[ksorota]

The stock power supply runs on +-15V. The upgraded one should too. Compatibility should not be an issue.

16V or 16.4V is the plan (16.4V happens to be the original spec from Kevin Gilmore's amp design and is what the GS-X mini runs on)

From a few pages back... the only reason I went for the 25’s.

 

[richardloh]

Hey guys, for the last couple months a lot of you guys have been PM'ing me about the cap mod. I think I'm the first one to do it, so I'll just move what I wrote from the original post to here. FYI: You only need a solder gun for this mod, and of course the caps.

0. Panasonic FM 25V 470uF aka stock caps

Panasonic caps are known to have unbeatable specs. Uber-low ESR and extremely high ripple current makes it an excellent choice for budget-conscious DIYers. They adds very little coloration and sounds reasonably good. On top of that, it only costs $0.3 a piece. Headamp likely used these caps to save cost.

1. Nichicon FW 25V 470uF

These golden caps are the go-to for many audio companies. With gold-sleevings, they are very good-looking, have extremely low ESR and high ripple.

Replacing the FM caps with these yield a very audible improvement. The first thing you'll notice is how the sound opens up as if you open up the window for a breath of fresh air. Everything suddenly sounds so transparent you'll have a hard time beliving its the same amp. Soundstage extends wider, bass goes deeper and treble gains more fienesse. No downsides I can speak of. Nada.


2. Nichicon KW 25V 2200uF

If I were to judge these caps based on the looks, they'd score higher than ELNA.

Given how satisfied I am with the FWs, KW seems like the next logical step. For those of you who don't know what to look for in a power supply cap replacement, the rule of thumb is bigger is better. Bigger power supply cap can store more power and more importantly have less low-frequency roll-off, which is why I bumped up the cap value to 2200uF in hope of improving bass response. (more about capacitance and low-frequency roll-off can be found here: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/par...-capacitors-shootout-coupling-headphones.html)

Nichicon markets KW as a step up from the FWs, they're twice as expensive and have black sleeving instead of gold. So it should be better, right?

Wrong. I desoldered FWs and put these KWs in preparing to be wowed, and what I got was a lifeless sound muddy beyond redemption. These KWs are easily the worst sounding caps I've ever put into the GLs. I gave them 2 weeks to settle down, and in the end its still the same muddy sound with a very closed-in soundstage and no instrument separation to speak of.

I don't know why Nichicon would market these as the better cap. They cost twice as much as the FWs, aren't as good looking and sound so much worse.


3. Nichicon Fine Gold 25V 470uF

I've used Fine Gold for recapping amps in the past and am very satisfied with their performance. They're the second-best audio cap in Nichicon's line-up and projects a very transparent sound with very little coloration. Replacing the KWs with FGs is more than just a breath of fresh air----they're a total revelation. All of a sudden you hear details that you can never hear before and everything sounds crystal clear. These are the logical step up from FWs and indeed sound better, but the downside is they're bigger and heavier. Fitting them on the PCB proves to be quite a struggle.


4. Nichicon KZ 25V 470uF

Two weeks in with the Fine Golds and my hands got itchy again. KZs are the best caps Nichicon's ever made. They're even bigger than FGs and absolutely dwarfs the FWs. There's no way I can actually fit one of these in the tiny PCB of Gilmore Lite MkII. But there's always a nagging voice in the back of my mind. What if it sounds better? And what if I try really hard?

Well I did manage to fit these in in the end, at the cost of 6 hours, a lot of sweat, and bent capacitor legs. There's no way I'm doing this ever again.

And how does it sound? Sublime! These have a wider soundstage than the Fine Golds and are a bit more open sounding. They are hands down the least colored caps I've used on the Gilmore. Nothing really gets in the way between you and your music. Measurements of this cap is rock solid and if all you want is transparency, this is the cap to go, given that you can fit one of these ginormous beast in whatever PCBs you fancy.


5. ELNA Silmic II 16V 470uF


ELNA, a household name if your into capacitors. Nelson Pass loves them and touted them as the best sounding cap beside Black Gate. I have the exact same experiences from re-capping my vintage amps and other headphone amps like the rHead and Jazz FF. These badboys are ginormous, but if you can fit one of these in, chances are you won't replace them ever again. They wipe the floor with everything else.

But the problem is they're just too big. With a diameter of 16mm and lead spacing of 7.5mm, there's no way I can cram these in without damaging the PCB. And its not until 3 weeks into KZs that a thought suddenly occured to me: the Gilmore Lite uses a +-15V power supply which in theory sums up to 30V. How are they using 25V caps then???

