[IPodPJ]

Scroll to the top of the thread, after you click on the link.

Or why don't I just show you:

"Broke out the soldering iron and installed a Burson discrete op-amp in the Entech. Its still early but right off I notice a more full fatter sound compared to the AD825's althoe the 825's pulled out more detail and have a better stage."

Sounds like a mod to me.

 

[insidiousness]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrosenth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wait a second - the unit has been modded? Frankly, I wasn't aware it had been opened but being modded is a different story. I'm a little nervous about doing anything to the board (I don't know enough to re-seat the daughter board or how to clean off the flux). All of the lights do come one just like they should. The selection switch moves the light to the different outputs and the light flicks on and flashes and changes like it should when tracking data. I haven't put the claim in with the carrier yet - was hoping that I would see something upon opening it up or that someone here would see something from the pictures. I kind of feel odd about filing a claim with the shipper, especially when it's used and the board looks good inside but it's clearly been opened a few times before and maybe been modded.

Your really pushing my bottons with your dishonest claims! Once again I'll post a message sent to you last week! This is a responce to your question about changing the op-amp.

I'm not sure whats in this one. It may have a socket for the op-amp or may not. At one time I had 6 of these dac's some where modded with better caps/Op-Amp and some were stock.and some where prototypes.

 

[insidiousness]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Scroll to the top of the thread, after you click on the link. Or why don't I just show you: "Broke out the soldering iron and installed a Burson discrete op-amp in the Entech. Its still early but right off I notice a more full fatter sound compared to the AD825's althoe the 825's pulled out more detail and have a better stage." Sounds like a mod to me.

Where do you come off stiring up the crap? I've had 6 of these dacs and the one with the burson was sold a long time ago. Where do you get off talking like you know anything about this dac or any other? You sir are a JACK*SS!

 

[jinp6301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by insidiousness /img/forum/go_quote.gif Where do you come off stiring up the crap? I've had 6 of these dacs and the one with the burson was sold a long time ago. Where do you get off talking like you know anything about this dac or any other? You sir are a JACK*SS!

calm down. No ones saying you did anything wrong

 

[IPodPJ]

Chill out man. Obviously if you read my post before jumping to conclusions, I said:

"But he had 2 units. So i don't know which one he sent to you."

I was never saying you sold him a modded unit. It was just something for him to ask you. And maybe before you start acting like a putz, read all the posts. I said it was something you should be able to work out amicably. Regardless, he obviously has a broken DAC.

As the seller, you should take it back and refund his money. Most of us here who sell used equipment pride ourselves on ethical and responsible transactions, and want to make the buyer feel confident with his purchase. So if the item doesn't work, do the right thing here man and take it back. He obviously didn't break the DAC or try to reneg on the deal, or he wouldn't be spending money on Torx bits to try to fix it. He clearly sees that the unit has been opened many times. If you didn't inform him of that before you sold it to him, you have a moral responsibility to do the right thing.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrosenth /img/forum/go_quote.gif In any case after closing it back up and testing it again it played for about 2 seconds, but there was a loud, popping surging during that playing and then back to loud popping with music.

Does it lock onto the data stream?... does the "locked" led flicker or does it remain illuminated constantly? If it at least locks onto data, thats a good sign.

Sounds like it could be an OP amp issue. Possibly oscillation, or OP amp +/- pins shorting out to each other or virtual ground. My 205.2 did something very similar to your description. I had a forum-friend troubleshoot my shoddy OP amp solder job.

Its too bad, thats a nice DAC. I hope you and the seller can can reach an agreement.

Good Luck

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrosenth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wait a second - the unit has been modded?

Well, at least the lights work.

The unit obviously has been modded because there's a socketed op-amp and it has Panasonic caps. Normal Entech DACs don't use sockets. I can't tell from the picture which op-amp is in this unit (might help if the OP can tell us about that) but normally Entech DACs come with OPA2134's. Furthermore, the unit has what looks to me like Panasonic FM caps, which is also something you don't find in normal Entech products.

What you're describing could be quite a few things, frankly I'm not quite as optimistic as kramer on this one. Perhaps you can try swapping out the opamp for one that's known to work?

If you can I'd suggest testing the film caps C10 and C11, sometimes they can get damaged when you're not careful installing the opamp socket.

 

[IPodPJ]

Well, the seller said he didn't mod this particular unit. And based on your good observations Dept_Of_Alchemy, the seller is lying.

jrosenth -- you're entitled to a refund. Demand one. I'm sorry you had to spend money on the Torx bits.

 

[insidiousness]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Chill out man. Obviously if you read my post before jumping to conclusions, I said: "But he had 2 units. So i don't know which one he sent to you." I was never saying you sold him a modded unit. It was just something for him to ask you. And maybe before you start acting like a putz, read all the posts. I said it was something you should be able to work out amicably. Regardless, he obviously has a broken DAC. As the seller, you should take it back and refund his money. Most of us here who sell used equipment pride ourselves on ethical and responsible transactions, and want to make the buyer feel confident with his purchase. So if the item doesn't work, do the right thing here man and take it back. He obviously didn't break the DAC or try to reneg on the deal, or he wouldn't be spending money on Torx bits to try to fix it. He clearly sees that the unit has been opened many times. If you didn't inform him of that before you sold it to him, you have a moral responsibility to do the right thing.

