FrankenZERO - A bang for buck exploration with a DIY Heart ! - Page 7

Audio-GD made a promo that included the CMC jacks if you purchased a set number of HDAMs.

Other sources would be:
RCA, phono socket homepage
Audio Catalog

I purchased a pair on hificollective but the solid copper versions to use in my MiniMax build.

Ah ok, I think I'll probably go with the Cardas, since I can get them cheaper.

Hi,

I have not swapped out the UF4007 as I want to know the sound of the green sausage. total bypass cap is 11. I notice the 2 x 1200uF cap is parallel. SO i use 1 cap first. Space constraint cause me to install the bypass cap for the silmic 2 outside.

the transport is a shigaraki clone.
diyAudio Forums - Finally, an affordable CD Transport: the Shigaclone story - Page 1

My initial impression about the green sausage is the accuracy and resolution of music instrument. very happy to have this dac upgraded 1 step further. I wonder if anyone can share what would be the sound character of the ultra fast diodes.

Very difficult and time consuming to isolate something like that on it's own, cc,
burn in times are different for different components. The diodes are a part of a bigger picture and I chose to go the whole 'hog' STS, and the end result, after a 500+ hour joyride so far, is absolutely astonishing!
Add a Frankied and Black Gate bypass capped KHA IIA and the number of times I have laughed out loud, been left bereft of adequate language skills, utterly astonished, delighted, awed, and just plain sang at the top of my voice is uncountable!
S-Man

Does anyone have any spare hardware for this mod they want to sell? I would like to pay by PayPal!

Check with PP. pm him for the components. He is very helpful.

I have done so, but I want to see if anyone would accept PayPal

I was enjoying my FrankenZero as usual with my new HA-RX900 cans until suddenly it just sort of, died. There were no snap crackle pops in the case or the cans. Just suddenly went silent. The lights inside the case and the front (with buttons and all) still works but no sound comes out. Definitely not my headphones; there's several other sources such as my soundcard for that.

This happened during when I was listening. The first thing I did was just give it some small whacks and apparently when that didn't fix it, I went on to do some surgery on my Zero for any bad joints (I'll admit I used a terrible 25W soldering iron. It literally had no tip, just a 1cm diameter cylinder thing.). I've also checked to see if any there were any possible wirings that could touch other wires. Finding none, I just closed it up and ran Zero.

I still got the same outcome, no sound. At this stage, I have no idea what can be wrong with my Zero. I'll be posting pics later when I can find the time. My guess right now is that the Zero's optical port (not the cable) is broken.

Edit: Is it normal if the power supply (huge circle thing I believe) feels about the same as room temperature? All my other components seems to run hotter then the power supply. Also, I can hear some hum coming from the FrankenZero when volume is way up with headphones but when music is played, no sound comes out.

Edit: Eh, I think this post would fit better in the huge Zero thread. Too late now. I'll just copy what I have here to there. In the meantime, feel free to delete this mods.

something wrong with your power supply, perhaps some lose solder joint, or some jumper drop off. check how many led light is on at the pcb. there must be 2 red led light on.

There's two light on the PCB and the headphone amp with the amp having much brighter lights. Also tried pressing those two things called mute and reset. Nothing.

Here's the pics of my finished FrankenZero.
Pictures.rar

At Zero's full volume, without the phone amp turned on, there's little to no hiss. With the phone amp turned on there's a moderate amount of hiss. Not much but just felt worth noting.

And for the power supply, I can't even get that off. The nut just keeps on circling around. I might as well as be talking about the wrong PS though.

Look at the underside of your Zero. You'll see the bolt "head" there. Hold it still with a pair of pliers (or whatever you have) and try turning the nut again.

Also, have you turned off the Zero, unplugged it, and let it sit for a while, to drain the caps, then plug her back in and then power her back on? The reason I mention this is because I have made my Zero go into "protected" mode (on but no sound) by accidentally inducing static from my hands into my headphone cable. Once I cycled the Zero, everything was back to normal again.

Yes I did let it sit there for a while but either 8 hours of not plugging in is not enough or something else is wrong.

Just figured out the huge 4700 uf caps touches the top of my case if I cover it. Didn't notice this until now and I've always left the top case on. Might as well as try replacing the huge caps with the normal stock ones for now.

Edit: Tried it, didn't work at all. I'm starting to think that now I'm operating on a dead unit. What could possibly just suddenly stop the music as I was enjoying them?

Might as well as considering selling my A900 for another Zero. Such a shame that a great unit just died without even living 4 months.

Oh well. I have finished the works for Franken ZERO. The green sausages then follow by the UF4007.

No wonder Penchuum go gaga over it. Now I get weak over it. Oh gosh, I guess this is the Third Jesus coming.