Different board!
I am a total rookie at this!
Inspired solely by this thread, I ordered this complete DAC: Finished CS4398 + CS8416 USB DAC With Transformer+case
Will the basic modifications/upgrades aply to this DAC also? Furthermore, will the position (C3, C24, etc. Be the same on both boards. My litle project would be to swap some of the caps with the suggested ones: Wima,sanyo Oscon,elna silmic, Acording to the BOM. I already understand that it might not be smart to buy a complete DAC but that mistake is already done, and since I will focus on a few basic modifications I would really like to try and make it work, even if it means demounting the finished DAC to some extent. The desoldering is maybe the part that I am most conserned about, and not knowing if the position on the board are the same as for AK4396.
Any answers will be deeply appreciated
, since I feel like walking on thin ice already with this (based on my inexperience with DIY projects)
I am a total rookie at this!
Inspired solely by this thread, I ordered this complete DAC: Finished CS4398 + CS8416 USB DAC With Transformer+case
Will the basic modifications/upgrades aply to this DAC also? Furthermore, will the position (C3, C24, etc. Be the same on both boards. My litle project would be to swap some of the caps with the suggested ones: Wima,sanyo Oscon,elna silmic, Acording to the BOM. I already understand that it might not be smart to buy a complete DAC but that mistake is already done, and since I will focus on a few basic modifications I would really like to try and make it work, even if it means demounting the finished DAC to some extent. The desoldering is maybe the part that I am most conserned about, and not knowing if the position on the board are the same as for AK4396.
Any answers will be deeply appreciated
, since I feel like walking on thin ice already with this (based on my inexperience with DIY projects)Yep, different board !
Hi jfossb --
As a rookie myself, I understand your hesitation regarding desoldering!
There's some good posts on a Forum devoted to "Construction Tips" and the Forum on "Equipment & Tools." Also a few earlier posts in this thread -- search "desoldering." One of the tools recommended costs less than $10 from Digikey, so it's not necessarily expensive. [see this Thread at 1248 for the link].
Get some tools, Find a circuit board off an dead CD player or such, and practice a bit !!
I looked up the DAC you named (on ebay), and it's a cousin to the one under discussion in this thread. At least, based on the pictures I saw, it should have "ljmaudio.net" printed on the board. (Check to see when yours arrives). We can only speculate if it was designed by the same person, or group, or was if the name was added to give it that appearance of similarity.
That said, about 70% of the components *look* like they're in the same position on your PCB (which of course doesn't mean that they are in the same position in an analogous circuit -- just makes it tempting to assume that it is, which I don't recommend doing).... Find out if you can get a schematic from the seller !! If you can, that would make it *much* easier to assess the part-for-part similarities.
I wouldn't order any parts until you see what you've got. Once you have it hand, you can't go too far wrong by swapping out like-for-like (e.g., same capacitance, same or slightly higher voltages). From what Clave reported earlier, the biggest improvement was found by changing out the output opamp (the one marked NE5532) and the capacitors adjacent to and connected to that opamp. Start there, and see what you hear !
Best,
Paul
Hi jfossb --
As a rookie myself, I understand your hesitation regarding desoldering!
There's some good posts on a Forum devoted to "Construction Tips" and the Forum on "Equipment & Tools." Also a few earlier posts in this thread -- search "desoldering." One of the tools recommended costs less than $10 from Digikey, so it's not necessarily expensive. [see this Thread at 1248 for the link].
Get some tools, Find a circuit board off an dead CD player or such, and practice a bit !!
I looked up the DAC you named (on ebay), and it's a cousin to the one under discussion in this thread. At least, based on the pictures I saw, it should have "ljmaudio.net" printed on the board. (Check to see when yours arrives). We can only speculate if it was designed by the same person, or group, or was if the name was added to give it that appearance of similarity.
That said, about 70% of the components *look* like they're in the same position on your PCB (which of course doesn't mean that they are in the same position in an analogous circuit -- just makes it tempting to assume that it is, which I don't recommend doing).... Find out if you can get a schematic from the seller !! If you can, that would make it *much* easier to assess the part-for-part similarities.
I wouldn't order any parts until you see what you've got. Once you have it hand, you can't go too far wrong by swapping out like-for-like (e.g., same capacitance, same or slightly higher voltages). From what Clave reported earlier, the biggest improvement was found by changing out the output opamp (the one marked NE5532) and the capacitors adjacent to and connected to that opamp. Start there, and see what you hear !
Best,
Paul
Thank you for your thorough reply truepaul!
