[TimSchirmer]

Does anyone know any cost-effective people/ places to have art Di/O mods done?

I would do it myself, but i can't even solder cables.

I am also looking for a good power supply for it.

 

[DanG]

I think the Stancor power supply can be purchased stock from several places... I can't help you with the mods, though. When the now-dead DI/O fad was going on, modded DI/O DACs would pop up on Audiogon with modifications similar to the Bolder Cables mods. They still show up sometimes, as well as the Bolder-modded ones. I saw one or two recently in the sub-$350 range -- either the "smART" or the "MENSA".

 

[TimSchirmer]

The only reason i want one is because I used to own one. It also beats a regular DAC because I can make nice digital recordings from vinyl with it.

 

[TimSchirmer]

Dan, do you have any experience with non-upsampling DACs?

I'm very intrigued by the scott nixon's stuff.

http://home.triad.rr.com/scottnixon/dac.htm

 

[ManiacSmile]

I received my new ART D/IO a few days ago and very satisfied with the sound. However on a numerous forums discussing the mods for D/IO one of the first priority things to do is to replace the stock power supply with a higher current model. At the same time it looks like the older models of D/IO were shipped with a 800mA PSU while the one that I got has 1300mA. Does anyone know if having the new PSU rated at 1300mA saves you from replacing it with a better one ?

 

[DanG]

Tim, I unfortunately have no experience with any external DACs. Before purchasing my Meridian I was considering going with an external DAC that I could use with my soundcard as well as a CD transport, so the new source would be part of the audio chain both with computer audio and CD audio. However, I got the Meridian instead and never looked back.

It seems that upsampling DACs have the advantage of being more transport-independent than more rickety DACs like the DI/O. Since the signal is reclocked you don't have to worry as much about jitter or timing errors. But I've heard plenty of great stuff about non-upsampling DACs aside from the DI/O, especially the Audio Note line. I believe the 47 Labs Shigaraki is also a moderately popular non-upsampling DAC.

I'm sorry that I can't help more than that. You should certainly be reading the Digital Asylum in AudioAsylum by now if you haven't been already!

Good luck.

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally posted by ManiacSmile At the same time it looks like the older models of D/IO were shipped with a 800mA PSU while the one that I got has 1300mA. Does anyone know if having the new PSU rated at 1300mA saves you from replacing it with a better one ?

The Stancor one people recommend (STA-5790), is 3.4A so maybe it still needs more juice.

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by ManiacSmile I received my new ART D/IO a few days ago and very satisfied with the sound. However on a numerous forums discussing the mods for D/IO one of the first priority things to do is to replace the stock power supply with a higher current model. At the same time it looks like the older models of D/IO were shipped with a 800mA PSU while the one that I got has 1300mA. Does anyone know if having the new PSU rated at 1300mA saves you from replacing it with a better one ?

The 1300 ma power supply came with all three of my DI/O's. In fact, I can't remember anyone who actually got an 800 ma power supply. The Stancor is indeed an improvement over the 1300 ma unit.

 

[TimSchirmer]

Yeah... an outboard DAC might not be the best way to go. I'm thinking of getting a slightly older cdp (20 bit instead of 24 bit) that would have a good power supply and analog output stage.

I'm looking at the older micromegas (i know about the transport problems already) along with Meridian, CAL Audio and Linn.

Do older meridians really sound that bad?

 

[DanG]

Older Meridians are great. The very old ones I can't vouch for. See if you can get a 506.20 for a decent price... they've been going up in price lately on audiogon strangely enough.

 

[TimSchirmer]

I just got an old Micromega, couldn't resist at the price i got it for.

If i don't like it, i can always sell it on audiogon. With no loss. Tis the nice thing about used gear.

I could've bought an MMF-CD25, but something about the idea of rebranded chinese players just bothers me. (not quality-wise, price-wise)