modding lite dac 60

[PreSapian]

hello, has anyone done any modding to this good valued dac? there's a thread on audiocircle with extensive info but i thought it would be nice to start one here also. from there, i've performed slow roll off mod- where i cut the leg of df1704 with a *grasp* boxcutter which worked. 😉 also i've ordered a hammond choke to replace the resistor in tube power section.

mines originally a modded version from pacific valve and one thing that has always bothered me about it is how they made 'imaging from left and the right of the speaker more noticeable'. this has made the soundstaging concaved as a result and when i emailed them about possible reversal, their bottom line was that the recipe was a secret...

please tell us of your mods if you've done them! 🙂

 

[PreSapian]

Hi gents, had a quick question about the diagram of this dac.

It's such a low quality picture (all i could find) but you can still make out that there's a resistor to ground after the output cap (2uf?).
what is the function of this resistor and can I take it out?

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

 

[SoNic_real_one]

That is there to allow capacitor to be polarized properly - you need the DC across terminals. That maintains the insulation in an electrolitic capacitor.
If you don't use that resistor, you have a floating terminal and insulation can degrade in time (having just AC on it).

 

[AmCan]

Is anyone aware of a DAC kit like this one that has dual mono design? Would this be easy to piece together? Dual tube output stage is important but I am not particular about the chip or transformers although toroidal would be nice.