My NAD C515BEE is finished.............

[nad]

Originally Posted by Andrea:

Anyway I don't think it's limiting to have the CS4392 and not the CS4398 in this kind of player.

Just re-read yout post, "in this kind of player"???

[nad]

Originally Posted by Andrea:

I would be more concerned in the quality of the capacitors in the power supply lines. Upgrading these can be very cost effective. I personally like the Rubycon ZL caps a lot (for their lifetime too).

Every single cap in the player has been replaced with Rubycon ZA's, apart from the opamp and dac reg decoupling caps which are Panasonic FC's and on the digital side with Sanyo Oscons.

[Andrea:]

Yes, meaning a budget player. I think the CS4398 has a small performance margin over the CS4392, that would only be exploited in very optimised (thus rather expensive) designs. Someone with a better technical preparation than mine might confirm or deny though

[nad]

Originally Posted by Andrea:

Yes, meaning a budget player. I think the CS4398 has a small performance margin over the CS4392, that would only be exploited in very optimised (thus rather expensive) designs. Someone with a better technical preparation than mine might confirm or deny though

Thanks for your explanation, I thought that's what you meant.

If you were to start a new project, what player would you go for??

[Andrea:]

Originally Posted by nad

Every single cap in the player has been replaced with Rubycon ZA's, apart from the opamp and dac reg decoupling caps which are Panasonic FC's and on the digital side with Sanyo Oscons.

Ok, so you're fine. Even more good reason not to change the regulators, I think...


Were it me, I'd do some more experimenting with the opamps instead. The OPA1612 would be worth trying, perhaps also the AD8599. But I see that you have drilled the bottom panel for the TO99 LME's so maybe it's better to leave it like that.

[Andrea:]

Originally Posted by nad

If you were to start a new project, what player would you go for??

Hmm, given my poor budget, probably a Marantz CD5003 which has the same CS4392 DAC and has room for improving its D/A board quite.

I really like the Yamaha CD-S700, but that is less cheap and already optimised enough... (e.g. it has the LME49723, another of my absolute favorites, even if cheap)

[Andrea:]

Maybe also a Harman Kardon HD980. But given the high level of integration I doubt I would do much more than change opamps.

[nad]

Originally Posted by Andrea:

Hmm, given my poor budget, probably a Marantz CD5003 which has the same CS4392 DAC and has room for improving its D/A board quite.

I really like the Yamaha CD-S700, but that is less cheap and already optimised enough... (e.g. it has the LME49723, another of my absolute favorites, even if cheap)

Good stuff.

[Bill Fuss]

The cs4392 is a differential voltage out chip, that would make it a candidate for output transformers. Its output is basically equal to the supply voltage. If it is powered by 5v it has a 5v p-p output, or 3.3v p-p if so powered, plenty to drive trafos.
There are a couple threads about using trafos with dac chips, check them out.

[Andrea:]

I wouldn't do such a savage modification to any player.

First I don't trust transformers and they're expensive; second you can never know what is happening above the audio range, if there's anything that could damage your speakers over time...

I will never touch the output stage circuitry of a given digital to analog converter, except replacing the opamps with what to me sounds best, and possibly make small circuit adjustments for the new opamp. Other than that, I'd only possibly replace parts with better quality replacements.


Also, I reaaaallly don't see what's wrong in the way the better opamps of today sound, not only, to me they're awesome sounding...