slowpogo
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
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I recently did some mods to my Juli@. I was using the 1/4" balanced outputs. First I just changed some caps, not totally positive what they were for, and it seemed to have a positive effect.
Then I attempted to swap the original opamps for AD8066. These were the correct package, MSOP. The first one went off without a hitch. The second one, however, was my worst fears come true...ripped off two pads somehow removing the stock opamp, tried in vain to scrape off the traces and do some patchwork. Unfortunately the traces are so thin I could only get the slightest amount of tin on them, and it drove me insane trying to get that opamp in there for about 3.5 hours till I gave up.
I was using the 1/4" side mostly out of convenience, since my favorite cables use that connection. So I switched the thing around to its RCA inputs, thanking God at least I'd still be able to use the card.
It seems to work OK with the RCA -10db inputs...but it's quite noisy. It sounds pretty good, but with the volume of my Millett Max only 2/3 up, there's a noticeable hiss. Volume all the way up, it's very loud, like an old tube guitar amp.
So my question is...is the missing opamp on the balanced outputs responsible for this hiss? I thought they were totally separate topologies. As it is, the card is a little noisier than the onboard SoundMax on my old motherboard. If this is just how the Juli@ is normally, it's quite disappointing.
Then I attempted to swap the original opamps for AD8066. These were the correct package, MSOP. The first one went off without a hitch. The second one, however, was my worst fears come true...ripped off two pads somehow removing the stock opamp, tried in vain to scrape off the traces and do some patchwork. Unfortunately the traces are so thin I could only get the slightest amount of tin on them, and it drove me insane trying to get that opamp in there for about 3.5 hours till I gave up.
I was using the 1/4" side mostly out of convenience, since my favorite cables use that connection. So I switched the thing around to its RCA inputs, thanking God at least I'd still be able to use the card.
It seems to work OK with the RCA -10db inputs...but it's quite noisy. It sounds pretty good, but with the volume of my Millett Max only 2/3 up, there's a noticeable hiss. Volume all the way up, it's very loud, like an old tube guitar amp.
So my question is...is the missing opamp on the balanced outputs responsible for this hiss? I thought they were totally separate topologies. As it is, the card is a little noisier than the onboard SoundMax on my old motherboard. If this is just how the Juli@ is normally, it's quite disappointing.
