Chameleon DAC listening and modifications - Page 31

The transformer gets to hot to touch with the yellow wire mod...no really, the regs are not the problem. Other then that I got a lot of rf noise. But I'm happy with it with the normal setup (blue wire) with the v at 7v.

Should give Bg's min of 600 hrs, before that its hell, they swing between dry and thin to bloated, and everything inbetween. After 600 hours, then they beat any Wima hands down, you have to go up to copper foil to surpass them, impossible at these higher uf values, these Bgs' are not exactly electrolytic caps, more like electrostatic speakers the way they behave. Having said that, Wimas are great bypass caps at lower values.

supposedly someone around here got a new revision of the psu that came stock with the yellow wire mod and different resisters. I'd like to know the exact changes that where made. What value the resisters and location etc.

I hooked the ground wire from the spdif input back to the pulse tranformer again today, leaving the primary stock. This surprisingly makes a difference for the better. It's not nite and day, but noticeable.

Edit: I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there's a brand new Chameleon in the FS forum for 275$ + shipping. Pretty crazy deal.

I think we should recognize a couple of things here;
-the stock transformer should be able to cope with 12V vs 7V as it comes with both windings and was most likely designed that way. (BTW a friend of me commented that they seems to coming from the factory that produces transformers for ao Tamura)
-we are listening to the sum of all mods combined with whatever is left from the stock device, so any further mod may potentially influence previous hard labour.

RF noise ?? my hearing is probably not what it used to be but pls elaborate how you determined that RF noise, high freq noise could be due to a dying/bad voltage reg or diode, loose solder joint or indeed a stressed transformer or even a noisy resistor. A transformer problem is easily detected by using 12V from a bigger&better transformer.
RF imho can only be detected on a scope, and you should be able to track it to its source with it too.

The noise, what ever it is, is intermitent, and only occurs with the yellow wire connected. its like a warbling sound. The reason I thought it might be rf is because when I move the PSU around the sound changes pitch and intensity. Does not happen at all with the blue wire.

sounds like an overloaded component, about to rip.....but it could also be the cabling, have you tried wiggling the umbilical without moving the PSU or DAC?

I'm pretty sure your first guess is the right one, because the noise only starts when the psu is hot, and of course I have no problems with the cable as it would still cause probs with the normal blue wire setup (and I did wiggle it). So prob lucky I backed down from the yellow wire mod before crunch time.

Like Mike I will see whats up with the newer version of this board before upping the power again. But in the long run a cleaner supply is my goal of course. Just waiting now for the 40-50 components (lost count) I've changed, in this dac, to settle. Crazy fun stuff!

My dac came with the yellow wire attached. It is not the latest version (Black Chameleon). The PSU gets warm but not hot. I can maintain a firm grip with my fingers. No noise in my set up, that is, after I lifted the ground.

Hmm I thought that was the latest one, Black, yellow wire. Seems they have solved the heat problem then. Any chance of a pic chris?

I got a new digital input and reclock board in today. This new input board has a small blue film cap in place of the old ceramic cap on the pulse transformer. I think im just going to leave it alone this time. The reclock board is still noisy and I think it's just the way it is. Don't think there's anything wrong with it.

I think im pretty much done with mine. I may mess with the power supply, and dac voltage a bit. Im still not 100% on output coupling caps, I may play with them a bit more as well, i've thought about bypassing these Dynamicaps with something like a Sonicap platinum, or v-cap. Space constraint is a real issue.

I'll see if I can get a pic tomorrow. My dac was shipped just after all the yellow wire blue wire talk and mine may have been an interim unit.

Breath

Just bypassed my Jupiter with .01uf russian teflon, give more air/breath/definition. A delicate touch not over the top, as the Jupiter are very nice anyway.

exactly which russian teflon (FT-1, FT-3? etc) and where did you get it from? I'd like to try these out as i've heard great things about them. It's hard to imagine you where able to fit yet more things in that chasis wood.

those are a bit to low value though right? Need at least .1 uf?