I recently bought one of these soundcards to use in my small inexpensive bedroom system. I wasnt expecting to much from a $150 sound card. But to my surprise it actually sounds very very good, its at least as good if not better then my modded Maratz cd67! So I figure if its this good stock, a few mods could make it great
So has anyone modded one of these soundcards? Im only interested in the outputs, i wont be uing the ADC or inputs. Looking at the board it looks like it uses the CS4398 dac, some 4558 opamps and some generic lytic caps all over the board. So I think theres room for some improvement. What do you guys think?
thanks
So has anyone modded one of these soundcards? Im only interested in the outputs, i wont be uing the ADC or inputs. Looking at the board it looks like it uses the CS4398 dac, some 4558 opamps and some generic lytic caps all over the board. So I think theres room for some improvement. What do you guys think?thanks
I just bought a M-Audio Delta 1010 (not arrived yet) and I´m thinking about the same. All I read about modding soundcards leads to the following suggestions: Change those crappy 4558 opamps for something serious like LM2134. I´ve done this before whenever and wherever I found one and it´s really worth it. If there are caps in the output, try to measure DC over the cap´s pins and if it is below 10mV omit them by bypassing the pins with simple wire. Or get the datasheet for CS4398 and try to find out if it is possible to do like this shown for AK4393:http://www.dcx2496.fr/en/tweakanalog1.htm
I'm going to do this next weekend, actually.
LM4562 for the output opamps and Pana FCs for the coupling caps (4x47uF caps on the analog board). Plus FCs and FMs for all PS-critical caps, and adding of decoupling caps at the opamps (currently the decoupling is about two inches away from the chips).
I got emboldened by my runaway success with my SB Live! and Delta 66 cards. The 1212 always sounded pretty good but on hearing how much the Delta improved with the mods, I can't wait to hear the results on the 1212, whose sound I always loved.
Edit: BTW there are no caps in the output, but there are coupling caps between the DAC and the opamps. Those need to be shorted or replaced. I downloaded some 10 HTML pages, some useful, from head-fi.org search. Some pretty good stuff about the way the card is built and to be modded, and those will help in the initial stages. There are tons of missing caps on my board (pads but no caps), some are essential, some not so critical.
LM4562 for the output opamps and Pana FCs for the coupling caps (4x47uF caps on the analog board). Plus FCs and FMs for all PS-critical caps, and adding of decoupling caps at the opamps (currently the decoupling is about two inches away from the chips).
I got emboldened by my runaway success with my SB Live! and Delta 66 cards. The 1212 always sounded pretty good but on hearing how much the Delta improved with the mods, I can't wait to hear the results on the 1212, whose sound I always loved.
Edit: BTW there are no caps in the output, but there are coupling caps between the DAC and the opamps. Those need to be shorted or replaced. I downloaded some 10 HTML pages, some useful, from head-fi.org search. Some pretty good stuff about the way the card is built and to be modded, and those will help in the initial stages. There are tons of missing caps on my board (pads but no caps), some are essential, some not so critical.
I have done some mods on the EMU1212 now,LM4562 at output,shorted the caps between DAC and opamps,REMOVED the mutingtransistors,did a lot goddie!Changed some e-lyts on the cards.
The "analog"card in a separate box outside the computer,and gonna do a separate PSU with superegs for the "analog"....
BTW:I changed the e-lyts on the inputs.
there is a thread around here detailing some changes for the delta series soundcards, mainly showing cap changes and opamp changes. The original poster said the biggest difference came with replacing the psu supply caps with larger values. I did it to my delta 1010lt, and it made a big difference. Better dynamics, particularly in the bass.
I've meant to change the crystals to superclocks and the three pin regulators to superregs, but since building peter daniels nos dac, I have doubts that one could mod the soundcard enough to surpass the external dac. Its about $300 for the complete kit, and really worth it. The difference is very large.
Good luck, let us know what you hear.
I've meant to change the crystals to superclocks and the three pin regulators to superregs, but since building peter daniels nos dac, I have doubts that one could mod the soundcard enough to surpass the external dac. Its about $300 for the complete kit, and really worth it. The difference is very large.
Good luck, let us know what you hear.
Moded my emu1010
I have changed the capacitors of 1010 card.
Oscons for those small ones and Nickicon HN 1800uf 16V for the cap before regulator. More details and more dynamic for SPDIF output. And the sound seem to be more stable. I think the quality of power still plays an important role even it goes to SPDIF output.
My suggestion is to mod following things.
1. capacitors
2. regulators ( I think LT chips are good enough )
3. crystal ( it will be a great improvement ! The question is: where do you set up the TCXO inside your vibrating PC case?)
External clock might be a better solution.
( you will need a sync card $79~99)
For me, I would rather upgrade 1212M to Lynx AES16
4. The pulse transformer PE65612 will be much better
or maybe Lundhal or SC979-01.
5.directly solder a good BNC socket onto the output pins.
6.According to others, EMU did a poor job on their
decoupling caps.
Find them out and do a correct job will cost a lot of work...
I have changed the capacitors of 1010 card.