With this thought I measured the voltage across each capacitor with my multimeter, and to my great surprise the voltage across each cap is actually 15V instead of 30V. As it turns out, the folks at HeadAmp are a little too conservative and opted for 25V caps when its not necessary.

Which means I can use 16V caps.

And 16V 470uF Silmic II actually fits. 12mm diameter, 5.0mm lead spacing. PERFECT.

With the enthusiasm of a new born child, I ordered 4 16V 470uF Silmic IIs and replaced the KZs with these. It was midnight when I finished the solderjob, and when I first powered these on I near had an orgasm.

Is it really a $500 amp I'm hearing?


The change is so radical that I can hardly call it an upgrade. While there is soundstage and imaging before, the sound now gains a new dimension, being infinitely smooth and tube-like. There is zero harshness to be found. The bass digs extremely deep without being obtrusive, and the mids is the smoothest, most lifelike I've ever heard out of a solid-state. Someone once commented that the Silmic II imbues music with a tube-like warmth and smoothness (https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/electrolytic-capacitor-shoot-out.381961/page-5), and its absolutely true. Music comes out and greet you. It envelops you, hugs you, giving you warm tingles all over your body.

Theses caps are dangerously addictive, to the point that I find myself spending less time on Head-Fi and more time actually listening to music. They are every bit as transparent as the KZs and resolve details at least as well as the FGs. The biggest difference being that it imbues music with a tube-like quality and smoothness. Everything sounds seductive. You'd find yourself tapping your toes to the music and going from one song to another. Time and space is lost, only you and your music remains.

On top of all that, these are also the only caps capable of transforming the Gilmore into a much more expensive-sounding amp. While the KZ, FG and FWs are all worthy of being called an upgrade, they're ultimately only upgrades. The ELNAs transform this amp into something else. They sound tonally rich much like a tube amp, but with the precision and separation of a solid-state. And this is the area where the ELNAs had the Nichicons handily beat---the Nichicons sounds sterile and thin while the ELNAs sound harmonically rich and emotionally charged. If I were to blindly guess how much this amp costs based on sound alone, I'd probably say $2000.

A few things I found out later: Panasonic has a general series capacitor called M. Not FM, just M. And they're rated at 85C. These caps are surprisingly good for the money. They sound much better than the FC cap these amp comes with.

Also a general rule of thumb doing the cap mod: You shouldn't keep soldering and de-soldering just to try different caps. PCBs can easily get damaged if your soldering iron stays on a joint for too long. For this purpose you should get some good solder, preferably cardas solder. They flow extremely well, and are the only solder that doesn't require any flux paste to de-solder. All in all they're extremely easy to work with.

IF you REALLY want to catch em all and just get your hands on every cap out there, try this. After removing the capacitor, clean the two leg holes and solder two wires in place of the capacitor. Ta da! You get a free capacitor extension! Any cap you want to try just solder it to the other end of the wire. This way you would never risk damaging the PCB. A friend of mine was crazy enough to cram four snap-in capacitors inside the little Gilmore, thanks to this mod. Generally for capacitors of the same rating, the bigger the better. So if you really want to go all out, check out Nichicon's Super Through or ELNA's LAO. These uglyass MFs sound out of this world, but you do have to find some innovative ways to keep them inside the tight board space.

Hi guys,

Just joined in the fun with uprated 25v silmic 2 .. burn in time and will update with my finding thereafter.

More importantly, blue led done as the orange one has to go to match my other equipment .. orange to me is pending, alert or danger.

I also had my denafrip terminator dac with blue led by denafrips instead of red ones and aesthetics to me is important in this luxury hifi hobby of ours.

Thanks again guys for the nice share.

Cheers.

Richard

PS: do consider using sandpaper to file down thickness of leg to allow resoldering back the silmic 2

 

[Zer0.p0int.Zer0]

Thanks for the suggestion on replacing these caps. After a brief listening, the most noticeable difference seems to be an improved sound stage, both larger and more accurate. Obviously not A-B comparison. I have always enjoyed this amp.

Now bring on the new PSU!

 

[richardloh]

Hi,

I am using the rare grado fg-1 and had trouble finding a suitable headphone amp after having the new kinki thr-1 and questyle cma-800r that just dun cut it.

Googled and found PS-1 was used with Gilmore headphone amps and enter the nice neat package of gilmore lite mk2 .. no plan for balanced or preamp that I dun have to pay for which is nice. Wow .. better than the kinki or even the more expensive questyle.

Barely 12 hrs but typical characteristic of silmics 2 as with other application that I had experienced especially when compared to panasonic fc/fm remains the same. More musically aka enjoyable, more presence of midbass and bass which also improved overall frequencies, including midrange.

