Excellent approach 
I know of people being quite happy with their professionally modified CD-players. They truly believe the mod improved their players. What they don't know is that the mysterious new opamp is a NE5532 with the stamp sanded off...
I got this info through a reliable source a while ago. Ever since I heard this...well I'm a bit more wary when it comes to the reliability of our hearing and pshycological effects.
I got this info through a reliable source a while ago. Ever since I heard this...well I'm a bit more wary when it comes to the reliability of our hearing and pshycological effects.
tiglitosa said:
Will be not easy to elaborate
you would need to get a very close look at the schema and PCB to apply my concept... Even if I put pictures will be not fully clear.The starting point is not to treat this scheme as a "black box". When you get inside this box, you will see that there are 4 circuits - one ANALOG (laser related) and two DIGITAL circuits, plus very noisy drivers circuit, and each of them needs a well separated and clean power supply to perform best.
m.massimo said:
As I said, the mechanism is continuing to be less noisy after this change.
About the sound: I'm very satisfied. The music flows more easily, more natural, with more bass frequency extension. It's always difficult to make comparisons, but I listened many well known CDs in these two weeks and I'm quite sure, it's better. The dark side is a loss in tracking capability. Bad scratched CDs are become useless. Cannot be read smoothly. However, a minor problem for me.
m.massimo said:
Even stock this mechanism is no champ at reading even slightly scratched cds - this would be the one possible criticism of this machine I could make. I have several other machines and none of them have this particular problem with any disk that skips in the ShigaClone. I have at least a couple that skip with no visible defect. My recollection is that it will not play through a 0.5mm optical obstruction successfully whereas my Sony SACD player will play through a 2mm obstruction without difficulty. Usually a quick clean takes care of the problem, and as my disks are mostly very clean I rarely have much of a problem.
Having discovered just how good SACD can sound, (heavily modified Sony SCD-777ES) and with a growing LP collection and open reel tape I have to admit I am not using it nearly as much as I was. I still find it generally a slight bit better than the media server with 16/44 pcm. My dac is based on modified TPA modules I assembled with two CODs in mono mode (PCM1794A dacs, recent upgrade from PCM1798) and the WM8804 based receiver module - all powered by custom designed low noise, low impedance, analog power supplies. I just don't think CD can deliver the ultimate resolution or sound I seek no matter how much time I spend on what is clearly a superior sounding transport, and a pretty decent dac. (It bested anything I previously owned by some margin even with the inferior PCM1798 dac chips installed.) I have stated this concern before, but you can appreciate just how good this thing is compared to even a lot of high end CD players when you compare it to other sources based on a less compromised set of standards - it is probably close to the best sound you can get out of CDs for a sane amount of effort and expense. (Listen to a good 24 bit pcm recording even at a 44.1kHz sampling rate and you will realize just how sonically compromised that 16 bit material actually is - obviously this requires a 24 bit dac and a good media server implementation. Even HDCD on a machine that can decode it is a not so subtle improvement over the same material played in 16 bit mode.)
I can agree with you about CD limitation, but we cannot forget Shigaclone is something less than 100€ (or US dollars). I've experience in the commercial hi-fi realm since many years (as a customer), and in my opinion it's a really great q/p ratio.
I've recently bought a new TPA Opus (2mono)+WM8804 receiver for a fair amount. I'm going to dedicate some time to it, but I'm curious to discover how much Shiga can be further improved.
I've recently bought a new TPA Opus (2mono)+WM8804 receiver for a fair amount. I'm going to dedicate some time to it, but I'm curious to discover how much Shiga can be further improved.
m.massimo said:
It's a fun process, and in terms of money spent for the enjoyment received provides good bang for the buck.. Mine cost about $600 including the cost of the boombox that was stolen off of my front steps and one the that I ruined. (Mine is based on EZ-RC32) I doubt I could have bought a used transport that would have performed any better for the money spent, and I certainly would not have had the fun..
kevinkr said:
I agree with Kevin on this part of his comment....and with an insane amount of effort in combination with an (in)sane amount of money (relative as usual) you can get it to a level you will start wondering what commercial machine can "beat" this thing in musicality and involvement....etc etc.
When you clean your cd's there will be hardly any skipping...