I actually have ordered one of those solderpumps, and I will invest in a new solderingiron (the old one is simply to blunt to work with when things get small)
I will try and find a PCB to practice on. My nextdoor neighbour (a good friend of mine) builds hi end DACs based on Bufalo 2/3 chips, and he might have a shotcircuited PCB for me to practice on.
I will try to find the datasheet for the board I have ordered, or I might order an AK4396 board to compare, and/or keep for my next project
Great to get clearified on the opamp improvement!
I am truly amazed at the skill level on this site, and the willingness to help and explain things.
I actually have ordered one of those solderpumps, and I will invest in a new solderingiron (the old one is simply to blunt to work with when things get small)
I will try and find a PCB to practice on. My nextdoor neighbour (a good friend of mine) builds hi end DACs based on Bufalo 2/3 chips, and he might have a shotcircuited PCB for me to practice on.
I will try to find the datasheet for the board I have ordered, or I might order an AK4396 board to compare, and/or keep for my next project
Great to get clearified on the opamp improvement!
I am truly amazed at the skill level on this site, and the willingness to help and explain things.
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Hi there
I have bought the same, pre built dac, mine came from seller along1986090, took 3 weeks for shipping, came very well packed and is a really well built bit of kit for the money.
Out of the box it sounds really detailed, (i use a homebuilt dual mono power velleman power amplifier, squeezebox running flac files and some 80's Sony APM22ES high end pistonic motion speakers from when Sony built quality gear). But also sounds a little flat in the bottom end, ive had mine running now for 200 hours or so and its getting better by the day so before you decide to modify let it run it in a little
Ive changed the opamp to a LM4562 which has opened the sound up a little, but decided to bite the bullet and do a complete overhaul of the caps less the wima caps in Claves BOM, the total cost of the bits is £40 or so from ebay, ive also been given a pair of surface mount 627 op amps to shove in it when the adaptor arrives.
My DAC is a LJMaudio.net board so im hoping the mods in this thread should apply to my DAC, (i have bought a kit board as well just incase i damage mine). It is mounted to the DAC enclosure by four screws, the LEDs are soldered to the board via ribbon cables which will have to be detached, the builders of the DAC have also hot melt glued all the screw conections for the inputs/transformer supply/spdif output on the board so this will have to be removed too. I will take photos to look at later on this week.
It worked out cheaper for me to buy the pre-built unit, than to buy the board kit/transformer and case, think the total cost including delivery was £68 and i didnt get a customs charge.
Hope the above information will help you a little and good luck
James
I have bought the same, pre built dac, mine came from seller along1986090, took 3 weeks for shipping, came very well packed and is a really well built bit of kit for the money.
Out of the box it sounds really detailed, (i use a homebuilt dual mono power velleman power amplifier, squeezebox running flac files and some 80's Sony APM22ES high end pistonic motion speakers from when Sony built quality gear). But also sounds a little flat in the bottom end, ive had mine running now for 200 hours or so and its getting better by the day so before you decide to modify let it run it in a little
Ive changed the opamp to a LM4562 which has opened the sound up a little, but decided to bite the bullet and do a complete overhaul of the caps less the wima caps in Claves BOM, the total cost of the bits is £40 or so from ebay, ive also been given a pair of surface mount 627 op amps to shove in it when the adaptor arrives.
My DAC is a LJMaudio.net board so im hoping the mods in this thread should apply to my DAC, (i have bought a kit board as well just incase i damage mine). It is mounted to the DAC enclosure by four screws, the LEDs are soldered to the board via ribbon cables which will have to be detached, the builders of the DAC have also hot melt glued all the screw conections for the inputs/transformer supply/spdif output on the board so this will have to be removed too. I will take photos to look at later on this week.
It worked out cheaper for me to buy the pre-built unit, than to buy the board kit/transformer and case, think the total cost including delivery was £68 and i didnt get a customs charge.
Hope the above information will help you a little and good luck
James
Of course! It is very helpfull, Thanks!!
I am looking for a little more opened up sound, and a litle tighter in the bass. I do not want more bass, or more highs in terms of quantity.
I am running a Music Angel KT88 tubeamp, Shanling CDT 100, and Montana Monitor loudspeakers.
I will let the DAC run in and evaluate the sound, maybe I am a good step towards what I am looking to improve even in its original state (But then the "maybe just a litle bit better" snowball starts to role) ....
It would be nice if you would post your experiences with the placement of components in reference to the BOM for AK4396 and ofcourse soundchanges/improvals.
I am looking for a little more opened up sound, and a litle tighter in the bass. I do not want more bass, or more highs in terms of quantity.
