[mochi01]

Thanks for the impressions, your board looks the same to mine, black caps at the same places and only elnas for the opamp. Are both your leds blue?.

 

[Ektalog]

The LEDs are blue and red.

On my board, those black caps were of lesser rating than I would have wanted and, in fact, of lower rating than even other D30 I had seen pictures of. Those other D30 actually had Elna caps in all spots.

 

[K Roland_61]

I have tried the OPA2228. Amazing soundstage, almost "live", but the mids/vocals are somewhat bit less than with the OPA2604, which are now in the DAC...

 

[TERMiNAL_]

Very awesome!

My D30 came with white feet also, so I assume mine came with those other "4 cheap caps". But would their be a reason to only use the higher quality caps for the op-amp section?

Would the sound be affected if I upgraded to the caps that you used, what are the benefits?

 

[mochi01]

Unless those caps are in the signal path I wouldn't bother, and this thing doesn't even get hot. What I don't like very much is that there seems to be a few versions and quality control appears to be a bit loose (mine has two blue leds, board wasn't glued, it has a minor dent in the front, etc.)

 

[TERMiNAL_]

Unless those caps are in the signal path I wouldn't bother, and this thing doesn't even get hot. What I don't like very much is that there seems to be a few versions and quality control appears to be a bit loose (mine has two blue leds, board wasn't glued, it has a minor dent in the front, etc.)

Good to know about the caps, thanks.

Yeah coming from China you never really know sometimes.

And yeah the D30 never really gets hot, I set my A30 directly ontop of it so it usually gets a bit warm. The A30 never really gets "Hot" either, it gets warm though when you turn up the gain levels or start spiking up your EQ to make the amp work harder.

The switches for both A30/D30 are beasts too, they don't feel or look cheap at all.

I plan on getting the acrylic stand for them sometime.

 

[Ektalog]

Very awesome!

My D30 came with white feet also, so I assume mine came with those other "4 cheap caps". But would their be a reason to only use the higher quality caps for the op-amp section?

Would the sound be affected if I upgraded to the caps that you used, what are the benefits?

I was forced to forgo testing for specific benefits of switching the caps. The caps were changed after most testing of the Sparkos opamp was completed. So, I heard their effect late, and mostly inconclusively (as in "Who did what? and "Was the Sparkos still maturing?").
However:
-- I did find its best ever D30 sound stage (clearly ignoring all walls like the other DACs) a week after the new cap.
-- Whereas the Sparkos made the D30 typically match the low bass reach of the Oppo 105 (as perceived), the new caps "coincided" with matching the dynamic impact at that same low end.
-- Like some of the old Wolfson, the Cirrus CS4398 DAC chip -- used in both the Oppo 83 and the D30 -- tends to "like" reed instruments like the sax, oboes and clarinet.. The new caps in the D30 coincided with its best-yet rendition. To be sure, the improvement had already begun with the Sparkos.

However, the main reason for me changing the caps was the worry about the lower ratings being used in the PS section. Adding a more power-hungry component could have raised the required capacity.

I am at work on break. I'll post the specs of the caps when I get home.

 

[eldus]

My D30 from massdrop is shipped. Expected to arrive next Wednesday according to FedEx. I wonder what version/caps/LEDs it will have.
edit: the drop is still acitive for 4days if you want to hop on.

 

[tehsprayer]

Mine has white feet, is there a difference if quality between mine and the black feet version?

 

[Ektalog]

Very awesome!

My D30 came with white feet also, so I assume mine came with those other "4 cheap caps". But would their be a reason to only use the higher quality caps for the op-amp section?

Would the sound be affected if I upgraded to the caps that you used, what are the benefits?

As I mentioned earlier, here are the caps I used in place of the 4 black "CapXon" 220uF electrolytic ones:
2 Nichicon KA 470uF/25vdc (hndme.com 3-KA-470025R0) for the 2 that are close to the voltage regulators
2 Nichicon KA 330uF/25vdc (hndme.com 3-KA-330025R0) for the 2 elsewhere

These are long-life, high-quality, high-temp (105C) units which fit inside the case. (The Elna's I bought first were too large for this case.)
Like I said before, I've already seen stock D30s with larger-than 220uF caps in those same positions. They did rate these 220uF caps for 105C temps (for longer life), if their labeling is true.

Anyway, at the very least, I would have had to change the ones close to the v regulators. The added power draw of the Sparkos (which runs in class A at times) made it prudent, more so with the case being totally closed. The case does get hotter than before but never past 90F on the outside (room @74F). The Sparkos itself never went over 90F (open air) while playing. However, there are areas on the board that did climb to 104F (open air).

So, if your 4 black caps are 330uF+ you may not need/want to do anything. Then again...every time I've upgraded caps elsewhere -- aside from signal path -- good things happened eventually. More so if the PS components were getting the attention. Unfortunately, I had to ship this D30 unit out before I could give the new caps time.

 

[Ektalog]

Mine has white feet, is there a difference if quality between mine and the black feet version?

LOL, disregard the color! Look at the inner beauty...and take good pictures. Post them so we can check.

 

[tehsprayer]

 

[Ektalog]

That's just like mine was before mods. The board version numbers are all also the same (you may be able to see it in my initial post). I'll take a closer look at home this evening but it all looks the same.

Mine sounded very competently before the mods, and outstandingly so for the price. Then, the Sparkos op amp kicked it up quite a few notches, well worth the effort. Yet, I never felt that the basic stock D30 was letting me down, at all.

The question in my mind is if this board revision represents as step down from previous ones. It is unlikely. However, their use of lesser cap values and lower brand quality in this one (vs previous) makes me wonder if cost savings were more of the driving factor.

 

[riton66]

Mine is a v11, anybody knows what changed ?

 

[Ektalog]

Mine is a v11, anybody knows what changed ?

Hmmm, already a v 11! Any chance you can post a good pix of the board?