Maybe we should be happy that it reads so sensitive, maybe thats part of its secret.....error correction sounds cool but that is often the very contradiction in it.....meaning the main reason for "digital" sounding sound.
Well said, Kevin!
I built my clone many months ago and never got to hear it work until just a few weeks ago. I borrowed a DAC that would work with it. The DAC had to go back home so now I can not use my transport for a while. I have two of the transports and both exhibited some skipping. I think I can work through the problem once I get my DAC situation fixed.
But even if that doesn't happen it has been enjoyable and I've learned some more about the chip signals and protocols involved. That new knowledge is going to help me on my DAC journey.
To tell you the truth I still prefer how my old BAT VK-D5SE cdp sounds. I know there are a few more things I could do on the transports and that analog output stage makes a big difference. I do think the resolution of the little transport was better and improving probably as a result of the BGs beginning to settle. There is potential for more.
After reading Peter's posts on his latest simplified version I think it has worked out good for me that I haven't gone any farther than the power supply, original cap changes, and getting the transport firmly mounted. Now I know there are some short cuts! I probably have $350 into it and I bought two transports. So if I decide to spend some more on an enclosure it still won't be so much. Not bad at all.
I built my clone many months ago and never got to hear it work until just a few weeks ago. I borrowed a DAC that would work with it. The DAC had to go back home so now I can not use my transport for a while. I have two of the transports and both exhibited some skipping. I think I can work through the problem once I get my DAC situation fixed.
But even if that doesn't happen it has been enjoyable and I've learned some more about the chip signals and protocols involved. That new knowledge is going to help me on my DAC journey.
To tell you the truth I still prefer how my old BAT VK-D5SE cdp sounds. I know there are a few more things I could do on the transports and that analog output stage makes a big difference. I do think the resolution of the little transport was better and improving probably as a result of the BGs beginning to settle. There is potential for more.
After reading Peter's posts on his latest simplified version I think it has worked out good for me that I haven't gone any farther than the power supply, original cap changes, and getting the transport firmly mounted. Now I know there are some short cuts!
I probably have $350 into it and I bought two transports. So if I decide to spend some more on an enclosure it still won't be so much. Not bad at all.
coupler new mods
ebony puck gives a smoother more refined and tonally more accurate sound. ??slight loss of detail or rather midrange obscuration but realism from tonal accuracy is worth the effort. Also if you remove the magnet from the original puck also better - surprisingly stable, gives more presence.
exchange the clock caps with 100pf polystyrene caps. Dramatic increase in dynamics and detail slightly less refined sounding though.
Need to burn them in.
Using springs or wood under the transport surprisingly less obvious changes noted.
ebony puck gives a smoother more refined and tonally more accurate sound. ??slight loss of detail or rather midrange obscuration but realism from tonal accuracy is worth the effort. Also if you remove the magnet from the original puck also better - surprisingly stable, gives more presence.
exchange the clock caps with 100pf polystyrene caps. Dramatic increase in dynamics and detail slightly less refined sounding though.
Need to burn them in.
Using springs or wood under the transport surprisingly less obvious changes noted.
Wonderfull idea !!!
I am also very curious although it is hard to make/get a small enough clamp (tiny frail spindle!) with M6 thread and everything exactly in the middle...
Risky since I have a beautifull working platform at the moment.
I reckon your losses are due to the fact that it looks ill centered and you are still using plastic on top and some sort of glue/kit...thereby effecting/changing dramatically the beautifull resonance ebony is (in)famous for in the audioworld......
I know that this is screaming for discussions with non-believers....
but who cares...if it sounds good it is good...
Soon I will give it a second try as well and let you know...I still find it a hard to comprehend material...and even stranger how it can effects things
I am also very curious although it is hard to make/get a small enough clamp (tiny frail spindle!) with M6 thread and everything exactly in the middle...
Risky since I have a beautifull working platform at the moment.
I reckon your losses are due to the fact that it looks ill centered and you are still using plastic on top and some sort of glue/kit...thereby effecting/changing dramatically the beautifull resonance ebony is (in)famous for in the audioworld......
I know that this is screaming for discussions with non-believers....
but who cares...if it sounds good it is good...
Soon I will give it a second try as well and let you know...I still find it a hard to comprehend material...and even stranger how it can effects things
