[rasmushorn]

I know this is a very old product which has been around for years. But I have been very pleased with the Mini Muse DAC with 4xTDA1543 and the sound-value for money, so I wanted to see where I could get to further down the NOS DAC road.

This DAC has been modded with BlackGate Caps og Burr-Brown OPA637AP Opamps. Even though they say that it requires a lot of burn-in I am very pleased with it's sound so far right out of the box. It sounds better than analog out from the CD-player.

First thing when getting a new equipment is to rip it open of course. In this case to see if the promised mods had been made. Luckily they were.

Pictures:

 

[mrarroyo]

I had two of the Lite DAC-AH, one stock and the 2nd modded by replacing the op-amps on the output with gear oil caps. I loved the sound and in hindsight I wish I had kept it. It had a very musical and engaging sound.

 

[Chefano]

Well I was wondering exactly that. Are the Op-amps really necessary?
Can you tell us on what Vcc yours TDAs are running?
 
Thanks!

 

[rasmushorn]

Well I was wondering exactly that. Are the Op-amps really necessary?
Can you tell us on what Vcc yours TDAs are running?
 
Thanks!

Sorry - what is Vcc?

 

[]eep]

VCC is the voltage at which the dac-chips operate. IIRC it is 6V for the Lite DAC.

I'm sorry to say but putting in better opamps is a waste of time and money. Ok, I need to elaborate a bit on that: sure, it sounds better, but your investing in the wrong place, in something that shouldn't be there in the first place. What's the point in attenuating the sound first only to amplify them again later with 'better' opamps? Just chuck the whole unnecessary trace.

I'l go and photoshop some photo's for you. BRB


[img=400]http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9383/litedacinsidemod.jpg[/img]
This is after the mod. The whole section right of the caps/chips is bypassed.
[img=200]http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/9559/litedacinsidestealpoint.jpg[/img]
This is the point where you can steal the signal away: before R35 and R36.
IIRC:
R36 is RIGHT
R35 is LEFT
Only desolder the original white/red wire, NOT the black one.

You can use any really good capacitor. It doesn't need to be 630V. As long as it fits inside you can use anything, some nice PiO's for instance.

 

[rasmushorn]

 
Quote:

I just modded the Lite DAC AH for a friend two weeks ago. It does sound the same indeed. It's kind of a bigger badder brother. Bigger box, more room, internal power supply and 2x more dac-chips.

But... you have to mod it. It comes standard with 2 opamps after the dac-chips. Why oh why? My friend knew about a passive mod from some forum (here?) to bypass the (totally superfluous) opamp output stage with two 2,2µF caps. So I told him to get some nice caps and suggested Obbligato. All said and done soldered the chips directly to the output via these caps (very nice quality btw).

The sound was nice before (he had a version with upgraded opamps etc) but slightly veiled. After the mod the sound was much better (ok, thats audiophile lingo for just discernibly better) even though the caps were not burnt in at all. After burn-in it sounds even better I heard later. From what I heard it sounds almost the same as the Muse, just a bit more fluid and transparent.

Conclusion: it costs 3x as much, lasts probably longer and sounds a mite better.

On a different note: I worked in a power switch. Works nice and looks pretty ok. I'll post pictures later.

Please post the pictures of the mod here too. I would be interrested in doing the mod myself. Do you have any other recommendations for some great caps for that purpose?
 
Other than that I think it sounds much better than the Mini DAC (again thats audiophile lingo for just discernibly better) but the sound is richer and has more details. The sound feels like everything is more balanced and easy. It is hard to explain it but it is like the sound becomes restfull and a pleasure to listen to compared to the Mini DAC. 
 

 

[rasmushorn]

Quote:

VCC is the voltage at which the dac-chips operate. IIRC it is 6V for the Lite DAC.

I'm sorry to say but putting in better opamps is a waste of time and money. Ok, I need to elaborate a bit on that: sure, it sounds better, but your investing in the wrong place, in something that shouldn't be there in the first place. What's the point in attenuating the sound first only to amplify them again later with 'better' opamps? Just chuck the whole unnecessary trace.

I'l go and photoshop some photo's for you. BRB

Thanks - I am looking forward to see the pictures 

 

[]eep]

Pictures added as promised.

and comments too. I answered your question before i read them I knew you wanted to do the mod. So there you go.
I saw some nice Russian PiO's that you can use, or these Obbligato's. Just search on Ebay.

 

[rasmushorn]

Ahhh - thanks. As soon as I am done with building my Panda amplifier this will be my next project. I might get back with another question or two....

 

[]eep]

Project? It's about 15-30 mins work.
LIttle effort, big result. :atsmile:

 

[rasmushorn]

Hehe... for me as a total DIY newbee it is a project to some extend...