[phalanger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by turtletrax /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey guys. Been reading this thread for a couple days now and have done many of the mods already. I have ordered samples from National but you are only allowed 3 so I am short two. Anybody have a couple I can buy from you?? I have desldered the original opamps and it went really smooth. I used to mod xboxs so that is fairly easy soldering in comparison. Well if anyone has a couple to spare drop me a PM and I will gladly buy them

You can just place another sample order at NS next week. It's a 3-per-week maximum.

 

[turtletrax]

Thanks phalanger. Are you on XS too? I remember your name for some reason

Laters

Turtle

 

[mobayrasta]

Well it has been a few months since my card was modded and I have had absolutely no problems. I have been comparing it to lots of external DAC's and have not found any commercial product under 600 dollars that sounds as good as my card. I know this is totally subjective but I am SO happy with my modded card.

 

[LeonvB]

Quote:

i forgot that head-fiers are better than the multiple Electronic degrees holders at Creative.

Of course. And it's easy too: our budgets are bigger. Plus we don't need to use the cheapest contractor for a part.

P.S. You might not hand out free food, but you sure made me laugh...

 

[twc5964]

I went ahead and changed out 4 more caps on my Audigy 4.The next largest in size aside from the 100uf is four 47uf(used Rubycon za/zl again since I have quite a few of them) located all around the main processor chip.Also,touched up the solder joints on this old card.Quite an improvement I might add.Very pleased with the results as this simple swapping out parts yielded pleasant results.I can say....it's a real pain changing out these caps as they are seated tightly in the board with very little room .Had to use a steady hand but it was worth the effort.

 

[turtletrax]

Wow, I got my three samples from National in 4 business days and just got three of five put in and holy crap does it ever sound better. I am amazed, and worth multiple times what the mod costs.

Awesome. I cant wait to get the other two and finnish the mod

 

[PPkiller]

i'm gonna change my opamp from lm4562 to ad8599.. and instead of bypassing the cap i intend to purchase 4x bgNX HI-Q 22uf 6.3V and solder those... any one able to help me to confirm whether 22uf and 6.3v is sufficient?

 

[phalanger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PPkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif i'm gonna change my opamp from lm4562 to ad8599.. and instead of bypassing the cap i intend to purchase 4x bgNX HI-Q 22uf 6.3V and solder those... any one able to help me to confirm whether 22uf and 6.3v is sufficient?

In my experience it works just fine. Do your own voltage measurements to be sure, but it shouldnt get over 5v

 

[PPkiller]

wow.. ad8599... love at first sight..

 

[kirimaru]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PPkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif wow.. ad8599... love at first sight..

i am glad to hear that,just leave it for burning-in for a week and you will be very pleased with sound.

 

[kirimaru]

there is a very easy way to accelerate the burning-in for blackgate.
you just have to turn-off the pc, unplug it and turn it on and off for while.do it as many time as you can.
i was doing it this trick and i was amazed with results,the sound become more and more clearer,open and detailed.
how its works?acording to blackagte:it remove the previus residual electricity remaing in the cap and make the internal components react faster.

 

[hardnrg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ]|[ GorE /img/forum/go_quote.gif do your research,i ain't handing out free food.

I don't want any of your food... how about you get an x-fi and add these "missing capacitors" that only you know about?

maybe you can write a song about it too

 

[theBigD]

ok, i got my reconditioned xfi music card from creative as a refurb off of ebay. cost me around 75$ with shipping. i decided to short out caps first this time and replace the cap with blackgate and then have my friend come over and let him replace opamp because he has a steadier hand and more experience than i do, also if you do this with an extra hand you can hold that tiny little op amp while the other person solders.

you know i thought doing the cap replacement was going to be the hardest part of this mod because so many people had problems doing it. but for me it was the easiest. just apply heat to the wire and pry the cap out one side at a time. wick out the extra solder and push the new cap in. solder and its done.

so many posts indicate replacing opamp is a breeze. but i found it to be very nerve racking. op amp is so tiny and board tracing is quite fragile.

funny thing about my new refurb, is that it is an older version than the board i fried. there is no heatsink over xfi chip. i took a double take on it when i looked at both cards side by side. there also appear to be a couple of different chips onboard as well but everything else is the same.

anyway i cant wait to replace opamp. having a hard time noticing much diff. with blackgate or shorted caps. maybe a little wider soundstage. maybe a little tighter bass. will the polarized blackgates take a little while to burn in as well?

 

[]|[ GorE]

caps burn in ?

 

[cotdt]

the cap mod doesn't make that big of a difference, most of the difference is the opamp mod. polar caps are not supposed to change with burn-in, but bipolar caps do change with burn-in. that's according to my electronics book.