Almi's X-Fi Mod (Hotrodding Sound Blaster X-Fi models)

[voemeh]

My sb0730 arrived and i've checked C177 and diode near x-fi chip. Same thing as sb0460... multimeter beeps and shows small value around 10. But the card works perfectly. So i guess it suppose to be like that oO or is it some sort of common malfuction?
I put sb0460 back together with nichicon 2200uf as main power cap, it keeps beeping, but it works in my PC.
Only thing i'm worried about is crackling noise on right channel with more than 50% volume level in system settings (little speaker in corner). Right channel also seems to be a bit quieter. It happened before i started to mod.
Can it be electrolites fault or could it be something more serious? I'm wondering now is it worth to keep on modding this card.

 

[ramachandra]

I do not know the answer for the first question I'm afraid. 10 ohm just seems too low.
 
My first thoughts is the jack connector, broken wire, failing OpAmp. There are too many other components on a card to fail, if you lucky the mod sort it out. If not you can use what you have on the other card, + you gained experience. Safe desoldering and solder on the pins is the only difficulty. With a good soldering iron and solder you will handle it.

 

[here7423]

Hello Rama,I wanna know,for CS4382, 3x10uf caps, Cerafine was better than Tantalum? how many different between them,you must have many test.

 

[ramachandra]

Tantalum and ceramic capacitors have very low ESR and good only for the digital part because that is really matter on that section, and inferior for analog circuits because the often mentioned microphonic noise and internal resonance. Just from the listening point the narrow sound stages, aggressive, cold, dirty sound, lack of dynamic is making them a disappointing, compared to the audiograde electrolytic capacitors in general.

 

[here7423]

Same question with WM8775's caps,sounds from there when player setting asio output.
still in doubt after watch the DAC\ADC pin's definition
VD,VQ?----tantalum or polymer
VA,ADCREFP,VMIDADC----elna cerafine or ?

 

[ramachandra]

Use the datasheet to for help. Look at the image under "RECOMMENDED EXTERNAL COMPONENTS" than you can see what is connected to the AGND (analog ground) DGND (digital ground) an the rest is easy to understand.
http://dl.ivtvdriver.org/datasheets/audio/WM8775.pdf
 
For the digital section: Solid polymer tantalum provide lower ESR and frequently better reliability than standard tantalum. The Sanyo OS-CON unbeatable for the job.
 
For the analog section: Use Elna Silmic II or Cerafine. If you want to record string instruments Nichicon KZ, FG or the bipolar ES is good. You can find more info on the thread under "Capacitors:"

 

[voemeh]

I finaly managed to recap SB0730 with mostly Elna Silmic II RFS, 3x Nichicon Fine Gold around DAC section and some Silmic II in power section. Sound improved a lot! Everything is velvet clear now, detailed and more dynamic. Midrange it is more juicy and warmer, bass became more impulsive, tight, heavier and punchy.
Here's how it looks like after recap (sry for bad quality):
http://i.imgur.com/ERaLepq.jpg
 
But after installing Nichicon KW 2200uf 16v as main power filter cap everything's got broken ;/ Sounded flat, harsh, and way too bright for my ears. Bass wasn't so punchy and dynamic anymore, it was light, soft and fluffy. I left card running for about 24h, so the cap could warm up and form a little. Things got a bit better, but still i didn't like it. So i went back to default G-Luxon 220uf 25V. Everything got back to where I liked it.
Is 2200uf too much? Or just Nichicon KW is worse quality cap? I've seen 3300 Black gates caps there as main power filter oO Isn't that overkill?
I'm thinking about Panasonic FC, Nichicon FG, KA or Os-con perhaps in range of 220uf-1000uf.
Any recommendations?

 

[here7423]

Digital parts, the main capacitor, I like choose the motherboard capacitor with impedance minimum,can only be Nichicon HZ series's 16v 1800uf, 6.5mOhm,there is no other choice.

Jamicon(kaimei),here have to say,quality is also very nice,board of the 16v 220uf,whether actults results and on paper both were so good,it's 49mOhm,not behind in similars.if you do not change the capacity without replace that.
 
http://site.thecapking.com/Files/hz.pdf

 

[here7423]

In that position, ensure the impedance small enough,that capacity is not a problem.

 

[here7423]

XtremeMusic is my first internal soundcard, along with a lot of beautyful memories of music, but I feel the sounds seems to have a cross section,not rounded,I'm right?
 
These days, after some testing, I found a wierd capacitors, it's sooooo wierd,,,that is *C56*, opamp decoupling capacitor seems stay a wroung place,why its at the a/d split line's areas? I guess between the *C56* to opamp,the PCB inner layer , Negative voltage linear same time being shielding effect,you understand my mean? 22UF not enough for decoupling, so making the sounds like have a cross-section.
 
Ok,we found the reason,through many tests in happy,when parallel above a 33UF capacitor, awsome! the sounds turn on right! *C56* real capacity should be keep consistent with it's Number, is 56UF!
 
Do you guys agreed that? Try this!

 

[here7423]

Second wierd capacitor is *C75*, the correct capacity is 220UF! above bass went soft.
 
The third wierd capacitor is *C46*, the correct capacity is 220UF! above will distorted in record channel.
 
The fourth wierd is a resistance *R235*, the correct values is 0 Ohm!
 
Not a lot, just 3 caps 1 resistance need change I found.Perfect without spending too much...
 
The reason is simple,that positive and negative 12V from PC power supply was unbalanced.

 

[voemeh]

Those are power section caps according to this?
http://i.imgur.com/Jj0twHN.jpg

 

[here7423]

Yes,voemeh,it is.
next step i'll raising the voltage to 10V and make most opamps working well.

 

[ramachandra]

voemeh:
 
The 2200uF 16V is too much with the new caps around the DAC together, because both have similar impact + you have no TCXO installed to set it back somewhat + make things worst the stock JRC OpAmps a complete bottleneck, the same setup with a different chip significantly better.
 
here7423:
 
Most OpAmps do their optimal performance from 12V. If you can feed them with +12V and -12V from proper external source is the best. Than i believe the good old XtremeMusic easily can outperform a PCI-Express Titanium.

 

[here7423]

Hello Rama,Yes you mentioned the key point.for reduce the PCI noise,some soundcard add buffer opamps or add DC-DC mode.but how to direct +/-12V without noise?this is very troublesome.

expect someone have a better design for sb0460.
 
I think add 78M10,79M10,should be one of the feasible options,78M10 and 79M10, Ripple Rejection:60-80db,dropout voltage:2V.