DX200/220 Amp8, MAX and other EX modifications

[seanwee]

Failure amounts to a loss of $200 with sufficient learning not guaranteed risking further loss. The shortcut is a comprehensive video as is common practice in DYI. Welcome to the bigger world of DYI projects, whether it is building something, modding something, or just putting together a computer. Can't say I understand the continuous promotion of this mod if no one wants to go through the trouble of making it accessible. Then it amounts to bragging. It also isn't free. The parts for the mod cost at least an additional $130.

And so that is the risk of modding. Every DIYer knows that modding comes with a certain amount of risk.

If we screw up and fry the entire amp 8, so be it. We've accepted and understood the risk of modding the moment we held the soldering iron.

And about the "promoting", id say its justified. @Whitigir achieved something great after who knows how many hours and how many hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars. It is his right to be proud of his achievement.

 

[rutter]

Do you have one?

 

[seanwee]

Do you have one?

Absolutely not, I'm still waiting for a demo unit of the DX220 to arrive in my country. Then I'll see if I like the DX220 and if I do, I'll get one.

 

[rutter]

Then you wouldn't know if it's justified. I'd like to give it a shot. If this is such a work of pride that came at a substantial cost you'd figure Whitigir would try to spread the fruits of his labor rather than bask in esotericism. It shouldn't be so painful to do a video of the creation of one amp8EX so that the vast majority of people outside of this thread can replicate the thing. Read the first few posts. In fact, look at Whitigir's first three posts. Those aren't amp8EX instructions. It's a helpful prompt Severus Snape would put on an exam for which he assigned several chapters to study from, and a chunk of it deals with modifying the DX200. No wonder this thread is so inactive and people think this is just a few audiobros doing their own little thing. Whitigir basically talks about the amp8EX in multiple threads across this forum and virtually no one has the slightest clue what he's talking about. You have to have an eye for the "sale", to put it in enticingly crude terms. We're already familiar with the rapturous sound impression at the very top.

 

[seanwee]

Then you wouldn't know if it's justified. I'd like to give it a shot. If this is such a work of pride that came at a substantial cost you'd figure Whitigir would try to spread the fruits of his labor rather than bask in esotericism. It shouldn't be so painful to do a video of the creation of one amp8EX so that the vast majority of people outside of this thread can replicate the thing. Read the first few posts. In fact, look at Whitigir's first three posts. Those aren't amp8EX instructions. It's a helpful prompt Severus Snape would put on an exam for which he assigned several chapters to study from, and a chunk of it deals with modifying the DX200. No wonder this thread is so inactive and people think this is just a few audiobros doing their own little thing. Whitigir basically talks about the amp8EX in multiple threads across this forum and virtually no one has the slightest clue what he's talking about. You have to have an eye for the "sale", to put it in enticingly crude terms. We're already familiar with the rapturous sound impression at the very top.

And you're right, I wouldn't know if it's justified. Heck, I haven't even decided if I like the DX220 yet.

And I believe @Whitigir stated that he isn't in this for the money so he won't be making another amp 8EX anytime soon.

Sure, it'll be easy to take a video of the entire procedure but he likely isn't going to make an amp 8 EX from scratch again.

 

[rutter]

Not for the money, for the joy and pride of having more of us adopting the amp8EX. Edwardsean is reading this too. Maybe he can reclaim the manhood he claimed to have lost in that post at the top of this thread by finishing an amp8EX (echo effect) on tape.

 

[seanwee]

Not for the money, for the joy and pride of having more of us adopting the amp8EX. Edwardsean is reading this too. Maybe he can reclaim the manhood he claimed to have lost in that post at the top of this thread by finishing an amp8EX (echo effect) on tape.

My point is that he has no reason to make another AMP8 EX. I doubt he wants to spend the time and effort to redo something he has already achieved.

In addition to that and as you said before, it's not cheap to mod an amp 8. Not to mention that he will have to get another amp 8 module too.

 

[rutter]

Ok, if the people who care about this mod don't want to try to popularize it so be it. You just told me he spent thousands of dollars and who knows how many hours developing and perfecting it and now he won't spend another $350 and a few hours to demonstrate it so we can all make it. If that makes so much sense so be it. I don't know how to argue with that.