I am running a Music Angel KT88 tubeamp, Shanling CDT 100, and Montana Monitor loudspeakers.
I will let the DAC run in and evaluate the sound, maybe I am a good step towards what I am looking to improve even in its original state (But then the "maybe just a litle bit better" snowball starts to role
) ....It would be nice if you would post your experiences with the placement of components in reference to the BOM for AK4396 and ofcourse soundchanges/improvals.
Hi Jfossb
Il try my best to let you know when the various op amps and caps arrive/are installed.
Ive tried to stick to Claves BOM as best as i could but a couple of my capacitor substitutions have had to be Nichicon Muse ones as they were easier to get hold of.
Ive taken photos for you to look at below.
cheers james
Il try my best to let you know when the various op amps and caps arrive/are installed.
Ive tried to stick to Claves BOM as best as i could but a couple of my capacitor substitutions have had to be Nichicon Muse ones as they were easier to get hold of.
Ive taken photos for you to look at below.
cheers james
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An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I have the same problem as Phillipe, and I couldn't find an answer to his inquiry....
Is there a good alternate for the Evox-Rifa 100nF 50v, I can't find these in stock anywhere.
Any advice?
Thanks
Bill
I've tried Evox MMKs and Wima MKS2, none of them performed as well as the SMRs.
SMRs can be bought and shipped worldwide from Elsa/Distrelec.
Sadly shipping fee is not exactly cheap... but maybe someone can organize a little GB.
For European builders there should be a local Distrelec shop in quite all countries.
A possible (untested) alternative could be Panasonic SMD PPS
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Thanks Dario,
I really appreciate all of your input towards this project.
I found some Evox SMR at Banzai Music, I will just have to take the shipping costs and buy three sets worth in case I get keen in future! I would offer to do a GB but I am in Japan so not ideally placed in terms of the shipping costs to Europe or North America where a majority of our forum members seem to live...
Was in Verona and Trento for work a few weeks ago... I love Italia!
Bill
Yes, it's a full diff chip. But if you use the board in this forum need to bypass the summing circuit.
4396 problem
Just got done popuating the board using Dario's BOM and I'm only getting 1/2 sec of output and the amp goes into protection.
I've been checking voltages, impedences, and even swapped out the OPA827 on BD, and it checks good (sounds really good) on another dac board.
I've also check component orientation, all check good. Also checked voltages at the 3.3 and 5vdc regs and they seem good.
Here's a pic. What should I be checking? I do get the power led on, but no other leds.
Just got done popuating the board using Dario's BOM and I'm only getting 1/2 sec of output and the amp goes into protection.
I've been checking voltages, impedences, and even swapped out the OPA827 on BD, and it checks good (sounds really good) on another dac board.
I've also check component orientation, all check good. Also checked voltages at the 3.3 and 5vdc regs and they seem good.
Here's a pic. What should I be checking? I do get the power led on, but no other leds.
Attachments
ofc but all schems on lampizator etc.. are rca only.
does someone have any link for me ?
4396 problems
I checked outputs at dac and its I'm not getting anything but hum out of dac. Again, I get a fraction of a second of output then hum. It must be a grounding issue, but why would it go into oscillation after working?
Here is a picture of my setup. I have one 15-0-15 and one 9-9 feeding the board. Again, everything sounds good until it oscillates and it's definately not the LPF section. There is definately a short because the board is causing the amp to go into protection, I get music until then. I have tried grounding everything, and removing all grounds and it still causes the amp to go into protection. Amp goes into protection regardless of whether or not my SPIF cable is connected or not.
Thanks!
I checked outputs at dac and its I'm not getting anything but hum out of dac. Again, I get a fraction of a second of output then hum. It must be a grounding issue, but why would it go into oscillation after working?
Here is a picture of my setup. I have one 15-0-15 and one 9-9 feeding the board. Again, everything sounds good until it oscillates and it's definately not the LPF section. There is definately a short because the board is causing the amp to go into protection, I get music until then. I have tried grounding everything, and removing all grounds and it still causes the amp to go into protection. Amp goes into protection regardless of whether or not my SPIF cable is connected or not.
Thanks!
Attachments
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I decided to wire a SLA battery instead of using the power supply. I dessoldered everything - 7812-912s, big caps, diodes. Despite passing through the regulators, I can say - WOW! Despite of using HD201 headphones, I could never imagine I could get a 3D imaging from them. The music has more micro detail, smoothed and good listening.
I guess a Salas shunt may be better. I could build in the future, entirely replacing the regulators.
I guess a Salas shunt may be better. I could build in the future, entirely replacing the regulators.