Absolutely! Until they change the standard of the basic audio CD, I'll be keeping it right where it is!
As for those caps, they look like they'd be very simple to change. I've got my wbt solder ready and I'll toss in a couple of extra good quality 10uF caps when I order these crossover parts I'm planning on getting in the next couple of weeks.
I'll throw some pics up here when I do
As for those caps, they look like they'd be very simple to change. I've got my wbt solder ready and I'll toss in a couple of extra good quality 10uF caps when I order these crossover parts I'm planning on getting in the next couple of weeks.
I'll throw some pics up here when I do
Dr. Dyna, YOu are my last resort! Info on the upgrade path to convert mkI to MKII is missing even with Indy Audio Labs. Could you please (i) post pictures of the board (near the 10uf caps)? there is a little board added in the MK2 version. Can you tell on this? what is it exactly for? (ii) can you tell me the brand of the 10uf caps?
Concerning caps, in the past tried different brands (clarity caps SA, Mundorf silver, Mdf. Supreme, Hovland, Solen (stay away from these), and Jantzen sup z-cap. Each of them added own personality. The problem is to combinate them carefully or you may have an aggresive/sibilant sound (my old Tannoys berkeley MK2 became unbalanced, sibilant. Any succesful story on the change of 10uf caps in the D2a?
I maybe getting old but this DAC, together with Tetha DSP pro (original version) and perhaps Aragon d2a2 have a very "analogue" sound and do not use (execpt d2a2) operational chips. I really don´t see that there is missing info or lack of definition for not having a newer DAC. WHat am I missing with a new generation dac?
Best regards, Sebastian
Concerning caps, in the past tried different brands (clarity caps SA, Mundorf silver, Mdf. Supreme, Hovland, Solen (stay away from these), and Jantzen sup z-cap. Each of them added own personality. The problem is to combinate them carefully or you may have an aggresive/sibilant sound (my old Tannoys berkeley MK2 became unbalanced, sibilant. Any succesful story on the change of 10uf caps in the D2a?
I maybe getting old but this DAC, together with Tetha DSP pro (original version) and perhaps Aragon d2a2 have a very "analogue" sound and do not use (execpt d2a2) operational chips. I really don´t see that there is missing info or lack of definition for not having a newer DAC. WHat am I missing with a new generation dac?
Best regards, Sebastian
Here you are!
It's a little difficult to see the values on some of the resistors due to the way that they soldered some of them on the board with the values facing down
The board itself is labelled "Aragon LB-1" if that helps.
It also appears that they've added some parts to the main board as well, but it's difficult to tell which parts. Perhaps you can compare photo 2 with your mainboard.
Hope this helps!
Edit: as far as a newer dac, you're missing higher sampling rates, such as SACD, or if you've got it hooked up to a computer (like mine is) you have to make sure that the digital out of your sound card is set to 48KHz only and in some cases, it's capable of being set much higher.
It's a little difficult to see the values on some of the resistors due to the way that they soldered some of them on the board with the values facing down
The board itself is labelled "Aragon LB-1" if that helps.
It also appears that they've added some parts to the main board as well, but it's difficult to tell which parts. Perhaps you can compare photo 2 with your mainboard.
Hope this helps!
Edit: as far as a newer dac, you're missing higher sampling rates, such as SACD, or if you've got it hooked up to a computer (like mine is) you have to make sure that the digital out of your sound card is set to 48KHz only and in some cases, it's capable of being set much higher.
Attachments
Last edited:
Great pics!
I just had mine up and running this weekend, and other than a very soft hiss (which I think is in my amps) the sound was really great.
One thing struck me- the bass drum sound on "Points of View"- as a drummer, I can appreciate this sound. The sound was REAL. You could hear the beater hitting the head and the resonance of the drum. I could tell the real drum sound from the reverb they used on the mix.
Loving the set up. If it can be improved, I have a feeling it won't be easy...
I just had mine up and running this weekend, and other than a very soft hiss (which I think is in my amps) the sound was really great.
One thing struck me- the bass drum sound on "Points of View"- as a drummer, I can appreciate this sound. The sound was REAL. You could hear the beater hitting the head and the resonance of the drum. I could tell the real drum sound from the reverb they used on the mix.
Loving the set up. If it can be improved, I have a feeling it won't be easy...
Great pics!
I just had mine up and running this weekend, and other than a very soft hiss (which I think is in my amps) the sound was really great.
One thing struck me- the bass drum sound on "Points of View"- as a drummer, I can appreciate this sound. The sound was REAL. You could hear the beater hitting the head and the resonance of the drum. I could tell the real drum sound from the reverb they used on the mix.
