Is 9V the only voltage that it works with?
GUSTARD DAC-R26 Balanced Decoder R2R+1Bit Dual Native Decoding Music Bridge
- Thread starter m-i-c-k-e-y
- Start date
5 to 12v I have been told that 7.5v is the sweet spot
rodthebod
100+ Head-Fier
It will also work powered via the USB connection but keeping your laptop or PC tethered to your DAC via power isn't a great idea in principle
I won't do that.
I have 4 good LPSs for 5V, and 2 for 12V, but none for 7.5-9V.
I ordered the clock. It's price with the shipment fee to France is of €243.
I will report how it compares to the OCK-1.
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I look forward to your thoughts and the comparison to the other clock
rodthebod
100+ Head-Fier
This is something I do, others might not want to but It's a fair guess that inside your four LPS's there is a variable resistor to alter/tweak the output voltage. It's normally a small (8-10mm x 3-4mm x 8-10mm) blue square PCB mounted components with a giveaway small slotted screw for adjustment. This resistor will be one of the last components on the output side of the board. A multimeter to measure voltage is required and a small jewellers slotted screwdriver, keep turning the screw until the desired voltage is achieved shown on your multimeter set to DC volts. Look at the pic of one of my ZeroZone LPS's for the blue components, this one is dual output hence the two boards which can be adjusted independently which is nice.
Manufacturers will offer various output voltages for their supplies but it's a fair bet that for economies of scale the supplies are the same inside just adjusted differently, as we are only talking about low voltages here and low currents. This supply shown does 5v all the way to 12v.
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Do you think that it's possible to apply this tweak to the Shanti to make it output 7.5V?
rodthebod
100+ Head-Fier
Since we are discussing this so much, here is the Leo Bodnar board naked, it's very well made and note that the clock is on it's own island to help with micro vibrations. Very substantial BNC connections. Note the clever use of holes next to the voltage regulator (the thing that gets hot) for aid of cooling.
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rodthebod
100+ Head-Fier
Good point, I have a Shanti, I will see.
Stellabagpuss
100+ Head-Fier
My experience is running at 5v, and surprisingly the LB will sound good even with a cheap black ifi psu. l have also tried the Zero Zone 01 and ifi Elite PSU, l stuck with the Elite, it's sounds quieter and cleaner,but not by a big margin
For 5V, I have a Keces P8, two Shanti, and a iFi iPower mk.2.
LarsHP
Headphoneus Supremus
Thanks for your input. The reason I have questioned the subjective reports and suggested placebo is that of the specifications / measurements. However, I am open to the idea that there may be other and more important spec's than those defined by just stating that a clock is "sub-picosecond" vs "femtosecond".
Now that I have you (performer of acoustic music) at hand, what do you think about my comments here:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/com...-r26-discrete-dac.968200/page-2#post-17561098
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I just saw how much effort you went to collate all those reviews re R26 & A26 in your new dedicated thread. A nice resource for those on the fence as this thread is certainly a sprawling monster! Nice work
I agree 100% with everything that you've written. This is the first time on any forum of which I've been a member that anyone has understood and explained so well how live (unamplified) music actually sounds! The only difference for someone like me, sitting in the middle of a symphony orchestra - and up close to instruments producing really high frequency sounds - is that we hear those high frequencies before they decay. Sitting with a full orchestral brass section just a couple of meters behind my head, I'm used to hearing the edge, or brassiness to their sound which is muted somewhat by the time it reaches the audience - just as you say. I always wore earplugs in the really loud bits! Also present up close, but getting less as they travel to the audience, are the high frequencies from instruments like triangle, xylophone etc, not to mention the piccolo. With my sound system my aim has always been to recreate the sound that I've known all my life, from up close within the orchestra.
rodthebod
100+ Head-Fier
Been trying out a direct cable RG-402 R26 motherboard (MCX male connector) to BNC to LB clock. This takes away the short umbilical lead inside the R26 made using RG-316U.
After taking off the top panel (front bolts in three pairs on the underside of the R26 and one centre rear panel on the top) It was a simple task to remove the nut on the rear of the R26 chassis holding the BNC male connector assembly -big spanner, don't use pliers! The small gold colour MCX connector on the factory supplied short MCX-BNC lead is just pulled upwards to remove it from the R26 motherboard. The right angle MCX connector allows the fairly stiff cable to naturally exit the hole left by the BNC connector. Thought about it before ordering anything.
I ordered a RG-402 lead from Aliexpress with a right angled MCX-SMA at 1meter so I'd have some cable to play with for other tests. There doesn't seem to be any MCX male to BNC female available but no worries I had BNC connectors from other projects so used one to terminate the new RG-402 lead BNC to the LB.
On first listen, things are noticeably better, but it will need some bed in time to get the best out of this upgrade. I have ordered a RG-405 with MCX right angle male to SMA to try out so it's possible to change cables with this setup, for tweaking, I have just done away with the possibly inferior RG-316U cable and of course some connections which is always a good thing, simplicity is best.
The next thing is to try the LB PCB board INSIDE the R26, yes it will fit, the aluminium transformer partition is easily removable from beneath the R26, with three bolts. This would allow the partition to be modified to take the LB PCB with carbon fibre isolation between bracket and PCB, as it will be susceptible to micro vibrations. Power could be taken from the R26, any suggestions where a nice power tap could be taken, the regulators are just below? If this isn't practical then a LPS from outside could be used and would probably be better sonically, I just like the idea of putting the LB away inside, nice and neat and simpler. The USB is a bit awkward, I'll think about that..... All good fun.
All tweaks are reversible, should you ever want to try something else...... and shouldn't void any warranty.
After taking off the top panel (front bolts in three pairs on the underside of the R26 and one centre rear panel on the top) It was a simple task to remove the nut on the rear of the R26 chassis holding the BNC male connector assembly -big spanner, don't use pliers! The small gold colour MCX connector on the factory supplied short MCX-BNC lead is just pulled upwards to remove it from the R26 motherboard. The right angle MCX connector allows the fairly stiff cable to naturally exit the hole left by the BNC connector. Thought about it before ordering anything.
I ordered a RG-402 lead from Aliexpress with a right angled MCX-SMA at 1meter so I'd have some cable to play with for other tests. There doesn't seem to be any MCX male to BNC female available but no worries I had BNC connectors from other projects so used one to terminate the new RG-402 lead BNC to the LB.
On first listen, things are noticeably better, but it will need some bed in time to get the best out of this upgrade. I have ordered a RG-405 with MCX right angle male to SMA to try out so it's possible to change cables with this setup, for tweaking, I have just done away with the possibly inferior RG-316U cable and of course some connections which is always a good thing, simplicity is best.
The next thing is to try the LB PCB board INSIDE the R26, yes it will fit, the aluminium transformer partition is easily removable from beneath the R26, with three bolts. This would allow the partition to be modified to take the LB PCB with carbon fibre isolation between bracket and PCB, as it will be susceptible to micro vibrations. Power could be taken from the R26, any suggestions where a nice power tap could be taken, the regulators are just below? If this isn't practical then a LPS from outside could be used and would probably be better sonically, I just like the idea of putting the LB away inside, nice and neat and simpler. The USB is a bit awkward, I'll think about that..... All good fun.
All tweaks are reversible, should you ever want to try something else...... and shouldn't void any warranty.
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