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Audiotrak Prodigy HD2 Modifications

post #1 of 28
5/2/10 at 8:13pm
Thread Starter 
This PCI card has been the subject of many discussions, mostly op-amp rolling. I believe the card has a significant potential for improvement from an audiophile perspective. Also I believe there are other parts to replace but this will require soldering. If you have experience in this area then by all means please share.
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post #2 of 28
5/2/10 at 8:23pm
Thread Starter 
I recently made some capacitor mods to a "B" version card which has Rubycon caps throughout. I have the idea to improve the sound carefully, by steps, BEFORE changing the op-amps. Many disparage the "lowly" 5532 op-amp but objective measurements indicate it is rather good for audio use.

In the photo note the four caps between the DAC and op-amps have been changed to Elna Silmic II (47uF @ 10VDC). Also the cap on the output of the 5VDC regulator has been changed to Sanyo WG 470uF @ 16VDC. These are the cap positions which are occupied by Sanyo "Oscon" in the DE version of the card.

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post #3 of 28
5/3/10 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by joe_cool View Post
I recently made some capacitor mods to a "B" version card which has Rubycon caps throughout. I have the idea to improve the sound carefully, by steps, BEFORE changing the op-amps. Many disparage the "lowly" 5532 op-amp but objective measurements indicate it is rather good for audio use.

In the photo note the four caps between the DAC and op-amps have been changed to Elna Silmic II (47uF @ 10VDC). Also the cap on the output of the 5VDC regulator has been changed to Sanyo WG 470uF @ 16VDC. These are the cap positions which are occupied by Sanyo "Oscon" in the DE version of the card.
Yes, the NE5532 is a very generic opamps but it has been used in everything form pro mixers to receivers and everything in between. They can produce some excellent measurments provided the circuit is buit properly.
For your caps, many can be replaced with higher quality units, that is a great step. To note, other caps can be removed/bypassed which will also improve the sound. I will let you do the research and figure out which can be removed. Good luck with your mods.
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post #4 of 28
5/3/10 at 5:31pm
BTW, I don't really care what the mfg says, but it doesn't have the same PCB as the HD2 DE.



at the bottom of the left socket, the resistors setup is different, and the cap is not at the same place at all.
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post #5 of 28
5/3/10 at 6:28pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by leeperry View Post
BTW, I don't really care what the mfg says, but it doesn't have the same PCB as the HD2 DE.
Yes, I agree. I noticed the different sizes of some the capacitors, as well as different values for some of the film caps.
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post #6 of 28
5/3/10 at 8:25pm
Thread Starter 
Has anyone taken the time to trace the circuits of the op-amps and compare to figure 17 in the AK4396 datasheet?
LL
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post #7 of 28
5/7/10 at 6:15pm
Thread Starter 

Well I changed most of the caps and installed LME49860NAs. I think it sounds really good now. Need to let it burn in for a day or two.

 

IMG_0307a.jpg

 

IMG_0308a.jpg

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post #8 of 28
5/8/10 at 1:47am

 

Quote:
Has anyone taken the time to trace the circuits of the op-amps and compare to figure 17 in the AK4396 datasheet?

 

 

Yes I did. Not all part though....

 

I traced back the buffer stage setup and recently the headphone amlifier stage, as I want to make the volume change possible.
Originaly You have to pull out the headphone if You dont want to kill them when using higher volumes on RCA outputs.

 

I planned to make a topic like this too, as I made a mod to make possible to use non unity gain opamps on the buffer.

It's working in my setup for months now.

Lately I discovered I can improve that so I will make a second mod.

I will post it as I made it but lately I dont have time at all for this.

 

I can post the theory later.


Edited by earfanatic - 5/8/10 at 6:50am
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post #9 of 28
5/8/10 at 7:45am

btw, earfanatic, you should try 2*LT1363 as buffer for a change...and it's unity gain stable

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post #10 of 28
5/8/10 at 9:07am

Done ... with the stereo version. (LT1364 as i remember)

 

With that the mids were superb but the bass was boomy and smudged for me.

 

I stopped opamp rolling. I found my liking. Have two choices.... buying Bursons, or modifiing the card.
For the finance side... i chose the latter.


Edited by earfanatic - 5/8/10 at 2:10pm
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post #11 of 28
5/8/10 at 9:49am

2*1363 is much better than 1364 IME...but yes the noisy SMPS might not be ideal considering 1363 "only" has a PSRR of 100dB...and also the HD2 feeds ±9V.

 

you guys should mod them to feed ±12V anyway, well worth the effort IMHO! Burson do it on their pimped HD2's...but make sure to use high PSRR opamps then.


Edited by leeperry - 5/8/10 at 2:50pm
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post #12 of 28
5/8/10 at 11:51am

Dont forget what voltage is regulated to 9V! There is maximum 12V in the computer PSU that can be regulated.... so replacing the 9V regulators to 12V You don't have any reserve.

I'm not sure if it is better than removing them completly!

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post #13 of 28
5/8/10 at 12:19pm

theoritically if the opamps have a high PSRR, they will sound better w/ an unregulated ±12V supply than a regulated ±9V...the Burson are said to very much do.

 

and the idea is to replace those LM 9V regulators by 12V, they won't regulate much anymore, but still do some slight filtering apparently.


Edited by leeperry - 5/8/10 at 5:21pm
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post #14 of 28
5/8/10 at 1:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joe_cool View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by leeperry View Post
BTW, I don't really care what the mfg says, but it doesn't have the same PCB as the HD2 DE.
Yes, I agree. I noticed the different sizes of some the capacitors, as well as different values for some of the film caps.


Are the schematics the same?

Close enough to modify into the same thing?

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post #15 of 28
5/8/10 at 4:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikongod View Post


Are the schematics the same?

Close enough to modify into the same thing?


I expect the schematics are the same with different values for some components. For example the B version has blue film caps marked 822J100 and the DE version has red film caps marked 10nK100. Is this part of the LPF? Also the B version has blue film caps marked 272J100 and the DE version has red film caps which I can't read. It is likely some of the associated resistors are also different. If I knew more of the values on the DE version I would try to make a comparison.


Edited by joe_cool - 5/8/10 at 9:45pm
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