Re: Soft recovery diodes made a big improvement on my friends DACmagic
Inspired by this and by articles on snubbing on amplifier power supplies, I opened up my much loved Dacmagic 2 for the first time since I purchased it new umpteen years ago and fiited a few R's and C's. Hendrix is now playing twice as many notes on a BBC live studio session, so the improvement is real enough. Overall, a haze I didn't know was there has been removed. I suspect that clock jitter has been reduced indirectly by the reduced level of diode capacitance/leakage inductance HF ringing upsetting the clock. I'm only guessing of course, but it's that sort of audible improvement that clock upgrade boards are famed for.
I used 8R2+47nF ceramics in series across each secondary, mounted at the diode bridges. It's easy enough to buzz out what goes where if the transformer secondaries are unplugged. I also fitted a ferrite doughnut to the incoming mains wire with 3 turns going through it. I may take the snubbing and filtering a bit further after this but I want to live with this for a while.
tubenut said:
Inspired by this and by articles on snubbing on amplifier power supplies, I opened up my much loved Dacmagic 2 for the first time since I purchased it new umpteen years ago and fiited a few R's and C's. Hendrix is now playing twice as many notes on a BBC live studio session, so the improvement is real enough. Overall, a haze I didn't know was there has been removed. I suspect that clock jitter has been reduced indirectly by the reduced level of diode capacitance/leakage inductance HF ringing upsetting the clock. I'm only guessing of course, but it's that sort of audible improvement that clock upgrade boards are famed for.
I used 8R2+47nF ceramics in series across each secondary, mounted at the diode bridges. It's easy enough to buzz out what goes where if the transformer secondaries are unplugged. I also fitted a ferrite doughnut to the incoming mains wire with 3 turns going through it. I may take the snubbing and filtering a bit further after this but I want to live with this for a while.
Glad to see that the DacMagic continue to have admirers.
For a detailed information sheet with links, etc visit
http://www.gbaudio.co.uk/data/dac2.htm
For a detailed information sheet with links, etc visit
http://www.gbaudio.co.uk/data/dac2.htm
I'm a cheapskate, so I'm holding on to my dac a couple of years, in the near future I've probably ripped all my cds (loseless) and bought myself an USB-Dac.
This is what I'm going to do with my dac:
The only thing bugging me is where the DC blocking caps are located, I'm a DIY-beginner
This is what I'm going to do with my dac:
- 3 spikes resting on a telephone catalog folded in two (300 pages with some air in between).
- Bitumen mostly around the transformers (getting rid of the humming).
- Ferrite doughnut on the wires from the transformers feeding the board.
- Replace main digital caps bank with Elna RJH 2200 & 3300 μF/ 25V.
- Replace signal caps (C9 & C79) with OS-CON 15 μF/ 16V.
- Replace Op-amps with LM6172IN (more suitable for bit-stream converters).
- Replace DC blocking caps (C5 & C74?) with BC-Vishay SAL-RPM 128 10 μF/ 16V (LCAudio claims it's better than Black Gate).
- Replace all diodes with Schottky 11DQ10.
The only thing bugging me is where the DC blocking caps are located, I'm a DIY-beginner
Would these shunts be a nice upgrade for the Dac?
http://www.tentlabs.com/ProductEntities/Shunt/Shunt.html
http://www.tentlabs.com/ProductEntities/Shunt/Shunt.html
Hi,
over the last few weeks I've also started modding my DacMagic 2. I've replaced all the main power supply caps with panasonic FC's, a few of the originals were just starting bulge up, so they where very tired anyway. Plus replacing a number of the PSU caps with Sanyo OS-CONS. These mods brought a very small (but noticable) increase in clarity and overall sound 'quality'.
The other mod made so far is replacing AD712 op-amps with OPA627AUs. This made much more noticable difference with the whole sound just sounding cleaner. Only downside to this that some RF from the digital section is now leaking out, got to come back to this.
The best improvement I've found for this DAC is the use of 'jitter' buster/signal conditioner, I'm using an Audio Alchemy DTI+. The clarity and detail improves no end, especially on lesser transports. Tried it on a £200 12 year old Technics player and it made a *huge* difference, totaly transforming the sound. Currently using an old Sony 16Kg lump as a transport and again it works great. In it's day the Sony, DTI+ and DM2 combination was putting to shame £1500+ players.
When originaly reviewed by HiFi choice it was noted that the better the transport used with the dacmagic the better sound gets, they used a Wadia transport and the sound just kept getting better. I can only assume the digital input affects the sound of the DacMagic much more than other DACs.
