Today first test ... very good. This is for now, back to another work.
No problems with opamp stages. I have set it to 5Vpp because i drive poweramp dirrectly, nice clean output, noise lower than with opamp stage. Cant measure THD and SNR. But scope shows no anomalies, that i saw at a lot of other designes.
Hi
Could you give us more details of your modifications .
What is the extension on the left ( I2S ....)
Thanks
Serge
Happy to see such a progress ! To make the next step, I recommend to power your onboard controller using a separated power supply. It is so (or more) important as than any other tweaks done before. What is the revision of your board, and how the IR control of volume works?
! To make the next step, I recommend to power your onboard controller using a separated power supply. It is so (or more) important as than any other tweaks done before. What is the revision of your board, and how the IR control of volume works? Today first test ... very good. This is for now, back to another work.
No problems with opamp stages
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Mark4 thank you for explanation. Maybe i will do that but next days no time. I doubt that 80mhz ndk that i have will do big difference. I think crystek or nothing.
Serge.
Configuration was already explained few post back. Board between rpi and dac is iso7640 i2s isolator because rpi is quite noisy, also gnd is not clean. I have another rpi that is completelly with linear regulators but for other project.
Janos can you explain what do you mean. On display board is already one reg. That regulated from 5 to 3.3v. On dac board i have for each pin 3.3v reg and for avcc 3.3v reg and 2 supercaps.
I have tried 330uf on both digital lines but noise from 1.2v pin was poluted gnd and i got some garbage on all lines. Maybe you have 1.4 with regulator. At 1.07 that not helped.
Serge.
Configuration was already explained few post back. Board between rpi and dac is iso7640 i2s isolator because rpi is quite noisy, also gnd is not clean. I have another rpi that is completelly with linear regulators but for other project.
Janos can you explain what do you mean. On display board is already one reg. That regulated from 5 to 3.3v. On dac board i have for each pin 3.3v reg and for avcc 3.3v reg and 2 supercaps.
I have tried 330uf on both digital lines but noise from 1.2v pin was poluted gnd and i got some garbage on all lines. Maybe you have 1.4 with regulator. At 1.07 that not helped.
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Finalized modding
Hi All,
I posted my results on a Hungarian site, but maybe it worth to share here too:
During the modding process I changed these:
1) I separated all the 3.3V power supply parts (6 were added altogether):
- removed the inductivities and put LM5907 (3.3V) regs.
- on my panel the main regulator was a 7808 and the LP5907 MAX Vcc can’t tolerate this, so I added a 7805 too.
- only the controller remained on the 7808 and ASM1117, so it is completely separated from the audio part.
- where it was necessary (2 places) I added 10uF capacitor (LP5907 requires 1-10uF) (these are tantallum (maybe MLCC would be better?))
2) I changed the OPA power supply to symmetric (2*15V)
3) I changed the OPA - extremely huge difference!!! to OPA2134.
4) I also added Nichicon 100uF capacitors to OPA power supplies (original ones haven’t been removed).
5) I removed completely the output capacitors (the symmetric power made it possible <5mV DC on the output (and Headphone AMP has input cap)
6) I added Nichicon 100uF to AVCC (original ones haven’t been removed)
The whole audio channel is: ARCAM 7SE CD (quite old), This DAC with an Aliexpress Power supply (LM317+TL431), Lehmann clone Headphone amp (only slightly modded, some noise filter cap on rectifier bridge), Hifiman HE400i headphone.
Sound:
Incomparable to the original (even I can’t recall how was it originally, but terrible at the beginning, so I couldn’t really listen it for weeks – when I found the HU side and collected some starting ideas).
Currently:
- Really nice details (new OPA, OPA power supply CAPs, power separation, AVCC Caps)
- Clean and strong bass (OPA power supply Nichicon CAPs),
- Clean and strong treble,
- Maybe a little bit too strong at high Mid.
Next steps: check if a serios power supply changes anything (Shunt reg).
See picture included (the AVCC Caps on the back)
Szabolcs
Hi All,
I posted my results on a Hungarian site, but maybe it worth to share here too:
During the modding process I changed these:
1) I separated all the 3.3V power supply parts (6 were added altogether):
- removed the inductivities and put LM5907 (3.3V) regs.
- on my panel the main regulator was a 7808 and the LP5907 MAX Vcc can’t tolerate this, so I added a 7805 too.
- only the controller remained on the 7808 and ASM1117, so it is completely separated from the audio part.
- where it was necessary (2 places) I added 10uF capacitor (LP5907 requires 1-10uF) (these are tantallum (maybe MLCC would be better?))
2) I changed the OPA power supply to symmetric (2*15V)
3) I changed the OPA - extremely huge difference!!! to OPA2134.
4) I also added Nichicon 100uF capacitors to OPA power supplies (original ones haven’t been removed).
5) I removed completely the output capacitors (the symmetric power made it possible <5mV DC on the output (and Headphone AMP has input cap)
6) I added Nichicon 100uF to AVCC (original ones haven’t been removed)
The whole audio channel is: ARCAM 7SE CD (quite old), This DAC with an Aliexpress Power supply (LM317+TL431), Lehmann clone Headphone amp (only slightly modded, some noise filter cap on rectifier bridge), Hifiman HE400i headphone.
