The Apple diyMod: My Take on the Famous iMod [56k killer] Featuring 3G, 4G, 5G and nano 1G! - Page 116

Ok, I removed the caps from my mini, and to be on the safe side I removed all four. I also got a cheap USB iphone cable in Chinatown and cannibalized it to build a ghetto LOD while I wait for my Qables order to get here.

I used the same caps which are the default in the BantamDAC, a pair of Vishay Roederstein MKT 1.0uF, as I have a few and I did not have the time to rescue the Blackgates NX from my broken Alien. Sound is very detailed and treble oriented, and with less soundstage than my other Alien, but I suspect the caps need a few hours of burning in. I will probably get some Sonicaps or Obbligato (which I have in my Starving Students and like a lot).

So far so good, thanks a lot for the help.

the sound is treble oriented because 1uf is nowhere near enough. even with an amp with a 50k pot 1uf will result in bass rolloff. I use at least 3.3muf but to be safe usually 4.7uf burn-in WILL NOT fix your problem

The amp I'm using has a 100k pot.

I have to say I'm a bit underwhelmed by the diymod sound: tonight I made a LOD with the Blackgates NX I had in my broken Alien, so as to compare the diymod sound to the Alien (I have 2, one still working) with the same caps. The sound is detailed, but more congested and much less smooth than the Alien, with slightly grating or harsh treble. I'm not saying it sounds bad, just less refined and pleasant, but it certainly sounds better than any DAPs I tried.

I will probably keep it as my office is full of RF interferences and USB DACs sound pretty bad, and get some 4.7uF Obbligato caps which should improve the sound. But I have to say I expected a bit more after all I read.

Edit: keep in mind I'm using it with planar (ortho) headphones, which are very revealing and hyperfast

So I am doing a bit of studying and trying to learn. I am trying to decide which caps to use in my LOD that would be suited best for my 41hz tripath amplifier not a headphone amp like most in this thread are using. I have a 50k pot in my amp. So I was doing some math using the corner frequency formula and for a 10uf cap I got the value of .3183hz which is well below audible levels. No I was wondering will that cap suffice. Should I go with a lower value and not have much bass roll off? Sorry for all the newb questions but that is exactly what I am. I am good with a soldering iron, just not to knowledgeable about hifi audio. My engineering buddy usually does all my audio calculations I just build everything. Hes the brains lol. But haven't seen him since he got married

hehe yet another victim of hype. the diymod sounds great....for a dap. comparing it to dedicated dacs with room for larger parts and a better PSU is really not a fair comparison. with great caps; which to be honest BG ARE NOT, it is possible to end up with a really nice sounding rig. but a portable rig nonetheless; and therefor bound by the size and power constraints that are placed on a portable rig. the ipod was never designed to be a hifi device; all we can do is squeeze the most we can out of the parts that are installed. Dont get me wrong; I love my DIYMOD and VCAP rig with my lisa III, but its simply does not compare to my RME and niether should it be expected to. but using better caps should increase the performance in the highs. BG are not known for their sparkling highs; more their bass.

10uf will be fine. in fact I would get something smaller if I were you. that way you may get a faster sound. with your 10uf bass roll-off wont start until 3hz; MP3 only goes down to 20hz in a stereo signal, so that means 10hz per channel, so you could safely use as small as 1.6uf with an amp with 50k impedance.

Thanks for the very honest and sensible reply, I totally agree with what you wrote and I'd love to see more like this on HF.

Well to be fair the diymod has a couple of pros that make a lot of sense for the use I'll put it to: it costs about the same as an Alien (paid little more than 20 euros for the iPod, another 20-30 for new caps and connectors); it's battery powered, so it won't suffer from the hellish line noises I have at my office like USB DACs; it doubles as a DAP. So I have to say that overall I'm pretty satisfied with its performance, and it will tide me over until I get a better DAC which, given the state of my wallet, will take some time.

As for caps, yes I know BGs are not the best choice. I just had them around and wanted to compare the diymod with the Alien using the same caps. Now that I have listened to it for a few hours last night, I have a better idea on how I'd like to tune its sound: I'd like more warmth, a more analog sound, a bit more presence in the low end and less in the treble. All for as little money as possible. I initially planned on getting some Obbligato caps, which I have in my SS and love, but I had a quick look at the cap comparison on Humble Homemade Hifi, and the Amp Ohm FP-CA-AU looks like a good choice on paper: cheap (5£ for the 6.8uF), smooth and with a warm midrange. If they manage to tame the treble harshness a bit and smooth the sound, I'll be a very happy diymodder indeed.

Thanks again for your really nice reply, it should be mandatory reading for all prospective diymod and imod users.

yeah again; I love my rig and until I finish my iriver plus gamma1 project IMO there is no other DAP I have heard that comes close. but I see people on here all the time that are disappointed when their ipod rig doesnt sound as good as their home rig. there is a price point where portable rigs stop being better value than home rigs if you are not using them portable. people seem to come into this porta-fi with unreasonable expectations and are therefor disappointed when they find that it doesnt have quite the performance of a home rig costing $1000+; at $500 I think you would be hard pressed to beat a DIYMOD plus decent amp still and the fact that you can carry it with you is the clincher for me (although the price of my rig has another digit). I dont think its wise to buy a portable rig primarily for home use, unless you are short on cash and cant afford 2 rigs. but also below a certain price-point I think you would find it difficult to compete with a DIYMOD rig on a price/performance ratio.

I still think that my diymod->TEFLON VCAP->lisa III rig competes well with some home rigs costing about the same (about $1500 in parts); but a well chosen Dac plus amp for the same money would outperform it. Not all rigs for that money would (simply because the lisa III is so stellar); and keep in mind that I would be using an already existing transport (my Mac) and I would have to make some nice cables too; so it would probably sound better well definitely, but it would probably also cost more and the price would not include the transport. so all things being equal it may be a close call still; with the edge still going to the home rig.

Well, my home setup is a boutique Starving Student which cost about 100-120 euro in parts, and an Alien DAC. I don't think there's many portable amps sounding better than the SS, at least for the sound I like (deep bass, warm mids, great soundstage). And tubes+mosfets pair exceptionally well with ortho phones. Of course, if I fit better caps on the diymod (I will) it will get better, but so will the Alien. I don't think it makes a lot of sense to spend more than 200-250 on a portable rig, unless you spend most of your time outside or travelling. But then, to each his own and (repeating myself) I'm pretty happy with my diymod. Ok, end of OT digression.

totally!! which I do; or if you already have a great home rig and want something decent to bring with you. $250 is a bit harsh though

anyway back on topic has anyone ordered the new 240gb drive yet??

A quick update on my diymod: I brought it at the office, connected it to my office SS, and.... finally I'm able to listen to music without getting lots of RF interference and noise from the laptop USB supply and surrounding electronic equipment. It's exactly what I hoped, now I can't wait for the better caps to get here.

Thanks again to all of you for this great thread.

Just got my reasonably cheap caps from the UK, and they are HUGE



Will have to get a box for them, in the meantime I'll do another ghetto LOD.

Edit: been listening to them for the past half hour, and the diymod sounds like a different source with them: much much better and smoother sound, more "analog", and the treble harshness has disappeared. And they should get better after about a hundred hours. Again, thanks for this great thread.

What 240gb drive?

Where did you get those? lol

I got them from Audiocap in UK. They are the first caps described in the Humble Homemade review, and since they cost less than half the Obbligatos (which I have in my Starving Student and love) and about 1/20 what the top Mundorf cost, they have an excellent cost/quality ratio.