The Zero MOD Thread - 24/192 DAC/H/Amp - Page 6

Hey, PP, welcome to the Dyslexic Nutbars Club! (DNC). If I left my musings and writings as they come from my hands to the kepboard, you would need a Cyrillic specialist to interpret the mess!!

That audio-gd power supply is not only a mil-spec work of art, but the effect it has on the sound is to take, say, a good 100W amp in a system and replace it with a you-beaut 500W amp. Effortless power!
NB Yes, that means I've uprated the power wattage effect from my previous post as it's run in some more!
I have never heard the great chorus from Carmina Burana, off The Doors soundtrack, without compression and distortion before. Now it's like a completely different recording, open, effortless, clean and undistorted, and as for that tympani drum, WHOOOOF!
Feel da air, man!
My new stock of Os-Cons will be making a larger purple appearance in my Frankie once KHA II is sorted. Now that she's around the 200 hour mark, I have a much more refined, all-singing, all-dancing Frankie.

S-Man

Oh my. I made a mistake in ordering.

The ultrafast is supposed to be UF 4007 which I order UF 4001 (as copy from the pcb).

Should I switch back to 4007, is it the important factor is the voltage or reverse recovery response time ? which is better ? higher or lower ?

==

I have further listened to the mod as in my picture, wow. I really can feel the fidelity at works. my god.
tht sausage is going to push me a few step to nirvana.

From my initial impression about the cap mod, the noise level is lower. The signal seems to be cleaner, in that the detail is more transparent. I can hear timbre such as Jazz at the pawnshop more accurate. The bell is less bright, non fatiguing. The acoustics, and its reveberations seems to last longer.

However on the bass department, it seems to be lower but less authoritative. The punch is not delivered real deep and solid, instead of heating [see, I am having the same D factor like PP] the drum with vivacity, the sound seems to appear from a bigger drum, and thus lacks punch.

Seems the capacitor need really filling up the empty spaces.

With regards to mod, I wonder what is the best way to remove a cap.

My problem is I cant seem to get the pcb hole clear up for the new cap insert.

This is what I did. First I use solder wick to remove the bottom solder. Then, I started heating up 1 leg and then the other leg. While keeping both leg warm, I started to pull and wiggle out 1 leg, then the other leg, vice versa.

When I want to insert the new cap, since the pcb hole has some solder remaining, I heat up till I cant get the long leg thru, follow by the shorter leg. till both is through. In doing so, If I heat slightly longer, or pushing too hard, the pad just peel off or the track will be out too.

I wonder what would be a good solution. or else I keep using jumpers.

Sometimes only a little solder is left in the hole and it can be a PITA to remove, the best way I found is just to add more solder, and then use a solder sucker, cleans it right up, much easier to remove them you have plenty of solder . Them I use the braid to remove the remaining solder around the hole.

------------
Anyway, yesterday I did some RMAA testing on the ZERO, pre-OSCON and latter with OSCON, no measurable differences, this is not to say no sound changes occurred, I am still assessing that atm.

What I did found that is that with the OPA-Earth, I get A LOT of stereo crosstalk, ending up with a result of "Poor" (-51dB) on that particular test. Then I tried a opamp I had laying around (LM4562) and the stereo crosstalk was "gone" leaving me with an "Excellent" (-92.8dB) on that test, I am still trying to find why the earth is so weak on that test, I want to try connecting the ground leg and test again to see it it clears up a bit, and them I am going to test the SUN.

I am going to host the RMAA results and post the url's latter so that you guys may compare to your own if you so choose.



ZERO RMAA's

OPA-Earth - 16-bit, 44 kHz
LM4562 - 16-bit, 44 kHz

OPA-Earth - 24-bit, 96 kHz
LM4562 - 24-bit, 96 kHz

Pay no special attention to the htm names and "Testing device" description, I was testing as I was going along paying no special attention to the names I used, just go with the titles used here .


ZERO w/OPA-SUN

OPA-SUN - 16-bit 44 kHz
OPA-SUN - 24-bit 96 kHz

Similar results for both the Earth and Sun, next step: connecting the ground legs of the Audio-GD OPAs to the RCA ground and redoing the RMAAs for both.

RMAA's for the Zero DAC - OPA-SUN w/Ground leg connected:

OPA-SUN - 16-bit 44 kHz w/Ground
OPA-SUN - 24-bit 96 kHz w/Ground

So, there you have it, with the ground leg connected the Stereo crosstalk clears up! From Poor/Average to Excellent!

I expect the same with the OPA-Earth module, I will test it later to confirm. The modules where connected to one chassis bolt with ground, not to the RCA ground (didn't find the time to do it yet).

I'll have to have another listen to all three HDAMs then while grounded. Ungrounded, they have different degrees of soundstage, the Moon having the most. I wonder if grounding them will change that now.

Thanks Peete!

RMAA's for the Earth module w/Ground:
OPA-EARTH - 16-bit 44 kHz w/Ground
OPA-EARTH - 24-bit 96 kHz w/Ground

So, as expected, connecting the ground also clears the Crosstalk on the Earth module, Excellent results!

The ZERO with the OPA-Earth w/ground pretty much give the best RMAA's of all tested combos! So the tests pretty much matches the opinion most of us had, the Earth is the best sounding option for the ZERO DAC! (I dot not have the Moon, so.. can't speak to that option)

And speaking about bypass, I've found some K42Y-2 PIO 0,33uf 160v, they have a diameter of 9mm, and 36 of lenght , could they fit under the zero pcb?
Thanks!

Can you guys recommend what kind of wire to use to do the RCA mod?

Will this do?

Search Results Page

Where can I buy better wire for a decent price? If I get my Frankenzero kit Ill be spending the weekend sucking solder fumes and I want to get it done all in one shot.

I want to order the wire ASAP so I can have it by Friday.

Homegrown Audio Co. | pure silver audio cables - Products - Bulk Wire

This is more like it

What gauge will be sufficient? Will this change the sound signature? Will the copper do?

What is everyone else using?

Copper will do. 22/24AWG will do just fine.

Copper vs Silver for signal wiring is something that has been extensively discussed in this forum, do a quick search. But yes, it can make a difference.

I dislike brightness but like detail. Anyone using this stuff in their zero now?

Damned thanks for the help.