Sound:
Incomparable to the original (even I can’t recall how was it originally, but terrible at the beginning, so I couldn’t really listen it for weeks – when I found the HU side and collected some starting ideas).
Currently:
- Really nice details (new OPA, OPA power supply CAPs, power separation, AVCC Caps)
- Clean and strong bass (OPA power supply Nichicon CAPs),
- Clean and strong treble,
- Maybe a little bit too strong at high Mid.
Next steps: check if a serios power supply changes anything (Shunt reg).
See picture included (the AVCC Caps on the back)
Szabolcs
Attachments
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Hi Szabolcs,
Just a suggestion: if you have Elna Silmic/Silmic II you can replace the Nichicon cap that you add to either AVCC or OPA. I guess it will tame down the mid high and give slightly wider and spacious sound stage.
I have some experience with audio capacitors (using OFC lead) from Elna, Nichicon and Chemicon, all of them have good sound quality but different in characteristics.
Hi freezebox,
I have earlier version ES9018K2M board and I replace the stock 100MHz clock to 45.1584MHz clock. It works well for IIS input until 192kHz sampling frequency.
I have not try it yet for ES9038Q2M board.
Thank you cslim. I am just a little concerned about the small size soldering.. How did you replace the clock? Did you have to enlarge the solder pads or were they already applied for such small size clocks / was the new clock same size?
If the traces dont reach to the clock I probably enlarge them with adhesive copper foil or use a small piece of raw print board, a little smaller than current clock and cut a cross into the copper layer to get 4 pads where I can solder the clock in the center of that cross. The problem with adhesive copper film is that it starts floating when you heat up the adhesive..
Than I connect the 4 pads of the "adaptor board" to the original solder points.
Maybe I am lucky and the traces under the clock Mark mentioned before of the current board allow a direct connection.
If the traces dont reach to the clock I probably enlarge them with adhesive copper foil or use a small piece of raw print board, a little smaller than current clock and cut a cross into the copper layer to get 4 pads where I can solder the clock in the center of that cross. The problem with adhesive copper film is that it starts floating when you heat up the adhesive..
Than I connect the 4 pads of the "adaptor board" to the original solder points.
Maybe I am lucky and the traces under the clock Mark mentioned before of the current board allow a direct connection.
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hello, I checked some pages at the beginning. Should I move to another thread? (Was simply happy with sound quality and wanted to share) Sz.
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Thanks a lot for your hint. My ELNAs unfortunately hasn’t wider the stage on AVCC.
You are completely right the strong hi-mid was removed. But in total the Nichicon gave back much more details.
Since I bought them on eBay they might be fake. ?? I had the same feeling with an OPA; just have received some LME49720HA. I was excited to test it but it was a disaster :-(. I will re-test it when the shunt reg is ready. But I’m afraid that mines are not real ones.
Try Nichicon kz this is my choice for es dacs. They give fuller sound and silk nonmetallic highs. At first hours sound will be darker and you would have feeling that highs are gone. But wait 10hours. Avoid lme49720 with Sabre it is headache. I have at least 15 different opamps and best for my taste are lme49990 and Ada4898-x one is bipolar other fet. Sometimes one sometimes other.
Splitting microcontroler did some changes in sound?
Splitting microcontroler did some changes in sound?
I just didn't know if you were aware of how far some of the mods have come and the results that can be obtained.
Some of my results are outlined here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/314935-es9038q2m-board-100.html#post5430064
A post that describes the mods going way back with some pictures is here (if you open a pic to look at and while it is open, if you move the mouse to the lower left corner you will see a white X appear, if you click on the X the pic will expand to full resolution):http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/314935-es9038q2m-board-38.html#post5377834
If you take a look you can see it is possible to mods these boards up to a very high performance level. Much more than caps and power supplies, but yes those things too of course.
Hi freezebox,
I am using external DIY clock so I do not worry of solder pads.
Good luck
No problem, just share some using experience on capacitors.
I have no good experience with fake components (especially capacitors) that bought online too. To avoid potential trouble, I only buy from reputable stores. It might be more expensive, but at least I don't need to worry about the quality.
Hi
Very clear and resume in one post .
Too often we have to search among the posts and it's not easy to understand an to have a good idea about the mods
Thanks
Serge
Hi
Very clear and resume in one post .
Too often we have to search among the posts and it's not easy to understand an to have a good idea about the mods
Thanks
Serge
This was my intention to give a complete overview.
thanks for the feedback.Hi Mark, Thanks a lot. I was frightened after your post that I placed my post a completely wrong place
.Basically on a slightly different way but I went into the same direction as you. Although I haven't replace the 7808, but with 6 pcs of LP5907 (also a low noise LDO reg on feasible price) the power cleaning farily OK.
I haven't mentioned here just on the HU side that the full ballance output is in my plans (just I have to by another headphone AMP module too), but before that I would like to build a salas v1.3 to see the effect on the OPA.
May I ask what was you experienced on voice with building in the low phase oscillator?
Or asking on another way; If you read my mods, what do you think what else can give still the highest improvement in voice quality what I should apply next?
Thanks Sz.