Finally got round to fitting something a little more exotic than the"Jamicon SK General purpose caps" into the X-Can V2.

The change of Valve to the Mullard E88CC made an improvement to the sound but the capacitor upgrade has turned this amplifier into an absolutely STUNNING sounding piece of equipment.

All I can say is "oh my God, yes yes yeeeees yeeeeeeees!" This is as close to an aural orgasm I've ever been! The caps have only been in for about 5 hours and they are getting better and better and better and better and better!!!!!

Don't "think" about performing this upgrade... get your soldering iron out and "do" it NOW! The sound is incredible! "never heard those violins before" "my God there's a french horn!" "That guitarist just farted!" The detail and insight is unbelievable!!!!

At Last......... the X-Can V2 sounds like a Sennheiser Orpheus!!!

http://freespace.virgin.net/rock.grotto/index2.htm the Capacitor Upgrade can be viewed in the new "Musical Fidelity X-Can V2 Projects page"

This is no "subtle" improvement this is a full out sonic attack on your eardrums......... Best ever upgrade for sure.

Pinkie

7 hours in and sound is improving hour after hour!!!

I can't wait for the amperex bugle boys to arrive. If they sound as good as the reviews then the X-can V2 will take, yet another, leap forward!!

Now... just gotta get to work on that horrible little potentiometer.

At this rate I'm going to rename to X-Can V3 Turbo!!

(Cracks bottle of champagne on amp) "I name this tube amp X-Can V3 Turbo" God bless all who listen to her!

Pinkie

Good job ! Now you have me hook on doing a similar capacitor upgrade. Need to first find those Caps here in Hong Kong and get myself a soldering iron. By the way, ehat type of solder did you use ?

Pinkie,

Well, you final;ly arrived with the MF tweaking. Aren't you glad you got rid of the Creek?? Probably the second best desicion. The first being the upgrading on those caps.

Maybe you should rename the unit Ex-Can V2. This would commemorate its departure from the norm.

Pinkie,

Are you also going to look at replacing the resistors and diodes on the X-Cans V2. There are several interesting posts on the HeadWize DIY forums that dwell on such upgrades. Check this one out :

http://headwize2.powerpill.org/ubb/s...20&srch=x-can;

I have hesitated (other than tube rolling) so far because most of nthe upgardes hav ben on X-Cans V1 and older versions of the V2 which are based on opamps. Yours is the first that I have seen with dual transistors in lieu of the opamps (like mine !) that have had capacitors upgraded and sounding better.

Onward and upward.

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Pinkie:

I've visited your web page, and want to thank you personally. What a wealth of knowledge for us X-Can V2 users. I'm going to (one of these days...very soon) have to do this cap replacement myself.

However, X-Can w/ new caps = Sennheiser Orpheus? In the words of Vincent Vega, "That's a bold statement!"

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It May be a bold statement yes......... truth is........ X - Can sounds a million dollars......... the difference is phenomenal!!

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Well, if that's the case, I'll have to get started right away!!

That's about 3 days the caps have been in now and the sound is getting better and better all the time.

I am really "not" exaggerating here.... the difference to the sound is absolutely incredible. The sound is not only "out of the head" but "over your head" and "behind your head". The space between performers is so real you could walk around the soundstage.

There is detail I have never before heard. This is a must for any x-can v2 owners. It may take you months to obtain the capacitors but man... it's worth the wait.

You should hear the difference with Black Gates!















(My evil side just want'ed to mess with ya. Sorry!)

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Just popped in to say...... the capacitors are "even" better today! I reckon they will take a good 2 weeks to fully form and will report back then.

All the best

Pinkie

Since I have a heavily upgraded Marantz cd-player, newest version of X-can V2 with external power supply and Sennheiser HD600 just like your rig this capacitor upgrade seems tempting to say the least..

I have looked everywhere on Internet and ELNA Cerafine seems almost impossible to get at least here in Sweden. My CD player uses ELNA Silmic capacitors for the vital signal filtering, so perhaps upgrading X-can V2 with ELNA Silmic would be wise.

The question is why Musical Fidelity used cheap Jamicon SK general purpose caps all over. I guess it's because the caps aren't processing or filtering the signal at all. Probably noise rejection is used as well on the main board and eventual noise or hum from the PSU board shouldn't be a problem. Therefore it seems a bit odd that your capacitor upgrade was so substantial.

Will receive a HD 600 equinox replacement cable soon.. can't wait!

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I can answer your question with a quote from an e-mail I received today from Sean Redshaw (designer of the highly acclaimed rennaissance series of Valve amps here in the UK) http://www.highendaudio.co.uk

I quote Seans e-mail: "Dear Mike,
It sounds like we have helped to spur you on to great things. Your
discovery that audio-grade capacitors make such a difference reveals quite a
lot about the X-Can design. We went through a similar exercise in the
development of our power amps. That's how we arrived at our choice of
Danish paper in oil copper foil capacitors costing an arm and a leg instead
of the usual "cooking" capacitors from the corner shop.

This is the kind thing which a lot of people find extremely hard to believe.
It is not until you hear it with your own ears that you realise just how
important it is to select the correct component parts. Of course, in the
world of mass production and commercial imperatives, it can be very
difficult to justify the use of 60p capacitors instead of 8p capacitors.
It's even more difficult to justify the use of £17 capacitors! The way
things are done in industry is to verify that the prototype meets the
specification and then churn them out. Putting in better components will
(typically) make no difference whatsoever to the measured performance. Few
engineers are brave enough to include the level of musical enjoyment in
product specifications. The sad fact is that we live in a world of facts
and figures rather than value judgements. Because it is easy to measure
things like frequency response and total harmonic distortion, these have
become the dominant measurements. It is just a shame that we don't have an
electronic instrument which can tell us whether a circuit is going to sound
right. Trusting your ears is not fashionable.

Amperex "Bugle Boy" valves: these are the made-in-Holland types, I believe.
I shall try to establish a sensible source of the things (I see that some
people are charging $45 each for the things). How would you describe the
improvement which the Bugle Boys bring?

Thank you very much indeed for mentioning us in dispatches. So far, as well
as the order from your pal, Neil, we have had an enquiry from Canada.

If things go on like this, I shall definitely need to get hold of some
unwanted X-Cans and go to town on upgrade kits. The interesting thing is
that the biggest improvement probably involves the lowest component cost
i.e. changing some of the power supply capacitors. Of course, the
attraction of swapping valves is that you don't need to get involved with
soldering and desoldering.


I sincerely hope that you now feel free to enjoy listening to some music,
Mike.

Well done!


All the best
Sean"

"P.S. In our original application for the JJ's (the front end of our power
amps), they did not sound bad at all. Remember, we are using them in an all
valve application where circuit conditions are completely different from the
X-Can."

Pinkie,

sounds like you've started a trend with your cap rolling discovery on the X-Cans. You got any plans to try some of those caps your friend recos for 17 pounds each?? HAHA, I doubt it. I hope that many people find out how greatly they can improve their sounds with some easy component swaps. It's been said here time and again that it makes a huge difference, but I hope it catches on more and more in the future.

You've done us all a great service doing all that work and reporting what you found. Thanks.