The Apple diyMod: My Take on the Famous iMod [56k killer] Featuring 3G, 4G, 5G and nano 1G!

Mini2G Mod

I have tried the mod on a Mini 2G, today.



Simply C53-C69 and C54-C70 are shorted. Caps and inductors are left there.
Wires; solid 30AWG (from navships)

So I wouldn't worry about removing these tiny caps, right?

Blimey EFN that looks awesome - interested to see how that pans out after burn-in

nice one EFN, when I saw your post in the D10 thread (on my iphone email, so no pics) with 4 caps, I thought you must have either been using bypass caps or maybe upgraded the caps on the power rail as well, but it seems just HP out, if only we had that much room to work with in ipod.

Hi guys,

I was wondering if anyone knows what the capacitors to the upper left of the dac are for? i accidentally knocked the encircled one off from the board. the sound output is still good. nothing happened. im just curios if anyone knows what it is really for. thanks

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...o22/th_dac.jpg (dac.jpg picture by dencio22 - Photobucket)

more power!

gino

Hey, we got a shout-out on Tarkam's site. Yay! Consider it a Reader's Digest version of this thread. It was written by gueri_fr, a member that combined both the CF mod and the diyMod.

Modding: Audiophile meets iPod (diyMod) » Tarkan Akdam’s BORED

I hate to ask this but due to the age of the thread and the variety of caps im confused. I have scored a 1st gen nano, i took apart my broke fm transmitter (it uses a cord to connect to the ipod, not a dock and its got all the wiring i need. Without having any size constraints, and using a diy amp (starving student) with 50k pot and 47k resistors at the input, What would be the recommended caps from a place with cheap shipping since i will only be ordering 2 caps?

If the calc is right, and i have a 50k input, and i use a .22uf cap, then i could use some beezar caps or the bypass caps from the starving student build. If a 50k pot means 50k input impedance.

You can order from Digikey and Mouser for pretty cheap. Hit up parts conneXion if you want to get fancy.

Well mouser is 7 bucks min for shipping. The best ive found from mouser is 100uf kz muses for 30 cents each.

From beezar i can get Elna Cerafine 47uf for a buck each and $2.09 shipping.


also what are some thoughts on some .22uf bypass caps like the wima's or vitamin q's?

Beezar's a good place to shop. Tom's a great guy, he'll get you fitted up.

Bypassing with tiny caps is a technique used to pass higher frequencies through the signal path more easily. There are loads of comments regarding the Wimas and Vitamin Qs in the Millett MAX thread. From what I can remember, the Wimas are pretty heavy on the bass while the Vitamin Qs have very good neutrality, but that's when the caps are used in a completely different context. If you're wondering about bypass capacitors in general, Google can get you some good reading material. Try these articles:

Bypassing
The Basics - Bypass Capacitors
http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/scba007a/scba007a.pdf

And as per usual, sound is very unique to each system. The same component will sound different in a different part of the system, eg. source, amp, and in different parts within that piece of equipment, eg. power supply, signal path. If you're lucky, you may get similar results, but from what I know, the larger capacitor will dominate the sound characteristic over the bypass. Section 6.0.0 in the OP will give you a bit more reading material regarding choosing capacitors.

Where will you be putting these capacitors? Size becomes an issue along with the capacitance.

Im using a kensignton ipod dock that i got far a while ago so size isnt too big of a concern. I was thinking of just rerouting to 2 unused pins that way its 100% stock if used with any other device.

EFN

Can I ask why you used different sizes of Elnas on the Line Out and Headphone Out ? Was it just availability?


Caps used:
Elna Cerafine 47uf 6.3V (Line Out)
Elna SILMIC II 47uF 16V (Headphone Out)

It's just me. I want to see how different those two are. As of now I can tell that the Cerafine seems to have louder output and the SILMIC II mellower

Thanks for that. As soon as I can find some in the UK, I will try your mod. This is proving difficult at present - any other make worth trying? Did you suggest Nichicons elsewhere?

Yes the Nichicon MUSE Fine Gold series. They seems to be a bit more neutral sounding than the Elna SILMIC. So it's a mix and match with the rest of your rig to get the sound you want

Thanks again EFN. I think it all depends on what I can lay my hands on...