Aragon D2A upgrade path?

[DrDyna]

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

[Scabiko]

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

[DrDyna]

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.

[DrDyna]

One more picture, this one shows the tracing on the board more clearly.

[Jim Leach]

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...

[DrDyna]

Originally Posted by Jim Leach

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

[Jim Leach]

Normally, I go with Robbie Robertson's first album from '87 but that is burried in one of the bins of CDs. This one is the one I got out first.

Robbie's

[Jim Leach]

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!

[DrDyna]

Originally Posted by Jim Leach

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!

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.

[Jim Leach]

See? Now I'm going to have to dig that CD out so I can listen to it.

New room and new monoblock amplifying system...

Too many changes for a proper scientific evaluation, but fun nonetheless!