Still very detailed and perhaps smaller stage and a hair less on transparency that I did not missed as it is still very detailed .. I expect that these will be even less noticable after 100-300 hours with these silmics 2 470uf 25v.

Cheers.

Richard

 

[Guidostrunk]

Finally purchased an GLmk2. Going to be comparing it to my Liquid Platinum to see if I can get away from tube rolling lol.

Will be having the cap mod done by @ksorota because soldering cables is a whole different animal than messing with circuit boards that I'm just not willing to try.

Has anyone paired their GLmk2 with the Focal Clear? Curious to hear some thoughts on the pairing.

Cheers!

PS: Sorry @ksorota hopefully you don't get bombarded in PM for more mods lol. Could be lucrative though.

 

[richardloh]

More musically aka enjoyable, more presence of midbass and bass which also improved overall frequencies, including midrange.

Still very detailed and perhaps smaller stage and a hair less on transparency that I did not missed as it is still very detailed .. I expect that these will be even less noticable after 100-300 hours with these silmics 2 470uf 25v.

Cheers.

Richard

Above still hold true .. the silmics 2 caps smoothen out a bit after 24x10 hrs but nothing drastic.

Transparency touted is lesser with smaller soundstage for sure but more musical and easier on the ears i.e. with my Grado fg-1.

Good enuff and end game for this part time headphone user who happened to be given the Grado fg-1 who still prefers signal from denafrips Terminator dac going to audible illusion l3a preamp, sander magtech amp and revel salon 2 which sounds sweeter, more transparent and with proper upfront staging.

Let's await for Justin's long outstanding linear psu upgrade but was surprised it had been almost 2 yrs since spoken for after googling the intro of this gilmore lite mk2 .. wun hold my breath for it though.

Cheers.

Richard

PS: Gilmore Lite mk2 with silmic 2 and blue led

 

[richardloh]

Finally purchased an GLmk2. Going to be comparing it to my Liquid Platinum to see if I can get away from tube rolling lol.

Will be having the cap mod done by @ksorota because soldering cables is a whole different animal than messing with circuit boards that I'm just not willing to try.

Has anyone paired their GLmk2 with the Focal Clear? Curious to hear some thoughts on the pairing.

Cheers!

PS: Sorry @ksorota hopefully you don't get bombarded in PM for more mods lol. Could be lucrative though.

Hi Guido,

Typical bright focal signature especially with mentioned named "clear" should go well with warmer sounding silmic 2 mod .. especially you are used to your current tube based headphone amp.

But surprised that you modded even before trying it out first and guess you also figured the shared "improvement" in sound quality here ... my thinking is that individual preference and matching dictates our idea of improved sound quality ... hope you find the opportunity to try out stock version but safe bet that the mod will serve you well .. at least better than stock one with your focal clear.

Cheers.

Richard

 

[Guidostrunk]

I did give it a listen for a few hours last night before shipping it out this morning for the mod.

I'm really not finding the Clears bright whatsoever. I cranked on them a bit with the GLmk2 playing various poorly recorded 80's music and can't even come close to wincing. I read so many posts about the Clears being bright but can't hear it at all. When I think of bright the HD800 HD700 and a few others come to mind long before the Clears get a mention.
Lol.

Surprisingly the mk2 wasn't too far off from the Liquid platinum(with CBS 5814wa on adapters).
What I'm hoping from the mod is possibly better imaging and maybe some more space in between notes to get that 3D presence like the LP.

The bass response on it is fantastic. I did dig the sound a lot with the few hours I spent with it.

One of my biggest problems with SS has always been soundstage and imaging. The lack of air around notes compared to tubes. The mk2 has some promise. We shall see.

Hi Guido,

Typical bright focal signature especially with mentioned named "clear" should go well with warmer sounding silmic 2 mod .. especially you are used to your current tube based headphone amp.

But surprised that you modded even before trying it out first and guess you also figured the shared "improvement" in sound quality here ... my thinking is that individual preference and matching dictates our idea of improved sound quality ... hope you find the opportunity to try out stock version but safe bet that the mod will serve you well .. at least better than stock one with your focal clear.

Cheers.

Richard

 

[Traiguen]

I received mine today, one day earlier than planned. Thank you Justin for the quick and free shipping to Europe. The packaging and overall presentation are excellent. I look forward to plugging it in and starting to experience it with the RME ADI-2.

