[morphsci]

I just bought this little DAC for my office rig and I must say I am very impresssed with it. Out of the box it sounded a little thin and congested but now after about three days of burn-in it is sounding very nice. It has great connectivity with RCA and BNC coax SPDIF, Optical SPDIF and USB. It also has a headphone out but I haven't tried it yet. All in all a nice little DAC for under $300. You can see additional info about it HERE

 

[kaushama]

I must say modding has a huge effect on transients, Bass extension sound-stage and imaging even before burning. I have updated the first post with my pre-mod impressions.

 

[pageman99]

Kaushama, just read your comments about the Musiland after breakin. Your comments are very accurate based on my experience, which now is over 400 hours.

Wonder if there are any DIY's willing to do your mods for me here in the states?

Interestingly, I am also considering the DA100 as my next DAC. Might be awhile as warmer weather has finally arrived here and my listening time will necessarily drop.

Keep us posted.

 

[munchkin]

kaushama, i've decided to get the md10 and will be ordering one with the next week or so.. i'm also thinking about modding it, what parts did you use? and do you know a place to get them that will ship to the UK?

thanks..

 

[kaushama]

I got all the parts from Farnell UK! They do ship parts, free of charge, when the order is more than 20 quid. I think the US branch of the company is Newark.

8126453: RUBYCON ZLH 2200UF 25V (6)
8126461: RUBYCON ZLH 440UF 25V (3)
1144699: RUBYCON ZLH 220UF (1)
9551689: VISHAY Ultra-fast 1A 1000V diodes (14)

LM4562 (1), I got from National semiconductor directly.

Out of the six 2200Uf capacitors four are in the power supply section. I think increasing capacity to 10000 or 5600UF will further increase quality of transients. I wanted to preserve the originality of circuit. So I use the same values. You can use blackgates if you can afford them. But RUBICON ZA/ZL series considered to be very good audiophile grade capacitors. Read here.

Now it had about 20 hours of burning. Sound it pretty impressive compared to unmodded version. Transients, Bass, soundstage and clarity continues to have subtle but very discernible changes.

 

[munchkin]

hey kaushama, thanks for all the help..

what are the benefits of using 4700uF for the power supply caps? and are there any risks/negative effects?

 

[kaushama]

AS I told in earlier post, more capacitance in the power supply is thought to make bass more heavy, deep and transient qualities of the sound to be improved. Sound seems to be fuller. Heed amp Mods use more capacitance in the power supply. A well known snubberized power supply for chip amps use huge amount of capacitance to make sound better.
But changing the values of capacitance make power supply impedance and damping factor of the to be changed. Whether it gives adverse effects depends on original design of whole circuit layout and design I suppose. But I am not very sure.
As we are using LOW ESR (Low impedance), low distortion and fast capacitors most likely outcome is improvement of sound quality.

 

[kaushama]

If you want better alternative for UF4007, use MUR860. It is more expensive but faster than UF4007! It is available in TO220 package.

 

[munchkin]

thanks a lot for the help kaushama, i'll let you know how it goes!

 

[kaushama]

I bypassed MD10's AC filter to see the affect on sound. As It has now passed the 50th hour of burning I wanTed to see whether there is any difference in SQ when it is bypassed. It is mentioned in following site and several others too.

http://www.review33.com/palm/forum_m...31609&number=1

But following translation of a Chinese Review site discusses the benefits of the filter.

Quote:

Because the DAC chip is digital, the simulation composite signal chip, this kind of chip is extremely sensitive regarding the EMI disturbance and the ESD disturbance. SVDAC05, SVDAC06, MD10, Long March II, MD30 has used European Union's CE standard, has had the perfect multistage EMI interference clearance and the ESD protection circuit, causes the supplies overall system the power source to be extremely pure, like this may let the DAC chip work in the extremely stable environment, even if is the city electricity supply line appears above 2000V the instantaneous surge, or has the electric motor, the daylight lamp and so on the intense noise source, also can guarantee the system cannot appear the engine off breakdown, and work in best sound archery target condition. At the same time, the EMI interference clearance electric circuit, had guaranteed SVDAC05, SVDAC06, MD10, the Long March II, MD30 these products, in the use, cannot disturb other electric appliance equipment.

After Mods and burning the sound-stage and detail resolution has considerably improved. I thought bypassing had further little improvement. If someone wants to try, this is the easiest and safest mod that can be done. Just pull down the AC wires clips from the filter and connect them with a thick wire. Then tape it securely with insulation tape.

I will post my impressions regarding post-mod SQ in few hours.

 

[munchkin]

just ordered my md10 today, how long did it take for delivery to UK kaushama?

I will hopefully be modding it like you did, not sure on the components yet but i'll let it burn in for a while before i do..

 

[kaushama]

If you got it from Yelzin, It will usually land here in 4-5 business days from the day of shipping from Hong-Kong! I think in my case it took about 4 days from the day of shipping. But before that there was a delay due to refusal of shipping by DHL as it failed a magnetic test at the airport. Yelzin took care of it and let me known the progress constantly. Great guy!

 

[kaushama]

I have updated the first post with my impressions after burning the Modded DAc. It has very impressive sound-stage, bass and transients now!

 

[DSlayerZX]

yup, if you receive a DA100, remember to post some impression on the web, I am eager to read the difference between modded Musiland and DA100. Since I am consider getting the DA100 some where near the end of this year

 

[rlanger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaushama /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you got it from Yelzin, It will usually land here in 4-5 business days from the day of shipping from Hong-Kong! I think in my case it took about 4 days from the day of shipping. But before that there was a delay due to refusal of shipping by DHL as it failed a magnetic test at the airport. Yelzin took care of it and let me known the progress constantly. Great guy!

If he ever responds!

I sent him a PM last week and still haven't heard from him.