Well all this audio talk got me soldering and I've spent hooouuuurs stripping down my Arcam and changing the decoder chip. It was worth it though, it's singing again. Damn, it sounds good! Such smoooothness and natural sound 😀
Apologies for a totally irrelevant post lol
Apologies for a totally irrelevant post lol
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You'd be right there!!! Andrex toilet paper
Cool work! Its a right pain removing those chips!!! Glad you're back in business 😉
Now there is a question! As always it depends on budget! You can use Ray regs fairly cheap (LM317/LM337 based) or you can go for commercial low noise regs like SPowers but then they are a bit more expensive! Personally I's go for as many SPowers or similar as I could afford!
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Brent, given that you have been modding these since the beginning and have gone thru every variation on the theme, I was wondering if you could talk about how the sound changes as you add more s'regs and other tweaks that you do. Obviously I have a vested interest in the answer🙄
I can tell you Shep, because I've heard it and many other 63s that he's done, and several I've done. Once you've sorted the basics (as yours will be now I think, but don't know your full spec) you'll be getting most of the available detail level and smoothness.
As you add more supplies, regs and tweaks (coax runs, better resistors and silver mica caps etc.) the sound becomes just a little more dynamic, with even the tiniest strains of hardness disappearing. The music sounds congested and flat on many CDs because that's how it was produced. On natural, dynamic discs (those rare things) the sound has boundless dynamic range and near-perfect treble. The bass is that bit deeper. The separation between instruments will keep improving and the naturalness of female vocals too. I think male vocals won't ever be 100% through a CD63, personally, just maybe 99%.
I would say there is still plenty of "CD63" colouration, which perhaps comes from the NPC DAC chip itself. I expect most players or DACs will have some colouration, however.
I'm sure Brent himself can add to this as he is the one with that special player.
As you add more supplies, regs and tweaks (coax runs, better resistors and silver mica caps etc.) the sound becomes just a little more dynamic, with even the tiniest strains of hardness disappearing. The music sounds congested and flat on many CDs because that's how it was produced. On natural, dynamic discs (those rare things) the sound has boundless dynamic range and near-perfect treble. The bass is that bit deeper. The separation between instruments will keep improving and the naturalness of female vocals too. I think male vocals won't ever be 100% through a CD63, personally, just maybe 99%.
I would say there is still plenty of "CD63" colouration, which perhaps comes from the NPC DAC chip itself. I expect most players or DACs will have some colouration, however.
I'm sure Brent himself can add to this as he is the one with that special player.
Thanks simon. I'm about half way to full specs I would guess, although Brent would know better, plus Ray's Dos board of course. Yes sometimes there is still some hardness and not the last word in transparency. I assume my 67 is close enough to the 63 as makes no great difference.
I'm not so sure. The separately clocked servo in the cd63 does help, as does the KI transformer. Moving the mods to a CD63KI and adding a second clock would be a big improvement. The CD63 is worse as standard because it uses a naff xtal on the servo and the servo driver opamps run from an unregulated supply. Regulate these supplies and re-clock the servo and CLARITY and DETAIL you couldn't imagine will emerge. But for you, you'd need a cd63 to get there. Don't worry though, a cd67 can provide musical bliss, I'm sure - and is cheaper to do because it doesn't need two clocks.
Simon, which af the above mods you mentioned would bring the most benefit? I'm pretty much stuck with my 67', having thrown a lot of cash into it, and I want to go as far as possible. I have a bunch of S'regs already, Brent's new caps, and whatever else he's done (not forgetting the DOS board and a hard-wired good power cord) I take it for granted that more S'regs equals less "dirt" and a cleaner sound. There's still some hardness, which may or may not be related and the player is not very forgiving. Sometimes it's magical and at other times a bit spitty and harsh. Depends on the recording of course, but not just...I should say that maybe my expectations are too hi and I would be amiss if I only concentrated on the negatives (the half-empty glass syndrome), which might be discouraging. Compared to a stock 67' (I have access to one for comparison) there's simply no contest. It is unrecognizable and leagues away from the original, which is just not listenable in a hi-rez. system. All due to this thread and especially Brent and Ray's work. I guess some of us can just never be satisfied!
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Hi folks, newbie here. I'm sure this has been asked before but here goes. I've been following ray's mods for a CD63 and got as far as the Decoder when I ran into trouble. Got an Error 10 code. I've got 2.16v from pin 1. Am I right in thinking it should be 5v. If so, where should i start looking. I find fault finding confusing tho'. Any help welcome, thanks in advance.
Thanks for your kind words, Shep!
I'd recommend a better clock. You have the C1 in there, right? So get the C2 or build a Flea, with a separate mains PSU is what I would do.
