[sunni]

Really appreciate @ksorota 's help, his informative guide made a noob completed his caps mod!

I'm not good at finding the differences, describing it could be more difficult, anyway I'll try my best, in my way. Note that I've only got 30 hours of burn-in, so it could sound better, but I don't think I really find much difference from the hour 0 to now, maybe it sounds a bit smoother now? And I've forgot about the OG LP sounding already so...

My have 3 main impression on the change of sound, and I will certainly exaggerate the difference:

1. Smoother treble. Sometimes I wished the treble could be a bit smoother on the OG LP, as I found my modded HD650 could be occasionally a tiny bit too hot, not to mention modded HD800 (yes, I love warm and dark sounding). But today, I used modded HD800 for the whole day without much fatiguing. Female vocal is smooth or even sweet, love it!
2. Cleaner sound. It's like this mod washed away some of the mud in the sound, now things sound slimmer after the mod, kinda like some old Hifiman style slim sound. But theose old Hifiman headphones sounds empty when I looked away from those highly focused sounds, but on the modded LP, when I look away, I see (or hear) microdetail. With sweeter treble, female vocal gives a lot more emotion now. It just sounds nutritious, and yummy!
3. snappier sound. The bass might not become heavier, but the punch became harder, and a bit faster sound (is this called "transient response"?) This is like Focal headphones, hits harder and acts faster, yes please!

So... Wait... It's like combining my favorite parts of HD650, old Hifiman and Focal... Is it too good to be true? I don't know, but I really haven't found any weakness yet... Again, the differences are not as pronounced as in words, but they are there, and I think this combination of improvement is great.

Or, actually there's one drawback for me: I usually found myself listening under higher volume now, because the treble spike is much better on HD800 now, and, I want more. Not healthy!

This is my impression of the mod currently, do take my words with a grain of salt, as I haven't used any better amp than LP, so there's no more comparison, and I'm using a pair of cheapo NOS Russian tubes. Oh, I'm in China so the caps I bought might not even be genuine... So your experience could be better than mine, as they were all mentioning better tube rolling result, and the caps you get would only be >= mine.

 

[LCMusicLover]

@Slim1970 has no issues driving the Susvara fwiw.

HE-6se was 'marginal'. Played 'loud enough' but it was turned all the way up. I actually discovered that about 3:00 on the volume knob maxed it out -- volume didn't increase after that.

 

[Slim1970]

@Slim1970 has no issues driving the Susvara fwiw.

Yep, with my Hugo 2 as the DAC I can get the Susvara to really sing at 10 - 1 o'clock on the dial. That depends on where I have the volume setting on the Hugo 2. With the mods and the upgraded tubes, it's actually the best I've heard my Susvara's sound from a headphone amp. The LCD 4's should be a breeze for the LP to drive, especially with the gain setting so high on it. It would have been nice if the LP included a gain switch.

 

[ra990]

I'm almost loath to put this out on forum but... *sigh*... here goes. The mod didn't change my E2 and LP issue: I still get distortion at, what in my opinion are, reasonable listing levels on the LP after the cap changed. The LP sounds great with my Dropennheisers 58X and the E2s are lovely on the Jot, so I'm good. I think I see another set of cans in my future, ones that rate above 33ohms.

I had an unreasonable hope the cap change might allow me to use the E2 and LP with music that liked more gain and was willing to test it. It didn't pan out. The E2+LP(capped) are pretty good at lower sound levels, however.

Sandifop, I don't doubt you're having this issue with your E2 and the LP at all, but I swear I had no issues with that combo - and loved it. Just as I'm loving the LP now with the Aeon 2, which have a 13ohm impedance. There are so many people in this thread that have also vouched for that combo. There's none of what you're talking about on my unit. Have you considered that you might have a defective LP? Have you been able to try another unit to see if you have the same issue?

What's funny is my Peachtree Nova500 does have trouble with the low impedance headphones and I hear distortion beyond low listening levels on the Aeon 2 and Ether 2, so I know what you're talking about - it just never happened with my LP.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Sandifop, I don't doubt you're having this issue with your E2 and the LP at all, but I swear I had no issues with that combo ...

Same here. I don’t know what’s going on with @Sandifop ’s system. Extremely unfortunate.

 

[Wes S]

Really appreciate @ksorota 's help, his informative guide made a noob completed his caps mod!

I'm not good at finding the differences, describing it could be more difficult, anyway I'll try my best, in my way. Note that I've only got 30 hours of burn-in, so it could sound better, but I don't think I really find much difference from the hour 0 to now, maybe it sounds a bit smoother now? And I've forgot about the OG LP sounding already so...

