A report on a few new mods.
First a cheap and easy mod. I will let fellow members give more of a review of the sound. When posting a new mod I will try to give a general description of the sound since it is too easy for me to get carried away with perceived success of my own ideas. IMO adding a 10uF cap across the 5 volt power supply where it comes into the DAC card seems to add some clarity to the sound. Very cheap and worth a try if you have one sitting around. I just used an MKP that I had in my cap box. As usual, film caps highly recommended in this spot. In this instance the cap is more of a final filter than a power reserve as the load on the 5 volt rail is relatively steady. Remember, all those caps in the power supply are before the transistor used for setting the voltage. All that noise gets passed along.
Second mod: Tentlabs clock module and power supply for the re-clocker. This is the same mod that Rhodes has done. This mod is rather expensive but to me the results were worth it. A lot cleaner sound, better soundstage and focus. This one will really push the performance of the DAC to another level rather than just a refinement of the sound it currently has. Cost is about $280 with Paypal, shipping and conversion fees.
Third mod: After the success of the clock mod I had to try improving the 12 Mhz clock. I did not go for the full separate power supply as per the re-clocker. I purchased a shunt regulator and clock module from Tentlabs (cost is about $80 all in). This is one VERY cost effective mod. Of course, I cannot say what the improvement would be with a dedicated power supply as I did with the re-clocker but as is it really makes a dramatic improvement. Soundstage is wider and more focused. The level of detail has increased significantly. Yes, that old adage, "I heard things that I had not heard before" comes into play for sure. Hokey, but true. I could hear musicians breathing while playing where I had not before (I listen to a lot of jazz). Instruments and voices had that last little bit of edge (hardly noticeable until it was gone) taken away and of course they sounded more real and natural in the process.
One last thing, please remember that all of our mods are cumulative. In other words; how much of the improvement of your last mod would you have heard if you had not done the other mods first? This is my caveat regarding these two clock mods. Personally, if I was really watching my pennies I would still do both clocks but I would use the shunt regulators (one each) for the clock power supplies. Total cost would be about $150.
Tony
