what jumper are you using on the dac module? and how many hours has it been burn't in? Im just asking because I have zero harshness out of mine. The only time I do get it, is with headphones that are known to be bright... and I combat that with the opa moon opamp.
My experience is the same. Never noticed anything I would term as harsh. I do think A-GD gear in general is revealing, so whatever your recording has, your playback will have.
If you feel technically inclined, open up the Fun and swap the jumper on the dac to 4x oversampling. If you go back a few pages you'll find a picture of the dac module. Just make your's like the picture. TBH Im surprised the Fun doesn't come like this....
And how many hours of burnin have you gone through?
You could get some OPA's and experiment with them or just get an Earth and be done with it. The OPA's do tailor the sound. It affects the sound on all outputs.
Mine is also smooth (never harsh) but I have done some tweaking with the digital modules and the output stages (beyond swapping the jumper to 4X OS which did help to improve things to these ears). I changed out the module caps (the NoVers for Elna Cerafine then bypassed those with WIMA FKP 1.0uf 63V and some .1uf FKP's same V rating). That helped as well to further reduce some upper mid graininess. I'm waiting on some STD series Black Gates (100 uf 25V)that I ordered last week (from FeeBay) for the ACSS modules. I can post some pics if anyone is interested in seeing how I managed it (the bypass caps were tricky to accommodate).
I'm using the FUN in preamp/line out mode to my C-2C. I have the volume set on the FUN to 3/4's with the C-2C running anywhere from 7:30 to 10:00 depending on source material/mood etc. This pairing is pretty sweet for casual listening/movies/gaming etc.
Nice peete! Some pics would be sweet. I'll probably never sell my Fun so some pics and impressions for future reference would be great! Especially it doesn't seem that anyone else is modding their Fun past swapping modules.
From my personal experience with the Fun and high quality opamps... I think the Fun was designed and intended to be used with the audio-gd opamps. I never had the same experience with IC opamps that slimA had. I felt that I was losing details with regular opamps. LesGarten advice about the getting the opa earth is about right. If you want, get the moon also. It sounds a little less defined and would be nice to have so that you can match it up with brighter or harsher headphones. The difference between them is subtle at best.
By the way, kingwa just replied me, and said that the sparrow is like the fun with earth opamp (maybe it's assembled in a different way).
It's just that i'm not sure, as his english is not very clear
. Can u guys confirm if i understood correctly? Here's what he said:
Sparrow is like the FUN install the OPA-EARTH,but FUN can install the OPA-MOON,and OPA-SUN too,and FUN is more functions than the Sparrow. Best Regards Edwin
I've read some people speculate that metal can opamps sound better than their 8 dip counterparts because the metal cans provide shielding. What material do you guys think I should use to shield my hdam's? I'm thinking a box made of 10 layers of reynolds+scotch tape insulation and attached to the ground wire, good or bad idea? Maybe I'll leave the top of the foil box open to preent heat buildup.
I've read some people speculate that metal can opamps sound better than their 8 dip counterparts because the metal cans provide shielding. What material do you guys think I should use to shield my hdam's? I'm thinking a box made of 10 layers of reynolds+scotch tape insulation and attached to the ground wire, good or bad idea? Maybe I'll leave the top of the foil box open to preent heat buildup.
AL is not much of a shield. try a thin steel. If you look at the shields internal to the REF1, KW used thin steel. At least it looks like steel, and that's what most would use. Needs to be Ferrous.
I am using FUN (version A with DIR9001 / DA8740 / ACSS Gain / Diamond Output / OPA-EARTH modules) strictly as DAC with its pre-amp output connected to power amplifier / Mordaunt-Short speakers and its DAC output connected to Purity Audio's KICAS headphone amplifier to drive Denon D5000 headphone.
I have plan to insert tube buffer such as Yaqin SD-CD3 6N8P (http://www.pacificvalve.us/YaqinTBCD3.html) between FUN's DAC output and line input of KICAS headphone amplifier. The tube buffer is meant for impedance matching between the DAC and the headphone amplifier, as well as thicker/smoother sound with less fatigue high-end (through tube rolling). Is there any pitfall I should look out for in using the tube buffer ?
Instead of buying a hybrid headphone amplifier such as Hifiman EF5, I thought combination of tube buffer and solid state headphone amplifier is a better choice (best of both worlds). Perhaps I should switch the DAC module from DA8740 back to default DA1852 to avoid excessively warm sound when the tube buffer is in place. I switched from default DA1852 to DA8740 because of bright/fatigue high-end response after FUN has been fully burned-in and favor jumper settings did not help.
I think it's worth a shot, the dac output is pretty rough! I would think the da1852 would be a better sound, I really didn't like the wolfson module. The preamp out for me is really the only option. Along with having the opamps to tailor the sound. It might be cheaper and more beneficial to you to get a good quality splitter for the preamp out instead of using the dac output.... Just a thought.
Oh and if the preamp is till to harsh then maybe the opa moon would be a good idea to take the edge off without getting overly warm.
Les those are thin copper sheet painted black ( RE1/Phoenix/FBI-500/CD7X ). For the lower end gear I'm not sure what metal is used for the shielding but it could also be CU.
MUAD,
I'll take some snaps of the modified modules and post them tomorrow
Littletree76,
Are the speakers using an aluminum dome tweeter by any chance ? They might be voiced really brightly. The tube buffer should help just be sure to use decent NOS tubes with it.
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