Sending the Bel Canto DAC2 for Mods?

[abeautifulife]

Hi all,

I've been happily using a DAC2 with my computer as source, listening mainly with senns 600 and a gilmore. Pretty happy with the results so far.

Was wondering if anyone has had any experience with Reference Audio Mods for their DAC2? I've not had any experience with sending components for mods and wonder if it's worth it at all. I mean, I'm not sure if my equipment or ears for that matter will pick up the diff?

Would really appreciate any advice from those who've had experience in this area.

-Power Supply Mods and Silver Wiring Harness ($250 installed)
Replace all diode bridges with RAM custom handmade exotic silver diode bridges to remove grain/glare and increase resolution and bass. Replace all capacitors in circuit with the exotic Jensen 4-pole and Rubycon ZA/ZL series capacitors for far less noise, faster reacting circuits giving way with much more headroom. We wire a custom Silver wire power harshness from the power supply board to the DAC board. Point to Point topology, no connectors for the best voltage signal integrity.

Audiocom Superclock 3 Reference Clock Upgrade ($295 Free Install!!)-
We add a reference quality jitter reduction circuit called a Superclock 3 , this a major improvement in overall sound! This replaces the master clock on the DAC and offers much lower jitter rate than the stock cmos type oscillator. This brings much more focus and detail to the music. A must!

DAC Board Input/Output board Upgrades ($275 Installed)
We replace the input coaxial RCA and Analog Output RCA connectors with the new WBT NextGen High performance RCA connectors. These are an eddy-current free design using very little metal and offer more of a "straight peice of wire" sound, rather than the grainy, itchy sound from the metal bulky stock connectors. Even aftermarket RCA's like vampire or cardas are not even close. We wire the WBT NextGen RCA's with Audio Consulting Silver wire and Cotton tubing. We replace about a large number of capacitors across the board with the incredible Rubycon ZA series caps. This really brings more life/speed/emotion into the music!

Also read from this forum that Empire audio has mods as well
http://www.empiricalaudio.com/frmods...%20DAC2%20Mods

But strangely the price is higher than a new unit!

 

[Bails]

For what it's worth, I spent a small fortune modding my Bel Canto DAC2 but it wasn't worth it. I had the power supply modified with FREDs, replaced the caps with Black Gates, added a Bybee filter to the digital filter and installed a Superclock 2. All up, it was really expensive.

But I actually didn't really like the sound after that. I think the bass is a bit boomy on the stock Bel Canto and that actually became worse with the modifications. The bass was so huge I just couldn't control it. And I think there is a limit to how much improvement you can get out of that dac.

My specific experience aside, the DAC2 is getting on a bit. There is better dac technology around for a price possibly cheaper than modding. For example, I've heard very good things about CIAudio's latest dac. Given my experience, and if you really want to upgrade, I would certainly consider selling the DAC2 (they seem to be selling on Audiogon for around the $700-750 mark) and look at alternatives. The money you get for the DAC2 plus the money you save by not modding it will give you a more than decent budget. $1500-$2000 will get you something really good, I would say much better than a modified DAC2.

For me, I eventually decided the whole thing was a costly mistake and replaced the DAC2 (which I had been using with my Arcam dvd player) with a dedicated cd player - a Cyrus CD 8x. It's a cracking good player. I should have gone that route originally and saved the money I spent on the DAC2 modifications.

Others may have different experiences.

 

[abeautifulife]

Thank you very much for the advice. Sorry to hear that your mods didn't turn out as expected. Perhaps I will just hang on to the DAC2 for some time

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[DarkAngel]

I think the fully modded RAM BC Dac 2 is superb Dac that will cost major bucks to surpass........I will not be buying BC Dac 3 because I strongly suspect it will not beat fully modded RAM BC Dac 2.

I had a BC Dac 1.1 that I had RAM perform:
Step 1 - power supply mods
Step 2 - Audiocom Superclock 3

This unit pretty easily beat out my stock BC Dac 2 in all areas, so I sent in Dac 2 for complete 3 step mod package and have been extremely happy with results, no plans for any upgades for some time.

Now you must have a very good transport with very accurate clock and very good digital cable to fully utilize modded BC Dac 2. I had RAM also do transport mods to my players, Audiocom SC3 and signal path dramatically shortened to digital output. I am using stock clock in eastsound E5 since is was of high quality........for computer as source you are on your own as to how to get very accurate signal to Dac 2, I have not used computer with Dac 2.

For digital cable the new Stereovox XV2 at $150 is amazing, sounds fabulous with BC Dac 2.

The thing that always gave BC Dacs an edge for me is thier "slow roll-off" filtering, very smooth and natural sounding compared to most other Dacs, sound like a non oversampling design but has superior signal to noise ratios and detail resolution. This is why I spent money to further mod Dac instead of buying another new CDP or Dac.

 

[DarkAngel]

I was looking at those mods at Empirical Audio, had same reaction that they cost too much........$1300 of mods? Both Empirical and RAM are sold on the Audiocom Superclock 3

I have never heard any hum in either Dac 1.1 or Dac 2, dead quiet.

Would not want any mods done to filtering section, as said before this is the main strength I feel of bel canto dacs, don't want to ruin the natural musicality..........the RAM mods keep this natural sound intact.

 

[ken36]

I would wait. You might call Bel Canto. Nice people.

 

[abeautifulife]

Thank you DarkAngel. I'm glad to hear that the RAM mods turned out good for you.
I like the natural sound of the DAC2 and didn't notice that Empirical audio changes the filtering section. Thanks for the heads up

I'll have to think about the mods since I use my computer primarily. Neither my soundcard (x-fi) or the DAC2 allows me to set the DAC clock as master, and I'm not very sure about the accuracy of the onboard soundcard clock (the PLL jitter is rated <60pSecs) but well, I guess in the end, depending on my wallet, I may just have to try it out

Ken36, by waiting I guess you mean for the DAC3? I doubt I have the $ to go that route. And I already have a preamp and don't need the usb connection, so that's a lot of new features I dont need. But I guess I will wait for some reviews of the DAC3 or a chance to audition it first! I did get the DAC2 after reading some reviews here on head-fi and it was certainly one of my better audio purchases.

Thanks everyone for being so helpful

 

[ehlim]

I also have a DAC2 for close to 6 months & I like it very much. I have just bought another new Storm D02 which is of NOS design and it gives another kind of sounding.

IMO, DAC2 has gone through a lot of upgrading by Bel Canto & if there is a desire to want a better one, look out for DAC3 which will be a totally different product.

I strongly believe that these people in Bel Canto know their products well.

Regards

 

[Konig]

I would get a new dac.