NewClassD regulators installed. Here's my mini review:
I've been itching to upgrade my matrix for a while now. The Mini I VA2 is not available for now,and I look longingly at the Anedio D1 thread. Should I make the jump? It's a $1270 jump. Quite expensive. And the way that everyone has been waxing poetic about the D1 hasn't made it easy
During these musings, however, which have lasted several weeks, I also looked at matrix upgrades. I decided to give the NewClassD regulators a go. Gwikse brought them to our attention in post #427 of this thread. He also gave us detailed upgrade PICs. Thank you gwikse! Also many thanks to T.IIZUKA for detailed pictures of the mini internal circuits.
It is a $100 upgrade for a $300 DAC. Is it worth it? Hmmmmm......
After installing mine I don't listen to the unit for the 1st couple of songs. I played Densens demagic . While it was playing I thought "it doesn't look like much has changed." from what I was hearing.
So I sat down and selected my 1st track to give a critical listen: Eryka Budhu's AD2000 from the Mama's Gun album. Erykah's music tends to have oodles of low end bass, which I like
It has to be pure, though. No EQ, and iTunes is set to deliver bit perfect volume max at 100% to the DAC. Erykah's vocals were nicely improved....more clear. She was more there, there. A curtain was removed and you could see her more clearly. This track pans her main vocal from left to right to left often throughtout the song. With these new regulators, the panning was significantly easier to follow. I got a bit dizzy because her image was moving so distinctly. When the bassline came in the change really made itself apparent. More heft with a little bit of growl, too. I LIKE IT!
I played many other tracks long into the night....went to sleep at 3AM!! I was out of control
Another track which brought the change to my full attention was AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill. That song was playing in Iron Man 2 when Iron Man made a splash entrance jumping out of a plane. Before, with the original regulators the track played and the bass was driving. Now, it's
driving. The bassline used to play along with the guitars. Now, the guitars are s-c-r-e-a-m-i-n-g and the bassline is hard charging along like a freight train. In the middle of the track when the music calms down, the guitars and bass go silent as the keyboards and drum beat along in an enthusiastic rhythm. With the new regulators that keyboard session is more lively and I can almost "see" the drummers foot hitting the drum. He's wearing a pair of Addidas lol
Those newclassd regulators changed my Mini I from Driving Miss Daisy to Driving the Indy 500
If you look at the graphs from the NewclassD website of their regulator verses the OEM regulators, you can see that the biggest improvement is in the bass region. I definitely heard it. And even though I felt it mostly in the bass, the improvements were everywhere.
On a slightly different note, one of the Matrix's minor criticisms is a lack of inner detail. The new regulators improved clarity. I love dynamic soundtracks from movies. I don't have surround, though, just stereo 2.0 with a pair of Cambridge Soundworks Tower II floorstanders. They can produce bass down to the 30 Hz region with authority. One of my favorite movie soundtracks to show off dynamics is Tom Cruise's Valkyrie. Of course there is the war scene at the beginning of the movie. The gun blasts are fantastically powerful. But, better still I feel is the scene where Tom and his family flee to hide in their basement as bombs drop in their neighborhood. The dynamics are much richer. The 1st bomb goes off and it sounds like it is about a hundred feet away. The next bomb goes off and it is even further away. The chandelier jingles gently from the vibration. That gentle jingle serves as a nice contrast to the eery silence that has fallen as the family nervously waits. Then, from out of nowhere another bomb. This one was very near and that blast was immense. It shook the foundation of the house. Tom's house shook, and so did mine
With the original regulators the far away bombs weren't as far away and the black silence that was gently interrupted by the shaking chandelier was not as dark. Of course the original regulators shook the house with the bomb blasts before. But now, when playing that scene with the new regulators, the jingle of the chandelier was more distinct and realistic. The chandelier jingle also came out of a darker silence. When that big bomb hit nearby, the new regulators delivered that immense blast with more authority.
So, is it worth putting $100 worth of regulators in this $300 DAC? I say an emphatic Yes.
Bass has more slam.
Micro detail has improved. You get deeper into inner space of a recording.
Vocals are more clear.
Treble is better defined....sharper.
I feel that it changed my $300 DAC to a $500 DAC.
Realizing that I completed a somewhat dfificult task of soldering those regulators (the 3 soldering points for the regulators are so close together I was so afraid I'd short out the unit), I see that replacing a bunch of capacitors will be as easy as pie. That's next
PA