BTW the ballanced outputs do sound better.
All the best
Richard
over the last few weeks I've also started modding my DacMagic 2. I've replaced all the main power supply caps with panasonic FC's, a few of the originals were just starting bulge up, so they where very tired anyway. Plus replacing a number of the PSU caps with Sanyo OS-CONS. These mods brought a very small (but noticable) increase in clarity and overall sound 'quality'.
The other mod made so far is replacing AD712 op-amps with OPA627AUs. This made much more noticable difference with the whole sound just sounding cleaner. Only downside to this that some RF from the digital section is now leaking out, got to come back to this.
The best improvement I've found for this DAC is the use of 'jitter' buster/signal conditioner, I'm using an Audio Alchemy DTI+. The clarity and detail improves no end, especially on lesser transports. Tried it on a £200 12 year old Technics player and it made a *huge* difference, totaly transforming the sound. Currently using an old Sony 16Kg lump as a transport and again it works great. In it's day the Sony, DTI+ and DM2 combination was putting to shame £1500+ players.
When originaly reviewed by HiFi choice it was noted that the better the transport used with the dacmagic the better sound gets, they used a Wadia transport and the sound just kept getting better. I can only assume the digital input affects the sound of the DacMagic much more than other DACs.
BTW the ballanced outputs do sound better.
All the best
Richard
Newbie DACMAGIC Owner looking for PDF of "Jan 1999 edition of hi-fi news & record"
Hi,
Sorry to bother you guys I have just purchased a Dacmagic 2 and am looking to tinker with it. I have attempted to get hold of a copy of the Jan 1999 edition of hi-fi news & record through google, emule and following the now dead link (http://lickham.co.uk/pdfs/dacmagic.pdf).
Does anyone have a copy of this article that they would not mind emailing to me or hosting. I know this is a terrible bore, but I am going to undertake a general update and this article seems like a good starting point.
Thanks
Chris Shepherd
Hi,
Sorry to bother you guys I have just purchased a Dacmagic 2 and am looking to tinker with it. I have attempted to get hold of a copy of the Jan 1999 edition of hi-fi news & record through google, emule and following the now dead link (http://lickham.co.uk/pdfs/dacmagic.pdf).
Does anyone have a copy of this article that they would not mind emailing to me or hosting. I know this is a terrible bore, but I am going to undertake a general update and this article seems like a good starting point.
Thanks
Chris Shepherd
Re: Newbie DACMAGIC Owner looking for PDF of "Jan 1999 edition of hi-fi news & record"
With a little help from waybackmachine.com, enjoy
http://web.archive.org/web/20051026173442/http://lickham.co.uk/pdfs/dacmagic.pdf
CGShepherd said:
With a little help from waybackmachine.com, enjoy
http://web.archive.org/web/20051026173442/http://lickham.co.uk/pdfs/dacmagic.pdf
After modding a DAC Magic the best component change path was as follows:
The main supply caps (2200uf?): They didn’t improve the sound by anything noticeable but it did sound much better from cold. Plus given the age of the dacmagic most of these caps are starting to fail, mine were beginning to bulge on top, a sure sign of their failure.
The main rectifier diodes to soft recovery: This was noticeable and helped reduced the grain in the sound.
Output op amps: This by far was the best upgrade helping to open the sound up and improve detail. The previous two items did need doing before hand to allow this to really work.
Everything else… All following cap changes etc. made very little difference and hence I didn’t do much modding after the above items.
BTW: Although the DAC Magic in it’s day could easily hold it’s own against £1000+ machines, the reverse cannot be said today. £1000+ machines are better than the DAC M and I’m sure a good modern budget machine will give the DACM a run for it’s money.
The main supply caps (2200uf?): They didn’t improve the sound by anything noticeable but it did sound much better from cold. Plus given the age of the dacmagic most of these caps are starting to fail, mine were beginning to bulge on top, a sure sign of their failure.
The main rectifier diodes to soft recovery: This was noticeable and helped reduced the grain in the sound.
Output op amps: This by far was the best upgrade helping to open the sound up and improve detail. The previous two items did need doing before hand to allow this to really work.
Everything else… All following cap changes etc. made very little difference and hence I didn’t do much modding after the above items.
BTW: Although the DAC Magic in it’s day could easily hold it’s own against £1000+ machines, the reverse cannot be said today. £1000+ machines are better than the DAC M and I’m sure a good modern budget machine will give the DACM a run for it’s money.
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