Hello,
Today I received mine and I also have the RME ADI-2 DAC, what is your opinion on the difference between the RME headphone amp and the Gilmore Lite?
I am enjoying the combination very much. I feel the Gilmore Lite has more bass compared to the RME, I find the sound maybe a tad warmer than from the RME, which I am enjoying greatly. After much research and personal debate on which separate amp to get to pair with my RME I feel the Gilmore Lite was the best choice. I considered the Rupert Neve RNHP, Audio DG 1 & Cajin iHA 6. I must confess that I have a silly obsession with balanced... it is always in the back of my mind, I cannot say that I have heard a difference to make me prefer balanced vs SE.... it is just in my mind and keeps bugging me to get a fully balanced amp. I managed to ignore it for now and I am very happy with the Gilmore Lite.

 

[justin w.]

From a few pages back... the only reason I went for the 25’s.

If you want to be a "super" upgrader you can eliminate the blue trim pots by replacing them with resistors equal to their current values. that will also give you more room for bigger/higher voltage rated caps

 

[ilikebananafudge]

I'm really not finding the Clears bright whatsoever. I cranked on them a bit with the GLmk2 playing various poorly recorded 80's music and can't even come close to wincing. I read so many posts about the Clears being bright but can't hear it at all. When I think of bright the HD800 HD700 and a few others come to mind long before the Clears get a mention.
Lol.

FWIW I also don't find the Clears to be overly bright. They have more treble energy than my LCD-2s and my recently sold HD650s, but they're certainly not too bright.

 

[richardloh]

Hello,
Today I received mine and I also have the RME ADI-2 DAC, what is your opinion on the difference between the RME headphone amp and the Gilmore Lite?
I am enjoying the combination very much. I feel the Gilmore Lite has more bass compared to the RME, I find the sound maybe a tad warmer than from the RME, which I am enjoying greatly. After much research and personal debate on which separate amp to get to pair with my RME I feel the Gilmore Lite was the best choice. I considered the Rupert Neve RNHP, Audio DG 1 & Cajin iHA 6. I must confess that I have a silly obsession with balanced... it is always in the back of my mind, I cannot say that I have heard a difference to make me prefer balanced vs SE.... it is just in my mind and keeps bugging me to get a fully balanced amp. I managed to ignore it for now and I am very happy with the Gilmore Lite.

Nice !

New units shipped with blue leds which I had to mod?

Cheers.

Richard

 

[Guidostrunk]

First I want to thank @ksorota for doing the mod on my GLmk2. Thanks a ton bro!!!

I got to spend some time with it this past weekend. What a fantastic little amp!
Before I sent it off for the mod. I had a about a 3 hour session with it. I really liked what I was hearing. It had really nice grunt in the bass. Extremely coherent midrange and some sweet extended treble. During the 3 hour session I kept saying to myself " Man, if only it had more dimensional space" " I hope this mod helps out the imaging a bit".

Man what a difference after the mod. It really has exceeded my expectations! Everything is just better. The slam, the impact, the layers in the imaging and space is phenomenal! The sense of realism is amazing.
It's as if a tube circuit had been installed lol. It's such an organic, liquid flowing , enveloping sound. It is very holographic now. The only thing it lacks a little is air but I'm completely ok with that. I really didn't expect it. It doesn't have tubes lol.

It's such an addicting sound. I spent the better part of 4 hours on my porch last night with the rig. The GLmk2 , especially modded. Might be the deal of the century!

Now my interest in the GSXmini has grown even more. Lol.

Not sure when the matching power supply is supposed to be available. Hopefully soon. The mini is lurking around the corner.

Thanks again K!

 

[Klmahnn]

Interested in purchasing either the GLmk2 or GSXmini in the not too distant future. Just wondering... there seems to be a lot of modding going on with big apparent improvements in sound. Are these mods likely to be incorporated in the stock design in the future? Understandable if they won't due to cost and/or straying from the maker's ideal of how it should sound.

 

[richardloh]

Interested in purchasing either the GLmk2 or GSXmini in the not too distant future. Just wondering... there seems to be a lot of modding going on with big apparent improvements in sound. Are these mods likely to be incorporated in the stock design in the future? Understandable if they won't due to cost and/or straying from the maker's ideal of how it should sound.

Hi Klmahnn,

Discrete class A design and so far just simple capacitor mod from excellent fm ones to silmics 2 to suit individual taste in my opinion.

Most did not but I do find transparency and staging lesser with silmics 2 but indeed better suited also for my equipment with more musical presentation to my ears .. YMMV.

I also hope to audition a GSXmini with reported similiar electronic on single ended application but it is almost 4x the $ and with added balanced features that I am not needing or usable.

What I can share is that with my upgraded dac compared to previous Denafrips Terminator, the small Gilmore shines even more

Cheers.

Richard