[kfh227]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gevorg Wow! I just got a 1212 and already tempted to mod it. Iron Dreamer, are you planing to offer modding services to forum members? P.S. Emu 1212 is on sale in Compusa for $150 (after $30 rebate)

I had the same question. Might request services in about 9 months if so

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

I will shoot you two some PM's about the topic

 

[gevorg]

Got the pm, thanks!

Now, in your opinion, what portion of the sonic improvement comes from blackgate upgrade? (like 60% blackgates / 40% onamps)

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

I'd say something more like 40% bypassing output caps, 40% blackgates, 20%(& flavor) opamps.

 

[zhoufang]

I just wonder that since BG's main selling point is being not so polarized as other E-caps, how much impact will this charactor be to for power caps?

I'm planning to use OS-con for the mod partly due to the easy availability here (but still only 20V and no 16V, usable but not ideal). I guess with low loss of tangent and low ESR, is should work quite well. Esp the ultra low ESR at high frequency should be ideal for absorbing the high freauency from PCI slots that's generated by the switching power supply.

But even if I eventually had such a 1212M modded with OSCON I don't really think there will be any chance of comparing it with another 1212M modded with BGs...

 

[perplex]

when you replace the capacitors is it easy to kill the card by keeping the iron on it too long etc ? or is it easy for a soldering noob?

 

[lan]

There's no need to keep the iron on for a long time. It can be done with one second.

 

[Edwood]

Using the right temperature is crucial.

But in the case of capacitors, it's not entirely necessary to have a temperature controlled soldering iron. (well, maybe except for those tempermental Sanyo OSCON's.)

It's IC's like OP Amps you have to be more careful with. I've fried more than one OPA627 by not being patient and waiting for it to cool down between soldering pins. I clamp a piece of aluminum bar to the chip as a heatsink whenever it fits.

-Ed

 

[dasbin]

Wow.

I just did a little modding on my 1212m after months of thinking about it... added some .01uf polys as power decouplers on the output opamps (stock JRC) - this mod didn't seem to make any noticeable difference.

But as soon as I bypassed the ouput caps... holy cow! The top end completely changed! Cymbals etc suddenly got a whole lot faster and more detailed... seperated them from the mix more. In some recordings this makes things a little less pleasant because the output caps tended to "smooth down" cymbals that were particularily sharp or only existed in the 12K-ish range, made them sound more full. But now they're way up there in their own space in the mix. It also tends to make mp3s sound like crap. Great for analytical listening, which is what I want... I think I just found myself my new full-time "gold channel" DAC for my recording studio!

So I recommend this mod to anyone who wants a truer/faster picture of what's going on in the high frequencies. Didn't notice much/any difference below 8Khz or so mind you, though my monitors aren't linked to a sub here so I can't tell if there's any improvement in the bottom couple octaves.
All you need to do is bridge the solder connections on 4 caps. So easy and easily reversible. You don't even need to take the old caps out if you don't want to.

Thanks guys for this idea. I think next I might try swapping opamps. I don't really subscribe to the Black Gate voodoo, I think the stock power filtering caps are quite decent.
I'm really temped to try some mods to the line input section, too... anyone have any ideas? All I can really think of doing is swapping the opamps.

 

[ssingh0]

iron what kind of breakout do you have? When I went from stock to terrymx built, the slam got really crazy too.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

This thread is about the 1212M, which hasn't a breakout cable as the 0404 does. I've never used any aftermarket breakouts for the 0404 (never actually owned the card myself) so I can't say anything about that.

 

[bubbagump]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer <snip>......At least I think this should hold me off from wanting an external DAC for quite some time (at least until the LA meet ) I wonder how much better an internal soundcard (without an external DAC) could possibly be...

why wait for teh LA meet? head to san diego and carpool up for the san jose meet

 

[buschfsu]

ok guys sounds like we have the output analog path and power caps well in order.

my question is this... i want the AD converters to be as sweet as possible for recording. anyone looked at the caps in that chain? i know most of us are using this for playback but any help here is greatly appreciated!!!!


also the pics are gone from the beginning of this post!! help

 

[Kurt]

Iron_Dreamer:
Did you ever compare the digital outs of a E-MU card with the RME? TIA

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by buschfsu ok guys sounds like we have the output analog path and power caps well in order. my question is this... i want the AD converters to be as sweet as possible for recording. anyone looked at the caps in that chain? i know most of us are using this for playback but any help here is greatly appreciated!!!! also the pics are gone from the beginning of this post!! help

Sorry about the pics, I no longer have that site anymore, and don't have a copy of those pics anywhere that I can find.

The AD coversion caps and opamps could be similarly upgraded for better sound, though I am not sure what the impact on the sound would be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurt Iron_Dreamer: Did you ever compare the digital outs of a E-MU card with the RME? TIA

Not directly. The EMU has the advantage of 192kHz operation, but the RME has much simpler and more reliable drivers, as well as AES/EBU and it outputs to all output media simultaneously. For those reasons I prefer the RME for digital output, not to mention that it doesn't take up 2 PCI slots. As far as pure sound quality (i.e. lower jitter) I am not sure which is better, but neither strikes me as having any major problems.