[scottiebabie]

hey guys i just joined the MF V-DAC owners club when i got a unit off a fellow forumer (& fellow canuck to boot) who bought it from the UK. since then i've read the V-DAC owners thread & now this V-DAC mod thread too. since a battery psu seems to be great start to upgrade, thought i'd share my experiences & impressions on it.
 
anyhoos since the unit originally came from the UK, the power adapter had to be changed so the original owner got a Jensen Model 1700 12v universal power adapter as shown here
 

 
with this power adapter i never experienced any heat issues so often described by some of yous. the V-DAC unit itself never got much warmer than slightly over skin temp. i thought the V-DAC sounded quite good with a smooth lush character yet also clear & detailed. it didnt have the slam of the iBasso D10 Dac but it wasnt as edgy or hard either. all in all i like that. never to leave things well alone, i proceeded to think about how best to use battery power as i ventured to guess that this would be the best power source overall.
 
now it just so happens that my work has (or had since i shanghai'd it for my use LOL) a Motormaster Car Battery Booster power pack with a broken positive alligator clip rendering it useless for its original intended purpose. looking at it, a flash (or is it a lightbulb?) popped in the head & i had the inspiration to use the 12v cigarette lighter accessory jack to power the V-DAC. since the booster pack even came with a cig lighter power plug, it was just a matter of finding the correct size tip & patching it with the cig lighter plug. just so happened i found the correct size tip on another power adapter that was sitting unused. well....i can safely report that its not unused anymore. here's a pic of the Car Battery Booster with the Cig lighter Jack running out of it to the V-DAC (not shown). bonus is i found that i could also keep the booster pack charging while using the cig light outlet - niceeeeee
 

 
safe to report that everything works as advertized & no smoking fried V-DAC - biggg bonus! LOL.
 
now for the sound. it took me a few songs but i think its O so slightly less edgier up top on battery juice. noticed this on fast transcient cresendos esp noticeable on either vocal or brass. also background seems so ever slight darker & tiny details in the music flow thru easier. overall presentation is a feeling of smoothness. mind you this is very very slight & only noticeable because i was looking hard. so im guessing this means that either battery power isnt that much of a deal or its cos the Jensen universal power adapter is of very high quality.
 
anyhoos this is big experiment of the week & concludes my (mis)adventures. over to you V-DAC gurus for opinions....

 

[Dutchamps]

So there are no audiophile`s here?
 
looool
 
http://dutchamps.webs.com/
 
Your quote:
with this power adapter i never experienced any heat issues so often described by some of yous. the V-DAC unit itself never got much warmer than slightly over skin temp.
 
If you look at the power it gives it is 2,5 times overkilled that's why it doesn't get hot but .....
Powering your V-Dac with a wall socket from a Danish company ..... made in china ???
It stays a wall socket .... with jigsaw line of power.
 
This booster shall sound much better but .....
You came here with a OVERKILL on PSU  a Atomic powerplant, but if it doesn't hurt your back...... carrying the battery?
 
"safe to report that everything works as advertized & no smoking fried V-DAC"
 
As long as the diode after input to your dac can handle it ...... your save, burn that one out and you can sit with the R.I.P. V-dac owners 

I did powering dac and opamps directly ..... oke there i made a mistake.
Left the V-dac ... now i got a NON opamp dac, took the signal analogue right out of the current output of the DAC chip.
i have a diy DAC made, more pleased with it then the V-Dac ever will be.
Oke it is a little nasty the price ain't the same so it isn't a fair compare
 
Cheers,
 
 
Dutchamps
 

 

[scottiebabie]

yaaa it seems like the V-DAC'ers have all disappeared, gone to greener pastures or died of old age! LOL jus kiddin guys - its all good whateva the it is. im seriously enjoyin my V-DAC with its softer, lusher siggy & i dont feel im losing anything else compared with the D10 i had.
 
with some more listening time, the booster battery psu added to the equation with decrease noise level (blacker backgrd hence a seemingly increase in microdetails), a bigggggg'er soundstage & smoothness up top. all in all not quite the gain i got in upgrading my IC cables but the battery psu was a gain for sure. O & the V-DAC unit itself runs even cooler so definitely no heat issues at all.
 
the booster psu mod is totally easy & can be used for another DAC or whatever as long as the voltage requirement is 12v & current demands are not super high plus a replacement tip (if needed) ofcos. in fact i've just ordered the Muse Mini NOS 4xTDA1543 DAC ($63 shipped What?? how can i lose!) that i can use the booster psu too. at $30-$100 for a new booster pack, its a cheap mod to try plus u can also use it for its intended purpose too - start cars with a dead battery! ahahaha how can u lose?? O & did i tellya too, i can keep the booster charged while using the accessory outlet to power the V-DAC - niceeeeee
 
im loving this mod thang
 
update on psu measurements: strange or all strangeness, my DMM measured 11.9v across the Jensen switching 12v power adapter & 14.7v off the booster battery power pack! What? i find it a tad weird cos i was expectin the other way round. anyhoos seems like
 power stability offa battery power makes more sonic differences than voltage spread.

