Hi John,
This is a question for you mainly, and anyone else if you can
I collected a DaCapo this week to look into doing a capacitor change. The unit is making white noise on power up after a few hours detached from the mains.
I plugged the DaCapo direct into my amplifiers. At 3/4 of a volt for 150 Watts and DC coupled they are very sensitive and tend to reveal noise upstream.
And in this case that's exactly what happened. The DaCapo has a whine and some quiet broadband noise all the time. On first power up there was also the continuous white noise the DACs owner was hearing. These noises stopped completely as soon as I unplugged from the DaCapo the BNC carrying the SPDIF from my computer via the Edirol USB to SPDIF converter.
Could this be a fault with the DaCapo either not removing noise from the electrical lead from the 'pute or maybe having a problem sync'ing with the SPDIF. On re-plugging the BNC the white noise is gone but the whine and low level noise remain.
Also when it's warmed up after a few minutes music playing the DaCapo starts to give a hum to the speakers. BNC removal does not stop it. Only mains lead removal.
I un-plugged and re-plugged about 10 to 15 times both the BNC module board and the PSU module board in an attempt to clean the edge connectors. I think that made little or no difference.
Does any of this sound familiar / mean anything to you John that can be a pointer to the fault(s).
Thanks,
Ian
This is a question for you mainly, and anyone else if you can
I collected a DaCapo this week to look into doing a capacitor change. The unit is making white noise on power up after a few hours detached from the mains.
I plugged the DaCapo direct into my amplifiers. At 3/4 of a volt for 150 Watts and DC coupled they are very sensitive and tend to reveal noise upstream.
And in this case that's exactly what happened. The DaCapo has a whine and some quiet broadband noise all the time. On first power up there was also the continuous white noise the DACs owner was hearing. These noises stopped completely as soon as I unplugged from the DaCapo the BNC carrying the SPDIF from my computer via the Edirol USB to SPDIF converter.
Could this be a fault with the DaCapo either not removing noise from the electrical lead from the 'pute or maybe having a problem sync'ing with the SPDIF. On re-plugging the BNC the white noise is gone but the whine and low level noise remain.
Also when it's warmed up after a few minutes music playing the DaCapo starts to give a hum to the speakers. BNC removal does not stop it. Only mains lead removal.
I un-plugged and re-plugged about 10 to 15 times both the BNC module board and the PSU module board in an attempt to clean the edge connectors. I think that made little or no difference.
Does any of this sound familiar / mean anything to you John that can be a pointer to the fault(s).
Thanks,
Ian
John,
There seem to be a large number of capacitors being fed off a very small SMD diode bridge. Does this circuit rely on the resistance of the transformer to limit the inrush current?. If I use low ESR caps will the bridge disappear in a puff of smoke or is it best to use standard types. BTW the bridge on the right hand side has been replaced by a W04 type rather than the SMD devices, is this for that reason and should I replace the bridge as well?. Oh and how far away are the new toys?. I have had the DaCapo for about 16 years and it still sounds great, nice design.
Long time waiting for new Dacapo but new Pink Triangle amp 2009 arrive
Hi,
As a fan of Pink Triangle gears, I have been waiting for the new Dacapo for ages ages and ages. But nothing appear??? It seems to me there may be 5 years more or longer we have to wait. We wait and continue waiting interminably for uncertainty because John W did not warranty when??!? Please have a look at some of the first threads from 2005.
I am not sure about the trade-mark name of amps or DACs John W will be with. However, I did find the first Pink Triangle amp 2009 reviewed at:
http://hometheaterreview.com/pink-triangle-inergral-integrated-amp-reviewed/
Sorry I didn't mean to offend John W, I have just expressed my dissappointment of waiting.
I am looking forward to hearing from someone who has the same feeling as mine
Hi,
As a fan of Pink Triangle gears, I have been waiting for the new Dacapo for ages ages and ages. But nothing appear??? It seems to me there may be 5 years more or longer we have to wait. We wait and continue waiting interminably for uncertainty because John W did not warranty when??!? Please have a look at some of the first threads from 2005.
I am not sure about the trade-mark name of amps or DACs John W will be with. However, I did find the first Pink Triangle amp 2009 reviewed at:
http://hometheaterreview.com/pink-triangle-inergral-integrated-amp-reviewed/
Sorry I didn't mean to offend John W, I have just expressed my dissappointment of waiting.
I am looking forward to hearing from someone who has the same feeling as mine
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Hi Pass lover,
I am not a Pink Triangle fan but definitely admire John Westlake's work.
I listened to PT D Capo and Ordinal DACs many years ago and fell in love with the sound; did'nt have the money at the time.
Nowadays I have the money but there is no kit to buy
Reading John's posts made me think about what is important and what it's not in digital audio and I confess I have learned a lot from his words.
I agree with you: it's been a very long wait and it's not over.
BUT I'm willing to wait ( not so long I hope) because I am sure it's worth it.