 

[rutter]

My point is that he has no reason to make another AMP8 EX. I doubt he wants to spend the time and effort to redo something he has already achieved.

In addition to that and as you said before, it's not cheap to mod an amp 8. Not to mention that he will have to get another amp 8 module too.

You know what, how about this for a compromise? I'll send him my amp8, pay for USPS flat-rate small box shipping round-trip, pay $130 for the parts and $70 for labor, and he shows everyone how to make the amp8EX mod so that when he posts in threads time after time how great this mod is people can actually agree with and appreciate what he is saying.

I'll pay the $200 upfront as a Paypal gift. He may even have the parts lying around in the spares he has already purchased. Lol, I'll even agree to a conditional non-disclosure agreement. If I don't like the mod I'm not going to write my impressions of it. It's like I'm trying to appease the devil in a deal here. How confident are you in your mod?

 

[McCol]

Its worth remembering that a modder may not wish to make one for you, there is a risk they may mess it up and then your amp8 is history. You may also not like the sound once you receive it back. The modder may also not want to do it as then he may have dozens of others asking him for the same service.

I admire the DIY-modders but it's not something I would try myself, I know I'd be capable of frying either whatever I was working on or burning my house down!!! (slight exaggeration but you get the drift).

I always consider Head-fi as a bit of a nerds hangout with varying degrees of nerds involved in various sections. When I tell people of my hobby of buying various earphones, daps, dacs and amps they look at me in a funny kind of way, almost the way I might look at modders espicially one's who mod eartips with all manners of crazy modifications such as backward fitting tips stuffed inside symbio tips etc etc.

This is not a dig by the way just my own light hearted take on the whole headfi community. We are despite what seems like a large number of people still a bunch of nerds and geeks in the larger scheme of real life!!

 

[rutter]

And I'll agree to if my amp8 is befallen with an unfortunate incident I won't ask for my money back. Paypal gift money isn't refundable and dependent on a return. Like I said, if I don't like the sound I won't even post an impression. He can pick just one person to do it for, and he is getting compensated regardless, plus he is doing what he supposedly wants- he increases the exposure of the mod, for the sake of others and/or for his own. The entirety of the mod being recorded on video with explanations may even make it possible for you to just copy what you see and Do It Yourself. Whitigir isn't shy about going in other threads and bringing this mod in particular up as the pinnacle of iBasso DX2** sound that favorably trades punches with the >$3000 Sony WM1Z. Why is he doing that if people can't do this mod for themselves? How are even technicians supposed to do this mod given the dearth of instruction?

Pick one or the other. Either go through the trouble of posting responsible and conscientious instructions on how to do this mod or stop teasing people constantly with it. I don't understand what pride is involved with this when the guy doesn't bother to properly document what he does in this mod. I've read his first three posts in this thread multiple times and it just doesn't make sense. It's either so simple he doesn't need to say or describe much or he's leaving a lot out.

 

[McCol]

I think whitigir has done all he needs to as a modder. He has no obligation or duty to do any more. He has posted and talked about his mod, there are instructions that if you know your stuff are probably ok to follow. It's not his place to follow through with a step by step guide for novices like you or I.
A few years ago I bought a few connectors from a member here who used to make them to order, started as a modder then he decided to sell to the likes of me who are clueless at modding! I'd imagine this mod may be timely for whitigir or others to offer a service making them for people

 

[rutter]

You are correct that he has zero obligation or duty to do anything for anyone. But if he's going to leave things unexplained and beyond the understanding of most of us to follow in his footsteps then his repeated mentions of the superlative quality of this mod not only in iBasso threads but even in those of other daps is obnoxious. Why are you going in others threads posting about how great this mod is when in its own thread you don't spell out for the rest of the community how to do it? That's just frustrating for people like me who want to take this person seriously. I have sunk $3000 in iBasso and iems. Here comes this guy telling me that for $130 extra the ball is going to get smacked out of the park. Awesome. Well now what? The first post lists the components and is comprised of a bunch of pictures half of which have nothing to do with the DX220. I think the red markings are trying to communicate, but 220uF (maybe the letters are just in the wrong order) and a bunch of circles do not instill me with a lot of belief in my ability to divine the steps I should be following. The second post is comprised of one picture and something about hot air. There are five sentences, one of which is warning me that I'm going to trash my amp. The third post is the "Ground path Return Mod". I kid you not, go to the first page and try to follow these posts. Then click on the first thing at the start of the thread and read what you're missing out on. Unbelievable.

