Eastern Electric Minimax Tube Dac (32-bit dac) - Page 67

Quote:

Originally Posted by levir 

Good job on the EE DAC upgrade UELover.  Did you do the mod yourself?

Nope it was modded for me by someone else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by setamp 

I am using a Bryston BDP-1 front end.  I have actually found digital cables to make a big difference in dropouts/stutters with the minimax. 

 

That's a bit strange. Unless the cables were defective, or super long (maybe), I don't see how that would happen. I've tried several cables (low to high-end) and there's never been a difference in dropouts. OTOH, what Jon L said does match my experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by setamp 

I am using a Bryston BDP-1 front end.  I have actually found digital cables to make a big difference in dropouts/stutters with the minimax. 

Doesn't seem like THAT should be dropping out!  I use a Viablue direct RCA-RCA connection from my USBridge. Never had a dropout.

Give my complements to the guy who mod the DAC.  Can you list the mods done to it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

Nope it was modded for me by someone else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by levir 

Give my complements to the guy who mod the DAC.  Can you list the mods done to it?

Yup I will. That guy is a professional. I would recommend him to those in Singapore who are thinking of modding their minimax dac (or other dac and gears).

Here's the mod done to my Minimax:

• Tube output caps upgraded to Auricaps
• I/V stage opamps upgraded to Burson Dual HDAMs
• Added Voltage regulators to the opamps section
• Upgraded the receiver clock unit
• Added Voltage regulator to the clock unit
• Volume bypassed
• Added 2nd pair of analogue output

Quote:

Originally Posted by setamp 

What digital cables are you happy with in your minimax setup?   I get a lot of dropouts and stuttering with high rez material (redbook is fine) and I understand the digital cable makes a difference. 

Kingwa (maker of Audio-GD stuffs) told me that using a non-audiophile grade coaxial cable will result in dropout when playing hi-rez content via their Digital Interface.

I am not so certain about the validity of that claim.

I see that you are using Mac Mini. What audio player are you using to play the high res content?

Thanks uelover!
 

You have more pictures...I bet it sounded really good!

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

 

Yup I will. That guy is a professional. I would recommend him to those in Singapore who are thinking of modding their minimax dac (or other dac and gears).

 

Here's the mod done to my Minimax:

 

• Tube output caps upgraded to Auricaps
• I/V stage opamps upgraded to Burson Dual HDAMs
• Added Voltage regulators to the opamps section
• Upgraded the receiver clock unit
• Added Voltage regulator to the clock unit
• Volume bypassed
• Added 2nd pair of analogue output

@ uelover Those clock mods sound interesting but out of my DIY realm.

So far in addition to the stock tube which has been replaced by a NOS Mullard I changed the power lytics to Nichicon FG, output caps to Mundorf silver/oil, replaced opamps with Dexa discrete, regulators to Belleson Superpower and input/output connectors to WBT. Next step is to replace diodes and tube output resistors with compact cascode current source modules. Volume pot and selector switch have also been bypassed with very short 75 ohm silver coax wire.

As I have no intention of getting back on the DAC upgraditus merry-go-round for a while I'm sticking to my guns and slowly squeezing every last drop of performance out of the EE.

Althought the new NAD M51 DAC does sound amazing...

Wondering if any of the modders also have a stock unit that they can use as a control?   <--- just asking

Quote:

Originally Posted by upstateguy 

Wondering if any of the modders also have a stock unit that they can use as a control?   <--- just asking

I don't have that luxury. Some tweaks are easily reversible and when after 1001 trials and falling in the flavor of the month trap a few times too many you  keep coming back to the same tube or opamp it becomes obvious. Every once in a while I'll roll in a different one but a few minutes later it's back in the drawer.

Same goes for the output caps - went from stock to Solen back to stock to Auricap back to stock and finally settled on Mundorf. To me all  but the Mundorf sounded inferior to stock. I must confess I didn't give the Auricaps much of a chance - they sounded muddy so I yanked them after a few days.

The Belleson regs are no brainers. While they might be a case of diminishing returns - a scope doesn't lie.

As for bypassing the volume pot and selector with shorter wires it was just a case of eliminating controls and circuits that aren't being used. That can't be bad. The WBT connectors are also an audible improvement and bring some bling to the party.

Quote:

Originally Posted by upstateguy 

Wondering if any of the modders also have a stock unit that they can use as a control?   <--- just asking

For a brief moment I owned the stock and the upgrade (silver wiring, silver RCA connector, volume control bypass, fuse upgrade), before I sold off the stock. There was a small but noticable improvement, but I admit that I didn't stress too much over A-Bing them.  Like Turn&Cough said, the volume bypass is just common sense, and that was the principle reason for my upgrade (I can't say whether a $100 silver RCA connector or a $50 fuse makes a noticable difference, but personally, I wouldn't have spent $100s more on all these extras if I hadn't gotten them thrown in "for free" by the person selling the unit.) 

