[efftee]

Very kind of Steve to reply to my queries:

The mod consists of:
40 capacitors are upgraded and 2 additional added.
Replacing the 22 AVX tantalums (150+ mΩ) with the Kemet ultra low ESR (25 mΩ) high polymer help improve layering and sound stage. Dynamics and detail are improved from the AudioNotes and Elnas. Vishay MKP1837 and Amtrans AMCH bypass caps help smooth out the digitalness leaving a more analogue yet detailed signature. Lows are more textured extending further. 4 of the X7R MLCC caps are replaced with higher grade X8L MLCC, X7R shouldn't really be in the audio path. Some of those original old stock caps in the DX300MAX can be way out of tolerance and not installed as matched pairs :/ eg in one I tested one of the 100uf power caps measured 69uf and the other one 84uf.

22 x Kemet KO 25 mΩ
4 x Audio Note Kaisei
2 x Audio Note Seiryu
6 x Elna Silmic II
2 x Vishay ERO MKP1837
2 x Amtrans AMCH
4 x X8L MLCC
1 x Higher grade heat transfer sheets
Internal shielding
Laser cut brushed stainless steel back plate to help further with shielding and cooling and looks great.

I'm now very curious on the impressions when @Infoseeker gets his back~

Wow. This is quite impressive. Would really love to hear impressions! And whether there is a Ti mod coming...

 

[snapandslide]

To add my 3MAX is also with nayparm - i wanna see what a souped up zombie sounds like. I can't wait. It does feel as if this should help unlock some of the remaining potential of the 3MAX, maybe also help with some of the dynamics for headphones too!

 

[Infoseeker]

Is there anyway to have neutron player not stutter when the screen is off?

 

[gentzen]

Is there anyway to have neutron player not stutter when the screen is off?

Have same problem with PCM to DSD conversion. It's been reported that problem stops with increased thresholds of CPU performance, at the cost however of potentially damaging temperatuire spike. And, you need to root your player first, to tamper with the CPU frequencies.

 

[Infoseeker]

Surely the heat from keeping the screen-On is also heat generating that is worse than the CPU problem?

Or should I not be using PCM to DSD at all?

 

[gentzen]

Surely the heat from keeping the screen-On is also heat generating that is worse than the CPU problem?

Or should I not be using PCM to DSD at all?

on my device, keeping the screen on doesn't generate really noticeable heat in itself. PCM-->DSD is the main contributor to any heat. If you increase the performance parameters of the CPU cores, then, according to what others have said, the heat generated is borderline dangerous over a longer period. As I can't use PCM-->DSD without the screen on (because of the cutting-off problem) but haven't installed extra thermal shielding either, I tend not to use this feature.

 

[Infoseeker]

Oh I forgot to mention I got my dx300MAX-EXN back from NPAudio. I really like the back metal-plate instead of the glass-back that he did for me.

So biggest changes has been the sense of stereo-imaging; now contasting with a darker background. Songs have a more concise surround feeling from where different parts of the track pop out from. Less of that positively forgiving analog haze to the mids.

Second change, is there is now a more unforgiving glare to the upper-mids/lower-treble-air area. Which brings the tonality/presentation closer to an amp12 kind of presentation. Over the forgiving amp11mki presentation it had previously.

Bass & subbass presentation seems to depend more on the song tracks than the dap-coloring. No extra coloring or so in tonality. Bass seems to stand out more....like it is more noticable to focus upon with there being tbe darker background; especially noticable for punchiness.

New presentation scales really well with the Focal Utopia headphone ability to present dynamics and depth much better than before; but at the cost of that one glare of the Focal Utopia also comes into play. Quite the high-fi experience.

Overall, the pros/cons of the modification seem to be in balance. Just means now it is synnergizing with different iems/headphones than I had previously before the modification.

 

[justanut]

Oh I forgot to mention I got my dx300MAX-EXN back from NPAudio. I really like the back metal-plate instead of the glass-back that he did for me.

So biggest changes has been the sense of stereo-imaging; now contasting with a darker background. Songs have a more concise surround feeling from where different parts of the track pop out from. Less of that positively forgiving analog haze to the mids.

