Hi Bob
Of course...if you did it more than a few yew years ago...that would be the case.
In fact - I'm glad that you didn't do any form of reclocking....because I'm trying to get an idea of how good this little dac can be without reclocking and to establish wiether it is worthwhile going to the nth degree to improve it.
At the moment I'm trying to decide between keeping it in its "cute" but compromised enclosure with just modest mods.....or....like you, put it in a bigger/better box and go for the works.
The works would include:
Bigger/better enclosure
All of the Kal Rubinson modest mods
Serious power supplies
Tent XO DAC with secondary PLL and reclocking
Possibly a new output stage (I have a HDAM waiting for a home)
Anything else that we come up with.....
the big question is....Does this little DITB deserve the works?
Of course...if you did it more than a few yew years ago...that would be the case.
In fact - I'm glad that you didn't do any form of reclocking....because I'm trying to get an idea of how good this little dac can be without reclocking and to establish wiether it is worthwhile going to the nth degree to improve it.
At the moment I'm trying to decide between keeping it in its "cute" but compromised enclosure with just modest mods.....or....like you, put it in a bigger/better box and go for the works.
The works would include:
Bigger/better enclosure
All of the Kal Rubinson modest mods
Serious power supplies
Tent XO DAC with secondary PLL and reclocking
Possibly a new output stage (I have a HDAM waiting for a home)
Anything else that we come up with.....
the big question is....Does this little DITB deserve the works?
Hi Fin,
Whether to go that far or not is a difficult one, and really only you can decide on this for yourself.
However, most of my own equipment is 'open-frame' without any enclosures, and in spite of concerns about the possibility, I don't suffer from EMI or RFI problems, or whatever.
There are advantages to this approach as it is then very easy to carry out further tweaks or changes, without needing to worry about available internal space, or even the need to open enclosures up to work on the units. If things look too untidy for domestic bliss, you can always sit an upturned box of some kind over the works, and cardboard covered in Fablon or whatever, can look acceptable, even if only on a temporary basis.
As internal space is the real snag with this tiny DAC, and is very restrictive where comprehensive mods go, why not make up some simple supports for the single PCB used in the DITB, and temporarily fix this to a piece of wood as a baseboard?
Two pieces of wood with some sawn grooves along them would be fine here to support the PCB in a similar fashion to the existing DITB aluminium enclosure. Look at some of Peter Daniel's pics to see how he recommends fixing his PCBs to wood for best sonic results with some of his DACs etc. Like some other posters, he has apparently found that having no enclosure actually improves the resultant sound, and wood (which is cheap and easy) or acrylic seem to work well for this due to their vibrational damping properties. Charles Altmann does something similar and recommends using a wood baseboard with his DACs, too, IIRC.
Then you would have as much space as you need to add anything you wish to try out, with very little cost other than the components themselves, and this would give you much flexibility for experimentation here. Afterwards, if and when you are satisfied with your results and you wish to tidy things up, you could source a suitable enclosure to house the final unit in.
Just don't be surprised if adding an enclosure (especially metal)takes away a small part of the sonic improvements you have achieved!
Regards,
Whether to go that far or not is a difficult one, and really only you can decide on this for yourself.
However, most of my own equipment is 'open-frame' without any enclosures, and in spite of concerns about the possibility, I don't suffer from EMI or RFI problems, or whatever.
There are advantages to this approach as it is then very easy to carry out further tweaks or changes, without needing to worry about available internal space, or even the need to open enclosures up to work on the units. If things look too untidy for domestic bliss, you can always sit an upturned box of some kind over the works, and cardboard covered in Fablon or whatever, can look acceptable, even if only on a temporary basis.
As internal space is the real snag with this tiny DAC, and is very restrictive where comprehensive mods go, why not make up some simple supports for the single PCB used in the DITB, and temporarily fix this to a piece of wood as a baseboard?
Two pieces of wood with some sawn grooves along them would be fine here to support the PCB in a similar fashion to the existing DITB aluminium enclosure. Look at some of Peter Daniel's pics to see how he recommends fixing his PCBs to wood for best sonic results with some of his DACs etc. Like some other posters, he has apparently found that having no enclosure actually improves the resultant sound, and wood (which is cheap and easy) or acrylic seem to work well for this due to their vibrational damping properties. Charles Altmann does something similar and recommends using a wood baseboard with his DACs, too, IIRC.
Then you would have as much space as you need to add anything you wish to try out, with very little cost other than the components themselves, and this would give you much flexibility for experimentation here. Afterwards, if and when you are satisfied with your results and you wish to tidy things up, you could source a suitable enclosure to house the final unit in.
Just don't be surprised if adding an enclosure (especially metal)takes away a small part of the sonic improvements you have achieved!
Regards,
Power supply for Vac-in-the-box
Hi!
May be I am too late now, but facing same problem, I just did succeed to have this preamp work with a 15V DC 600 mA power supply (5$can) with the plug cut and replaced with a 3.5 stereo minjack reconnected to it (soldered is better).
Works fine!
May be I even love it better than my NAD PP-2...
Alain
Hi!
May be I am too late now, but facing same problem, I just did succeed to have this preamp work with a 15V DC 600 mA power supply (5$can) with the plug cut and replaced with a 3.5 stereo minjack reconnected to it (soldered is better).
Works fine!
May be I even love it better than my NAD PP-2...
Alain
Hi!
May be I am too late now, but facing same problem, I just did succeed to have this preamp work with a 15V DC 600 mA power supply (5$can) with the plug cut and replaced with a 3.5 stereo minjack reconnected to it (soldered is better).
Works fine!
May be I even love it better than my NAD PP-2...
Alain
Just come across this thread and have the same problem - the PSU has failed!
Was very interested to see you used a substitute and wondered if you this THIS PSU would work too?
Thanks
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