[EFN]

I will make this short and sweet.

Stock PengAmp Caffeine:
- A bit too bright sounding for my blood, hard-edged in the higher frequencies
- Lean and lacked warmth for driving the likes of AKG K701, Ety ER-4S
- Analytical - perhaps a tad more than necessary
- Caved in soundstage

Modded PengAmp Caffeine (Unknown 850 uF Cap OUT, TWO Rubycon MBZ 1500 uF IN)
- Super smooth and no longer hard-edged
- Milky warm and soothing signature
- Still analytical but no loger fatigue inducing
- Airy soundstage

And I am not ********ting when I say my brains melted with the new sound. I have listened to many good amps and I know this is the real deal.

Unfortunately this will require DIY skills and agility with solder to parallel the two MBZ Rubycons.

Words have it that the PengAmp will be "sunset" in favor of the spanking new HeadStage Arrow. So this mod applies to existing PengAmp if you have one.

Cheers.

EDIT:
It is worth to note that this mod is NOT recommended for those not familiar with DIY work. Taking out the board itself from the unit is difficult and you may damage the tin casing in the process.

Additionally, my choice of caps are not really suitable because the voltage is somewhat lower than the 9V battery used. The caps are 6.3V and the amo itself uses 9V. So if you have to do this mod make sure the caps are similarly rated to the amp power level. This is to make sure that the caps don't get fried in a prolonged use.

Cheers.







........Short and sweet no?

 

[homers54321]

ive been looking for a used penguin amp caffeine and this makes me want it even more!

seems like nobody sells their penguin amp. that or nobody buys them...?

 

[LeonWho]

Hmm. According to their website, the PenguinAmp Caffeine uses low-ESR 1500µF power cap (FC Panasonic series). That seems different from the 850µF power cap you found.

PenguinAmp.com -

 

[EFN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeonWho /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmm. According to their website, the PenguinAmp Caffeine uses low-ESR 1500µF power cap (FC Panasonic series). That seems different from the 850µF power cap you found. PenguinAmp.com -

PenguinAmp have been in the market for quite a long time, so there's a few "version" floating about. Just like Xin amps as well, within the Xin SuperMini-IV range there's at least 4 "revisions" with different valued caps

 

[DyBre]

great as always, you are a poisonous DIYer.

 

[yeahx]

I was wondering if anyone was ever going to do this, now I want hear it too

Oh well I still like how mine sounds.

Ok so I thought about this all day and I think Im going to see if I can get a friend to help me out with it. I found those caps on ebay, 8 for $5 shipped. How do you get into the amp, just remove the bolt things on the outside? Did you burn it in before you did this because my amp sounded a lot smoother after many hours of burn in. Will this shorten battery life?


Thanks!

 

[yeahx]

Should I get the same caps you used or are there ones for just a little more that could be better?

Edit: Ordered on ebay so nevermind

 

[yeahx]

The capacitors could be in my mail box soon but Im having second thoughts now. I'm trying to make this the only amp I own for a long. Which is kind of why I wanted to do it, but now Im worried that this could shorten it's life somehow. Obviously I know nothing, anyone think it's safe enough to continue?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFN /img/forum/go_quote.gif Stock PengAmp Caffeine: - A bit too bright sounding for my blood, hard-edged in the higher frequencies - Lean and lacked warmth for driving the likes of AKG K701, Ety ER-4S - Analytical - perhaps a tad more than necessary - Caved in soundstage

Not with the Caffeine Pro after 600 hours of music through it...

 

[yeahx]

I the Pro the same as Ultra? I burned mine in after a quick listen when it arrived and it got a lot better. I'm still thinking about this mod but Im waiting until I can get everything together unless someone thinks it is a bad idea for any reason. This is kind of my main amp for as long as possible so I dont want to screw it up.

The caps I got are shorter than the ones in the picture which I guess is in the Rubycon specs so hopefully they will give the same results.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yeahx /img/forum/go_quote.gif I the Pro the same as Ultra? I burned mine in after a quick listen when it arrived and it got a lot better. I'm still thinking about this mod but Im waiting until I can get everything together unless someone thinks it is a bad idea for any reason. This is kind of my main amp for as long as possible so I dont want to screw it up. The caps I got are shorter than the ones in the picture which I guess is in the Rubycon specs so hopefully they will give the same results.

I believe the features were the same (gain and bass boost, AD8397) but I don't know what the internal changes were between Pro and Ultra.

 

[MrTissues]

Where can I buy one of these PenguinAmps ebay? I see lots of amps in Penguin cases, but I don't know if they are THE amp.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

PenguinAmp.com

 

[EFN]

It is worth to note that this mod is NOT recommended for those not familiar with DIY work. Taking out the board itself from the unit is difficult and you may damage the tin casing in the process.

Additionally, my choice of caps are not really suitable because the voltage is somewhat lower than the 9V battery used. The caps are 6.3V and the amo itself uses 9V. So if you have to do this mod make sure the caps are similarly rated to the amp power level. This is to make sure that the caps don't get fried in a prolonged use.

Cheers.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yeahx /img/forum/go_quote.gif I the Pro the same as Ultra? I burned mine in after a quick listen when it arrived and it got a lot better. I'm still thinking about this mod but Im waiting until I can get everything together unless someone thinks it is a bad idea for any reason. This is kind of my main amp for as long as possible so I dont want to screw it up. The caps I got are shorter than the ones in the picture which I guess is in the Rubycon specs so hopefully they will give the same results.

what rating are the caps you got?? they may be a different series to the ones EFN uses in this MOD. the idea is to add more capacitance and higher quality capacitance, the mod will not shorten the life of the amp (unless you kill it in the process LOL), but it will require the amp to be basically burned in all over again as the main thing that burn-in effects is the caps and the larger value caps in the power rail like these are take the longest to burn-in. also dont let EFN's warning about DIY skills scare you. anyone who has some experience with surface mount soldering should be able to pull this off without issue, its hardly intricate work and there doesnt seem to be anything in proximity to the solder pads (which are quite large by the looks of it) to get in the way. just make sure the caps arent shorting before you turn it on as they are in the power rail and will fry the amp if they are. I would recommend putting some insulation on the leads as well if you can as when installed like this the positive and negative lines are crossing. Hard to see whether EFN has done that or not, but to be safe I would.