[jubeishock]

Hi, Im considering buy this I can get E5 (60 USD) and the Xduoo x05 plus (120 USD) , which do you think should be better?

 

[Mashm]

Hi,

i like to share my "Version" of the E5. This is a complete moddet Version.

The stock unit had some good components. the TI6120A2 is a really good amp, but creative ruined it. basicaly the shematic is very near on the ti reference shematic, but to safe some power they added some cheap fets to the power rails of the amp to switch it off via Software. These fets have a dramaticaly high ri, so the current was very limited. after modding the amp with new fets and some nichicon Gold muse audio caps the amp is capable to power also a hifiman he-6! The Amp is capable to bring out at max 700mA at +-10 Volt in this Setup, more then enough for most full sized cans out there.

After i moddet the power amp i developed a shematic for a mini Nutube pre-amp-buffer which i wanted to add into the unit. Space was very limited, so this was a hard journey. the nutube act only as buffer with a gain of 1.

At least there was a Little space to add an µC for a small oled Display. on this i can Display the waveform in realtime, a vu meter and so on...

The Battery was completly removed from inside of the device. also the microphones. the battery is now on the underside of it in a printed case which is screwed to the main case. the top is now covered with a Gorilla glas to see the beautifull nutube in Action.

thx for Looking, markus

 

[illram]

Wow! That is super impressive.

I haven't used this amp in ages but when I was using it, it was a very capable & versatile little performer. Didn't know it had so much untapped power.

 

[Mashm]

The TI6120A2 is also used in some reference portable Audio Player. Some really impressive technical specifiactions. but poor implementing at soundblasters e5.

 

[Ynot1]

There is a youtube video of a guy doing a play by play so to speak go over of the Topping NX3 amp design. It uses similar Ti amp chip. And he was saying that the TI6120A2 was designed to use positive and negative power rails. And Topping did try to implement that pretty close. It looked like from the internal images of E5, Creative did not use the split power rail and thereby was forced to use a capacitor at the output as mentioned by the guy in the video. Just a guess though.

 

[Ynot1]

I believe there was a do it yourself amp kit that used a split rail power supply and it used one chip to achieve that with a virtual ground. Anyway, maybe the battery power limitation forced the design to not use the aforementioned split rail power technique. The DIY amp used a 12 volt rechargeable battery, and I think the E5 uses a lower voltage.

By the way, where do you get extra optical cables for the E5/G5? Original one is thinner than the ones on ebay.

 

[Mashm]

Hi,

creative uses a split power rail with +12 Volt, Ground, and -12 Volt. There is NO Output capacity. direct Output from the chip thrugh a safety resistor, thats all.

the dual power rail is realized with a tps65131:

tps65131

a very potent little boost converter for postive AND negative supply. both rails are generated from the single Lion cell. you can see the both Coils (white sticker on it) on the lower Right side. to the left of the 6120. creative made everything right, except of the power switching fets for the both power rails from the 65131 to the 6120. they are garbage in original configuration.

i don´t Need optical cables for it. i use it only as usb dac or Bluetooth Receiver.

 

[Mashm]

If you like some infos for modding we should continue here:

e5 diy thread

 

[Ynot1]

I guessed wrong. But on my defense I thought the usb did not power more than 5 volts and the E5 battery I thought I saw somewhere to be like 3.7v. There must be a voltage booster.

 

[Mashm]

yes, voltage booster for positive and negative rail is the tps65131

 

[Ynot1]

I downloaded the pdf files on that chip, and it is pretty amazing what they can do these days.
I am inspire to do something, but my skill and budget are holding me back. I know if everything lined up perfectly
the stars, the moon, and the solar system I could prolly fix a broken one and do the upgrade mod.

 

[Mindstorms]

So guys hi , anyonme of you remembers wich of the two output was the best? also having some issuees with the battery it sudenly dies from day one... any ideas? thansk in advance

 

[aoitenshi6509]

finally, after 4 years and the battery on my E5 just goes .... silent ...

time to do battery replacement

 

[Mindstorms]

finally, after 4 years and the battery on my E5 just goes .... silent ...

time to do battery replacement

can you tell me where you will get it?

 

[aoitenshi6509]

can you tell me where you will get it?

i am still looking for the replacement battery locally from jakarta, indonesia
but if i still cannot get one, aliexpress would be the final option :

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000385583557.html