Replacing Crystal´s CS8412 with CS8414 in an AA DDE 3.0 DAC

[dmaumau]

Hello Guys,

I have an Audio Alchemy DDE 3.0 dac and I´m thinking abou some upgrades to improve the sound a bit.

I´m thinkng about replacing the digital receiver/decoder CS8412 with CS8414, that´s even pin compatible.

As far as I´ve noticed the biggest trick is that CS8412 in the AA is DIP and the CS8414 is SOIC.

Besides worrying about that, that the only thing I WOULD have to change is the RC of the FILT to the analog ground.

I got 2 questions :

1 - Would the SOIC mount fit somehow in a DIP socket ? (It seems DIP is almost 3 mm wider)

2 - Would this "upgrade" give me any improvements at all in the sound quality, since the "dac" itself is a newer design ?


T.I.A.

Mauricio

[dmaumau]

Guys, if you got any other ideias for improving this DAC, I would also appreciate, since I´m not that confident this mod I suggested will be of great improvement in sound quality.

I like this DDE 3.0 a lot and I´m trying to give ir a few more years "on the job".

I´m also thinking about replacing some caps in the analog section. AA uses nichicon caps all over. Are these too cheap ? Would some Blackgates be a big improvement ?

Since I also got a DTI Pro32, I´m not really thinking about reclocking this dac. Should I ?

Tks again.

Mauricio

[leohung]

Hi,
I own a DAC- in the box and I changed its CS8412 to CS 8414
it works and pin compartable. Due to lower jitter of 8414
the sound after changing is better and can lock DVD sound signal.


I recommend you to do this

P.S I have a socket to convert 8414 to DIP pin

LEO

[dmaumau]

Leo,

Great news.

Do you know any online place I could look for a socket like that ?

Tks

Guys, the signals CS8412 and CS8414 outputs by the pins 2, 3 and 27 (Cc, CD & Cf) are for monitoring the lock frequency only, right ?

[imartin]

I just bought a pair of Narrow/wide SO or TSSOP to 28-pin DIP Adapters at: http://www.brndog.com/index.html

Ivan