[robeeert1]

Costs of modding balanced Havana will be very high due to more components to change.
4 x output capacitors, 2 x tubes, 4 x chips.
Of course you can do some modds, but fully modded will cost you a fortune, not worth it.

 

[redcat2]

Hi,All question about PCM56P chips, i have just replaced my chips today with PCM56P K.
What is it that i am supposed to hear?
 
Because one thing i have noticed straight away is that the vocals do not sit as forward as they did before still there but just a little bit back. Or are my ears just playing tricks and i need to get used to the new chips?

 

[kimchee411]

Can't recall exactly the changes but you definitely need to let them burn in.

 

[redcat2]

Quote:

Can't recall exactly the changes but you definitely need to let them burn in.

As was thinking that as i posted.

 

[robeeert1]

Are you sure the chips you purchased are genuine K from Japan?

 

[redcat2]

Quote:

Are you sure the chips you purchased are genuine K from Japan?

Yes there out of a CD players. An unused CD player. I have two sets one from Japan one from Korea.

 

[redcat2]

Quote:

Yes there out of a CD players. An unused CD player. I have two sets one from Japan one from Korea.

Just went back and had a listen been running now for around 3 hours sounds better then when i first switched on.

 

[redcat2]

Ok,Well i have as you all no replaced the PCM56P with K chips the ones i have put in are Korea 48 hours of burn in not happy, so i have pulled them out and replaced them with Japan K chips.
 
HAPPY DAYS, the sound is back but better cannot wight for burn in, straight off more bass more highs and i little wider sound stage vocals back up front where they should be not sitting back like they where. I am a happy bunny once again.
 
Just goes to prove a point with this DAC should only change one thing at a time so you can see what is going on.

 

[redcat2]

Story of upgrades so fair and what difference it made and things that happened, first things i changed where the Russian micro C13,C14 very straight forward, the sound changed in that the sharp some times hard top end smoothed out the highs where nicer to listen to.
Next thing i changed was the Jupiter HT Round bees wax 2.2uf x 600vdc some strange things happened with these, when i first switched back on the Dac the tube would burn very bright like a torch been switched on and then die back down to normal after 5 seconds, what happened as time went by on burn in around 350 hours it did not do this any more and just would switch on as normal, i put this down first time switch as capacitors breaking in.
Sound wise i love them, on a personal not i did notice a difference at 100 hours and then around 300 hours and then around 450 hours where they seem to settle in to a set sound.Difference in many ways more bass more highs more space in the music and the sound is smooth as silk and i can here a lot more detail in every way.
PCM56P-K chip what a pain in the ass this is to change when you have a capacitor the size of a Jupiter HT, slowly does it when taken out it tuck me around 2 hours yes that is correct, as i tried  both the japan chips and the Korea where just crap , Japan chips where the best these did open up the sound more detail and more tight focused bass and better image.
One interesting thing that has happened the Tube 6835 bendix is at this stage not the best sounding tube , it is the 2C51 bendix? I think this will change with the next upgrade which i will be doing some time in the next week which will be the Resistors Tantalum & i think at the same time Clarity Cap ESA Range polypropylene 0.22uf 630vdc.
I have all the parts here for a full upgrades power section, Schottky Diodes C3D02060F Elna ROB TONEREX, just taking me time so i can get a good feel of what works and does not work, will take some photos latter in the week.
One more thing soldering, oh those little bunny's have solder from both sides which is a pain as when you go to remove a part the hole will fill with solder, do not put the end of the solder iron in the hole you mite over heat the track, get your self a set of solder tools.

 

[Llloyd]

Hey guys,
 
Long thread here and I've tried searching around but it's a little tough, maybe someone can point me in the right direction.  I've been considering upgrading my havana for a long time, but I figured before I do that I would try new chips before I do that at the very least, if in fact swapping to PCM56P-K chips makes the havana competitive with higher level DACs for the little money it costs for the chips. I would much rather give that a shot.
 
Could someone kindly point me to,  or summarize some of the differences between the stock chip and the K chip, I know there are different opinions on the manufacturer of the chips, so just a generalization. Increased detail and extension with the same havana sound would suit me really well. I do like my havana just fine but I feel I'm missing out on the next level of detail.
 
Thank you very much.

