Meitner/Museatex Bitstream DAC Help!

[ungie]

After nearly 15 years of enjoyable ownership my Museatex BS DAC has crapped out. Went to play something on my Roku Soundbridge on Friday and heard lots of distortion riding on the music. At first I thought it might be the Roku but I got the same results from my transport driven through the co-ax input. I also double checked to see if the pre-amp was at fault but no dice. Before I contact John at Museatex about repair I was wondering if anyone out there has had a similar problem? I am hoping that this might be something I can diagnose and repair myself. Thanks for your suggestions.

[stephensank]

I have a very great deal of experience repairing & upgrading these units(which, at least after I get done with them, I still consider one of the best sounding dacs in the world, second perhaps only to what I make out of the BiDAT), and can tell you that most of the problems the BS-1's ever have(to greater or lesser degree, depending on generation of BS-1), is caused by the non-Nichicon electrolytic caps in the unit, most often in the +5V supply, start dumping corrosive electrolyte onto the circuit board, often then causing other components in the vicinity to fail(or corrode to death).
However, if you are not very, very experienced at soldering & esp. desoldering, I would urge you not to try to fix the unit yourself, since the double-sided circuit board, in which every through-hole component is soldered into plated-through holes, is fairly delicate, so that circuit traces can be quite easily damaged by inexperienced desoldering, esp. the top side traces. Also, the "collateral damage" components are most often surface-mount parts, which also require experienced hands.
If you do have the necessary experience, I'd be happy to help you get it working again yourself. Otherwise, please do send it to me or John Wright(preferrably to me;-)) to do the work.

[ungie]

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your offer to assist and your words of caution!
I would say that I am very experienced with soldering and de-soldering and have worked with through-plated boards in the past. I have access to professional quality soldering/de-soldering equipment at the office, so I'd like to ask for your assistance in diagnosing the problem. My guess from your response is to first look at the 5V supply? We can take this discussion off-list if you prefer. Thanks again!

[stephensank]

Probably best to go off list. You'll find my contact info on my website, stephensank.com

[moray james]

why don't you send the unit to John Wright at Museatex and have him upgrade it to current status? After fifteen years the box owes you nothing. The cost of the upgrade will also cover the repair as well unless something very serious has happened. Your upgraded bitbox will stand up to what ever you want to compare it to. John has been envolved in an ongoing process of circuit upgrade prior to the Rev one board of the first bitbox before the unit was even released as a product. Of interest for upgrade also are the Idat-M as well as the Idat44. The Idat-M and the Idat 44 both have more of a Bidat flavor to them while the Bitbox has more of an analog flavor or quality. All three are superb, it really depends upon your taste as to which you might prefer. John's Bidat's are now reselling in the 6k range. Some parts replacement may well get your box up and running and that's good. Upgrading will take you to sota performance level for a very small amount.