Did a little drilling and mounting scheme for boards. Soft heat is hanging on there. What do you think of the arrangement? :> Now all I have to do is figure out the Soft Heat wiring. Hint hint
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Yah, I remember that now. Thanks for the reminder. I am tempted to do a couple of upgrades to the circuit but let's see how this goes first.
Ok, guys between Zen Mod, Birdbox and the powers that be, there is a simple to understand drawing of the implementation of the Soft Heat board. I for one am very appreciative of the effort made for our sake. Maybe I will even post a photo. In my world it isn't just the wiring but an additional attempt to make it look good as well. Not as easy as it looks sometimes.
Here's a basic guide for ZM's Soft Heat for the Korg NuTube B1. I'm posting in a different thread so it can easily be updated as needed. I have a bunch of kits still if anyone wants to give it a try.
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Looking at buying a high quality streamer connecting it to my B1 which has a 2nd input not used, input 1 is for my vinyl / record deck which is connected to my recently completed Aleph jzm I assume i could connect streamer direct to Aleph except built Aleph without XLRs so would require to revisit that and install them. any advise would be welcome. not wanting to do any damage.
Thanks
Thanks
Make sure you have a pot or volume adjustment between your source and the B1K.
The B1K has quite a bit of gain but doesn't like to kick more than say a few V at the output, so you need to correct its voltage at its inputs accordingly.
I guess you know all that already, but well, just in case...
I hope this helps
Claude
The B1K has quite a bit of gain but doesn't like to kick more than say a few V at the output, so you need to correct its voltage at its inputs accordingly.
I guess you know all that already, but well, just in case...
I hope this helps
Claude
Streamer? You mean DAC?
https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650169855-topping-d90le/
Get a DAC with a volume knob on it and use your cell phone or tablet as "streamer". I've used Android tablets for many years, lately have gone to Chromebooks with touch screens. Pop a 1TB SDcard into it.
^ It depends on whether the 'volume control' is in the analog or digital domain. With a DAC, it could be either or both.
Whether it "matters"... I stay out of that discussion.
A reasonable article. There are more... and this assumes PCM...
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/pauls...7Z21HJ5lpXh9Zde61wNr6aHNYpUFYqGQsgGRO3ppRjnEB
Whether it "matters"... I stay out of that discussion.
A reasonable article. There are more... and this assumes PCM...
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/pauls...7Z21HJ5lpXh9Zde61wNr6aHNYpUFYqGQsgGRO3ppRjnEB
Sorry should have given more details it is the EVERSOLO dac-z6 the volume knob on this can be bypassed to the pre amp, B1 in my case
thanks some more discussion would be welcome.
thanks some more discussion would be welcome.
Lets's face it, I believe I can be considered as a B1K promoter.
Nevertheless in your case the purpose of having a B1K in the loop can only be colouration / a sound signature you like, as it won't really add any significant voltage gain to enhence greatly the soundpressure at the LS. So that preamp isn't going to be great help in a gain chain at the end of the day (conventional purpose of a preamp).
Based on this, and I could be wrong of course, I would say that you can safely use the volume control included in your Eversolo to loop in a B1K...and see how it fares. IME digital volume control is often on modern 32bits D/S DAC unoticeable up to -30dB - -35dB on 24bits sources or lower (and the Eversolo DAC Z8 matches certainly this as i tried it, but don't know about your specific model).
From then on, IME I would say that the B1K sonic signature is anyway likely to dominate the final sound whether or not you put a digital volume control in the loop - assuming reasonable gain chain and not silly normal listening sessions at -70dB position.
Just reduce your source volume digitaly and loop in a B1K if that is the sound you want, no need IMHO for extra bits 🙂
All IMHO of course
Claude
Nevertheless in your case the purpose of having a B1K in the loop can only be colouration / a sound signature you like, as it won't really add any significant voltage gain to enhence greatly the soundpressure at the LS. So that preamp isn't going to be great help in a gain chain at the end of the day (conventional purpose of a preamp).
Based on this, and I could be wrong of course, I would say that you can safely use the volume control included in your Eversolo to loop in a B1K...and see how it fares. IME digital volume control is often on modern 32bits D/S DAC unoticeable up to -30dB - -35dB on 24bits sources or lower (and the Eversolo DAC Z8 matches certainly this as i tried it, but don't know about your specific model).
From then on, IME I would say that the B1K sonic signature is anyway likely to dominate the final sound whether or not you put a digital volume control in the loop - assuming reasonable gain chain and not silly normal listening sessions at -70dB position.
Just reduce your source volume digitaly and loop in a B1K if that is the sound you want, no need IMHO for extra bits 🙂
All IMHO of course
Claude
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I see a lot of comments about hiss but not a lot of confirmation a fix was discovered.
I just finished putting together a kit with the Academy Audio App Notes. At first the unit was very noisy with a ground loop but I attached my input and output grounds to a star ground and now I just have a faint hiss. On efficient speakers it’s noticeable with ear about 1 foot away. With less efficient speakers you can’t hear it unless you push your ear to the speaker and really focus.
If anyone else has any recommendations let me know. I’m really happy with how it sounds but would try to get it more quiet.
I just finished putting together a kit with the Academy Audio App Notes. At first the unit was very noisy with a ground loop but I attached my input and output grounds to a star ground and now I just have a faint hiss. On efficient speakers it’s noticeable with ear about 1 foot away. With less efficient speakers you can’t hear it unless you push your ear to the speaker and really focus.
- I’m going to try re-soldering all joints
- I had used some lead free Wonder Solder for all the app notes changes but I think I’m going to swap back to Kester leaded 63/37
- create continuity in the whole chassis
- replace c8 with a 22uf non polar to follow the app notes (I only had 10uf on hand)
If anyone else has any recommendations let me know. I’m really happy with how it sounds but would try to get it more quiet.
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In my case, too much gain in the chain. Bypassed gain buffer on amp and it worked as it should.
@Brijac can you please make a quick drawing of the mods that attenuated the hiss on your board? I'm having the same issues, sound is good, no hum or buzz with the ground loop breaker for test, just hiss that can be heard like a meter away from the speakers. It does not increase with pot all the way up. Voltages are good and I've disconnected all other boards just to keep this issue minimized to one part.
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You have to check the gain structure in your chain. Mine was easy, purifi amps have a FE bypass, so i removed around 14db and it reduced it a lot (b1k nutube is buffered so it can drive it). And as i use custom dac, i just reduced output vrms and it was silent.
You may have other issues, but it's what solved mine, and if you have a way of reducing gain in your chain it would be a good start.
You can try reducing the gain of the nutube this way, but you will have increased output impedance to around 2.4k, and the gain reduced will be by around 6db (sorry for my horrid finger drawing on phone). Simple voltage divider with two 4.7k resistors.
You may have other issues, but it's what solved mine, and if you have a way of reducing gain in your chain it would be a good start.
You can try reducing the gain of the nutube this way, but you will have increased output impedance to around 2.4k, and the gain reduced will be by around 6db (sorry for my horrid finger drawing on phone). Simple voltage divider with two 4.7k resistors.