[Nkam]

As I stated before, wires. Wires are components.

Thor

Thor,

Would upping the value of the Elna capacitors on the board of the Zen Can have a better effect on the power of the Zen Can than the supercapacitor bank?

Or would it be similar?

Thanks

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

Thor,

Would upping the value of the Elna capacitors on the board of the Zen Can have a better effect on the power of the Zen Can than the supercapacitor bank?

No. They are not in the powersupply (Zen CAN not DAC) but in the Output stage.

Or would it be similar?

No, it would do nothing meaningful.

Thor

 

[sunjam]

Thanks to Thorsten Loesch and Sunjam. You lured me into soldering, even though I have no experience, but there was a result, it was interesting I replaced c201 c101 c321 and c410 with 6SEP820M. ELNA Silmic is coming, I'll put it on c410. I won’t touch c411 and OPA, it’s too small. The sound became more musical and more open

Cool, welcome to the ZEN DAC DIY club

It seems to me that you replaced the OS CON capacitors (originally in 330/470 uF) to 820 uF. It is interesting to find out that only a "small(?)" change in capacitance would end up giving noticeable differences. I thought the type change would cause bigger difference (e.g. from generic electrolyte type to OS CON).

I am wondering if I should change the 470uF OS CON on my Zen DACs to 1000uF.

 

[Nkam]

No. They are not in the powersupply (Zen CAN not DAC) but in the Output stage.



No, it would do nothing meaningful.

Thor

If I get the Zen DAC Sig. will the ipowerX be good for it?

How much current does the Zen DAC Sig like?
I think you mentioned it likes 5.3v
But how about current?

Cheers

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

If I get the Zen DAC Sig. will the ipowerX be good for it?

How much current does the Zen DAC Sig like?
I think you mentioned it likes 5.3v
But how about current?

Cheers

Not much current, 500mA should be enough. Any really quiet powersupply will do fine. I liked linear + DIY SCB better for less cost.

Thor

 

[Nkam]

Not much current, 500mA should be enough. Any really quiet powersupply will do fine. I liked linear + DOY SCB better for less cost.

Thor

Which you modded a bit with your own diodes only?

Yeah I’m pretty intrigued by your Zen Can, ( I’m listening to it now) so I want to see how the Zen Dac compares to my benchmark DAC3


Listening to this now through the Zen Can Sig and loving it.
Thank god you listen to Metal, or else if someone who mostly listens to Jazz would have made the Zen Can all polite and classical would sound cr$pay on it. No balls
Classical needs tons of dynamics, balls and transient speed, or else something like strings will sound like one big mess of mush.

Cheers

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

Which you modded a bit with your own diodes only?

Details in the first post in the thread.

Classical needs tons of dynamics, balls and transient speed, or else something like strings will sound like one big mess of mush.

Full tilt orchestral Crescendo at the Finale of St Saens #3 separates the boys and men of amplification.

Or Respighi...

I love "big classical".

Thor

 

[Nkam]

Details in the first post in the thread.



Full tilt orchestral Crescendo at the Finale of St Saens #3 separates the boys and men of amplification.

Or Respighi...

I love "big classical".

Thor

Thanks for reminding me of that St Saens concerto. I have the Perlman one in my library. And one Organ one as well.

Yup, or Beethoven’s 9th. The original metal

 

[Nkam]

Not much current, 500mA should be enough. Any really quiet powersupply will do fine. I liked linear + DIY SCB better for less cost.

Thor

Is the transient response of the linear PSU faster than the Ifi SMPS? Or does the supercapacitor bank make that redundant ?

I just read that linear power supplies are faster.
Is that a reason you told me to change the cheap caps in the ipowerX to Panasonic Os Cons?

Thanks

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

Is the transient response of the linear PSU faster than the Ifi SMPS? Or does the supercapacitor bank make that redundant ?

In both cases I suspect that the cable and DC Socket dominate.

Or the SCB if fitted.

I just read that linear power supplies are faster.

That is like saying: "A squid eating dough in a Polyethylene bag Is fast and bulbous, got me?"

Without a range of qualifications this simply untrue.

For example, if I use a US made On-Semi switching IC with 132khz switching frequency, theoretically I can make a feedback loop that will regulate to over 50khz. In practice the isolating Optocoupler limits bandwidth, but a competent designer can easily achieve 33khz regulation bandwidth.

The LT1085 which is "linear" and is one of the better linear regulators for high power has a regulation bandwidth of under 1khz.

Ergo, the linear supply in our case is "slower" and the switching supply is "faster".

Does it really matter in context, depends. As I stated the Zen Can is a special case due to how the powersupply is implemented.

Is that a reason you told me to change the cheap caps in the ipowerX to Panasonic Os Cons?

More like, it was designed originally for better capacitors.

Thor

 

[farits]

It seems to me that you replaced the OS CON capacitors (originally in 330/470 uF) to 820 uF.

There were two 560 and 330 uf.

It is interesting to find out that only a "small(?)" change in capacitance would end up giving noticeable differences. I thought the type change would cause bigger difference (e.g. from generic electrolyte type to OS CON).

I am wondering if I should change the 470uF OS CON on my Zen DACs to 1000uF.

There is a difference in sound, but it is minimal, I would like more. I still can’t wait for ELNA Silmic to arrive to replace the c410, maybe it will be better then?
You probably shouldn’t change OS CON to 1000 uf, although you can try, because everyone’s hearing is different.

 

[farits]

Just for fun, I measured the removed capacitor and the new one. The new one has a value greater than 1000

 

[Nkam]

For me half the fun is doing these upgrade exeriments.
Just seeing what they do to the sound is very cool and fun as well as educating.

Thanks Thor for helping us out along the way

 

[Nkam]

Are the caps on the ipowerX also SMD and need to be replaced by SMD caps?
And will it provide any benefit to upping their capacitance?

 

[farits]

For me half the fun is doing these upgrade exeriments.
Just seeing what they do to the sound is very cool and fun as well as educating.

Thanks Thor for helping us out along the way

Agree. The more messages in this topic, the stronger the desire to do something with the sound. it's captivating. Although Zen sig stack sounds very good in stock. After Xonar essence st and some Topping models, turning on Zen sig seemed to take the cotton out of my ears. Zen sounded so shocked.