Pricklely Peete
Franken modder
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2008
- Posts
- 4,188
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- 28
The long awaited (for one or two people) FrankenZERO project is complete and ready for prime time
After long months of work, testing, listening, testing some more, listening....sigh....here it is......(it's not much to look at, but sure sounds good)
All right let's get on with the heart of the upgrade.......As the subject title states this is indeed a true DIY project aimed at the low cost Zero 24/192 DAC and Headphone amp, the premise of which was/is, to see just how far a small investment in parts would take the little DAC/Amp down the road to improved overall sound quality. That judgement call will be left up to the individual as everyone's mileage may vary !!
The guiding principle of the entire project is to keep costs as low as possible using good quality parts to replace those that are of lesser quality. Add in some strategic bypassing using cheap high quality Russian NOS caps and thats the whole idea. Simple, clean and best of all fairly cheap.
The blue print for this upgrade is what I will share with the Head Fi community at large, free to use, experiment with and hopefully enjoy for some time to come.
With that I give you the illustrated and very crude ( gets the job done it's good enough for me) guide to turning the stock Zero into something a lot better SQ wise for not a lot of money.
Each section is broken down into Phases....of which there are three to complete the upgrade.
Phase 1 Power Supply Sections
Phase 2 Analog/ Logic Sections
Phase 3 Headphone Amp
That's the entire upgrade. Mostly swapping parts with the addition of some number of PIO caps for bypass duty.
For additional specific details feel free to PM me.
End users if they follow this blue print will have a pretty darn good boost in SQ after all is said and done.
A small number of kits (with all the parts needed for the mod) are available from me. PM for details of those.
The release of the actual "how to" info was always part of the plan so others could duplicate (if they wish) the project using their own parts......the caveat being your end result may not be the same. Goes without saying I suppose.
Best Regards to all !!!!
Peete.
EDIT: Please note the PIO caps in the kit are a substitute for the original .047uf 160V K42Y-2 PIO caps. They are hard to source at times as they are getting very popular among DIY circles world wide. It is OK to get either (.047uf 160V or .033uf 500V) value and voltage rating for this mod. The smaller voltage value .047uf cap is physically smaller so it's easier to place on the underside of pcb.
Both will fit.
Obviously better quality caps can be susbstituted for what I've used but your costs rise substantially so keep that in mind WRT why I chose the caps I did....it had/has to be a budget mod. IMO you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the Nichicon PW once bypassed with the K42Y-2 from the far more expensive Fine Gold big brother.
Worthwhile cost effective subs - the 4 x 100uf 25V caps around the dac chip (logic section I like to call it) Sanyo OS-CON are the preferred cap for this spot over all other brands including Black Gate (IMO at least), bypassed of course ( Russian or Sprague Vit Q PIO for all bypass work, the K42Y-2 is a Vit Q clone except better WRT it's overall SQ).
The stock Elna Silmic 47uf 10V output coupling caps in the analog section (16V on some Zeros) upgraded to Elna cerafine 47uf 25V (or 35V depends if you can find a 25V).
After long months of work, testing, listening, testing some more, listening....sigh....here it is......(it's not much to look at, but sure sounds good)
All right let's get on with the heart of the upgrade.......As the subject title states this is indeed a true DIY project aimed at the low cost Zero 24/192 DAC and Headphone amp, the premise of which was/is, to see just how far a small investment in parts would take the little DAC/Amp down the road to improved overall sound quality. That judgement call will be left up to the individual as everyone's mileage may vary !!
The guiding principle of the entire project is to keep costs as low as possible using good quality parts to replace those that are of lesser quality. Add in some strategic bypassing using cheap high quality Russian NOS caps and thats the whole idea. Simple, clean and best of all fairly cheap.
The blue print for this upgrade is what I will share with the Head Fi community at large, free to use, experiment with and hopefully enjoy for some time to come.
With that I give you the illustrated and very crude ( gets the job done it's good enough for me) guide to turning the stock Zero into something a lot better SQ wise for not a lot of money.
Each section is broken down into Phases....of which there are three to complete the upgrade.
Phase 1 Power Supply Sections
Phase 2 Analog/ Logic Sections
Phase 3 Headphone Amp
That's the entire upgrade. Mostly swapping parts with the addition of some number of PIO caps for bypass duty.
For additional specific details feel free to PM me.
End users if they follow this blue print will have a pretty darn good boost in SQ after all is said and done.
A small number of kits (with all the parts needed for the mod) are available from me. PM for details of those.
The release of the actual "how to" info was always part of the plan so others could duplicate (if they wish) the project using their own parts......the caveat being your end result may not be the same. Goes without saying I suppose.
Best Regards to all !!!!
Peete.
EDIT: Please note the PIO caps in the kit are a substitute for the original .047uf 160V K42Y-2 PIO caps. They are hard to source at times as they are getting very popular among DIY circles world wide. It is OK to get either (.047uf 160V or .033uf 500V) value and voltage rating for this mod. The smaller voltage value .047uf cap is physically smaller so it's easier to place on the underside of pcb.
Both will fit.
Obviously better quality caps can be susbstituted for what I've used but your costs rise substantially so keep that in mind WRT why I chose the caps I did....it had/has to be a budget mod. IMO you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the Nichicon PW once bypassed with the K42Y-2 from the far more expensive Fine Gold big brother.
Worthwhile cost effective subs - the 4 x 100uf 25V caps around the dac chip (logic section I like to call it) Sanyo OS-CON are the preferred cap for this spot over all other brands including Black Gate (IMO at least), bypassed of course ( Russian or Sprague Vit Q PIO for all bypass work, the K42Y-2 is a Vit Q clone except better WRT it's overall SQ).
The stock Elna Silmic 47uf 10V output coupling caps in the analog section (16V on some Zeros) upgraded to Elna cerafine 47uf 25V (or 35V depends if you can find a 25V).
