[Cosimojack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by malldian /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you know of any info about him? Like a website or something? Maybe I missed it.

Stan Warren was the (S) in PS Audio and later left and started a company called Supermods. Don't think he's in the mod business anymore. Calling him eccentric was a nice way of saying he was odd and never shipped products on time or provided any updates...

I personally waited a year for my pioneer to be modded... actually gave up hope that I'd ever see it again and wrote it off as a loss...
but one day there is was on my front porch.

 

[PatOMalley]

Bill,
That is a tour de force of mods.
4.7uF Jupiters at output.
I look forward to hearing about these updates, and the updates to the old board.

 

[tubes]

Nice job Bill, the Jupiters make the Solens I tried look small.

 

[oqvist]

DACs up for sale and bought now I can go to bed

.

btw as for USB cables does it matter much what type?

 

[MikeW]

the belkin gold series is good. a well made cable with gold plating, and pretty cheap too, thats about as good as it gets unless you want to spend big bucks, as the next thing up starts at about 80$

im having a hard time deciding which i like better, Xfi coax input or usb. They sound quite different, and some of it may be synergy. the input from the x-fi has much crisper high's and less bass, the USB input has almost rolled off high's, i want to say, lack of detail, and more bass, more warmth. Im using a pretty warm tube right now in my amp, it seems to synergize better with the higher detail of the x-fi's output. been playing with power configuration too, with ps audio DUET I have 2 isolated banks, problem is I have 3 things I need to plug in, computer, dac, amp. I've noticed anytime the computer is plugged into the duet, whatever is in the same bank with it is effected to a noticeable degree (for the worse). Now I have the DAC and AMP plugged into the DUET, and the PC going straight to the wall. Now you have to wonder if the dirtier power the PC is getting effects audio performance, but it seems to be better then having the PC's switching power supply (EMI/RFI, noise making machine!) on the same outlet has the dac or amp. I probably should not be messing with the power configuration and the interconnect (USB/COAX), introducing to many variables.

 

[Mandrakespain]

This is a very interestinf thread. Slightly off-topic, is any of you using the silver coaxial that is sometimes included with the DAC? If so, does it make a difference?

 

[crumplertm]

Hi anyone knows what is kelvin's email address? Having some problem with my valab dac.

 

[oqvist]

From all I have heard from others shouldn´t make much difference on a digital cable if it´s relatively short anyway

I can´t for the world tell the difference from the optical and coaxial input on my Keces.

 

[mypasswordis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cosimojack /img/forum/go_quote.gif received the valab yesterday, running it with a Macbook + Stax Lambda Pro's + SRM-1 MK2, straight out of the box I can say it's musical, but quite veiled in it's presentation. Honestly, right now my 8 year old Pioneer 503C ($150) DVD player is pee'ing on the Valab... just much more detailed, vibrant, lifelike... however this player was modded by eccentric electronics guru, Stan Warren. I suspect this battle is not lost.... will post more impressions as the burn in proceeds...

Thanks, I have the same Stax setup, so I'm interested in your findings.

 

[thompsonjemss]

These Three websites are coming top five in all search engine like google, yahoo, aol, msn and other search engine

eaniemeanie dot com
corvalent dot com
btxchange dot com

 

[tubes]

Crumplertm, go to the Valab listings on E-bay to E-mail Kevin.

 

[darwinshardhat]

I saw the VALAB NOS DAC appear again on EBay this morning and jumped on buying it. I hope it works!!!

 

[Bill Allen]

Ok I couldn't take it, and after only 40 hours of burn-in, I put the M-Dac back into my main system. The last couple of days I have been listening to my stock late 2008 Valab Dac. Nice! My first observation has to with balance, namely does the sound tilt towards bright (lean) or towards dark (phat). Those of you who have been into this audio hobby for any length of time will know what I am talking about. I always strive for that perfect balance, but as in real life … that’s a fine line!

1.The 2009 stock control Dac seems to ride that balance line in my system.

2.The late 2008 Dac tilts toward the lean side of the street.

3.The 2009 M-Dac is so far leaning towards the phat side of street. (Understand if may take 3-4 weeks for final burn-in)

My personal bias, when you come off balance, always error on the phat side of the street. So the stock 2008 Dac with it superior imaging and air is out. The C-Dac is on loan ... so it’s time for the phat lady to sing!!!

The major part of the mod has to do with power delivery to the Dac chips. (Changing out the scattered 8 caps in and around the digital chipset's has questionable gains). This power delivery mod is like having a big V8 engine underfoot, a feeling of effortlessness. Understand that this changes the overall Gestalt of the Dac, there is simply more dynamic slam … hopefully the tranny can learn to smoothly shift this raw power. The stock Dac is about musical beauty, balance and realness. I am hoping after break-in the M-Dac retains these attributes.

I would say your choice of I/V resistor and coupling cap is more a matter of taste. Obviously the choice of the Titanium Mica coupling cap and resistor in the stock Dac was a fine choice. (Another words the stock Dac is voiced very nicely). Perhaps I would have happy with just adding the Caddock resistors and Jupiter coupling caps. I may simply do that with my Control Dac down the road. I can also imagine just adding some "non-polar" Blackgate coupling caps and leaving the stock resistors. Like I said we are voicing here, everyone should develop their own.

While the M-Dac was basically unlistenable for the first 40 hours, it is now sounding really good. It will remain in my system even though it lacks "real air" and has this raw dynamic thing going on. Time will tell what the net result will be, I will keep you all posted!

 

[tubes]

Bill, thanks for the update. It sounds like they did a good job of voicing the 2009 Valab and if you gotta scratch that itch to modify it may be in the direction of different but may not be all that much better. Then again, a couple weeks of burn in may bring a change in opinion.

 

[Bill Allen]

While the jury is out on the power supply mod don't be afraid to swap out the I/V resistors and try different coupling caps on the 2009 Valab Dac. The Analog Mod could make all the difference in your system. I mean we are only talking about changing out 2 resistors and 2 caps. I can't imagine a better learning experiance for first time solder jockey's.

The reward of tuning the sound of your own HiFi system. Priceless!