I might return this or not.
depending on if it’s worth modding.
i like the cirrus chip it uses so i thought it might be a good candidate for modding.
the sound doesnt have as much weight as I would like.
and is a tad too smooth.
would changing out the op amps in it and maybe something else help it get to where I want?
The op amps look like the kind out in portable devices. ( very small).
as I have very limited electronics knowledge please be kind and considerate to me.
Thank you in advance.
i haven’t found anything to beat my Marantz HD DAC1 yet and hopefully modding a DAC might work.
depending on if it’s worth modding.
i like the cirrus chip it uses so i thought it might be a good candidate for modding.
the sound doesnt have as much weight as I would like.
and is a tad too smooth.
would changing out the op amps in it and maybe something else help it get to where I want?
The op amps look like the kind out in portable devices. ( very small).
as I have very limited electronics knowledge please be kind and considerate to me.
Thank you in advance.
i haven’t found anything to beat my Marantz HD DAC1 yet and hopefully modding a DAC might work.
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If you've not modded a DAC before, find one which doesn't use such tiny parts to learn on. That's my advice, FWIW.
any suggestions which I can mod that will come out better than my Marantz HD DAC1?
i was thinking about the Topping D30 pro since it uses the cirrus chip that is an upgrade to the one in my Marantz.
i am handy with a soldering iron tho.
thanks so much for the response
I've modded a DAC a little bit similar to this one before and the result wasn't really worth the effort. But who's to say you'll get the same result?
As there's a MeanWell switching brick powering this DAC, are you using balanced outs? I ask because there needs to be a path for the leakage currents created by such a module - if using SE interconnects the leakage goes down the shield of the cable and into the GND of the amp/preamp you're feeding it to. If you're using SE outs then I would suggest creating an external linear supply for this DAC, that may be the best upgrade you could make.
As there's a MeanWell switching brick powering this DAC, are you using balanced outs? I ask because there needs to be a path for the leakage currents created by such a module - if using SE interconnects the leakage goes down the shield of the cable and into the GND of the amp/preamp you're feeding it to. If you're using SE outs then I would suggest creating an external linear supply for this DAC, that may be the best upgrade you could make.
Could there be any mods done to make the sound have more weight to the instruments and more impact?
that is the one thing my Marantz HD DAC1 does better than any DAC ive tested.
that is the one thing my Marantz HD DAC1 does better than any DAC ive tested.
Sounds like you're asking for more subjective dynamics. Dynamics can sometimes be lost due to noise on the power rails, especially when opamps are used and also when switching modules are used to create them as looks to be the case here. You might get an improvement by filtering the main rails to the output opamps with LC filters but it takes a bit of knowledge of circuits to design them and it'll also take some effort to figure out which switchers are powering those opamps.
-20dB per filter as a rule of thumb, then cascade filters. I cant see if theres any ferrites or banks of parallel decoupling caps on the power.
I suspect this would be a multilayer pcb too so if the noise is due to a pcb design/layout then you’re stuck. Thin pcb stacks also help capacitance to reduce high frequency noise.
A dac will have a analogue power rail - start there with an oscilloscope.
I suspect this would be a multilayer pcb too so if the noise is due to a pcb design/layout then you’re stuck. Thin pcb stacks also help capacitance to reduce high frequency noise.
A dac will have a analogue power rail - start there with an oscilloscope.
As with most Topping DACs this does not seem to have any digital isolators. Not on USB nor on MCU. Noise from USB can creep through unless some USB isolator is used. That "mod" is easy to test as it does not involve any hw modifications.
I don't see any need for USB isolation provided only balanced outputs are being used. The common-mode current should (in theory) pass harmlessly down the drain wire, assuming best EMC practice has been observed in PCB layout (perhaps a big ask).
Well, it doesn't mean that the Marantz is necessarily better. I might mean that the rest of the system is tuned to make the presence of the Marantz in that chain as good as possible - in that system. It could very well be that the Topping, as is, could be an enabler to a better sounding system.
I find it strange that it is always the DAC that is blend to cause problems 🙂 after all, the recent incarnation of DACs might be the most perfect units of all system components that there is - still it is almost always blamed to the the reson for "bad" sound - strange....
It's a system game.....
//
Noise from USB may impact the DAC chip so it is not strictly cured by using balanced output. And there seem to be many members here that claim to hear differences with sources through async USB. That should not be possible unless noise is the cause.
We haven't established what the coupling mechanism is yet, so I don't know. Do you have any ideas of the mechanism of impact on the DAC chip? Just saying 'Similar to blah blah' isn't a mechanism.
My bad that I used 'RF' there where I should have said 'radiated' to be clearer.
My bad that I used 'RF' there where I should have said 'radiated' to be clearer.