 

[Dutchamps]

Lmao you pointed it well, patrick
 
 
 
By the way i build NOS TDA1543 but not with 4 dacs but 8 dacs
 
V-DAC modified with better opamps comes real close to the TDA1543 *8   not *4 you only have halve a bit resolution more instead of one bit.
 
It is all what you find out on a highend audio set not with lowsy iphones and pods not to mention lowsy Mp3 formats
 
 
Visite my homepage:
 
http://dutchamps.webs.com/
 
Dac
http://dutchamps.webs.com/dactda1543.htm
 
Cya

 

[Dutchamps]

Quote:

This has lead me in a differend direction  Thanks  Any thoughts an salveging parts  
 
 
http://www.customdj.com
 
Or should they all ways be new?

 
What has this site to do with modifying V-dac`s?
Happy i`m not married

 

 

[roggae]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spore/img/forum/go_quote.gif Power supply: 1. Changed default supplied stock wall wart power supply to Meanwell medical power adapter P/N: MES30A-3P1J. Fitted an 2.1mm adaptor bought separately to connect to V-dac.

Anyone have any suggestions for a replacement power supply that will work for us folks stateside?

I am also looking for an alternative to the VPSU. Any thoughts? Something in the US perhaps.

 

[abhijollyguy]

Guys, by adding external PSU to the V-DAC will increase the performance of the V-DAC if yes so how much?

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pricklely Peete /img/forum/go_quote.gif Totally concur with this statement. A dedicated high quality PSU will make a huge difference. Peete.

My results do not support this. I bought a big ol' power supply with 3 amps continuous, 13V, and the VDAC doesn't sound any better. I can barely tell a difference. Of course, I WANTED to hear a difference, but the honest truth is, I didn't.

This is the supply that I bought:
Samlex America RPS1203 3 Amp Regulated Linear DC 12 Volt Power Supply

Any comments are welcome. Thanks,
Hukk

That is hardly a HQ PSU...sorry, but quality costs more than 30 USD. Have a look at the PSU built (by a fellow member in this very same thread) with the superegs for a big clue.
 
Peete.
 

 

[RJ Hythloday]

wow, was looking at one of these, but who wants to pay $250 for a dac that needs 20+ mods and doesn't even come w/ a psu?

 

[Pat95]

Hi all.
I'm new, and I need your help. I found this topic very interesting. I've a V-DAc, and I want to make some upgrade too.
I'm a newbie in electronic, can someone explain me one thing: I want to change ,for the moment, only C3 and C4 caps.
But, original values are 47 µF, am I correct? Some of you replaced it with different values: i.e: 10µF, or 3,3 µF, or 100 !!
So, if I want to replace thes caps, by new ones, what is the value I have to take? same, lower, greater?? ( take in consideration
I want to keep them in the box...) . It's not clear for me..
Many thanks for explanations..Pat.
I

 

[Pat95]

Up !! Nobody's there ???

 

[Dutchamps]

C3 and C4 caps. But, original values are 47 µF
 
Those are over over killed value for the maker of the v-dac to ensure you can drive the v-dac to all kinds of amps
But a value of 2,2 uF MKP cap will be enough to get enough bass.
 

 
Why MKP i already explained it in the tread
Elco is not a option of loss of musical detail thats why they put in a non polarity Elco. elco got a DA factor of 10% a good MKP is like 0,0001% loss
Try to exchance the NE5532 to a other lets say OPA2604AP of burr brown
 

When exthange those look carefully for the dot at the chip, must be inserted right or you get smoke.
 
Goodluck

 

[Pat95]

Hi Dutchamps.
 
Thank you for your answer. You already wrote me a message about caps. I ordered two of them, 2,2 µF, 450 V.
For opamps, except replace it , taking care of dot on the chip, nothing else to do? You replace, and it works?
Where I could find these opamps? And is it important to find Burr Brown, instead of TI for example?
 
Edit: Found, on a French web site, at a very good price , ordered..

 

[Pat95]

Hello everybody.
 
changed yesterday C3 and C4 caps. Not easy to do, these caps are large !! But it works. And pretty well. It seems it gives better bass, cleaner bass, more deep..
I didn't yet tried to exchange IC7. But I'l do it..

 

[galorv6]

Hi everyone,
 
I have the V-DAC since 1 year and I want to mod it now.
 
I understand that 47uf caps (C3 and C4) is very big (to drive the v-dac to all kind of amps) but I have a NAD C350, are u sure 2.2uf is enough?
I have no problem for big caps and to put it out of the original box...
Can I buy a 4.7uf 250V MKP (or higher?) for example to be sure that it will not damage my speakers or to have enough bass?
 
Thanks for helping (I'm french, so sorry if there is any mistakes)