 

[McCol]

I do get where you are coming from however I don't really see an issue with it. Any modder is quite entitled to talk about and praise their own mod, if I knew what I was doing then maybe the instructions would make sense to me, if I was that bothered then I would learn from other sites that give basic instructions in PCB and soldering and all that malarkey, as it is I'm fine with DX220 the way it is. I always think it's worth remembering that this is a specialist community in a very niche market, where I live I see nobody with earphones that cost more that £50, no DAPs or dacs and amps just airpods and smartphones. Puts into perspective how niche we are, this in turn then shows how niche modding is.

 

[rutter]

I do get where you are coming from however I don't really see an issue with it. Any modder is quite entitled to talk about and praise their own mod

Right, no rules are broken. But it's an indecent thing to do. Now check this out. Read this full post from page 4, I've used formatting for emphasis.

I would think that it cost around $120 for BOM and spare parts.

The DX220 + Amp8EX is a wonderful combo. It is beast like. I saw you asking in the main thread for this, and here I can respond to you with more details. The Amp8EX and DX200EX is a crazy combination to beat. It outperform the Stock DX220 and Amp1 MKII by a huge margins.

Dynamic, balances, finesses, details, extensions, and soundstage width+depth, back ground blackness

Now, if you toss Amp8EX onto Stock DX220. It becomes a Beast combo. The only thing it lacks is the Soundstage depth and blackness of the background, but you gain more punches/dynamic, body, and musicality.

The star here is really that Amp8EX. Both DX200 and DX220 are excellent platforms. The DX200 needed the EX applications to further enhance the performances, where as DX220, I don’t feel the need to modify it, beside the Amp8EX. Then you can see me analyzing the build of DX220 vs the 200, the DX220 itself is a successor to DX200 but using the same DAC-IC.

So, the answer here is that, if you have the ability to modify your Amp8 into EX, you will Jaw drop with DX220 stock, period.

Welcome to the modifications family of DIY, and hoping to see more successful EX Amp8, even if you list it for sell later, I am sure many people would love to buy it

Go to the start of the thread. The first part and the beginning of the second is a list of components. That's good. The process starts with the DX200, which we can ignore. This is literally the remainder of the post that applies to the amp8EX:

Amp8 Hardware: *unlike Amp8W*, the EX, No MLCC will be used, and No Bi-Cap





...

Amp8 noise suppression

Apply the sheets at the square regulator before putting in 470uF Nichicon

The rest can be applied after the modification is done. Coil inductors can be covered too, but optional, I left it out

What in the blue hell is even a technician supposed to do with this? If it's all common sense among these people to such an implicit extent I can only imagine what iBasso is doing with the stock amps.

Here is the totality of the second post:

Edited

Updated with better pictures, and those pictures are meant for processing. I did not take pictures of completed DAP, because there is nothing to look at lol....

*Tip* for the Amp8, the Bicap or Grey Panasonic HD and original AVX Tantalum can be removed with hot-air altogether, by taking out the Tantalum while grabbing onto it and not the main grey caps. (Do not use force, these pads are easily lifted and if it does, your module is trash) Once the Tantalum came off, the big cap can be grabbed out. If you slip, it could blew away resistors and caps above it. But due to how sensitive this part of the board are, I recommend Hot-air and a very steady robot pair of arms

And the third post is a grounding mod, sanding a few things that he determined should be sanded incidentally. That's just an appendage, or an appendix.

What am I supposed to do? Prostrate myself before this person and try to wade through a highly inconvenient "exposition" of his mod hoping to glean things that would help me enough to get me to screw up my amp? When I ask for a standard DIY guide I should have every conceivable excuse thrown back at me? I don't understand the attitude. All I want to do is to avail myself of this man's mod. But you can't ask anything of this person. Why did he post this mod in the first place? You absolutely have to read that link at the very top he put up there. This whole thing is just bizarre. And he keeps just liking posts! lol Absolutely incredible. I'm sorry, but this is downright childish.