Oscons for those small ones and Nickicon HN 1800uf 16V for the cap before regulator. More details and more dynamic for SPDIF output. And the sound seem to be more stable. I think the quality of power still plays an important role even it goes to SPDIF output.
My suggestion is to mod following things.
1. capacitors
2. regulators ( I think LT chips are good enough )
3. crystal ( it will be a great improvement ! The question is: where do you set up the TCXO inside your vibrating PC case?)
External clock might be a better solution.
( you will need a sync card $79~99)
For me, I would rather upgrade 1212M to Lynx AES16
4. The pulse transformer PE65612 will be much better
or maybe Lundhal or SC979-01.
5.directly solder a good BNC socket onto the output pins.
6.According to others, EMU did a poor job on their
decoupling caps.
Find them out and do a correct job will cost a lot of work...
AK5394
Guess your right!It sais in the data sheet the e-lyts can be up to 1000uF at the Vref,so mine is now 820uF,so no harm done....
Talking about the standalone DAC,do you mean to use it as a DAC for the computer or other Digital stuff,like CD-DVD player?
If for computer isn´t the PCI card good enough?
Guess your right!It sais in the data sheet the e-lyts can be up to 1000uF at the Vref,so mine is now 820uF,so no harm done....
Talking about the standalone DAC,do you mean to use it as a DAC for the computer or other Digital stuff,like CD-DVD player?
If for computer isn´t the PCI card good enough?
Umm, yeah, I don't actually plan to change those caps as I'm not going to be using the inputs at all.
foo: the lines for the DAC are available from the datasheet and a receiver can convert an incoming SPDIF to I2S, and also supply clocks. If you're after something like that then it is probably better to go gor a scratch-built design as IMO that section requires too much work. I think Zhalou (sp?) had a CS4398 version of their standalone, that would only need a few small mods...
Decoupling is the number one gripe I have with the analog section. But since there are fat ground and power planes on the board (I think it's a 4-layer board) it may not be as bad as it looks. However a few small caps across the power lines of each opamp could not hurt anybody. Plus there is a wire carrying the power from the main board to the analog section - that may add some resistance (and decoupling) from the main +/-12V supply.
The really good thing is that E-mu provided solder pads so you could actually make your own analog in and output stages and with a few small mods, only use the DAC and ADC on the board, avoiding their opamps and board layout (which IMO is a little below average too) for something a little better.
foo: the lines for the DAC are available from the datasheet and a receiver can convert an incoming SPDIF to I2S, and also supply clocks. If you're after something like that then it is probably better to go gor a scratch-built design as IMO that section requires too much work. I think Zhalou (sp?) had a CS4398 version of their standalone, that would only need a few small mods...
Decoupling is the number one gripe I have with the analog section. But since there are fat ground and power planes on the board (I think it's a 4-layer board) it may not be as bad as it looks. However a few small caps across the power lines of each opamp could not hurt anybody. Plus there is a wire carrying the power from the main board to the analog section - that may add some resistance (and decoupling) from the main +/-12V supply.
The really good thing is that E-mu provided solder pads so you could actually make your own analog in and output stages and with a few small mods, only use the DAC and ADC on the board, avoiding their opamps and board layout (which IMO is a little below average too) for something a little better.
Hi Guys,
I was wondering if some1 could help me with some digital mods to the EMU 1212 card?
I would like to:
Change pulse transformer
Upgrade caps in the digital path
Adjust the output to true 75Ohm
Would anyone be able to help with a parts list or instructions to carry this out?
Cheers,
Rift.
I was wondering if some1 could help me with some digital mods to the EMU 1212 card?
I would like to:
Change pulse transformer
Upgrade caps in the digital path
Adjust the output to true 75Ohm
Would anyone be able to help with a parts list or instructions to carry this out?
Cheers,
Rift.
Emu makes fantastic vfm soundcards.
A lot of audiophiles won't give them cred as they are associated with Creative Labs - known more for gaming rather than professional sound.
IMHO my Emu0404 sounds a lot better than the Benchmark DAC1 that I had.
I was looking at squeezing more performance by modding my Emu0404PCI.
However, I think I'll get the USB version then do the mods.
A lot of audiophiles won't give them cred as they are associated with Creative Labs - known more for gaming rather than professional sound.
IMHO my Emu0404 sounds a lot better than the Benchmark DAC1 that I had.
I was looking at squeezing more performance by modding my Emu0404PCI.
However, I think I'll get the USB version then do the mods.
u had better replace coupling (LPF to I/V) caps
don't try to mod ops... i get ad8620 instead of jrc2064
sound changes worse.... i think this ops are designed for its LPF and VI
and u can use some polymer solid caps in digital decoupling....
by the way , Emu 1212m 's design is good enough ~ if u wanna promote sound quality , plz use better DAC !
don't try to mod ops... i get ad8620 instead of jrc2064
sound changes worse.... i think this ops are designed for its LPF and VI
and u can use some polymer solid caps in digital decoupling....
by the way , Emu 1212m 's design is good enough ~ if u wanna promote sound quality , plz use better DAC !
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.