Second change, is there is now a more unforgiving glare to the upper-mids/lower-treble-air area. Which brings the tonality/presentation closer to an amp12 kind of presentation. Over the forgiving amp11mki presentation it had previously.

Bass & subbass presentation seems to depend more on the song tracks than the dap-coloring. No extra coloring or so in tonality. Bass seems to be more noticable to listen to with the darker background to the playback.

New presentation scales really well with the Focal Utopia headphone ability to present dynamics and depth much better than before; but at the cost of that one glare of the Focal Utopia also comes into play. Quite the high-fi experience.

Overall, the pros/cons of the modification seem to be in balance. Just means now it is synnergizing with different iems/headphones than I had previously before the modification.

Photos of the back pls? Oh and do share more after a couple of hundred hours of burn-in

 

[ken6217]

Oh I forgot to mention I got my dx300MAX-EXN back from NPAudio. I really like the back metal-plate instead of the glass-back that he did for me.

So biggest changes has been the sense of stereo-imaging; now contasting with a darker background. Songs have a more concise surround feeling from where different parts of the track pop out from. Less of that positively forgiving analog haze to the mids.

Second change, is there is now a more unforgiving glare to the upper-mids/lower-treble-air area. Which brings the tonality/presentation closer to an amp12 kind of presentation. Over the forgiving amp11mki presentation it had previously.

Bass & subbass presentation seems to depend more on the song tracks than the dap-coloring. No extra coloring or so in tonality. Bass seems to be more noticable to listen to with the darker background to the playback; especially for punchiness.

New presentation scales really well with the Focal Utopia headphone ability to present dynamics and depth much better than before; but at the cost of that one glare of the Focal Utopia also comes into play. Quite the high-fi experience.

Overall, the pros/cons of the modification seem to be in balance. Just means now it is synnergizing with different iems/headphones than I had previously before the modification.

This is very individual. Based on your description, I’d personally run as fast as I could away from that upgrade.

 

[Electrocrytic]

Photos of the back pls? Oh and do share more after a couple of hundred hours of burn-in

Hell of a lot of caps to form in there, I agree, Audio Notes and Silmic II need a few hundred hours. No idea for the amtrans, think they are polypropylene with copper anode and funky gold plated copper legs.

Grabbed these from their forum

 

[TheHelper1964]

Gonna sting the wallets lol

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/06/the-first-1-5tb-microsd-card-is-coming-to-destroy-your-budget/

 

[snapandslide]

Oh I forgot to mention I got my dx300MAX-EXN back from NPAudio. I really like the back metal-plate instead of the glass-back that he did for me.

So biggest changes has been the sense of stereo-imaging; now contasting with a darker background. Songs have a more concise surround feeling from where different parts of the track pop out from. Less of that positively forgiving analog haze to the mids.

Second change, is there is now a more unforgiving glare to the upper-mids/lower-treble-air area. Which brings the tonality/presentation closer to an amp12 kind of presentation. Over the forgiving amp11mki presentation it had previously.

Bass & subbass presentation seems to depend more on the song tracks than the dap-coloring. No extra coloring or so in tonality. Bass seems to stand out more....like it is more noticable to focus upon with there being tbe darker background; especially noticable for punchiness.

New presentation scales really well with the Focal Utopia headphone ability to present dynamics and depth much better than before; but at the cost of that one glare of the Focal Utopia also comes into play. Quite the high-fi experience.

Overall, the pros/cons of the modification seem to be in balance. Just means now it is synnergizing with different iems/headphones than I had previously before the modification.

Interesting can't wait to hear mine. I guess you also need to give some time for burn in or has that already been done?

 

[Infoseeker]

Interesting can't wait to hear mine. I guess you also need to give some time for burn in or has that already been done?

Yeah, I still need time for burn-in.

 

[fokta]

Now I can stay away from desktop...

 

[Maxx134]

Yeah, I still need time for burn-in.

Kaisie caps are known to change noticably with burn-in, but fortunately not take that long. On another mod, Kaisie took just after 100hrs to settle.
Becomes more transparent and lively.

You also have larger caps, and elna silmics, and also other film caps, so I would assume burn-in would increase to same length of time, as if you had a brand new unit.