Hotrodding the X-Fi: A Layman's Guide (No 56k) - Page 7

i think someone has said that the pin outs on the 2 dacs are not identical, so you cant replace the one on the xtreme music with the one on the elite pro.

And i guess i better risk the cap shorting/ removal. I get the popping problem on the breakout box

what caps to short on the XFi Elite?

From what I gather I have labeled this pic
The OpAmp to replaced, and the three surrounds below it. The Power Filter Cap, and the CS4398s have been labeled. But what capacitors to short?

i have another question!

i've been reading around, and i saw that for the x-fi xtrememusic, while cmss3d is enabled, the SQ takes a noticeable hit. does this mod fix that, or does SQ still suffer while it's on?

never got a reply from jude about the possibility of a group buy. If anyone is interested in splitting some ERS paper, let me know. I'm ordering a sheet from parts connection on monday. I'll post pics of my elite pro breakout very soon.

cotdt can you post a pic of the completed card with all opamps changed and the recap.

X-Fi Output Diagram

Attached in the pdf is the output circuit that I have traced on an X-Fi Platinum. I cannot see any of the 22uF electrolytic caps in the ouput at all but have traced some connected to +5v and -5v rails. Replacing the op amps are a great idea but could more be done replacing the transistors Q2,Q3,Q4,Q5 that are all marked J1X on the front outputs and on the other outputs a different set of transistors are used marked O2NR. Anyone know what who makes the J1X and O2NR transistors?

Those capacitors dont block DC ! They are connected to the +5 and -5V lines and are meant as current reservoirs. The reason there are 4 for each opamp is to keep the capacitors impedance low . I would add a higher valued cap in parallel to the existing caps,not short them.

And,instead of doing such a hokey mod,i would look up the datasheets of the dac and add the capacitors Creative has left out.

hmmm interesting, the from what you guys are saying, is it better not the short them out, since they might cause damage to the chips?

No damage will be caused to any chips;we aren't sure what is the exact use of those 22uF caps . If they are reservoir/decoupling caps for the V+ and V- of the opamps and shorting them seems to improve the sound(according to the OP),then perhaps the Jamicons should be replaced with lower ESR caps.