Regards, Betto
I am not a Pink Triangle fan but definitely admire John Westlake's work.
I listened to PT D Capo and Ordinal DACs many years ago and fell in love with the sound; did'nt have the money at the time.
Nowadays I have the money but there is no kit to buy
Reading John's posts made me think about what is important and what it's not in digital audio and I confess I have learned a lot from his words.
I agree with you: it's been a very long wait and it's not over.
BUT I'm willing to wait ( not so long I hope) because I am sure it's worth it.
Regards, Betto
Hi Steven,
I was curious about your DaCapo PCB. As you are using it for practice, maybe you have tried to lift of the lids from the two metal cans that are soldered to the PCB?
If you have, did they come off? What was in there? Full of potting compound or components?
I'm just doing a capacitor change to a DaCapo and on this one, the two lids do lift off to reveal the components. No potting at all. Also, I lifted off the third can and the contents of that are revealed by lifting out the PCB. Again, no potting at all.
So I'm wondering if yours is the same as this and if so, why it's not repairable?
On this one the capacitors were just starting to leak and dissolve away the gold pads. I've fitted Rubycon ZL 2200 @ 25V. They happen to be exactly the same dimensions and lead spacing as the original capacitors.
Cheers,
Ian
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I am fairly sure there were only one or two of those made, I do not think they will be on sale.
Hi Loris P,
I believe your Dacapo Board's seems to be growing into the New DAC - Gosh - your going to have a hard time to put it into your old case - Oh well the cat will not loose its home....
But it does look nice!! - I can tell you how it sounds next week
John
well, how does it sound?
DaCapo revived.
I agree Only now with it's new caps, even better. I've had it running non stop for one week now. It's been improving. Did some listening last evening. It really is rather good! I want to compare to my sound card again. With the old caps still in the DaCapo, the sound card was better in some ways.
Very interesting.
Frank, your 24 bit filter seems to have what may or may not be a fault. Whoever populated that filter PCB soldered an extra pin to earth from one of the chips in there. I've checked the data sheet for that chip and it says to leave it not connected. However, maybe John found it did sound better connected?? I've sent a message to ask this.
I'd be interested to have a look at your friends 24bit filter to see if I could compare them.
I've been looking back through this thread and seen the apparent success that some people have had with extra capacitors. I bought some Nichicon conductive polymer caps from Farnell to solder on and see if that makes it even better.
Now done.
I agree
Only now with it's new caps, even better. I've had it running non stop for one week now. It's been improving. Did some listening last evening. It really is rather good! I want to compare to my sound card again. With the old caps still in the DaCapo, the sound card was better in some ways.Very interesting.
Frank, your 24 bit filter seems to have what may or may not be a fault. Whoever populated that filter PCB soldered an extra pin to earth from one of the chips in there. I've checked the data sheet for that chip and it says to leave it not connected. However, maybe John found it did sound better connected?? I've sent a message to ask this.
I'd be interested to have a look at your friends 24bit filter to see if I could compare them.
I've been looking back through this thread and seen the apparent success that some people have had with extra capacitors. I bought some Nichicon conductive polymer caps from Farnell to solder on and see if that makes it even better.
The ZL are even lower impedance, tan delta and higher ripple than the ZLH and in a slightly taller case size. As far as I can tell, the ZLH is a somewhat miniaturised version of the ZL.
It would be nice to know what those ways are.
I just found that one of them is to add four Nichicon Conductive Polymer capacitors to the four spaces in the analogue PSU module.scubaboy
(there are much better ways to upgrade a DaCapo)
CAPACITOR, 47UF, 25V, NICHICON PLF1E470MDO2 polymer
3000mA @ 100kHz
30mOhm @ 100kHz @ 20°C
Tan loss angle = 0.08 105°C
10mm dia x 13mm, 5mm lead spacing.
1580597 from http://uk.farnell.com/
£1.08 + vat each. ssm=5
That's nearly as much ripple as the 2200uF Rubycon ZL!!
2200μ 25V Rubycon ZL
3400mA @ 100kHz (x 0.75 for 120Hz = 2250mA @ 120Hz)
Tan loss angle = 0.14 @ 120Hz 20°C
12.5mm x 35mm, 5mm, 0.6mm diameter.
1144706 from http://uk.farnell.com/
£1.33 + vat each.
Just re-posting this to compare. Edit already disabled!
Panasonic FC
2200u 25V
ripple at 100KHz 2510mA
impedance at 100KHz 0.022
case size 35mm x 12.5mm
lead pitch 5mm, dia 0.8mm
Rubycon ZLH
2200u 25V
ripple at 100KHz 3450mA
impedance at 100KHz 0.013 Ohms
case size 30mm x 12.5mm
lead pitch 5mm, dia 0.6mm
£1.80 + vat
Ooh err, looks like I remember wrong. The ZLH has a tiny bit more ripple!