My have 3 main impression on the change of sound, and I will certainly exaggerate the difference:

1. Smoother treble. Sometimes I wished the treble could be a bit smoother on the OG LP, as I found my modded HD650 could be occasionally a tiny bit too hot, not to mention modded HD800 (yes, I love warm and dark sounding). But today, I used modded HD800 for the whole day without much fatiguing. Female vocal is smooth or even sweet, love it!
2. Cleaner sound. It's like this mod washed away some of the mud in the sound, now things sound slimmer after the mod, kinda like some old Hifiman style slim sound. But theose old Hifiman headphones sounds empty when I looked away from those highly focused sounds, but on the modded LP, when I look away, I see (or hear) microdetail. With sweeter treble, female vocal gives a lot more emotion now. It just sounds nutritious, and yummy!
3. snappier sound. The bass might not become heavier, but the punch became harder, and a bit faster sound (is this called "transient response"?) This is like Focal headphones, hits harder and acts faster, yes please!

So... Wait... It's like combining my favorite parts of HD650, old Hifiman and Focal... Is it too good to be true? I don't know, but I really haven't found any weakness yet... Again, the differences are not as pronounced as in words, but they are there, and I think this combination of improvement is great.

Or, actually there's one drawback for me: I usually found myself listening under higher volume now, because the treble spike is much better on HD800 now, and, I want more. Not healthy!

This is my impression of the mod currently, do take my words with a grain of salt, as I haven't used any better amp than LP, so there's no more comparison, and I'm using a pair of cheapo NOS Russian tubes. Oh, I'm in China so the caps I bought might not even be genuine... So your experience could be better than mine, as they were all mentioning better tube rolling result, and the caps you get would only be >= mine.

Good stuff, and I would definitely try a better pair of tubes and you might have even better results.

 

[Wes S]

I'm almost loath to put this out on forum but... *sigh*... here goes. The mod didn't change my E2 and LP issue: I still get distortion at, what in my opinion are, reasonable listing levels on the LP after the cap changed. The LP sounds great with my Dropennheisers 58X and the E2s are lovely on the Jot, so I'm good. I think I see another set of cans in my future, ones that rate above 33ohms.

I had an unreasonable hope the cap change might allow me to use the E2 and LP with music that liked more gain and was willing to test it. It didn't pan out. The E2+LP(capped) are pretty good at lower sound levels, however.

Bummer about your E2, and that does sound a bit different than what others are experiencing. I am curious what tubes are you using?

 

[Sandifop]

Bummer about your E2, and that does sound a bit different than what others are experiencing. I am curious what tubes are you using?

Hey Wes, I’ve used the stock Electro-Harmonic, Gold Pin JJ, and 1974 NOS 6N23Ps. To be clear, it isn’t the E2 or the LP but both together. I’ve found others in the wild that note some LP units are not happy with low impedance cans, I guess the parts bin gods were not in my favor. The E2s are ‘nice’ with most studio music with the LP+E2 but as the dynamics get lively the 58X are more lovely.

DCA dropped new drivers into my E2s and they are doing everything right. I plug them into the Jot and they are great. The Prelude loves them, too. You know, some gear just don’t vibe.

 

[Sandifop]

Same here. I don’t know what’s going on with @Sandifop ’s system. Extremely unfortunate.

I would certainly not take it as representative. My experience is an outlier; a dot outside the main distribution with this. It never sounds awful at most listening levels. I’m still A/Bing to see if its earwax, but every time the music gets lively things seem to get crowded with the E2+LP.

 

[Sandifop]

Sandifop, I don't doubt you're having this issue with your E2 and the LP at all, but I swear I had no issues with that combo - and loved it. Just as I'm loving the LP now with the Aeon 2, which have a 13ohm impedance. There are so many people in this thread that have also vouched for that combo. There's none of what you're talking about on my unit. Have you considered that you might have a defective LP? Have you been able to try another unit to see if you have the same issue?

What's funny is my Peachtree Nova500 does have trouble with the low impedance headphones and I hear distortion beyond low listening levels on the Aeon 2 and Ether 2, so I know what you're talking about - it just never happened with my LP.

I’m becoming loath spotlighting my issue b/c it casts shade on two great pieces of gear. Some shopper will browse the inter-threads and think the E2 or LP is a bad gamble.

I’m pretty sure I screwed myself with the warranty. (Replaced the caps) For me, it isn’t a puzzle. The LP wasn’t designed for low impedance cans, I should have thought about the possibility of ‘me’ happening. But hey, HD 58X or any of my other cans are loving the LP.

 

[DowdyPrime]

@Sandifop Lest you think you are entirely alone... I’m experiencing (the same?) slight distortion in the high vocal range with a pair of Oppo PM-3, even at low volumes. They are rated at 26 Ohm, and, until a pair of HD6xx arrive, are the only pair I can test. I received my LP from Monoprice at the beginning of July. How old is yours? At any rate, I’ll report back when I’ve determined whether its the fault of the Oppos’ or not. But I’m hearing something similar.

