[joneeboi]

Sounds like it's a problem with the connection somewhere in either your LOD or your diyMod. I'd recommend you open up your diyMod and make sure everything is secure. If you have other LODs, you should try them and see if they cause the same static issue. That way, you may not have to open up your diyMod again. If you can isolate the problem to your LOD, you can save yourself the trouble. Otherwise, redo your wiring so that the problem doesn't reoccur.

If you're hearing static, it's likely an AC signal which won't be detected when your multimeter is set under "VDC." The iPod can have quite a bit of hiss, especially when charging the battery, but that's likely not what you're hearing. The absence of the static when your amp is connected to your Macbook suggests the problem lies in your diyMod mini. You may also want to consider not using a capped LOD with your amp if it already has input capacitors. If you haven't already, you may want to read Tangent's short article, Input Capacitors for Headphone Amps, to learn why.

 

[sputnik13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ttl_ctrll /img/forum/go_quote.gif I dont know if anybody else experienced this but when i turn the knob of my cmoy, i hear some static noise that decreases gradually with time. I am sure that the problem isnt the amp because i've plugged it in my macbook and it doesnt do it. I only hear it when i plug it in my diymod mini. The DAC is connected to the amp input which has 0.63 uF inline caps integrated in the amp. I must add that ive added caps in series between the DAC and the input and i had the same issue. My ground is connected to the firewire ground on pin 30. I measured the dc output to my headphones and i get 0.8 mV to the right and 0.0 mV to the left. Now, i hear that static noise mainly from the right earphone. I would like to know if that noise is due to that dc voltage or something else. I also tried measuring the dc output when i used my macbook and i had the same 0.8 mV to the right and 0.0 to the left and i dont any static noise when i turn the knob. Im quite confused ...i wish i could talk to an electrical engineer or something lol

I actually don't understand how it's working at all the way you wired it. I believe that firewire ground at pin 30 you connected your audio ground to shouldn't actually ground. If I'm not mistaken, the firewire and USB ground are ground from the perspective of the firewire/usb host. i.e., power is coming in to the iPod through usb/firewire power, and out through the ground. The audio ground, on the other hand, would have the current go the other direction, out the left/right and back in to the iPod through pin 1/2 ground.

I'm assuming that when you say that you "connected ground to pin 30", you mean on the LOD, not internally on the iPod. If it's the latter, what are you grounding? The diyMod only requires that you reroute left and right, you should've been able to leave ground as is. Otherwise, if it's the LOD then yeah, I think you should just move ground to pin 1.

 

[joneeboi]

Pins 1, 2, 15, 16, 29 and 30 are all the same ground, so it wouldn't matter which one he connected to.

Also, very nice pics of your mod. I always appreciate it when people report back to the thread on their experiences with the diyMod, especially if there are excellent photos involved. Thanks for sharing. Are your wires secure now?

 

[sputnik13]

OK, my mistake.

Yes, the wires are secure now, but the pad lifted from that test point that I soldered to because the cap wasn't secured and the movement of the cap when opening and closing the case I guess put too much torque on that and caused it to come off. I managed to make a solder bridge between the wire and the through hole that the traces go through to get to the other side of the board, because there was a little bit of bare metal there that I can get a tone through with a continuity tester.

So when I got it to make contact, I splattered so much hot glue down on the wire and then secured the cap by hot gluing it to the board. I think I destroyed the LCD while disconnecting it from the main board though. That ribbon cable is real tough to get off and put back on. I ordered a new screen on eBay for $8 though, so no biggy.

The audio is great though right now. I made an LOD with a nice little low-profile dock connector and hooked up both line-out and USB. This took me much longer than I'd wanted because I kept making the same mistake over and over with soldering the USB wires to the dock connector. I ended up filling the inside of the dock connector completely with hot glue to make sure the solder joints wouldn't move or break (the iPod ordeal made me paranoid in this respect

).

