Upgrading Audio Alchemcy DDE V1.2 DAC

[pjpoes]

Hey guys I've had this AA dac around for a while, when I used it I liked it. It had the best bass I had ever heard with digital in my own system, along with a sweet forgiving sound. However, it also sounded like it lacked resolution, and wasn't the best sounding compared to even pretty cheap modern cd players and dvd players.

I opened up the dac and here is what I found. The connector for power, which looks sort of like an S-Video connector, appears to have 4 connections plus a ground ring. Then I have 4 large green striped things labeled L#, so I assume they are small inductors, though I have never seen inductors like that, they look like resistors. Then the voltage is reduced from 12-15 volts, whatever you feed it in that range, to 5 volts for the DAC.

Parts I can't identify but wish I could are the three leged little black things that look like, and may be, triacs. I have a total of around 17 of those.

Also I have lots of small blue capacitors labeled 104j, which I believe is 100,000 picofared caps, correct. Thats the same as a .1uf capacitor, correct. I'm not sure how I can replace those with better quality ones in the same sized area, as they are quite small. I guess that would be why Tantulums and Ceramics are so nice, as far as packaging.

The electrolytics are Nichicon Muse, they are Green, but polarized, so I'm not sure what level, but I know its not any of the recent top three. I'm thinking of replacing them with either the KZ series or with Elna Cerafines.

The film caps are either these yellow box style or small polystyrenes. Because of the small picofared values, I'm not sure what else I could use that would sound better. All of them are either 47J or 120J. That would be 47 picofareds or 120 picofareds correct? If thats the case, I don't even know if Wima has a film and foil in that size, and the improvement is argueable. However the yellow box caps I believe are not as good as Wima's would be, so those I can replace with wima's.

Opamps are OP275G, and I happen to have some potentially better dual opamps around I could use. Beyond that, I think the only thing worth upgrading is going to be the quality of the connectors, and building a new power supply for it. I was thinking of building a +/- 12 volt jung regulated supply, with a 120va toroidal transformer.

If anyone has any answers to the questions I gave, or further suggestions, let me know. Thanks.

[audiobomber]

I'd say the power supply is the best place to start. That wall wart is nasty. I have a DDE3, and it was ane easily noticeable upgrade when I went from the wall wart to a PS2. The PS on the DDE1.2 is even worse than the one that came with the DDE3.

[Fin]

Check out some of the threads here on the AA DITB. I think there are many similarities.

[URL=http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34247]

Audio Alchemy Dac Man

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...?postid=876256

Dac in the box mods??

Op Amp Upgrade In Audio Alchemy Ditb D/a

Dac in the box mods??

Op Amp Upgrade In Audio Alchemy Ditb D/a