 

[Sandifop]

@Sandifop Lest you think you are entirely alone... I’m experiencing (the same?) slight distortion in the high vocal range with a pair of Oppo PM-3, even at low volumes. They are rated at 26 Ohm, and, until a pair of HD6xx arrive, are the only pair I can test. I received my LP from Monoprice at the beginning of July. How old is yours? At any rate, I’ll report back when I’ve determined whether its the fault of the Oppos’ or not. But I’m hearing something similar.

@DowdyPrime I received my LP new from Monoprice in the first week of June; we could certainly be sharing bits from the bin. I’m keen to know what you find.

 

[ksorota]

I have been hesitant to put this up because under normal listening conditions I did not detect a difference other than the amount of gain and position of the volume knob during listening.

The original board, version 308 is the first set of pictures, which shows some component differences and possibly some late stage "fixes" as compared to the more commonly (at least of the boards I have looked at) found boards when doing the cap swap.



The major component differences are the sockets, and the parts on the underside near the top center...to the right of the blue rectangle (hole in the board). The other strange "fix" are the two wires along the lower edge of the underside photo. A long one on the left and a short one on the right bridging two components.

Here are the photos of the version 310 board.



Gone are the components near the blue rectangle at the top of the board, and also gone are the bridging wires.

Like I said, the main difference was the position on the volume knob for volume matching between the amps, but I wonder if with low impedance cans if their is a side affect of poorer sound!?

I have not been paying too close attention to board versions since finding this change. @Sandifop , you have the newer revision board...I know that for sure since I have only seen two of the version 308's, that is not to say you dont have a later version of the board that did not have any outward changes. The LP I currently am loaning out is a version 308, but I have a version 310 that I am using. So when the loaner comes back, I can make a more in depth comparison between the two version and see if I can find any other differences.

 

[Wes S]

I have been hesitant to put this up because under normal listening conditions I did not detect a difference other than the amount of gain and position of the volume knob during listening.

The original board, version 308 is the first set of pictures, which shows some component differences and possibly some late stage "fixes" as compared to the more commonly (at least of the boards I have looked at) found boards when doing the cap swap.



The major component differences are the sockets, and the parts on the underside near the top center...to the right of the blue rectangle (hole in the board). The other strange "fix" are the two wires along the lower edge of the underside photo. A long one on the left and a short one on the right bridging two components.

Here are the photos of the version 310 board.



Gone are the components near the blue rectangle at the top of the board, and also gone are the bridging wires.

Like I said, the main difference was the position on the volume knob for volume matching between the amps, but I wonder if with low impedance cans if their is a side affect of poorer sound!?

I have not been paying too close attention to board versions since finding this change. @Sandifop , you have the newer revision board...I know that for sure since I have only seen two of the version 308's, that is not to say you dont have a later version of the board that did not have any outward changes. The LP I currently am loaning out is a version 308, but I have a version 310 that I am using. So when the loaner comes back, I can make a more in depth comparison between the two version and see if I can find any other differences.

Interesting! I have had 3 LP's and the first one bought when they first came out, had bad channel imbalance and the volume got way to loud to quick, the 2nd one had really bad channel imbalance around 9 -10 on the dial but better volume range on the pot. The 3rd I am currently using has no channel imbalance at all, and much better range on the pot. Also, I noticed that on my first unit (early production) the tubes were damn near impossible to put in and take out. I mean I thought I was seriously going to break something when putting in the tubes the first time. With the 2nd and 3rd units the tubes went in and out much much easier, which makes since seeing they changed the sockets. Aside from the internal changes you just found, the power brick has also been changed from the earlier model, but not sure how much that effects things.

 

[Sandifop]

I have been hesitant to put this up because under normal listening conditions I did not detect a difference other than the amount of gain and position of the volume knob during listening.

The original board, version 308 is the first set of pictures, which shows some component differences and possibly some late stage "fixes" as compared to the more commonly (at least of the boards I have looked at) found boards when doing the cap swap.



The major component differences are the sockets, and the parts on the underside near the top center...to the right of the blue rectangle (hole in the board). The other strange "fix" are the two wires along the lower edge of the underside photo. A long one on the left and a short one on the right bridging two components.

Here are the photos of the version 310 board.



Gone are the components near the blue rectangle at the top of the board, and also gone are the bridging wires.

Like I said, the main difference was the position on the volume knob for volume matching between the amps, but I wonder if with low impedance cans if their is a side affect of poorer sound!?

I have not been paying too close attention to board versions since finding this change. @Sandifop , you have the newer revision board...I know that for sure since I have only seen two of the version 308's, that is not to say you dont have a later version of the board that did not have any outward changes. The LP I currently am loaning out is a version 308, but I have a version 310 that I am using. So when the loaner comes back, I can make a more in depth comparison between the two version and see if I can find any other differences.

I owe you more donuts than I could ever hope to get fresh from Dunkin. Next up: correlation, coincidence, or cause.

[edit: or ear wax]