Last November I started down the “Less is More” path of digital to analog conversion when I purchased my first Valab DAC. From the very beginning it outperfomed my megabuck DAC with the help of the Emprical Audio Pace CAR reclocker. Along the way I discovered various tweaks that further improved the sound and simplified the circuit path. I currently have in my possession 3 Valab DAC's.
#1): Is a late 2008 board with the DIR 9001 mod & 5.0uf cryo'd Jupiter coupling caps directly mounted. Stock A/C power supply.
#2): Is an early 2009 board with DIR9001 mod, DC-30 power supply, fully cryo'd DAC with 1uf Jupiter coupling caps directly mounted and A/C power supply circuit trace bypass, quasi SSOM. (See this link for pictures and full details)
Picasa Web Albums - Bill - Valab TeraDak...
#3): Is also an early 2009 board "without" DIR9001 mod, DC-30 power supply, fully cryo'd, 4.7 uf & .22uf bypass next generation Jupiter coupling caps mounted in an external condo. 8 each 47uf Blackgate FK caps directly soldered to each DAC chip, Caddock USF340 I/V resistors, and pure silver wired Super Simple Output Mod.
Today was the day I finally sat down and compared all 3 DAC's to each other. All music files are stored on my dedicated Mac Mini with Solid State Hard Drive. I rip all my music to .aiff files with an external TEAC DW-224SL-R Drive. I'm using XLD ripping software for Mac.
http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xld/index_e.html XLD Setup Tutorial, follow exactly!
X Lossless Decoder (XLD): How to create flawless CD rips on Mac OS X :: What.CD
Output is currently via USB hijacked by the Amarra Music Player to an Empirical Audio Off Ramp 3 with Ultraclock. I use a Ridge Street Audio digital coax cable to the Valab, my favorite. (I will be trying direct I2S input in the near future so will probably pass on the coax input transformer. However galvanic isolation of the coax with a transformer is a must if you go that route). I select the songs via iTunes and an ELO touch screen monitor and wirelessly on my iPhone with the Remote app.
I started out today by adding the TeraDak DC-30 to DAC #2, cutting all extra circuit traces and adding a single bypass ground wire. DAC #2 still sounded clearly inferior to both DAC's #1 & #3.
Conclusion; the stock coupling caps are simply crap, plain and simple, rip them out with a pair of pliers’ and blow torch ... now!!!To equal things up I installed a pair of cryo'd 1uf Obbligato coupling caps. Better, but still no joy!
2nd Conclusion; cryo'd Jupiter coupling caps are clearly superior in all regards to the Obbligato’s. So next I did a direct solder install of a pair of 1uf cryo'd Jupiter's. That’s what I have been talking about for the past 9 months. This baby is born ... Kicking & Screaming!!!
3rd Conclusion; the stock A/C power supply is quite noisy compared to the DC-30. No surprise here. I turned off the tunes and cranked up my preamp. Downright ugly sounding vibrations in the woofer from DAC #1 with a grainy hiss from the tweeters. DAC #2 was the quietest, an even hiss from the tweeter with hardly a hum from the woofer. DAC #3, slightly pulsing hiss from the tweeter and small rolling hum from the woofer. (Least someone be confused here, all these noises are very low level and you have to stick your ear directly in the speakers to hear any of them … so don't get too excited you flamers). Yes I will be bypassing those A/C circuit traces on DAC #3.
4th Conclusion; I could honestly live with all 3 DAC in their present incarnations, and I am very picky. However, DAC #3 is clearly superior in all regards. (Except for that small noise issue that I will be fixing directly). No doubt the DC-30, SSOM, NG Jupiter’s, and Blackgate FK's make all the difference in the world. (Big shout out to Steve Nugent for the FK's & rewire tips). A 2nd place winner is harder to place at the moment, DAC #1 is seriously broken in and has those big 5uf caps that give a big bold musical presentation with the Bastanis Apollo speakers. While DAC #2 is more open and has better finesse I am doubtful the bass dynamic's will ever match DAC #1 & #3. Final Conclusion here is that 4.7uf caps (or larger) are still required if you run sealed box speakers that are flat down in the sub 30 regions like the Bastanis.
This event took me all day today but it was something that I had been working on all year. I never trust audio results that are arrived without factoring in the element of time and experience. That pretty much rules out just about everything and everybody but people with direct knowledge of the mods at hand. My biggest pet peeve is people who make comments based on something they read or results from a different project they worked on. One thing rarely has anything to do with the next my friends! So above all try it for yourself, don’t take it out of context, and please share your results.
Peace!