Loving the set up. If it can be improved, I have a feeling it won't be easy...
The Joey Albert tune?
I've got this Victor Wooten dvd that I love to play on stuff when I'm rediscovering it, it's quite dynamic and loves to be played about 2 db under clipping
YouTube - Victor Wooten - Victor's Jam
Normally, I go with Robbie Robertson's first album from '87 but that is buried in one of the bins of CDs. This one is the one I got out first.
Robbie's voice on several tracks of that record are really great at revealing detail... When it sounds like he's in the room with you, you know you're on to something!
Robbie's voice on several tracks of that record are really great at revealing detail... When it sounds like he's in the room with you, you know you're on to something!
Oh, the speech sections from Somewhere down the crazy river usually make him sound like he's in the room, but his face always seems to be about 10 feet tall O_O.
Dr Dyna, I am speechless!! Thank you very much for the pictures. This is the ONLY information on the MK2 modification available in the entire web! I noticed that your DAC has the yellow 10k caps that I also have in my mk1 and in my acurus ls-11. In other pictures, I saw Mk2 with a thicker ones (probably of the same value). Aso liked V. Wooten. Jim, I like "somewhere down that crazy river" form the same album. K Jarret (STandards) is very smooth in the d2a. I just bought for digital signal (i) Mit and (ii) Van del Hul 310 (silver) and both are great, with a larger stage with the VDL. ...FOr sure I am going to keep this dac for a while. YOu may not believe this but I made for inteconnection a CAT5 cable that is very nice and detailed....Best regards.Sebastian.
Very welcome sir, if there's anything else you need to know about it's guts, let me know, I've still only got one screw in the top.
So, to clarify, which caps in the photo are the ones 'in question' with regards to being in the signal path?
Second question: How about using output transformers rather than op-amps in the output? This made a HIGE improvement in the eBay DACs; I have to imagine it can benefit this DAC as well, no? If so, how would it be implimented?
Power regulation is a big deal as well- any ideas on improvements here?
Second question: How about using output transformers rather than op-amps in the output? This made a HIGE improvement in the eBay DACs; I have to imagine it can benefit this DAC as well, no? If so, how would it be implimented?
Power regulation is a big deal as well- any ideas on improvements here?
The big white one, I suspect is the output coupling cap, it's in series with the output. It doesn't "look" like a bad quality cap, but 10uF caps are easy to come by so it wouldn't hurt anything to swap it out.
Using a different output stage altogether would probably be fairly easy to implement, they were nice enough to put the output stage and DAC section on different boards with their own marked L and R leads. Actually, both of the boards are labeled at all their I/O points. It would probably be easy as pie to lampizate or hit it with a Welborne DTO.
The power supply as far as I can tell is pretty simple, +24vdc, -24vdc and ground. Quality is up to however much we felt like spending on it I would imagine. Hell, you could probably go all Jeff Rowland on it and slap a couple of car batteries on it
Sounds good. I'll have to crack mine open and see what I can see. I'd like to try the output transformers (which would provide a balanced output for the D2A at that point as well) as they seem to be a HUGE improvement over the op-amps of the eBay DACs.
As to the power supply, the entire circuit uses just one supply? No clock supply and converter supply (for example) simply joining on the same supply rail? I think that (separating everything onto its own regulated supply) is the 'key' to opening up the converter from what I gather on the eBay DAC mods...
As to the power supply, the entire circuit uses just one supply? No clock supply and converter supply (for example) simply joining on the same supply rail? I think that (separating everything onto its own regulated supply) is the 'key' to opening up the converter from what I gather on the eBay DAC mods...
I am attaching the schematics of (i) the 24 k ingot power supply and (ii) the regular power supply, just in case you don´t have them. I made the second one with befier capacitors as I bough my d2a without the original power supply. In the power supply you may also "play" with capacitors in order to improve bass. Are you sure that a stage with opamps are better than in our d2a? Strangely, the dacs I like more do not use opamps in the output. I maybe getting deaf, but I found that without opamps, the sound seems to be more analogue (on comparable dacs). Did any of you tried different cables on the spdif and on the analogue signal? I did. Regards, Sebastian.
I am back with an additional question. I just replaced an acurus a150/ls-11 with a Aragon 4004 mk2. I connected it directly with a passive potentiometer to the d2a and the bass is not controlled. I am back to the original question: is there any way to "tighten" the bass on the original d2a? I tried psu but still boomy. Once again, Thank you.