But most of what people upgrade with the minimax are the tubes and opamps - and there you can obviously exchange them quickly and easily, so people tend to try one for a bit, switch back, switch back again, and so forth.  Personally, I have the dual opamps 1028, 797, 49990, 2604 and 5532, and the 5534 and 49990 singles, and have tried the stock EE tube, two mullards, a silver plate siemens 12au7, and the tungsram and amperex SQ e80cc's, in addition to removing the tube entirely so as to give more power to the SS output - each and every change gives a slight but noticably different sound.  Which is best?  Obviously will depend on the rest of your equipment and your personal taste.  Some people go back and forth repeatedly.  I've found the 49990s with no tube whatsoever sounds best for my JH13s, but I'd bet that with full sized cans and a big amp, the e80cc amperex SQ tube would be best, so I'm keeping it in the drawer in case of future gear purchases!

Quote:

Originally Posted by levir 

Thanks uelover!
 

You have more pictures...I bet it sounded really good!

I will post more photos the next time I remove my DAC from my desk. I have some wooden spikes at the bottom and it is a pain to align the spike with the spike base each time I remove my DAC from its location.

I like its current sound and I think the next possible upgrade would be to migrate to a minimax plus but that move is too costly for the potential benefits it could yield.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turn&cough 

@ uelover Those clock mods sound interesting but out of my DIY realm.

 

So far in addition to the stock tube which has been replaced by a NOS Mullard I changed the power lytics to Nichicon FG, output caps to Mundorf silver/oil, replaced opamps with Dexa discrete, regulators to Belleson Superpower and input/output connectors to WBT. Next step is to replace diodes and tube output resistors with compact cascode current source modules.

Wow WBT connectors. That is expensive

I am quite interested to hear how the cascode would improve on the tube section though.
 

By the way, the guy who modded my DAC sells the finished module of the clock units with the voltage regulator. You may want to check them out if you are interested =)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AVU 

Quote:

For a brief moment I owned the stock and the upgrade (silver wiring, silver RCA connector, volume control bypass, fuse upgrade), before I sold off the stock. There was a small but noticable improvement, but I admit that I didn't stress too much over A-Bing them.  Like Turn&Cough said, the volume bypass is just common sense, and that was the principle reason for my upgrade (I can't say whether a $100 silver RCA connector or a $50 fuse makes a noticable difference, but personally, I wouldn't have spent $100s more on all these extras if I hadn't gotten them thrown in "for free" by the person selling the unit.) 

 

But most of what people upgrade with the minimax are the tubes and opamps - and there you can obviously exchange them quickly and easily, so people tend to try one for a bit, switch back, switch back again, and so forth.  Personally, I have the dual opamps 1028, 797, 49990, 2604 and 5532, and the 5534 and 49990 singles, and have tried the stock EE tube, two mullards, a silver plate siemens 12au7, and the tungsram and amperex SQ e80cc's, in addition to removing the tube entirely so as to give more power to the SS output - each and every change gives a slight but noticably different sound.  Which is best?  Obviously will depend on the rest of your equipment and your personal taste.  Some people go back and forth repeatedly.  I've found the 49990s with no tube whatsoever sounds best for my JH13s, but I'd bet that with full sized cans and a big amp, the e80cc amperex SQ tube would be best, so I'm keeping it in the drawer in case of future gear purchases!

can you comment on which tube you felt gave the best sound? I've been using this DAC stock for a while now but have planned on putting a better tube in (of course, Im assuming the stock tube is not the best available)
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

 

 

Wow WBT connectors. That is expensive

 

I am quite interested to hear how the cascode would improve on the tube section though.
 

By the way, the guy who modded my DAC sells the finished module of the clock units with the voltage regulator. You may want to check them out if you are interested =)

Fortunately I had the WBT leftover from a previous DIY project. As for the Mundorfs I was originally looking at the silver/gold/oil but a friend let me have a pair of used silver/oil at a very reasonable price.

Can you provide a link for the clock units?  If they are easy to implement I might give them a try.

As for the cascode units this is what a fellow DIYer told me after installing them on his MiniMax: "Takes the tube section to a new level, dynamics and clarity matches and surpasses the solid state(system dependent) for cheap money.  I can happily live with either."

$14/ ea seems reasonable considering each little tweak gets you that small percentile closer to "perfection" 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turn&cough 

Can you provide a link for the clock units?  If they are easy to implement I might give them a try.

 

As for the cascode units this is what a fellow DIYer told me after installing them on his MiniMax: "Takes the tube section to a new level, dynamics and clarity matches and surpasses the solid state(system dependent) for cheap money.  I can happily live with either."

 

$14/ ea seems reasonable considering each little tweak gets you that small percentile closer to "perfection" 

Here is a link to the clock unit.

http://effectiveaudiomod.com/Prod_Clock_products.htm#Ultimate

Where can I find the cascode units?