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Modding the RME PAD

Feb 21, 2004 at 11:07 PM Post #121 of 243
Quote:

Originally posted by Edwood
That's pretty fast.

And your replies to this thread are fast.

Don't you have anything better to do? Oh wait, I guess I would be the kettle calling the pot.......
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-Ed


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I have to have something visual to do while listening
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Feb 22, 2004 at 5:49 AM Post #123 of 243
Sorry I haven't been posting lately (alas family issues have come up). Iron, glad to see you're having fun modding!

Anyway, I think I have a possible explanation for why the first card's volume was reduced... is it possible you put two of the Black Gates in backwards? (i.e. in the wrong polarity?) If you did, the volume would decrease by roughly 6dB, and of course you'd lose dynamics.

I can't really tell for sure from the pictures posted earlier if this is the explanation (the pictures are too low quality), but I'd venture that it's the likely explanation. If it is true, the caps need to be replaced, otherwise they risk failing.

Normally people who do Black Gate cap replacements use N/NX/NH series non-polars, so this wouldn't be an issue, but re-reading the thread, it looks like you used the PK series, where it would matter. Personally, I'd suggest you hold off your next mod until you get Black Gates from the N/NX/NH series -- they'll make much more difference to the sound.
 
Feb 22, 2004 at 6:04 AM Post #124 of 243
So do you have first-hand knowledge that the PK series caps sound worse than the others? It was the only line that I could find one with the correct values.

As far as the polarity goes, I made special effort to put them in the right way, and comparing against my new card, I accomplished that. I will put in my new blackgates monday (assuming I get them then, and I will be sure to post whether or not I get the lowered output level, which I doubt I will).
 
Feb 22, 2004 at 6:11 AM Post #125 of 243
The reasoning DIYers typically offer is that coupling is inherently a non-polar process (you're just trying to cancel DC but pass the rest of the wave through, so an ideal capacitor would behave identically on both the top and bottom of a sine wave; non-polars and film caps do this). I don't have any direct comparative experience with this, but this is the main reason Black Gates are so popular among modders -- they're the only capacitor vendor that makes non-polar electrolytics.
 
Feb 22, 2004 at 5:58 PM Post #131 of 243
Quote:

Originally posted by Edwood
Let me know if you find ot what part #'s are for the non-polar Blackgates are, and I'll order those too.

-Ed


I would, but I can't find ones with the right specs anywhere.

And the one in the previous post is from the AC speaker series, so I don't know if it wopuld be appropriate, of it it is even non-polar.
 
Feb 22, 2004 at 10:28 PM Post #132 of 243
Well to add another wrinkle to the capacitor saga, I tried bypassing the cpas entriely, and measured the DC offset of both channels to be <1.0mv (with AD797's), whereas it had been 0.0 witth the caps, so I removed them, and am operating without them now. I obviously have nothing to compared directly with, but I'd say there is a little more clarity an impact now without the caps.

EDIT: Removing the output caps has definitely let sound come through that wasn't before. For instance, I can now he ar slight vocal sibilance on cetain songs that had now sibilance before. There is definitely more high frequency information than there was before, since vocals and guitars sound more realistic and alive than before. Bass impact is also improved. I think the caps had been softening the initial impact of sounds, making them less sharply defined, and less impactful.
 
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