I'd love to put a Sparkos op amp in there, if possible. Can't seem to find any information on this.
Stuart
Stuart
Manufacturers make a big deal in the advertising if you are able to roll the op-amps in a device as it's a big selling point for audiophiles. Since nothing is mentioned, I would assume it's op-amps are soldered in surface mount. This can be modified, but you're talking about tiny and delicate surface mount soldering work and addition of a DIP socket, something a person experienced in circuit work can do, but not without risk, time and money.
I haven't had the unit apart, nor seen a schematic. The surface mount assumption is probably correct. Not insurmountable, but a PITA. I haven't read of any mods to the E70V other than a couple of power supply caps. I'd rather give a couple of mods a whirl rather than dump this in favor of a better DAC right now. It's not bad, but falls far short of what I'd hoped for. I home built an AK4490 DAC several years ago using a decent linear supply and a Muses op amp. In some, but not all ways it sounds better than the AK4499. It has hot to be implementation. No clear winner. But I've heard a Denafrips Ares DAC, the Chord Qutest and HUGOTT2 all of which are head and shoulders better. I know they cost more, and should have bought a different DAC, but I'd like to make the best of what I have.
Stuart
Stuart
+1 for wparks ! wise advices 👍
Thou can't swap op amps w/o the shematic or study the pcb closely.
If the brain is asking for fingers, I would rather start a project from scratch or sold the unit for a said better if not wanting diy.
Cool and good sounding project, not too much expensive here, feasible for the beginners, great support from the community. Should cost 3 hundred maybe w/o casing, less if second hands (some are collectors and have many itterations cause it is a good way to experiment and see what change the sound : pcb, front end, parts, dac ic, power supplies, etc) .
The little Gustard at 500 USD with ak4499 is certainly a good improvment over the E70, but I didn't listen any of them.
Thou can't swap op amps w/o the shematic or study the pcb closely.
If the brain is asking for fingers, I would rather start a project from scratch or sold the unit for a said better if not wanting diy.
Cool and good sounding project, not too much expensive here, feasible for the beginners, great support from the community. Should cost 3 hundred maybe w/o casing, less if second hands (some are collectors and have many itterations cause it is a good way to experiment and see what change the sound : pcb, front end, parts, dac ic, power supplies, etc) .
The little Gustard at 500 USD with ak4499 is certainly a good improvment over the E70, but I didn't listen any of them.
I forgot the link between two posts and thre emails, lol :
Here we are for the diy fingers : https://electrodac.blogspot.com/p/dac-ad1862-almost-tht-i2s-input-nos-r.html
Here we are for the diy fingers : https://electrodac.blogspot.com/p/dac-ad1862-almost-tht-i2s-input-nos-r.html