For anyone making their first LODs, I recommend you get a pair of needle nose pliers if you don't have one, and pull out ALL of the pins. Then insert the ones you need one at a time as you solder them. I found this to be the easiest way to avoid inadvertently making solder bridges because your hand twitched. This is what I ended up doing after spending something around 7 hours working and reworking the LOD

 

[ttl_ctrll]

the way ive connected my mini is actually very simple. I used the headphone jack of the ipod and cut the traces that come from the board. Then, ive soldered the DAC outputs to the headphone jack. Ive grounded the jack by connecting a wire to pin 30. This allows me to use my headphone jack instead of a LOD. Ive also put the caps inside my amp.

The reason ive used a LOD is to short pin 30 to pin 1 to make sure that both are the same ground.

I wish i could take pictures but my old hp camera doesnt do macro very well.

Since the problem is not my amp, the only thing i can see that could be a problem is that the cable insulation ripped somewhere between the two solder points in my mini and it is interfering with the signal when i change the volume.

This hardly makes sense to me that the static noise only occurs when i change the volume but i guess ill open up the mini another time because im getting my triple fi tomorrow and i wanna listen to them at least once before i mess with the mini.

 

[Hayduke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sputnik13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif For anyone making their first LODs, I recommend you get a pair of needle nose pliers if you don't have one, and pull out ALL of the pins. Then insert the ones you need one at a time as you solder them. I found this to be the easiest way to avoid inadvertently making solder bridges because your hand twitched. This is what I ended up doing after spending something around 7 hours working and reworking the LOD

That's how I make them too. I solder the 3 pins alone to the wires, then I insert them, glue everything down, and last I add shrink tube, cut the wires to length etc. This really only works if you're using individual strands of wire (although you can use multiples). If you're using something like Mogami wire where it's all bundled... well good luck

 

[Ubijza]

Hello diyModders

This thread grabbed my imagination long time ago (I mean iMod equivalent with Vcap dock equivalent for $100!! Cant beat that!) And now its coming to the stage where I have some time to actually attempt this.

I have a few questions:
1. Do people use silver solder or some other "audiophile" solder? Or just traditional 62-38? Will 62.38 solder "cancel out" the sound property of a silver wire?
2. Which silver (I want silver for bright sound) 30g wire should I use, where should I get it from in UK? I liked the wire that Qusp was talking about - it had insulation film that melted with solder or something- this made stripping easy and there was little chance of short-circuiting something...
3. Could someone kindly give the EXACT name of black gates that RWA uses for their portable mod?

Cheers guys!

 

[sputnik13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayduke /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's how I make them too. I solder the 3 pins alone to the wires, then I insert them, glue everything down, and last I add shrink tube, cut the wires to length etc. This really only works if you're using individual strands of wire (although you can use multiples). If you're using something like Mogami wire where it's all bundled... well good luck

In hindsight, that's what I should have done as well. But I had already braided the wires for the lineout, and the USB cable is "bundled" as you say. I soldered the wires to the pins while the pin was in the dock connector. But just not having any pins that were waiting to be soldered in the way when I was trying to solder one pin just helped to speed things along the 5th or 6th time I was resoldering the thing.

Learned the hard way for sure, but I'll NEVER forget it now

 

[sputnik13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello diyModders This thread grabbed my imagination long time ago (I mean iMod equivalent with Vcap dock equivalent for $100!! Cant beat that!) And now its coming to the stage where I have some time to actually attempt this. I have a few questions: 1. Do people use silver solder or some other "audiophile" solder? Or just traditional 62-38? Will 62.38 solder "cancel out" the sound property of a silver wire? 2. Which silver (I want silver for bright sound) 30g wire should I use, where should I get it from in UK? I liked the wire that Qusp was talking about - it had insulation film that melted with solder or something- this made stripping easy and there was little chance of short-circuiting something... 3. Could someone kindly give the EXACT name of black gates that RWA uses for their portable mod? Cheers guys!

No comment on the solder and silver wire. I used Kapton insulated 26awg silver plated copper from navships on ebay and silver solder that I got from Frys. Does solder really make a huge difference? Given that the signal is not traveling any significant distance on the solder, I would think the signal degradation, if any, would be minimal. Certainly minute enough that I would never notice.

