Valab NOS DAC - subjective listening and modifications - Page 133

Any one can direct me to buy the 47uf Blackgate FK? been searching all over Ebay but no luck

tks

 

 

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/232226/blackgates-have-been-discontinued/15

Hi Marcelnl,

 

Yeah I knew that it was discountinue, but I got some one from thlaudio mentioned that they still have

the problems is the price is way to expensive.

What do you think about other substitute?

for example like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/12PCS-47uF-16V-nichicon-FG-Fine-Gold-AUDIO-CAPACITORS-/260812652099?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb9a53e43

tks

http://tech.juaneda.com/en/articles/electrolyticcapacitors.html

 

I'd favor the Elna Silmic2, but I must confess I'm not up to speed on the current caps of choice

Finally, I started my mods

Took off the IC firs for precaution

then remove all the tantalum capacitor and Coupling capacitor

Already install replacement for tantalum capacitor

But still trying figure out the coupling capacitor

hey amigos, I think I could use some help again
in my effort to get rid of static, I managed to break something yet again! A bit too early to tell, but the good news is I don't seem to hear as much static / hum now. The flip side of the coin is now my right channel is about one third as loud as the left one. I am getting something close to 3v drop between the Lout pin and the left RCA out (as I would have expected), whereas a whopping 12v between the right pair. Also, I get about 6v drop across the resistor labeled 340R on the PCB (which I had replaced by texas component ones) on the left side, 0v on the right side. something doesn't seem quite right huh?

Edited by MikoLayer - 11/11/11 at 8:41pm

Just wanted to let you know (marcelnl) that I successfully did the DIR9001 mod! I took the damaged IC out, cleaned the pads and then used a heat-gun to reflow the new IC. Luckily only pads 14, 13, 9, 8 & 7 were damaged, and because 9,8,7 are not in use, and pads 13,14 are now useless because of the mod, I didn't even have to "green-wire" anything, just one wire from 13,14 to 3.3V :-)

Your schematics were very useful.

I have been offered a DAC V3.1D (WM8805, one-box) or a DAC V4.0 (DIR9001, external PSU) at approximately the same price. Which would you recommend on SQ grounds? I will be using an iPod Classic via Onkyo ND-S1 as a source (SPDIF).

I've never seen a Valab with WM8805. Do you have a link?
A separate power supply is always better, buy that's something you can do yourself with the right skill. Going from DIR9001 -> WM8805 is harder or nearly impossible.

The Wolfson and the TI has different sound characteristic, do a search on Google.

It's sold as the Teradak DAC V3.1D, and you can find it on Teradak's website. AFAIK, the 3.0 was the last one to be branded a "Valab".

Basically, it seems to be a Valab with the input chipset of the Chameleon (to allow Hi-Res via USB). I believe it is fairly new on the market (replaces the 3.0). The 4.0 seems to be a 2.5 with an offboard PSU. The 4.5 is the Chameleon. The 2.6 is a 3.1 with a simpler PSU (no R-core transformer) and replaces the 2.5.

Does anyone have a (sensibly-priced) recommendation for output caps which will fit in the enclosure? Has anyone tried Wimas?

The original Sonicaps (5ufd) should be much better than Wimas and are smaller than most films. If you have a receiver/pre with caps on the input you should be able to just remove the output caps and bypass with a wire. I've done this and been very pleased with the results.

Do you know if the Little Dot Mk. III has caps on the input? If so, I might try this first.