larrynz
New Head-Fier
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- Jan 6, 2012
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After doing a little bit of reading, I decided to try the power filter capacitor upgrade and op-amp change.
I would like to say firstly I am an electronics design engineer and have sufficient solder/desolder skills. ANY modification on this card is at your OWN RISK, due to the significant ground plane (/power planes?) copper pour. This takes all the heat away and makes it hard to difficult to desolder/remove the components.
If you have not had experience solder/desoldering SMT components do not attempt this "mod", invest is a better specification sound card!! A few fail failure posts around here.
IMHO the best way to remove the op-amp is to (the method I had to resort to) is to use some sort of metal tape to mask off the surrounding area then use some solder to bridge the pins on either side of the op-amp. Lastly I used a small section of desoldering braid (already wetted with solder) to form a conductive bridge across the op-amp. Then heat the soldering braid which will heat both sides of the op-amp (as you have shorted the pins together with a solder blob). Use tweezers to wiggle off and remove once hot enough. Clean up the footprint with the braid.
I personally found the biggest improvement to my ears was changing the 220uF "power filter" cap, to a 2200uF. I used the panasonic FM series as it has low ESR, high ripple current, good endurance. The cap is 25mm tall I decided to install is on its side.
To my ears this mod gave an analog sound and tightened the bass.
The op-amp , went with LME49860, sounds very accurate and pure. Maybe a little bit too perfect for my ears. Only changed the main op-amp as only use 2.1 speakers on my PC.
If you have the skills this these two mods are definitely worth the effort. Cost me about a bit over $10 NZD. $8 for the op-amp and $2 something for the cap.
I would like to say firstly I am an electronics design engineer and have sufficient solder/desolder skills. ANY modification on this card is at your OWN RISK, due to the significant ground plane (/power planes?) copper pour. This takes all the heat away and makes it hard to difficult to desolder/remove the components.
If you have not had experience solder/desoldering SMT components do not attempt this "mod", invest is a better specification sound card!! A few fail failure posts around here.
IMHO the best way to remove the op-amp is to (the method I had to resort to) is to use some sort of metal tape to mask off the surrounding area then use some solder to bridge the pins on either side of the op-amp. Lastly I used a small section of desoldering braid (already wetted with solder) to form a conductive bridge across the op-amp. Then heat the soldering braid which will heat both sides of the op-amp (as you have shorted the pins together with a solder blob). Use tweezers to wiggle off and remove once hot enough. Clean up the footprint with the braid.
I personally found the biggest improvement to my ears was changing the 220uF "power filter" cap, to a 2200uF. I used the panasonic FM series as it has low ESR, high ripple current, good endurance. The cap is 25mm tall I decided to install is on its side.
To my ears this mod gave an analog sound and tightened the bass.
The op-amp , went with LME49860, sounds very accurate and pure. Maybe a little bit too perfect for my ears. Only changed the main op-amp as only use 2.1 speakers on my PC.
If you have the skills this these two mods are definitely worth the effort. Cost me about a bit over $10 NZD. $8 for the op-amp and $2 something for the cap.