Panasonic FC
2200u 25V
ripple at 100KHz 2510mA
impedance at 100KHz 0.022
case size 35mm x 12.5mm
lead pitch 5mm, dia 0.8mm
Rubycon ZLH
2200u 25V
ripple at 100KHz 3450mA
impedance at 100KHz 0.013 Ohms
case size 30mm x 12.5mm
lead pitch 5mm, dia 0.6mm
£1.80 + vat
Ooh err, looks like I remember wrong. The ZLH has a tiny bit more ripple!
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Please help to change the cap
Hi
Having followed this thread for a long time, I found there were many opinions about which cap is the best to replace the leaking ones in Dacapo DAC
Could any body please let me know if you replace the caps successfully? So which caps did you use and where to order? I am looking forward to your advice
Mr-mac(John) youir DAC still working?
Wishfull Audio: Did you change the caps? Your DAC working now ?
Opa and Loris.P are you successful of changing cap?
Minnie dog ( Andy) How about you?
Scubaboy( Steven) Did you change the caps ?
Rogerharvey?
AudioJoy(Luke) Where are you now? What is your advice?
Please help!!!!
As not a engineerer, please tell me more about polar or non-polar type of cap for replacement, aswell as parallel the caps: -negative (-) polar with (-) polar and positive with positive? Am I right?
What kind of the leaking caps are? Polar or Non-polar? Can I use either of them to replace the leaking caps?
Hi
Having followed this thread for a long time, I found there were many opinions about which cap is the best to replace the leaking ones in Dacapo DAC
Could any body please let me know if you replace the caps successfully? So which caps did you use and where to order? I am looking forward to your advice
Mr-mac(John) youir DAC still working?
Wishfull Audio: Did you change the caps? Your DAC working now ?
Opa and Loris.P are you successful of changing cap?
Minnie dog ( Andy) How about you?
Scubaboy( Steven) Did you change the caps ?
Rogerharvey?
AudioJoy(Luke) Where are you now? What is your advice?
Please help!!!!
As not a engineerer, please tell me more about polar or non-polar type of cap for replacement, aswell as parallel the caps: -negative (-) polar with (-) polar and positive with positive? Am I right?
What kind of the leaking caps are? Polar or Non-polar? Can I use either of them to replace the leaking caps?
BUT....The ZL has a shallower de-rating curve than the ZLH, meaning that at 120Hz the ZL has the higher ripple.
The ZL is £lower and the pin spacing matches the holes in the DaCapo PCB.
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Quote:
scubaboy
(there are much better ways to upgrade a DaCapo)
It's to add Nichicon Conductive Polymer capacitors in parallel with the two digital supply ZL 2200u @ 25V caps. I added one polymer to each 2200u by soldering one across each 22u @ 16V tant surface mount cap that is near the input of each of the two TO220 regulators.
This time I used 820u @ 16V.
Ripple 5600mA @ 100KHz
Z = 0.011 Ohm @ 100KHz @ 20°C
Tan loss angle = 0.08 105°C
Also, after 1 weeks running, I just took out the 4 at the analogue / DAC supply and listened. Then put them back in again and listened. An improvement for sure.
This DaCapo also responds very well to a decent mains supply. So if you don't have a 'super spur' then you're probably missing out.
scubaboy
(there are much better ways to upgrade a DaCapo)
I just found another.
It's to add Nichicon Conductive Polymer capacitors in parallel with the two digital supply ZL 2200u @ 25V caps. I added one polymer to each 2200u by soldering one across each 22u @ 16V tant surface mount cap that is near the input of each of the two TO220 regulators.
This time I used 820u @ 16V.
Ripple 5600mA @ 100KHz
Z = 0.011 Ohm @ 100KHz @ 20°C
Tan loss angle = 0.08 105°C
Also, after 1 weeks running, I just took out the 4 at the analogue / DAC supply and listened. Then put them back in again and listened. An improvement for sure.
This DaCapo also responds very well to a decent mains supply. So if you don't have a 'super spur' then you're probably missing out.
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Some photos after the caps was removed
I can see 2 caps are going about to leak however there is no effect at all the the performance.
If you look back my threads, you will find out that I have been waiting for John W 's new DAC since 2007
Now I decided to remove the caps, The cap have been removed today
Hi John W
I could see you are online at this moment , I would be gratefull if you could give your advice about the caps for replacement
Have look at the PCB, it seems to me that the empty position is paralleled with the inserted positions. So Is it possible to solder the caps into the 'empty' positions to make it parallel ( in case I have to use the cap Nichicon 1000uF 25V)
I can see 2 caps are going about to leak however there is no effect at all the the performance.
If you look back my threads, you will find out that I have been waiting for John W 's new DAC since 2007
Now I decided to remove the caps, The cap have been removed today
Hi John W
I could see you are online at this moment , I would be gratefull if you could give your advice about the caps for replacement
Have look at the PCB, it seems to me that the empty position is paralleled with the inserted positions. So Is it possible to solder the caps into the 'empty' positions to make it parallel ( in case I have to use the cap Nichicon 1000uF 25V)
Attachments
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