Greetings to all!

Hi all,

This is my first post so I thought I'd say a big hello to all

I was brought to this forum by the very helpfull and all round great geezer zanash,who has helped me greatly in the modding of my humble x-dacV3.

I must admit to being a tad sceptical about what sort of improvments if any, modding the unit would make. My reason for modding was to fill out the sound from the dac a bit as I felt it was a little thin and cold for my tastes. Particularly as it's feeding an Arcam FMJa32 with Monitor Audio RS8's, not the most forgiving speakers if treble is a little on the forward side.

Well, so far I have damped the unit using the bitumen sheets and damped the IC's and crystal with humble old blue tac. I also have replaced the last 2 op amps with opa2604's. Well, the difference in sound so far has been really surprising for me, especially with the op-amp change. The forward treble has receded without losing it's clarity. I'm not the best at explaining sound differences but I'd say the treble is not as in your face anymore, which is what I set out to achieve, so I'm a very happy camper so far. My next step will be the wiring and general cap/diode/resistor changes with the aim of making the sound a tad less congested. Any suggestions as to what I should look at first to achieve this?

Thanks again for all who has commented on the mods, brill

 

Hi and welcome . Hope you find plenty of info and help. Jim.

 

Hi there welcome to the forum.

I'm currently in the process of improving my Marantz cd63ki sig and have had great results so far.

The cap, diode and resistor upgrades should all make an improvement, as would bypass caps on the opamps and large value capacitors, adding better quality rca sockets and improving power supply(schottky diodes, larger value & better quality caps and better voltage regulators).
Also, a mains conditioning block could help, although this is dependant on mains quality in your area.

I'm sure Zanash would have pointed out the importance of quality interconnects and cables too Many an ongoing debate on the subject.

 

Thanks for the replies folks. After every step I carry out the sonic improvements are noticeable. I'm finding now after changing to silver wire and diode/resistor changes that the bass definition is improving, as well the the sound spacing out a little bit more...magic! It really is a good little dac now, and that's without the PSU! That's my next project and I've already ordered the parts ata cost of £43!!!! Rip off for the MF one at £250 with a run of the mill toroidal.

 

Amazing what you can do with a little knowledge and some cheap components.
Best of luck with the PSU.