I've read a lot of 'audiophile' debunking articles over the years but I've never seen the AKDL1 cable.. I literally LOL'd and cried laughing at the reviews on Amazon just now ... absolutely hillarious!!!!

never mind your age..... anyone can have a go 

Don't get me wrong, it's all about ability and finance...... but this is a DIY thread ;-)   ... and I'm going to comment on 'that' level of modification... sorry, can't hold myself back A simple (and not very tidy) bypass rewire for that price is utterly ridiculous. I would (and did for some...

Hi buddy Yes and No .... Yes, if your amp has input caps you can omit them in the iMod but you can also couple certain amps by putting the negative rail at the same DC potential to prevent it from flowing down the signal path.. Look at the datasheet of the DAC for DC Coupling schematic. 

Long time since I've been on here...   Don't forget guys that with certain designs of amp you can DC couple your amp/iMod without using caps Especially on a portable rig that uses separate batteries. I had mine running that way for over a year but installed caps so I could use it on other...

Yeah, it's strange how those film caps come to life over a few hours.. still my fave! Quote: Interesting one that... you obviously have the caps the right way around or you would be getting 1.5V  Do you measure it when connected to your amp? Is there a chance of some bias current...

Hey buddy, Yeah, I was referencing the closing problem. Sound differences are way more subtle and hard to nail down but the film caps can be more bass heavy if anything. If you are getting anything 'strange' I would put it down to dry solder joints or wire routing rather than cap type...

Quote: Well done matey, sorry I missed your post, been partying hard.... :)   That's a tidy job, especially as it's your first, well done.   Difficult to tell but the cap leads may be sitting up on the top of adapter's foam pads....   Don't worry about the cap value too much...

Quote: YEP...nightmare.....

I recently was given an ipod with one of these in to mod.... don't get it!!!! It works fine IF you can twist and crease the ribbon cable enough to get it to fit. iPod ribbons are slightly off-centre and this drives is central.... nightmare!!! It kept forcing it's way out even after you...

@ Icefalcon: Not sure about the Guru bit LOL, but yes I've done the Direct-out DiyMod for quite a few guys. Nuff to say I'm not free but much cheaper than RWA... ;-)

You need a low profile board and this would work well. It's probably the best TA2024 board available and very cheap. You then need a plate of aluminium or copper to stick to the top of the chip, use superglue, I've built a lot of T-amps and it gets the job done. You don't need fins, just a...

Quote: That's buddy In response to your 1st question... it may be possible, difficult to tell what the total thickness of the combo would be... certainly enough room to do the DIYMod But then, if he got it to work in a 30GB then it must fit in an 80GB, you'll need to consider a heatsink...

Quote: There's not many who give it a go... I've done plenty now but the 1st one's were a challenge to say the least. In the early part of this thread there was one other guy who gave it a go... please don't ask me to find the post 

Hi guys, just came across this thread, great work on the SSD's, lots of helpful info.   OK, just to clarify, if anyone wants to have a portable solution with an internal amp you can fit a FiiO E5 PCB in there. Not the greatest amp by any means but a very capable amp that can take high...

Quote:   You only need a low voltage caps but film caps inherently have quite large voltage ratings. The values you're looking for here are SIZE ;) You need it to fit inside the iPod and the 4.7uf 50V is 7.2mm square. Of course you could go for the larger caps... the 10uf may even fit...

Quote: Yep 

Hi buddy Yes you bypass the entire board so you only need to remove the zcaps to give you access to the solder pads. take your wires directly from the pad closest to the DAC > caps > FiiO (if you want to) > output pins. You do lift them off the board as well so that the path is completely...

See my method of bypass here   Litics?... Elna Silmic II are the best IMO, that's whats in that album.   Of course, if you want the best... then get the deeper back panel and use 4.7uf Wima MKS2 film caps if you can find them.

Without doubt, no matter what anyone ever says... If you want get the best out of the DAC you have to remove everything after it. Anything in the signal path (no matter where it lies) interferes with the signal. Electrons do not behave like water, they don't just follow a path and that's it...

Hey mate, it's not that difficult really! Take the case off the FiiO and drill the side of the iPod back panel with the corresponding on/off & volume button holes from the casing. Bags of room in there if you have done the CF Mod but I also took off all the connectors (mini USB & phone...

Quote: I managed to fit a FiiO E5 in an 80GB with CF and DiYMod, pretty cool... not a brilliant amp by any means but great by the pool :)   Caps only need to be 10uf and 16v at most, I use 4.7uf Wima MKS2's and they beat any 'litic. You just need to use the CF adapter to give you room...

Hi, I have a little time to do a few more mods, depends where you are and what version of the mod is required. I tend to do the tricky 'direct to LOD pin' version because I'm mad :) I'm in the UK and have done quite a lot of these for friends. I recently did a 128GB CF direct to pins and sold...

OK cool, justa thought though... you could have wired the caps wrong (+ to the DAC) ...or the caps could be shorting to the case maybe?

You can put the caps in the pod without loosing the headphone out. There are two ways to do this, remove HD rubber/plastic bumpers locally and squeeeeeze elna silmic II's up against the bottom edge (they can fit)......OR get an 80GB backplate (deeper)..... not so much of a squeeze!   Which...