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Chameleon DAC listening and modifications - Page 5

post #61 of 1127
1/16/10 at 10:06pm

Chamaleon DAC Capable of playing 192 Mhz music files.

Humm, I couldn't get the bypass to work, tried soldering direct to pin 4 with no green lock. Perhaps you have to jump pin 2 to 4 leaving the 75 ohm resistor in play. I'm done playing with Spdif.

Wood - Steve Nugent prefers surface mount caps when loading a digital circuit. What works and what is optimum is probably best left for the experts when is comes to digital transmission. I would continue to use the stock 75 ohm surface mount resistor unless proven otherwise. Myself I am not further pursuing Spdif input as I will have Steve properly terminate an I2S input from the Pace Car to the Chameleon when he adds an OEM I2S version of the M2 Tech Hi-Face interface to my Pace Car. This will allow me to jitter correct every file from 44.1 Mhz to 192 Mhz via my SSD Mac Mini USB source.

Right now the Pace Car is limited to 96 Mhz just like the Chameleon is via the USB input. However according to Michael the Chameleon is limited to 96 Mhz via Spdif input only because of the of the pulse transformer. Add one of those Scientific Conversion 192 Mhz transformers and theoretically the Chameleon could play 192 files as the Phillips TDA 1543 & Wolfson WM8804 Spdif receiver chip are both capable of this frequency... At least in theory.
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post #62 of 1127
1/16/10 at 10:09pm
Thread Starter 

power

I did the Billmod for swapping the power wires. Thanks Norm for the suggestion on cutting the Blue and swapping the Yellow instead of lifting from PCB. It was a quick job.


I thought drums would be a good test for dynamics so I was playing track 3 disk 2 from Dave Matthews band's "Best Of What's Around. A live run of Stay. Without the mod it was good but in comparison there was smear. With the mod the resonance of the drums is way more presence and you can hear it in the air so nice. then the bass comes on like real bass does when live. Just there whooming forward. Very nice.

these few more mods, the RCA-Transformer via silver and the power mod makes for a nice increase in the display of micro detail and soft trailing transients.

So for feet I used Vibrpaods with the ball on the case and rubber down thinking that the rubber would hold the heat to the case. More than enough airspace.

Time for some more run in after it has been sitting for a bit but a transformer swap and output resistor[PRP] change is next up. Maybe change those RCAs altogether.




ps. If i was going to rely on experts then where would I be?
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post #63 of 1127
1/16/10 at 10:30pm
I wonder if these spdif mods are signifigant given there is an upsampling board in play. You noted before, that the USB and SPDIF sounded identical with the upsampling board. Seems like it would make most of these mods null. That is, if you choose to use the board. which I likely will, as I don't have a particularly high end transport. These mods make more sense when your using somthing like a pace car.

I got kinda depressed reading Dan Lavry recently tear this dac down in the thread "nos dac marking bs"
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post #64 of 1127
1/16/10 at 10:38pm
Thread Starter 

maybe

I do think going straight from RCA to transformer makes for a much better connection. More stable for the bits coming in preventing jitter pre trans. And there is a difference.

All of these differences are nudges in the right direction. they are not colossal in themselves one for one. Accumulated they make a difference that you won't want to give up.



Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeW View Post
I wonder if these spdif mods are signifigant given there is an upsampling board in play. You noted before, that the USB and SPDIF sounded identical with the upsampling board. Seems like it would make most of these mods null. That is, if you choose to use the board. which I likely will, as I don't have a particularly high end transport. These mods make more sense when your using somthing like a pace car.
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post #65 of 1127
1/16/10 at 10:38pm
OK one last thought on Spdif simplicity.

How about you completely remove the RCA jack from the back of the Chameleon, cut the end off your digital cable, feed it though the hole and solder directly to pin 2 of the pulse transformer, shield/ground wires to pin 1.

Yes, you now have a "dangler" digital cable but I bet you it would sound even better.
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post #66 of 1127
1/16/10 at 10:55pm
Thread Starter 

i would but ...

too dangerous in that you could yank that cable right off the transformer with one wrong move. So why not just move all of it into one enclosure with the transport? That is the evolution, right?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Allen View Post
OK one last thought on Spdif simplicity.

