Mod your Beresford TC-7510

[trailer]

Thanks. What are the potential upgrades if any?

[kalozois100]

Go-ahead and use it, see how it sounds then replace the caps and see what difference there is....all part of the fun!

--Neal

Good evening to all!!
Well I got back the tc-7510 that is now upgraded from 6/3 to 6/4 (mod 21 part 1 and have replaced op amp in part 2 but because I have had to order the caps from the u.k. the later is still to be done. So far the cost of upgrade is as follows:
Mod part 1:
1) Free. The elec. engineer friend had parts in stock.

Mod part 2
2)15 Euro for opamp LM4562MA (sold as pack of two)
3) 5 euro for 2x Capacitor High Rise 220pf 63v 1%7mm SUF710 ref 2401 that will be fitted shortly.
4) no cost for elec. engineer ( a close friend and has done it cause he owes me many a favour!)

Extra expense:
5) 53 euro for maplin switched mode ac to dc adaptor for general use.

All above inc. cost of shipping to Cyprus.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS (please note I am comparing to 6/3 version specifically and not any other dac or cd player. The tracks mentioned below have been heard before and I took notes since I do not have two tc-7510, a 6/3 and 6/4 to compare at same time. Also go easy on me as I have not done this before and have no qualifications to audition hifi components. Phew got that out of the way)

I played straight away after connecting up. The first listening was track greensleeves (shji Yokouchi Trio & 1) a three blind mice recording. WOW! I couldnt believe my ears. Very smooth and detailed presence remarkable imaging, tighter bass, very clear mids but it is the highs that really impressed me. the build up and pace in this piece of music was all over the place with the 6/3 but now every rhythum was controlled and co-ordinated but with a touch of finesse. Each instrument was clearly heard especially the the drum section - the cymbals caused an emotional tingle that was abscent before.
I wanted to investigate the warmth perspective so the next track was the theme from Harry's game from clannads greatest hits. As soon as the vocals emerged i got goose pimples. Again impressive clarity, imaging, detail and warmth. The fatigue factor present in the 6/3 was gone, deceased. I felt now that with this new level of sound I could quite literally listen for hours whereas the 6/3 got tiring after an hour and a half. I heard clannard live and the 6/4 reminded me of that experience strongly compared to the 6/3.
Next was Chris Rea's road to hell track. Yet again consistant was the 6/4 to offer me warmth, imaging ,detail and clarity but an aditional twist was the sound stage presence. when the tempo increased i was happily shocked to still hear the vocals and instruments defined whereas the 6/3 lost the pace and at time the bass was wild the treble painfull to the ears and the mids got blurred.
If the 6/3 was a jumbo jet then the 6/4 with opamp LM4562MA and maplin power supply is the starship enterprise at warp 1. The great news is that the 6/4 still needs burning in so I am hoping it will improve even further. Maybe it will get to warp 3 after cap replacements in mod part 2 and a decent burn in period. It will never be at warp 6 but then the dacs' and cd players that can cost thousands of pounds to get you there. Was it worth the cost of 70 euros to upgrade- you bet your ass it was!!!!

[StanleyB]

That's a very good job that you have done. Well, that your engineer freind has done.
The TC-7510 can be made to sound even better than it already does, and its low initial outlay should encourage a lot more people to start with a basic unit and then improve from there. You could buy a DAC kit that cost more, but would struggle to match the TC-7510 even in its basic form. Or you can get a cheap TC-7510 and spend a bit of time and less than £20 to get £5K CDP beating performance.

I am surprised you had to pay so much for the Maplin PSU. In any case there is a new one I have found. I just need to consult the seller about a bulk purchase.

[kalozois100]

That's a very good job that you have done. Well, that your engineer freind has done.
The TC-7510 can be made to sound even better than it already does, and its low initial outlay should encourage a lot more people to start with a basic unit and then improve from there. You could buy a DAC kit that cost more, but would struggle to match the TC-7510 even in its basic form. Or you can get a cheap TC-7510 and spend a bit of time and less than £20 to get £5K CDP beating performance.

I am surprised you had to pay so much for the Maplin PSU. In any case there is a new one I have found. I just need to consult the seller about a bulk purchase.

Thanks.
Maplin uk would not post to Cyprus so got from local distributor. The price above includes postage from uk that the distributor charged me since he didn't have it in stock. Ah and the price is in euro so with exchange rate its not that far off uk price.

[NRG]

That's a great result, well done. With the caps in place I predict it will sound even better!