Ray
Hi Grofus, and welcome to this thread. I hope you enjoyed the modding so far 😉
You must be looking at the wrong ''pin 1'' because according to the schematic, it's not connected. You probably mean pin 44, am I right? If that is not 5V, there's something wrong with R508 or C511/C512. Could be a short or a bad connection. Familiarize yourself with the schematic first, and then check the supply-voltages.
Regards,
Ray
Thanks Ray, my mistake, pin 44 it is. 5v showing, so OK there. I've checked the tracks too, nothing there. Any other ideas. Cheers
Hi,
Just out of curiosity, how much has it cost you to date?
Feel free not to answer 🙂
Pete
Shep,
Not knowing your exact mods and being more familiar with the cd63 personally I can't add to the clock recommendation too much. Clocking and a good output stage + good regs are the big mods for your player. Adding more power supplies for those regs will bring further gains and some of those will improve smoothness and dynamics to some degree.
The spittiness can probably be taken down to nearly nothing but you'll have to accept a lot of that will be the recordings themselves. You must only judge the player at an absolute level on decent recordings. CD63/7 can't really cope with bad recordings IMHO, it does not flatter.
I honestly think you should spend your next monies on expanding your music collection, unless it's massive already. Also consider the rest of your system as system synergy is always number one for musical enjoyment.
Simon
Not knowing your exact mods and being more familiar with the cd63 personally I can't add to the clock recommendation too much. Clocking and a good output stage + good regs are the big mods for your player. Adding more power supplies for those regs will bring further gains and some of those will improve smoothness and dynamics to some degree.
The spittiness can probably be taken down to nearly nothing but you'll have to accept a lot of that will be the recordings themselves. You must only judge the player at an absolute level on decent recordings. CD63/7 can't really cope with bad recordings IMHO, it does not flatter.
I honestly think you should spend your next monies on expanding your music collection, unless it's massive already. Also consider the rest of your system as system synergy is always number one for musical enjoyment.
Simon
To answer the question about money: I honestly don't know! I try not to count because it spoils the fun and I start biting my nails and then I get bouts of existential anxiety (and start on my toes) and questioning the meaning of it all and why couldn't I hold down a good job and buy a nice house in the suburbs with two flashy cars?....you see where this is going
fortunately I have a good therapist who humours me 🙄 Also I am very happy to let my betters do the hard work, so it costs me every time I send it off to the UK or California (my Wyred-type amp) so... let's see; I bought it on an end of series sale back then for maybe 200$ and I've probably put another 800 easy peasy. Wish you hadn't asked...
To reply to Simon; thanks and you're absolutely right about getting more music and no, I don't have huge collection. Maybe 300 cd's? And being a certified nutter, you can be sure this will go back to Brent sometime this winter. The C2 clock is a bit rich for my tastes but I'm tempted to add more regs. Actually I have to save up for a 63sig so maybe this will be put off for a year. I also want to have my amp up-graded with better caps so... so time marches on 😀
fortunately I have a good therapist who humours me 🙄 Also I am very happy to let my betters do the hard work, so it costs me every time I send it off to the UK or California (my Wyred-type amp) so... let's see; I bought it on an end of series sale back then for maybe 200$ and I've probably put another 800 easy peasy. Wish you hadn't asked...To reply to Simon; thanks and you're absolutely right about getting more music and no, I don't have huge collection. Maybe 300 cd's? And being a certified nutter, you can be sure this will go back to Brent sometime this winter. The C2 clock is a bit rich for my tastes but I'm tempted to add more regs. Actually I have to save up for a 63sig so maybe this will be put off for a year. I also want to have my amp up-graded with better caps so... so time marches on 😀
It's easier to rationalise when you DIY. I'm sure I've spent 100s just on caps etc. over the last couple of years but I've still got a load left (because you have to buy 5 at a time) so its probabaly only cost me £2.50 really 🙂
Pete
Pete
Aaarrrgghhh! No forum emails again!!!
Anyway.. Shep you will always have edge / spittiness etc until you run all the digital chips on their own low noise supplies. I am a believer in you hear your psu's. I get so called high end cdps here at work where the player is based on a cheaper Sony or Philips etc and they make the output better, yes they sound better than the player they're based on but still have that edge, that digital nastiness that can only be removed with psu improvements.
The C1 improves quite abit by running it off a dedicated psu, the C1 as standard uses a very low noise 3.3V Vref regulator but benefits from isolation.
Brent
Anyway.. Shep you will always have edge / spittiness etc until you run all the digital chips on their own low noise supplies. I am a believer in you hear your psu's. I get so called high end cdps here at work where the player is based on a cheaper Sony or Philips etc and they make the output better, yes they sound better than the player they're based on but still have that edge, that digital nastiness that can only be removed with psu improvements.
The C1 improves quite abit by running it off a dedicated psu, the C1 as standard uses a very low noise 3.3V Vref regulator but benefits from isolation.
Brent