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There is a wider soundstage, more detail in the vocals and instruments, and an increase in the dynamics. It's like a completely different DAC altogether. I have been trying to get those same results by changing the opamp on a MK1 I also have. I didn't quite succeed, even after spending quite a bit of money on various opamps. This cheap mod was so simple in comparison, I am still trying to figure out why it works so well.
Wait a minute. The dac that bests all those expensive multi thousand dollar dacs now improves tremendously by changing a couple dollars worth of parts?
Hmmm...
Now don't get me wrong, I'm in the market for a flexible, inexpensive dac, but jeez, how can one judge what the sound quality of this thing is when we have a fanboy flogging the Beresford, then all of a sudden it improves vastly with a simple mod.
I'm doing the mod with FierceFreaks help. So if everyone can wait a few weeks we will see. The mod is to the analogue output stage which I initially thought could not be modded aka the Zhalou. Supposedly it really improves everything. I'll give it a fair review as I am determined to NOT be a fanboy of anyone except Mister X but that's just because he's funny.
You can email Stanley if you are an owner of the 7510. He can send you the info or not. I am only sharing it with Fierce for now.
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Cans: Just cheap portables atm.
Amps/Source: Vista Winamp Ogg-Vorbis plug in w/ Realtime Rip > Trends Audio UD-10>Sherwood 6500 to the 550s
Speakers: av123 Onix Rocket 550 MKII, Mirage Mini Sats, 12" TAD sub in Cherry Wood.
$40 for him to do it and test it on a brand new model. $2 for parts confirmed. $30 + ship for retrofitting - if i understood correctly.
what is so master about the master soldering? i've soldered before, but wouldn't consider it master work...is there some test? ("if you can solder your own functioning motherboard from scratch in under 5 minutes...")
I've never soldered anything. That's the trick really. Lack of any soldering experience.
Seems like a fine deal considering the Zhalou 2.5C is $250 new.
I would say that it would be a Dac well worth the $$. It already is on the Zhalou 2.5C level stock vs stock. I imagine that the mod will make it better than the 2.5C stock at least.
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Cans: Just cheap portables atm.
Amps/Source: Vista Winamp Ogg-Vorbis plug in w/ Realtime Rip > Trends Audio UD-10>Sherwood 6500 to the 550s
Speakers: av123 Onix Rocket 550 MKII, Mirage Mini Sats, 12" TAD sub in Cherry Wood.
I guess you can try some Black Gate caps, and even replace the two 10uF tantalums below the new caps in the mod with Black Gate. I suppose even the surface mount caps around the opamp could be upgraded to some audio grade polypropolene film and foil capacitors. I might actually give that a try. The blue LEDs on mine are far too bright, so when I get the time to rip open my DAC again I might do all of my mods in one go.
Nope. The Zhalou 2.5C new is $250. The 7510 is currently about $205 unmodded.
I know someone who can buy on my behalf
1 Zhaolu 2.5C from hongkong
2. DAC-AH from hongkong
hence free postage
3. Beresford 7510, free postage
I have soldering and modifications experience, what can you recommend I start with first. DAC-AH is the cheapest followed by 7510 and then Zhaolu.
Can anyone one of these be modified to become an excellent DAC or all these DACs are just value for money items and with further modifications would just be enhancements not sufficient to become an excellent DAC.
Linear Mode