How about you completely remove the RCA jack from the back of the Chameleon, cut the end off your digital cable, feed it though the hole and solder directly to pin 2 of the pulse transformer, shield/ground wires to pin 1.

Yes, you now have a "dangler" digital cable but I bet you it would sound even better.
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post #67 of 1127
1/16/10 at 11:25pm
Thread Starter 

here is the nature of the thing

I went for the NOS thing for the midrange and LP like gestalt that people were saying it gave up. At this point there needs no apologies for this new Chameleon.

Bob Dylan's ~ Desire record; I always thought I wish'd I could here more of Emylou Harris' voice. It's delicate the voice she has and in that record on CD it is always in the back too much, a little too low and obscured. With these mods ther voice is far more presence and with dome force and depth. Not over the top but this is what I am looking for via detail. Not some kind of new pebbly sound from the bass but the real stuff.

I may now start looking for a better transport. ... because this DAC is hitting it so far out that upping the source has got to be the next best step.

I know, Bill, I know ...
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post #68 of 1127
1/17/10 at 12:49am

Ignorance is Bliss

Well after 48 hours of operation I thought it was time to compare the Chameleon with Bam Mod to my over the top analog rig. The cartridge alone cost $4K for god sakes.

Well ... we're waiting....

Sorry, not as close as I remember with the Valab. What's all this talk about more resolution and detail you ask.

Then the light bulb went on when I read the comment from Mike W about the Dan Lavry NOS thread. (My favorite engineer who lives in in a box). Damn, I forgot to unleash all that high frequency energy above 20Khz that is sure to wreak havoc on all my electronics upstream, roll off my highs, and destroy any chance of musical accuracy within the human hearing range. So I lifted a leg from both .01 brown chiclet caps on the DAC board to remove the post DAC filter.

Voila!

Beautiful natural sounding music erupted from every pore of my open baffle Bastanis Apollo speakers, driven by 211 SET amps. I just love the sound of my system and NOS Chameleon DAC.

Ignorance is Bliss!
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post #69 of 1127
1/17/10 at 1:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Allen View Post
... So I lifted a leg from both .01 brown chiclet caps on the DAC board to remove the post DAC filter.

Voila!
Those gotta go. The old VALAB, my version, had the same kind of post DAC filter. When I removed that it opened up too.

Bill, in this picture which resistors are the IV resistors?

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post #70 of 1127
1/17/10 at 1:16am

Affirmations of a Kitty Cat

Well my 6 year old persian cat Silver the absolute best piece of test gear i own, some of you may have met him at RMAF, has decided to grace my listening room for the first time in 3 weeks. He hasn't set foot in there since the Chameleon showed up.

Well I remove one solder leg from a pair of post NOS DAC filter caps and he rolling on floor with approval. (And you know how bad there hearing is above 20Khz)

I rest my case on NOS DAC's.

Pat- yes I see your brown chiclet caps are completely missing, good move! The stock I/V resistors are the little blue ones just left of the little green ones - technical enough for you?
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post #71 of 1127
1/17/10 at 1:19am
Thread Starter 

that's what I'm talkin about

some kind of realness is getting thru.
detail, imaging, dynamics, whatever. This realness things happens and you get it.
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post #72 of 1127
1/17/10 at 1:34am
Amen,Brother!
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post #73 of 1127
1/17/10 at 1:36am
pat, the resistors to ground after your caps are the I/V resistors
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post #74 of 1127
1/17/10 at 1:44am
Thread Starter 

180

Quote:
Originally Posted by qusp View Post
pat, the resistors to ground after your caps are the I/V resistors
Those are 47k. And the 180R before that ... I was assuming those were the I/V resistors and the 47K are the ones that set output impedance.

At any rate the blue 180R resistors on the DAC board and the 47kR are targets.
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post #75 of 1127
1/17/10 at 2:07am
Hey, maybe Dan could help you out this matter.
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