[ooheadsoo]

Ichi is an emu engineer fwiw.

 

[gsferrari]

Excellent information. That is good enough for me. Now I know the mods arent worth it (never thought they were) but why should we tell this guy how to spend his money.
Cheers!

 

[lan]

Well if you can't do it yourself, you're going to pay to have somebody else do it. Such an inivestment in such a mod isn't really worth it unless you are at the stage where you'd notice and everything else is in good shape IMO.

 

[Distroyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari Hey - I wouldnt mod the EMU 1212 at all - sounds good the way it is and yes I would spend my money better. But I dont think it is our duty to tell this guy how much he sucks because he made a bad decision - that too without knowing if it really is a bad decision or not. Cheers!

I dont know what your intent was, but mine wasnt to tell him what he "should" be spending his money on, but what he "could." Ie, informing the possibility of spending money more efficiently, not creating an ethical demand or some expiation for his uneconomic decisions. No offense, of course (if that needs to be stated).

 

[LFM]

I am in the process of having the Emu1212 m modded by Empirical.I am having the analog section done as well.Steve is purchasing the card for me and the entire operation will be performed at one time.I have chosen to do this for several reasons but most importantly is that I have noted that Steve has an excellent reputation on several other forums. If anyone is interested,there is a thread that was just started at the Critics Circle over at the Audio Circle which compares 2 modded amps with a highly regarded third amp.The opinions on what was heard did vary some but one thing that came out is that Steve Nugent is the real deal.As Iam spending a large sum on the card, I will not even consider an outboard DAC for a long time. Steve assured me that the result with both digital and analogue mods will be as good as the best standalone players.I believe him because of his reputation.I am less inclined to believe someone on a forum who may or may not be an Emu engineer.

 

[yeeyy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFM I am less inclined to believe someone on a forum who may or may not be an Emu engineer.

LOL

 

[roadtonowhere08]

I have been a frequenter on those boards where ICHI is a household name. He really knows his stuff and helps everyone out. I believe him to be an engineer. Both ICHI and Steve have a wealth of knowledge according to reputation. Spend your money how you want, BUT we want pics and we want impressions

 

[ooheadsoo]

Here's an article written by Steve that addresses some of the issues brought up in these mods: http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue14/spdif.htm

 

[Daroid]

The abnormal part of it is that ICHi says that modding can't be justified because there are no improvements in AP or RMAA measurements. The poor man judges how things sound from a technical measurement

Bet Ah Njoe Tjoeb (the modded Marantz cdp) owners disagree with him.

EDIT: In the case of RMAA as an end-all measurement, it still for some reason gives different results from version to version on the same card...

 

[NeilPeart]

Unless he also mods the card by enabling the use of an external power supply you will still be limited by the dirty, poorly conditioned power of the PSU. One of the largest benefits of an external DAC is the ability to isolate the sound from the computer's nasty power (even the best PC PSUs cannot approach an external DAC's power supply; the fact that the PSU resides in an EMI/RFI-ridden enclosure precludes the possibility of high-quality power). I have no doubts that the mods will be appreciated and well implemented, but the power supply will be your bottleneck.

 

[ooheadsoo]

If you use it as a digital out though (and Steve's mods are for the digital section) I don't think it should matter very much. Especially if your dac reclocks.

 

[NeilPeart]

If you use the digital out to a DAC why waste the money to mod the card in the first place; that's my point! Save all that money and buy a great, low-jitter DAC!

 

[ooheadsoo]

Well, the emu's coax out is way out of spec. Do you think a dac that reclocks is completely impervious to the quality of the transport?

 

[NeilPeart]

No, but when using a computer as a transport it's usually preferable to use the optical output since it isolates the output from the PC's PSU and the coax does not, IIRC.

 

[audioengr]

Using the Toslink rather than the S/PDIF will add to the jitter due to the optical to electrical conversions. When I do a USB to S/PDIF converter either inside or external to a DAC, I usually put a transformer in to galvanically isolate the computer from the audio system, unless the customer is using a laptop. Then I direct-couple it. Either of these will have no ground-loops and no hum.