I made another change last week, snowed in for the third time in a week I had time on my hands to finally implement a pulse transformer on the SPIDF output of my squeezebox:



Shameless borrowing of the idea!

Before, the SB SPDIF output as seen on the 'scope was a bit of a mess, with the cct in place the much cleaner scope trace confirmed what my ears where telling me...wow!

I wish I had implemented this ages ago, the improvement is very dramatic, detail has improved again but even more so this time and I'm hearing things not heard before on many tracks...one MP3 download of a recent Eva Cassidy 'new material find' was surprising, previously I'd thought it was either a poor recording (its still not great TBH) or the effects of heavy MP3 compression but what I thought was low level background noise, similar to white noise was in fact audience chatter in the background.. I can now make out talking and laughter!

I think I've got as much as I need to out of the 7510 with MOD21 pt1 and 2 plus my PSU modifications so its time to start another project based on the TDA1541A to see how that compares.

[Covenant]

Very impressed with your improvement to the SB3. Is this too difficult for a novice to do? I have a linear supply and was pondering what upgrade I could do next.

[leo]

That's a great result, well done. With the caps in place I predict it will sound even better!

I made another change last week, snowed in for the third time in a week I had time on my hands to finally implement a pulse transformer on the SPIDF output of my squeezebox:



Shameless borrowing of the idea!

Before, the SB SPDIF output as seen on the 'scope was a bit of a mess, with the cct in place the much cleaner scope trace confirmed what my ears where telling me...wow!

I wish I had implemented this ages ago, the improvement is very dramatic, detail has improved again but even more so this time and I'm hearing things not heard before on many tracks...one MP3 download of a recent Eva Cassidy 'new material find' was surprising, previously I'd thought it was either a poor recording (its still not great TBH) or the effects of heavy MP3 compression but what I thought was low level background noise, similar to white noise was in fact audience chatter in the background.. I can now make out talking and laughter!

I think I've got as much as I need to out of the 7510 with MOD21 pt1 and 2 plus my PSU modifications so its time to start another project based on the TDA1541A to see how that compares.

That circuit looks familiar

I'm actually surprised nobody has tried a 1:1 pulse transformer on one of the TC-7510 spdif inputs to allow for easy comparing

[kalozois100]

That's a very good job that you have done. Well, that your engineer freind has done.
The TC-7510 can be made to sound even better than it already does, and its low initial outlay should encourage a lot more people to start with a basic unit and then improve from there. You could buy a DAC kit that cost more, but would struggle to match the TC-7510 even in its basic form. Or you can get a cheap TC-7510 and spend a bit of time and less than £20 to get £5K CDP beating performance.

I am surprised you had to pay so much for the Maplin PSU. In any case there is a new one I have found. I just need to consult the seller about a bulk purchase.

You got me thinking there stan. what further mods did you have in mind apart from mod 21 part1 and 2 for twenty pounds?

[Stratmangler]

That's a great result, well done. With the caps in place I predict it will sound even better!

I made another change last week, snowed in for the third time in a week I had time on my hands to finally implement a pulse transformer on the SPIDF output of my squeezebox:



Shameless borrowing of the idea!

Before, the SB SPDIF output as seen on the 'scope was a bit of a mess, with the cct in place the much cleaner scope trace confirmed what my ears where telling me...wow!

I wish I had implemented this ages ago, the improvement is very dramatic, detail has improved again but even more so this time and I'm hearing things not heard before on many tracks...one MP3 download of a recent Eva Cassidy 'new material find' was surprising, previously I'd thought it was either a poor recording (its still not great TBH) or the effects of heavy MP3 compression but what I thought was low level background noise, similar to white noise was in fact audience chatter in the background.. I can now make out talking and laughter!

I think I've got as much as I need to out of the 7510 with MOD21 pt1 and 2 plus my PSU modifications so its time to start another project based on the TDA1541A to see how that compares.

I'm intrigued - any chance of some photos/parts used info ?

Chris

[leo]

I might be doing a Squeezebox Duet Receiver modding thread when I get chance, any mods for the SB3 etc could be added on there

The part above T1 should be a 1:1 pulse transformer, Newava do some decent ones which are not expensive , model S22083 is a good start

R2 is for loading the secondary of the transformer

U1 is the part of the S/PDIF buffer chip inside the SB3

C1 should be low inductive physically small as close to the transformer as you can get

Run 75R mini co-ax from the loaded secondary to a 75R BNC socket used for spdif out