[DeLuX]

So im enjoying the h**l out of my new Theta! Just a couple of questions for you guys. I read that some of you recaped your vintage dacs, whats the upside to this? is this pure maintenance or are there sonic benefits to be had ?
 
Also right now im running my Theta from my old Asus Essence stx via coaxial, I was looking at the Gustard U12 maybe to handle the coaxial output instead would that be a noticeable improvement do you think?
 
Lastly i was looking through the user manual that came with my Theta, it says that it requires 4 days of warm up time, like the yggie?, to sound its best and that it should be left on at all time. I somehow feel funny about leaving electronics on all the time, my slight paranoia tells me that stuff will then catch fire when im out of the house... Whats your stance on this? I know some of you leave your equipment on all the time? whats your thinking?

 

[theblueprint]

So im enjoying the h**l out of my new Theta! Just a couple of questions for you guys. I read that some of you recaped your vintage dacs, whats the upside to this? is this pure maintenance or are there sonic benefits to be had ?

Also right now im running my Theta from my old Asus Essence stx via coaxial, I was looking at the Gustard U12 maybe to handle the coaxial output instead would that be a noticeable improvement do you think?

Lastly i was looking through the user manual that came with my Theta, it says that it requires 4 days of warm up time, like the yggie?, to sound its best and that it should be left on at all time. I somehow feel funny about leaving electronics on all the time, my slight paranoia tells me that stuff will then catch fire when im out of the house... Whats your stance on this? I know some of you leave your equipment on all the time? whats your thinking?

You never worry about your fridge catching on fire. So no need to worry about your DAC.

 

[DeLuX]

You never worry about your fridge catching on fire. So no need to worry about your DAC.

Haha i was actually thinking that. then again my fridge wasn't built in the early -90s

 

[theblueprint]

Haha i was actually thinking that. then again my fridge wasn't built in the early -90s

Haha. No worries. I have friends who own a Theta and they leave them on. Mike Moffat, the guy who designed them, recommends leaving them on.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

I will take a stab at answering a couple of your questions, there are others on the Thread with much more technical expertise.

I leave my Monarchy on 24/7, it doesn't run hot and sounds much better that way. One morning I walked into my office and discovered that my lovely Wife had unplugged my DAC!!!! After sedation, I took a listen....slightly more sibilant (HD800), a little less body, and the soundstage was slightly truncated. OK, so not night and day, but it definately sounds better left on.

Caps, I had a transformer that was damaged in shipping, so I sent it to Mr. Poon at Monarchy, he said he would also upgrade the caps at a very reasonable price, so I said heck yes. After about 400-500 hours of burn in I realized I really should have paid more attention to the posts of Bob's posts. Greater slam, soundstage and pitch black background.

I am going to pick up a Melodious, "Ears I trust" prefer it to the Gustard.

 

[mscott58]

Don't personally have any experience with this unit (the Mojo Audio Mystique) but it's been mentioned here before as a good R2R DAC. Looks like there's a new "V2" unit for sale on CAM at what seems to be a good discount off retail if anyone's interested. (and I have no connection with the seller - just saw this on the site). http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649217878-mojo-audio-mystique-v20-usb-dac/
 
Cheers 

 

[doctorjazz]

I have a prototype Mystique, no case, barebones unit. Sounds great, better than the well reviewed dac (TAS) included in my Peachtree GrandPre preamp. May have gotten damaged in transport to me, or I may have flipped done of the switches incorrectly, fried my preamp twice. Will send it back to Mojo one of these days and have him finish it, bring it up to production version. Really good sounding, imo.

 

[Max Choiral]

  are there any portable R2R NOS based days out there?????

Here you go: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tento-converter-Headphone-amplifier-Bluetooth-blue-silver/dp/B00NOPAL16
Based on AD1866

 

[adobotj]

are there any portable R2R NOS based days out there?????

If this is dacs instead of days or daps then I would suggest the starting point systems battery NOS dac. It is a R-2R dac based on the Philips tda1543.

 

[vlach]

I leave my Monarchy on 24/7, it doesn't run hot and sounds much better that way. One morning I walked into my office and discovered that my lovely Wife had unplugged my DAC!!!! After sedation, I took a listen....slightly more sibilant (HD800), a little less body, and the soundstage was slightly truncated. OK, so not night and day, but it definately sounds better left on.

Out of curiosity, by leaving it on permanently, how often do you have to replace the tubes?

 

[DeLuX]

I will take a stab at answering a couple of your questions, there are others on the Thread with much more technical expertise.

I leave my Monarchy on 24/7, it doesn't run hot and sounds much better that way. One morning I walked into my office and discovered that my lovely Wife had unplugged my DAC!!!! After sedation, I took a listen....slightly more sibilant (HD800), a little less body, and the soundstage was slightly truncated. OK, so not night and day, but it definately sounds better left on.

Caps, I had a transformer that was damaged in shipping, so I sent it to Mr. Poon at Monarchy, he said he would also upgrade the caps at a very reasonable price, so I said heck yes. After about 400-500 hours of burn in I realized I really should have paid more attention to the posts of Bob's posts. Greater slam, soundstage and pitch black background.

I am going to pick up a Melodious, "Ears I trust" prefer it to the Gustard.

Thanks for your reply, I might look into getting it recaped, though i have no idea were to turn for that... Yeah i follow the Gustard thread that evolved into the Melodious which now seams to be evolving into the Hydra Z thread. The Gustard and the Melodious are about the same price so I might pick that up instead, though i don't have skill to mod it, are you planing on modding yours or using as is? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts if and when you get the Melodious

 

[daerron]

 
Thanks for your reply, I might look into getting it recaped, though i have no idea were to turn for that... Yeah i follow the Gustard thread that evolved into the Melodious which now seams to be evolving into the Hydra Z thread. The Gustard and the Melodious are about the same price so I might pick that up instead, though i don't have skill to mod it, are you planing on modding yours or using as is? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts if and when you get the Melodious

 
Capacitors, especially electrolytic ones, are one of those components that age with time and eventually start acting up and affect the sound. Usually very good caps are used in high end products so often they end up lasting longer, but statistically the failure rate increases with age. If you have a Theta technician nearby you can still send it in. We are very fortunate that we have an expert here locally where people can still send their Theta's to for servicing and does a fantastic job with it. I don't think Theta officially longer offers any support for their old legacy products Gen V and prior.

 

[ahendler]

The TDA 1541A is a 16 bit R2R ladder chip. The capacitors are decoupling caps. Here is some info on them

Why decoupling is important, what really happens there ?

The process of musical signal creation inside the DAC is explained on this drawing of the TDA1540 guts. All elements are inside the IC but the capacitors CAN'T be integrated that's why they are outside. The switches take some current from each cap and build up the music signal.

As you can see, the caps are DIRECTLY responsible for music, for the sound , color and flavou

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Hey all, love my Monarchy M22B so much I just traded my Uber Bifrost for a Kenzie Headamp. Looking forward to plugging some tube goodness into my system!

 

[sheldaze]

Hey all, love my Monarchy M22B so much I just traded my Uber Bifrost for a Kenzie Headamp. Looking forward to plugging some tube goodness into my system!

Keeping Uber Bifrost, hoping the trickle-train will continue down their product line.
Listening to the Gungnir Multibit…