Hi,
I am looking for an old, but good CD player to modify at a fairly noob level.
I have noticed that the Cyrus DAD3 used a Philips CDM12 transport mechanism which is supposedly compatible with the high end CD-Pro2LF except for some separation of analogue and digital grounds compared to the original.
I have no idea if the CD-PRO2LF transport will fit the Cyrus and allow the front drawer to slide in over the transport and then the clamp to come down appropriately. Has anybody got a clue?
I was wondering if anybody else had tried modifying this player and what they have done with it?
Since the Q Dac upgrade allowed the AD1861/PCM1704 dacs to be used to upgrade the player, I have been wondering if the DAD3 can be upgraded to use AD1955/PCM1794 dacs to better effect?
If there is insufficient room for such a feat, maybe the CD-PRO2LF can still be used as a transport with some other mods to power regulation (possibly off-board) to make a good transport for 2 or 3 box CD replay solution.
Does anybody have any thoughts, or am I barking up the wrong tree with this concept?
Kind regards to all,
InfiniteGain
I am looking for an old, but good CD player to modify at a fairly noob level.
I have noticed that the Cyrus DAD3 used a Philips CDM12 transport mechanism which is supposedly compatible with the high end CD-Pro2LF except for some separation of analogue and digital grounds compared to the original.
I have no idea if the CD-PRO2LF transport will fit the Cyrus and allow the front drawer to slide in over the transport and then the clamp to come down appropriately. Has anybody got a clue?
I was wondering if anybody else had tried modifying this player and what they have done with it?
Since the Q Dac upgrade allowed the AD1861/PCM1704 dacs to be used to upgrade the player, I have been wondering if the DAD3 can be upgraded to use AD1955/PCM1794 dacs to better effect?
If there is insufficient room for such a feat, maybe the CD-PRO2LF can still be used as a transport with some other mods to power regulation (possibly off-board) to make a good transport for 2 or 3 box CD replay solution.
Does anybody have any thoughts, or am I barking up the wrong tree with this concept?
Kind regards to all,
InfiniteGain
InfiniteGain said:
I think you'll find the dustbowl is, by and large, static and it is the brush that rolls by. And don't forget the shop sign swinging by its one remaining attachment.
Well, things like that is why I am asking.
There is the dealer installable Q DAC module, so I would have thought this was designed to be a simply de-soldering, or even unplugging of the old DAC board and the soldering-in or plugging in of the new board. But I have not seen the internals of a DAD3, or found its schematics.
I just recognise it as a good basic player (I heard one years ago and preferred it over the Marantz CD63 KI Signature), coupled together with the ability of the Q DAC module to bring it up to a very good "entry to the high-end" level of CD replay via the DAC module. The Q DAC at the time was using the PCM1704 from what I remember (I could be wrong).
Many contemporary high end players (The Musical Fidelity KM25 Transport and DAC or one-box SACD player come to mind) use the PCM1794, which I believe is an evolution of the PCM1704. My mind is wondering if anybody could figure out how to effectively create a new DAC design based around the PCM1794 that evolved the implementation of Q DACs design to use the PCM1794 instead of the PCM1704, or better still, used whatever Cyrus did to make their board compatible and evolved it so that a RAKK DAC from K&K Audio could go into the Cyrus DAD3 instead.
In addition, the best transport available is the CD-PRO2LF and this is a compatible replacement for the CDM12 in the Cyrus DAD3, although I am unsure if the tray could be retained, or if the DAD3 would need to be modded to be a top-loader. The CDPRO2 is a drop in replacement apart from some electrical grounding tweaks for digital and analogue grounds that were otherwise combined in the CDM12.
Either way, I believe the modding of a DAD3 to use a RAKK DAC and a transport swap to the CD-PRO2LF, coupled with a few power regulation modes (which naturally could be done off-board and go through the PSX-R interface), would end up being one cutting edge sounding player that looked and worked like an ordinary Cyrus.
The reason I like the idea, is that in DIY modding, it is the casework and fascia button fabrication that always seems to be time consuming and fraught with potential costs I would rather spend on the electronics. In my envisioned solution, I keep the quality Cyrus control circuitry, casework, remote control and do not need to create a case, fascia and buttons, or salvage bits from other kit off ebay and scratch my head figuring out how I will make something new out of it that looked and functioned like a commercial grade product.
Obviously, the RAKK DAC uses a 12V supply which I suspect the Cyrus onboard DAC and Q module would not use. That is not so much an issue as it is easy to change a power supply, especially if supplying power through the PSX-R interface. The real issue is: how did Cyrus make a PCM1704 compatible with the main board using a TDA1305 and what can be learned from this to use a more capable DAC chip like the PCM1794 in the RAKK DAC?
Maybe I should fire the questions at K&K audio.
There is the dealer installable Q DAC module, so I would have thought this was designed to be a simply de-soldering, or even unplugging of the old DAC board and the soldering-in or plugging in of the new board. But I have not seen the internals of a DAD3, or found its schematics.
I just recognise it as a good basic player (I heard one years ago and preferred it over the Marantz CD63 KI Signature), coupled together with the ability of the Q DAC module to bring it up to a very good "entry to the high-end" level of CD replay via the DAC module. The Q DAC at the time was using the PCM1704 from what I remember (I could be wrong).
Many contemporary high end players (The Musical Fidelity KM25 Transport and DAC or one-box SACD player come to mind) use the PCM1794, which I believe is an evolution of the PCM1704. My mind is wondering if anybody could figure out how to effectively create a new DAC design based around the PCM1794 that evolved the implementation of Q DACs design to use the PCM1794 instead of the PCM1704, or better still, used whatever Cyrus did to make their board compatible and evolved it so that a RAKK DAC from K&K Audio could go into the Cyrus DAD3 instead.
In addition, the best transport available is the CD-PRO2LF and this is a compatible replacement for the CDM12 in the Cyrus DAD3, although I am unsure if the tray could be retained, or if the DAD3 would need to be modded to be a top-loader. The CDPRO2 is a drop in replacement apart from some electrical grounding tweaks for digital and analogue grounds that were otherwise combined in the CDM12.
Either way, I believe the modding of a DAD3 to use a RAKK DAC and a transport swap to the CD-PRO2LF, coupled with a few power regulation modes (which naturally could be done off-board and go through the PSX-R interface), would end up being one cutting edge sounding player that looked and worked like an ordinary Cyrus.
The reason I like the idea, is that in DIY modding, it is the casework and fascia button fabrication that always seems to be time consuming and fraught with potential costs I would rather spend on the electronics. In my envisioned solution, I keep the quality Cyrus control circuitry, casework, remote control and do not need to create a case, fascia and buttons, or salvage bits from other kit off ebay and scratch my head figuring out how I will make something new out of it that looked and functioned like a commercial grade product.
Obviously, the RAKK DAC uses a 12V supply which I suspect the Cyrus onboard DAC and Q module would not use. That is not so much an issue as it is easy to change a power supply, especially if supplying power through the PSX-R interface. The real issue is: how did Cyrus make a PCM1704 compatible with the main board using a TDA1305 and what can be learned from this to use a more capable DAC chip like the PCM1794 in the RAKK DAC?
Maybe I should fire the questions at K&K audio.
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