 

[kimchee411]

You're not going to get anything huge out of the chip upgrades.  If my memory serves me correctly, the differences are somewhat subtle, but surely noticeable.  A little more extension and definition, not a whole lot of increase in detail, more "presence" and refined textures.  Start with the cheap Malaysian K grades and see what you think.  Going Japanese K grade at a price premium will get you maybe the difference J to Malaysian K does, maybe less.
 
The biggest thing with this DAC is the output caps.  That is #1 in my opinion, but it responds well to pretty much every change.  Well, either that or the tube, but the tube is a given, I think.
 
I see you're in the Bay Area.  You can try both of my heavily modded Havanas before you head down this road if you want.  No point in investing the effort if the end result isn't good enough.  PM me if you're interested.

 

[loserica]

Quote:

You're not going to get anything huge out of the chip upgrades.  If my memory serves me correctly, the differences are somewhat subtle, but surely noticeable.  A little more extension and definition, not a whole lot of increase in detail, more "presence" and refined textures.  Start with the cheap Malaysian K grades and see what you think.  Going Japanese K grade at a price premium will get you maybe the difference J to Malaysian K does, maybe less.
 
The biggest thing with this DAC is the output caps.  That is #1 in my opinion, but it responds well to pretty much every change.  Well, either that or the tube, but the tube is a given, I think.

 
...and after the output caps, the input capacitors and the 0,22 uF value which is in accordance with the 0,001uF (0,01uF) are also important for the maximum quality. In my case, V-Cap CuTF transformed Havana into something really special (but the burning process of 0,22uF value is lenghty

). and also, Black Gate electrolytics; they are better than Elna Silmic. It is incredible how this humble DAC  (as it was in the beginning) has been transformed into something so serious, with so much weight in sound. It's impressive how much has evolved in details, sound texture, resolution and stage presentation.

 

[Llloyd]

Quote:

 
...and after the output caps, the input capacitors and the 0,22 uF value which is in accordance with the 0,001uF (0,01uF) are also important for the maximum quality. In my case, V-Cap CuTF transformed Havana into something really special (but the burning process of 0,22uF value is lenghty

). and also, Black Gate electrolytics; they are better than Elna Silmic. It is incredible how this humble DAC  (as it was in the beginning) has been transformed into something so serious, with so much weight in sound. It's impressive how much has evolved in details, sound texture, resolution and stage presentation.

 
In the end how much did all of your mods cost, I would be find putting less than $200 into it to improve the dynamics and resolution. Any more than that and I will just trade or sell the havana for something different I think. There's a lot of good options in the DAC market right now for under 1k USD.  More of the same would work really well for me though. I already like the stock havana.
 
I've almost had it for a year now. I did roll the tubes a bit though since mine came second hand with 5 spare tubes. I felt the stock tube was quite bad and had the bad, generic "tubey" sound, overly warm, overly smoothed out, loss of detail and sharpness etc..

 

[loserica]

Quote:

 
In the end how much did all of your mods cost, I would be find putting less than $200 into it to improve the dynamics and resolution. Any more than that and I will just trade or sell the havana for something different I think. There's a lot of good options in the DAC market right now for under 1k USD.  More of the same would work really well for me though. I already like the stock havana.

 
All upgrades cost me about 1,3k usd (only the price components) and if you ask me if it was worth the money, I answer that fully deserved. When you put in it Black Gate & V-Cap CuTF (to the critical section) the sound changes radically.
@ kimchee411 made comparisons with DACs at the same level of price and even over and was fascinated by the Havanas performance. I don't want to influence anyone in this regard, especially as the financial effort is considerable..For me Havana became the desired DAC in terms of refinement and musicality.

 

[Llloyd]

Quote:

 
All upgrades cost me about 1,3k usd (only the price components) and if you ask me if it was worth the money, I answer that fully deserved. When you put in it Black Gate & V-Cap CuTF (to the critical section) the sound changes radically.
@ kimchee411 made comparisons with DACs at the same level of price and even over and was fascinated by the Havanas performance. I don't want to influence anyone in this regard, especially as the financial effort is considerable..For me Havana became the desired DAC in terms of refinement and musicality.

 
Yeah, I'm glad that worked out for you and it sounds awesome. I'm just not in the market for that sort of investment haha. I don't need that extreme of an improvement tbh. Maybe I'll just start with the chips and see where that gets me and if I don't approve that could be the end of it. I will probably just buy a concero dac to replace my havana. It seems like a very good value to me.