Just curious as to how the dcb1 compares to the Burson buffer?
Anyone care to comment?
Burson AB-160 Audio Buffer
Anyone care to comment?
Burson AB-160 Audio Buffer
Update required ?
Lets leave the building practice flow a bit and we will learn more, so to home in better to what may prove more popular to recommend or to explain better in a near future edit. 2SK117 can be added as a 2SK170 direct substitute for instance for all the regs area Jfets (not for the audio part). We came to that conclusion after Stormsonic reported they do OK (in the reg only thread) and the pinch off voltage is correct.
Em, well I had a slight "light-bulb-over-the-head-moment" last night. I got out the thermocouple for my dmm and powered up the DCB1. Temp on the fets was ~24degC. Then I left the thermocouple off for a while. Then I noticed that the air temp in the workshop was +5 degC (chilly here at the mo!). So it would seem that what I'm actually getting is about 20deg over ambient - and thats when screwed down to a heatsink plate. So in your average room, thats maybe 40degC when on a good heatsink.
So that would seem like a reasonable amount of heat!!!! Apologies for my doubts earlier. Shows how you can be misled by missing the obvious!!!
Anyway, next step is adding in the lightspeed. That will be interesting as right now, the stepped pot sounds great. All that sibilance stuff is pretty much gone. Looking back over the last week or so, it seems that the sibilance was cured by:
1. tidying input and output wiring (esp. dirty contacts)
2. Matching the 50k pot resistance to the 220K (ie changing them to 540k)
3. Changing the 220r in the B1 part from metal film xicons to metal film dales.
4. Possibly run in time.
Fran
So that would seem like a reasonable amount of heat!!!! Apologies for my doubts earlier. Shows how you can be misled by missing the obvious!!!
Anyway, next step is adding in the lightspeed. That will be interesting as right now, the stepped pot sounds great. All that sibilance stuff is pretty much gone. Looking back over the last week or so, it seems that the sibilance was cured by:
1. tidying input and output wiring (esp. dirty contacts)
2. Matching the 50k pot resistance to the 220K (ie changing them to 540k)
3. Changing the 220r in the B1 part from metal film xicons to metal film dales.
4. Possibly run in time.
Fran
I wonder if there is a case for reforming all electrolytic capacitors before fitting them into our circuits.
I'd always regarded burn in of caps as a little on the voodo side, it is funny how a single sentence can change your opinion! Interesting food for thought Andrew!
Tony.
I think that anyone that believes components need burn in is completely deluded.
All properly designed circuits should perform to specification within a few seconds and reach their best compromise of performance targets when the optimum design temperatures have been achieved, probably within 30minutes from a cold start up.
Changes that occur days and/or weeks after initial start up and testing must be due to changes in the components. The major culprit for this change is likely to be old stock electrolytic capacitors. The oxide film degrades rapidly after production. The manufacturers specify in detail the reforming that must be done to allow their caps to be specification checked in the factory. After they have been transported around the world and sat on the wholesalers shelves and then at the retailers shelves and finally on the DIYer's shelf, how can an electrolytic perform to specification if it is not reformed to the manufacturer's specification?
I have been promoting this culture for years, but the deluded stick to their beliefs.
All properly designed circuits should perform to specification within a few seconds and reach their best compromise of performance targets when the optimum design temperatures have been achieved, probably within 30minutes from a cold start up.
Changes that occur days and/or weeks after initial start up and testing must be due to changes in the components. The major culprit for this change is likely to be old stock electrolytic capacitors. The oxide film degrades rapidly after production. The manufacturers specify in detail the reforming that must be done to allow their caps to be specification checked in the factory. After they have been transported around the world and sat on the wholesalers shelves and then at the retailers shelves and finally on the DIYer's shelf, how can an electrolytic perform to specification if it is not reformed to the manufacturer's specification?
I have been promoting this culture for years, but the deluded stick to their beliefs.
Heres a story to back this up. Over in the analog section RJM came up with a new version of the phonoclone with improved power supplies. So, as I already had 2 phonoclones, I thought, hey why not a 3rd!! So I became a beta tester for the new boards. RJM was ahead of me a bit, but we both ended up testing at about the same time. Every day over a 3 week period, constantly powered on and playing say an hour a night, I could hear changes in this thing as it became smoother and smoother sounding. Stopped changing after about 3 weeks. RJM reported exactly the same with his - and he wasn;t bullshittng me, I just knew that from the way he said stuff in the emails. Anyway, a monthy or 2 goes by, and we are both happy. Then someone discovers a mistake on PCB silkscreen where 4 electrolytic caps are reversed - ie wrong polarity. None of the caps failed (very low voltage in the wrong direction) but all were bulging to some extent.
We put the changes in sound down to the caps changing properties over time. Seems like a most reasonable explanation. We fitted new caps, but the sound never changed........
Sorry for the OT post, but it kinda fits.
Fran
We put the changes in sound down to the caps changing properties over time. Seems like a most reasonable explanation. We fitted new caps, but the sound never changed........
Sorry for the OT post, but it kinda fits.
Fran
I hope that you will take time to evaluate any impact of the much higher CCS current before you change attenuator technology and things will not be equal to judge anymore. Its an interesting point to know if sparing any more energy is inviting at all on performance grounds.
this is the problem with absolute troubleshooting/swapping and understanding change.
I often don't want to crack it open take it half apart only to make one change. That's often unrealistic. At least for me.
Well to tell the truth, so far I have been concentrating on "smoothing" this build out. So other details have been lost a bit.
What I will do now is listen for a while and then revert back to the 68//68 config as per the BOM. It will be very interesting to hear a difference if any.
BTW, the other thing that changed in my setup is that I went from 2 x separate 12V 25va transformers to one 120VA 15 transformer. If you remember the voltage on the 12v was only coming out at 11V unloaded.
Fran
What I will do now is listen for a while and then revert back to the 68//68 config as per the BOM. It will be very interesting to hear a difference if any.
BTW, the other thing that changed in my setup is that I went from 2 x separate 12V 25va transformers to one 120VA 15 transformer. If you remember the voltage on the 12v was only coming out at 11V unloaded.
Fran
I posted a while back that at first I was very put off by the sound of the DCB1. Didnt like it and was hesitant to post anything like that on the thread as others were enjoying it. However after listening for a week or so all of a sudden I HEARD it change, right there before my ears everything smoothed out and this high frequency harshness that had been on top of all extended mid to higher frequency tones disappeared. It was a very quick change and very obvious and also very unexpected. I have no idea if it was resistors or caps or jfets burning in but something changed as a result of being used for a certain period of time.
Uriah
Uriah
You could call it deluded, I call it burn in. Reforming could also be called burn in.
Fact is that a lot of gear does not sound optimal when powered on first. You can test that yourself too by building 2 identical circuits. Then power one on and leave it on for a week. After that week just switch on the second one and compare them A-B ( blind ) after one minute...