Like I said before, he knew that I had no idea about this dac when it came to what was in it(I lost my torx key and was to lasy to buy another). What I did tell him was this

(I'm not sure whats in this one. It may have a socket for the op-amp or may not. At one time I had 6 of these dac's some where modded with better caps/Op-Amp and some were stock.and some where prototypes.)

I dont care for your logic! I ran the dac an hour before I shipped it an it worked 100%. Why should I lose on this deal when I've done nothing wrong? This is used gear and I'm not a store with a 30 day return policy.

 

[insidiousness]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, the seller said he didn't mod this particular unit. And based on your good observations Dept_Of_Alchemy, the seller is lying. jrosenth -- you're entitled to a refund. Demand one. I'm sorry you had to spend money on the Torx bits.

And I'm not lying about anything. The only person thats acting in a dishonest way is the buyer. but I dont care what any of you think! maybe they'll ban me for the 6th time since 2000, yes I really have over 9000 post on this site!

 

[infinitesymphony]

What happened to cause the other five bans?

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by insidiousness /img/forum/go_quote.gif And I'm not lying about anything. The only person thats acting in a dishonest way is the buyer. but I dont care what any of you think! maybe they'll ban me for the 6th time since 2000, yes I really have over 9000 post on this site!

Oh, that's real good. I'm sure the fact that you've been banned 5 times will make the buyer feel just wonderful about his purchase now. Unfreakinbelievable. To come out and actually say that, you must have a real set on you.

Here's a hint: If they ban you, they don't want you here! To come back and post is bad enough, but to advertise your equipment in the FS forum after you've been banned 5 times? Like I said, a real set of cajones.

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Sounds like your best bet is with the carrier at this point. =(

You might still be able to sell the carcass for a little money, given that the 245 is just a 205 with a 24-bit daughter board added on top. Someone adventerous enough could try and replace the daughter board and the opamp and the two film caps next to the opamp and then pray for the best.

Oh, I forgot to mention that since the copper traces are pretty thin near the opamp, it's possible that the PCB itself (and the copper traces embedded) were damaged while someone was doing the opamp mod, if this is what's causing the problem then... well... then there's nothing you can do to fix it.

Does the PCB look burnt around where the opamp socket was installed?

 

[jrosenth]

So here's where we're at.

I've played with this some more and can't seem to figure it out. Kramer, the light does come on and say data locked - Dept of alechemy, no burn marks that I can see - so hopefully that's good. I was really hoping that it would be an easy fix (screw loose or something like that - the dac not just me). But basically I have no idea about how to play with the op amps, flux or other things - I'm just in over my head and don't want to cause any damage.

A few people have said in this thread or pm-ed that it looks modded based on the caps, etc. No, I didn't know that the dac was modded. I actually paid more than the asking price in the for sale thread to get the nicer, less-banged up one - and thought that the one I was getting was a good one - maybe that's my mistake or misunderstanding - if so I apologize to the seller. But, from even looking at the outside of it once it arrived it's clearly been opened more than a few times - and that wasn't expressed at the time of the sale. I also wasn't aware that he was banned. If that's true, that would have affected a decision to purchase regardless of feedback under a given username.

I also don't really appreciate the seller's tone or accusations in this thread. Much less the way he's really let loose in his pms.

In an identical situation (scroll down to the third from the bottom - someone buying an AKG 271 and not able to get the after-market cable to work) - i refunded the person - (turns out they did work when I got them back and someone else ended up buying them). But I understand that he's not a store with a 30 day guarantee. But what I'm looking at is an obviously opened, modded dac from a repeatedly banned member and that showed up and simply didn't work.

So I sent a pm suggesting some various options and so we'll see. If I have to eat it on this, so be it - I'll just have to consider it a good lesson (I just would really like to hear an Entech someday - miss out on those cheap ones on ebay every single time).

Even if it's technically okay, I don't really feel right about filing a claim with the carrier - given that's it's been opened and modded. So that's off the list.

One very cool head-fier pm-ed out of the blue and said he had experience with these dac.s and offered to take a look. So perhaps in the hands of someone skilled, it would be a simple repair.

 

[IPodPJ]

The first thing you should do it report him to the staff here at Head-Fi. Tell them he has been banned 5 times previously, and send the staff a link to this thread so they can see what he has said. Also show them your private messages between you and him. And leave negative feedback for him as well. Head-Fi Staff will add his name along with his previous banned name to a list (a sticky) of sellers you don't want to ever buy from.

It's real sad that people can have the moral negligence to rip someone off like that. If this world were made of honest men, it might not be a bad place to live.