Harman Kardon HD 970 details

[Henckel]

Does anybody have details on the inner workings of the new HK HD 970 that can be used both as a CD player and as a DAC. So far i have found out that the DAC is a AD 1855 but does anybody have more information such as;

Digital receiver type, Chips ?
Clock arrangements, frequency ?
Analog output configuration, chip types etc. ?
A diagram would of course be very much appreciated

Morten

 

[adinica]

The player looks superb on paper, with ad1955 dac, op275 as l-V converter and opa2134 as output filter.
But how it is the sound?

 

[Henckel]

The player looks superb on paper, with ad1955 dac, op275 as l-V converter and opa2134 as output filter.
But how it is the sound?

Digital receiver type, Chips ?
Clock arrangements, frequency ?

do You know ? and where did you find the Op amp konfiguration ?

 

[adinica]

On a greek site. Really!
And it's true. The player also has a BlackFin DSP from Analog Devices ADSP-BF 532.

 

[ozboz]

full service manuals at:

http://www.eserviceinfo.com/downloadsm/19611/Harman Kardon_HD970.html

I'm about to modify the one I have - replace the OPA2134 opamps with AD826AN - my current favorites

The player does IMHO sound dull out of the box despite good DAC etc. So I really hope the opamp mod will do the trick.

My old one Marantz 63 with AD826ans sounds great but I believe the DAC could really do better. The HD970 does have better detail just sounds less dynamic - does this make sense?

 

[quicklizard]

Hi everyone, I am also interested in this player, it's rather disappointing to hear it sounded a bit dull! Was this straight out of the box? Needed a little running in possibly?

I am interested in it mainly because it uses technology from Anagram Technologies (link posted below)

I have been eyeing up their eval boards for some time now, however their prices are a bit too steep for me.

Anyway they have a report about the Harmon/Kardon HD 970 which utilizes their 24 bit 384 kHz upsampling dac using the blackfin platform from Analog Devices.

Worth having a look at their site which even has a shop to buy evaluation boards from! however they appear to have been 'out of stock' for some time on everything they sell.

The Q5 dac is also capable of converting DSD to PCM, also there are some white paper PDF's to download but predictably they don't go into too much detail, still it's an interesting enough read.

I hope this goes some way towards the information you seek

http://www.anagramtech.com/2005/08/...005-2006-best-audio-player-of-the-year-award/

 

[ozboz]

Hi - You may have a point - I havent really allowed it to "run in"

I won't be doing any tweeking for a while so I will re-***** it in a week or so. I still have the "old faithfull" as a comparison.

on an Aside some of my favorite tracks for Listening tests comparisons are -

Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov
Performed by Berlin RSO
with Martha Argerich
Conducted by Riccardo Chailly
< Orchestra and piano >

Maria João Pires - Chopin · The Nocturnes
Composer: Frédéric Chopin
Performer: Maria João Pires
Label: Decca
Audio CD (November 19, 1996)
Number of Discs: 2
ASIN: B000001GPN
<Solo Piano>

Dave Brubeck "take 5"
< Drums, bass, sax etc >

Miles Davis (Kind of Blue, remastered)
<Trumpet, Sax, bass and drums>

DiDo - Life For Rent
<Female vocal>

 

[quicklizard]

Hi ozboz, Please can you tell me what you think of your player after a bit of a run in?

e.g. changes improvements if any?
I am still interested in getting one of these for players myself so any experiences you can share would be most appreciated.
The first mod I would do (if or when) I get one will be the power supply, as I think it will be the weakest section.

Look forward to hearing your impressions

Cheers

 

[georgehifi]

full service manuals at:

http://www.eserviceinfo.com/downloadsm/19611/Harman Kardon_HD970.html

I'm about to modify the one I have - replace the OPA2134 opamps with AD826AN - my current favorites

The player does IMHO sound dull out of the box despite good DAC etc. So I really hope the opamp mod will do the trick.

My old one Marantz 63 with AD826ans sounds great but I believe the DAC could really do better. The HD970 does have better detail just sounds less dynamic - does this make sense?

Hey ozboz, any news on sound improvements to this unit, as I am trying to purchase a second hand one to do some mods to, as like you I like what I see in the circuit diagram, an I think it may have good potential for modding.

Cheers George

 

[georgehifi]

Got one cheap, very very good, the slightly laid back character that some have been saying, is I belive the use of the OP275 as the I/V opamp where I love what this opamp can sound like it is a little tuby (laid back) sounding, a good wham bang thank you mam chip, like the AD825 would do wonders in it's place and the OPA2134 could do with a change also. But for the RRP $599aus which by the way you can do a lot cheaper on at least $150aus off, it is a killer machine in standard form, and could get a lot better with a few mods, and it's a stand alone dac as well as a cd player. What more could you want.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77193

Cheers George

 

[ozboz]

Final analysis

Unfortunately I got fed up with the slow time the harmon Kardon took to do anything and the fact that once I finally got the lid off, the OP amp chips are surface mount. As I bought it new I didnt feel like doing major surgery. The laid back character for me just was not to my liking. I sold it on and bought a Cambridge Audio 640C MKII - and am totally happy

My final setup is Elliot tri amped system - P3A Power amps, Elliot Linkowitz reilly active crossover (at 300hz and 3khz) and Elliot Preamp and phono pre amp - all using AD826AN Chips. I cant say enough good things about the Elliot P3A power amps - I Love 'em.