping to a good linear supply will also help as I found doing this removed some harshness.

[Covenant]

Is there any benefit for choosing a more upmarket capacitor? I am thinking of the one Marco recommended-Clarity I think it was called.