Caiman passive output mod revealed

[Gazjam]

Probably a question for Stan or Leo;

If you do not use the USB input on the Caiman, would there be anything to gain (thinking of noise back through the earth side) of removing the USB board? I am guessing not, but no one seems to have asked.

Cheers Andy

Hmnn, good question...?

Oh...I noticed Hificollective have the 1UF ClarityCaps back in stock.

[HighFidelityGuy]

Probably a question for Stan or Leo;

If you do not use the USB input on the Caiman, would there be anything to gain (thinking of noise back through the earth side) of removing the USB board? I am guessing not, but no one seems to have asked.

Cheers Andy

From the looks of it the USB board is powered by the computer, so I doubt it will cause any interference if it's not connected to a computer. That's what I'd put my money on anyway. Saying that I've removed my USB board as I'm planning on swapping it for a toslink socket. The Caiman+ wasn't available when I bought my Caiman.

[OLED]

The AuriCaps won the day. I've now soldered in the 2.2uF 200V AuriCaps in place of the 5-way socket. I did it this way as I wanted to retain the protection of the muting relay. I took care to have the signal input flow into the black leads and output from the red leads, as advised in the Audience application notes.

The PCB holes had to be opened up and I did this with a needle file as I didn't have the correct diameter drill. No worries about through-hole plating as this (front) PCB is single-sided. the caps are held lightly in place with small foam sticky pads to prevent them from vibrating.

The AuriCaps sound fantastic: highly transparent, deep and tight bass, wide soundstage. I am well pleased with my Caiman and use it every day with Sky HD and Blu-ray inputs. I don't intend opening it up again for a long time

Something Martin included in his 'final' iteration raised a question for me. How exactly does the muting relay work and when does it take effect? Can it introduce artificial silences into the music? I am pretty sure that's not the case but I'm wondering if Stan's very first post might be the best way to do the passive mode, taking the output from as close to the DAC as possible, via the coupling capacitors straight into the output pin of the RCAs. Using Auri's or Clarity caps will make this quite straight forward.

Like a Dornier pilot over London, I await to be shot down

[RoboCopper]

I would also like to read short description/review of the sound difference between Clarity ESA and Auricap, please?
Now I am perplexed which one should I go for?
Thank you

[Gazjam]

I would also like to read short description/review of the sound difference between Clarity ESA and Auricap, please?
Now I am perplexed which one should I go for?
Thank you

Didn't Martin say the Auricap "pipped" the Clarity ESA?
The Auricaps more than twice the price, so if the ESA gets close and its good (and by all accounts its great) then either one would be a safe bet?

Is it twice as good as the ESA though?

[RoboCopper]

Didn't Martin say the Auricap "pipped" the Clarity ESA?
The Auricaps more than twice the price, so if the ESA gets close and its good (and by all accounts its great) then either one would be a safe bet?

Is it twice as good as the ESA though?

Yes, I did read and I did check in the web thesaurus and dictionary, but English is not my first language, hence I wanted to read more detailed review which I could understand easily.
Even checking in dictionary word "pipped" does not do much for me as I never heard/used it although I made a conclusion that Auricap won big time.

Even if I have read all the books from Shakespeare or was Ali G brother , I think I would prefer more "audiophile" approach in comparison of both caps as I used to reading those typical reviews.
Only wanted two sentences e.g.(highs are extended and sweeter, bass is more defined and tighter, 3d stage is bigger, mids are more real and "magical"). This could be all correct in fact, so no comparison needed
Hope you understand. I was just about to order Clarity ESA ,then I read new post about Auricap which I think I will order.
Thank you

[MartinT]

These are subtle differences, guys, not night and day!

The ClarityCap ESA sounded very clean with transparent midrange, extended highs and a non-harsh overall sound but slightly light in the bass. Note that I was using 1uF 600V but into a 47k load so plenty of bass extension. They were better than the Rubycons but not by so much that the Rubycons are embarrassed.

The AuriCaps better the ClarityCaps by a small amount of midrange transparency and liquidity (female voice is truly beautiful), very wide soundstage and a very tight but extended and slightly weightier bass. Note that mine are 2.2uF 200V but I don't think the value differences account for the difference in quality of the bass.

Does that help? I say again, SUBTLE differences. All of these caps are good!

[Gazjam]

Yes, I did read and I did check in the web thesaurus and dictionary, but English is not my first language, hence I wanted to read more detailed review which I could understand easily.
Even checking in dictionary word "pipped" does not do much for me as I never heard/used it although I made a conclusion that Auricap won big time.

Even if I have read all the books from Shakespeare or was Ali G brother , I think I would prefer more "audiophile" approach in comparison of both caps as I used to reading those typical reviews.
Only wanted two sentences e.g.(highs are extended and sweeter, bass is more defined and tighter, 3d stage is bigger, mids are more real and "magical"). This could be all correct in fact, so no comparison needed
Hope you understand. I was just about to order Clarity ESA ,then I read new post about Auricap which I think I will order.
Thank you

hey Roberto,
Martins your man for the review then, for me though the fact he picked the Auricap over the ESA would suggest he preferred it.
You might not though, depending on your system and your tastes....and thats the problem innit!

Booyakasha!

[RoboCopper]

Thanks Martin,
I have a feeling that I will order both caps ,as sometimes I do feel need for lighter bass.
4u

[RoboCopper]

hey Roberto,
Martins your man for the review then, for me though the fact he picked the Auricap over the ESA would suggest he preferred it.
You might not though, depending on your system and your tastes....and thats the problem innit!

Booyakasha!

Peace brother