As for the capacitor, the first page gives you the options for capacitors. I used 6.3V NX/47 that I purchased at soniccraft.com. In fact I got a bunch of them so I could have them handy incase I messed up and also for future mods

.

In the near future, I hope to take a 5.5G 30GB iPod and throw in a 32GB CF card and diyMod it with BGs internally, and add a couple more wires from the DAC to some other unused pins bypassing the BG and making an external dock with bigger boutique caps like Cardas, Auricap, or what have you. Best of both worlds! When I'm away from home, I have BGs internally for portability, when I'm at home I have the big caps for better sound out of a desktop amp (which I need to get around to sourcing and building too

).

Ahh... so many things to experiment with, so little time...

 

[-=Germania=-]

Silver does not equal bright.

A high purity/ high quality silver will sound neutral and can have great bass.

The difference is that copper tends to sound more smooth and silver a bit more detail oriented. I am a big fan of UPOCC Silver in Cotton, but be prepared to drop about $25-30 for the amount of wire. I also like using two strands of thinner solid core when possible. You have less problems with skin effect and seems to sound like it has more body that way.

 

[joneeboi]

Ubijza:

1. and 2. - I say your money is better spent elsewhere. Invest in your headphones and amplifier. You likely won't hear the difference with such short wires.

3. I don't know which exact capacitor is used in the iMod, but a good bet would be the Black Gate NX Hi-Q 47uF or 22uF 6.3V capacitor.

 

[Ubijza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joneeboi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ubijza: 1. and 2. - I say your money is better spent elsewhere. Invest in your headphones and amplifier. You likely won't hear the difference with such short wires. 3. I don't know which exact capacitor is used in the iMod, but a good bet would be the Black Gate NX Hi-Q 47uF or 22uF 6.3V capacitor.

Cheers for that Joneeboi!

My amp is Meier Corda Move and my phones are Westone 3/ waiting for Um3x/ Senn 580... So if there is any truth in silver/copper sounding different I should be able to hear it

 

[dumbears]

I know there isn't any special in sharing a photo of my iPod Video diyMod.

You may notice the wires are bit thick. Yes, they are - 24 AWG. I'm hereby to warn others to avoid using this "thick" wire. I killed my first iPod Video PCB mainly due to the thick wire - they are difficult to tame and solder. Get some thinner ones.

 

[joneeboi]

The photo is appreciated all the same. Others can learn from the mountain of experience in this thread, and posts like yours add to the mountain's immensity. Others will learn from your experience.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ubijza]

Ok, I 've tried the iPod Video 5G diyMod - what a an amazing adventure! I have never even tried soldering before, and to be at the stage where I am now - ie one step away from having made this thing with my own hands feels pretty terrific!

I am "one step away" because my diyMod has no sound in left earphone when playing through capped LOD. The LOD itself is fine (I tested it with another Ipod and it sounds great - a relief after having spent something like 7 hours on its design/construction. My take home message is :" pull out the dock pins, solder them to wires/caps, THEN reinsert- do not solder onto already inserted pins as solder seeps down, makes bridges, melts into plastic and irreversibly ruins the dock").

I have successfully desoldered both Zs near DAC, L2 and L3; and also tiny capacitors directly under L2 and L3 (c64 and c65?). Then secured the wires (33AWG Cardas tone arm) and soldered them like in instructions of AWSOME Aaron Lee (» page five)...

I think there are two possible reasons on why I only get audio in right channel -both of them are directly related to the wire that connects left Z and L3 (it is the left channel path isnt it?). One - possible bridge with nearby L4. Another possible reason is that I possibly lifted a pad when desoldering the tiny cap that was directly underneath L3...

I would like some advice- is it possible that lifted pad under cap that is under L3 breaks the circuit of left channel audio (even though my wires are not connected to this pad)? What does a lifted pad look like? would a bridge with L4 cause complete absence of audio?

COuld I now leave my right channel wire were it is and resolder my left channel wire to top pad under L3? Or do I have to resolder both wires to pads under L3?

Lastly- I have a Digital Multimeter, what kind of reading could i take to check everything (where to take them and what numbers to expect)?

Many thanks again to Joneeboi and everybody else here - this thread is truly amazing!!!