I just picked up a used DCD-1520 and would like to do some mods to it.
I opened it and found numerous op amps???I see NE5532 and NE5534's...Would I have to replace all of these??I know the 5534
is a single channel op amp and the 5532 a dual but can I get improvements without spending tons of money???Help!
I opened it and found numerous op amps???I see NE5532 and NE5534's...Would I have to replace all of these??I know the 5534
is a single channel op amp and the 5532 a dual but can I get improvements without spending tons of money???Help!
Re: Denon DCD-1520
Hi\
OPA134 resp OPA2134 are decent alternatives at very acceptable prives.You may want to upgrade the output coupling cap(s) and get rid of the muting transistors.
Clock is also a good target to upgrade as wel as power supply diodes, I very much like Scottky Barier types.
best
johngo said:
Hi\
OPA134 resp OPA2134 are decent alternatives at very acceptable prives.You may want to upgrade the output coupling cap(s) and get rid of the muting transistors.
Clock is also a good target to upgrade as wel as power supply diodes, I very much like Scottky Barier types.
best
Re: Denon DCD-1520 Mods
Hi,
For output I very much like the Audio Note copper folis, but these are bulky, and more expensive than all opamps together. But they are good !
Alternatives are polypropylene like Wima MKP10 - much cheaper.
Power supply: Panasonic FC types
Clocks: suit yourself. Many are discussed on this forum. As I am one of the manufacturers, I won't push you in certain directions.
best
johngo said:
Hi,
For output I very much like the Audio Note copper folis, but these are bulky, and more expensive than all opamps together. But they are good !
Alternatives are polypropylene like Wima MKP10 - much cheaper.
Power supply: Panasonic FC types
Clocks: suit yourself. Many are discussed on this forum. As I am one of the manufacturers, I won't push you in certain directions.
best
I upgraded the heck out of a number of DCD1520's over the past few years. They can be made to sound quite lovely, but seem limited by the PCM64 dac chips. Could never get the kind of spaciousness and clarity that I get with players using PCM58/63/1702/etc.
Best source for replacement lasers is to buy older DCD1500II machines, which usually go pretty cheap. Anyone with new-in-box 151's is going to want three arms & two legs for them. But, in my experience, KSS151's have only about a 5% chance of failure, so I wouldn't sweat it much.
Best source for replacement lasers is to buy older DCD1500II machines, which usually go pretty cheap. Anyone with new-in-box 151's is going to want three arms & two legs for them. But, in my experience, KSS151's have only about a 5% chance of failure, so I wouldn't sweat it much.
Very good! I have a soft spot for those older up-market CDPs. They may not do quite the job the newer models can, but the build quality is a pleasure and I like having the controls on the face instead of just on the remote.
So, which mods did you find most worthwhile? I have a Sony 608ESD of the same general period (more equivalent to the DCD-1500ii I think?) and ditching all of the clip connectors and hard wiring the boards together made a significant improvement along with some improved diodes in the power supply. What sort of thing would be good for the DCD-1520? I've seen reference to swapping out opamps and such, but I don't recall much for details about the results.
I actually just mod'd out a CDP-608ESD last week. PCM58 is definitely my favorite 18bit dac. Came out really nice.
My general approach is to make the power supply as large and clean as phsyically possible with hexfred diodes, Nichicon lytics, and generous film bypassing of various types, putting copious amounts of the final filtering right at the pins of the dac & output stage chips, then simplifiying & physically shortening the signal path as much as possible(esp. deleting any unneeded dc blocking caps), putting in B-B 134-series opamps(my personal fav's), and generally finessing things as much as possible. With multibit dacs like these, I have not found any verifiable benefit to upgrading the clock(beyond giving the existing clock the best supply). Also, when I can, I like to make sure all lytics in the entire player are Nichicon or Nippon Chemicon, for the sake of long term reliability.
By far my favorite standalone player to upgrade, though, is the Pioneer DV-09. I've gotten sound more beautiful than everything short of upgrading the hell out of a Museatex BiDAT with that magical combo of PCM1702's & PD7009B digital filter. 1702's have bored me with every other DF I have heard them with, so was shocked when my first DV-09 blew my mind.
My general approach is to make the power supply as large and clean as phsyically possible with hexfred diodes, Nichicon lytics, and generous film bypassing of various types, putting copious amounts of the final filtering right at the pins of the dac & output stage chips, then simplifiying & physically shortening the signal path as much as possible(esp. deleting any unneeded dc blocking caps), putting in B-B 134-series opamps(my personal fav's), and generally finessing things as much as possible. With multibit dacs like these, I have not found any verifiable benefit to upgrading the clock(beyond giving the existing clock the best supply). Also, when I can, I like to make sure all lytics in the entire player are Nichicon or Nippon Chemicon, for the sake of long term reliability.
By far my favorite standalone player to upgrade, though, is the Pioneer DV-09. I've gotten sound more beautiful than everything short of upgrading the hell out of a Museatex BiDAT with that magical combo of PCM1702's & PD7009B digital filter. 1702's have bored me with every other DF I have heard them with, so was shocked when my first DV-09 blew my mind.
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