You already did the transistor mod, just remove & bypass the 7x05 regulators, easy. Keep in mind the 4v vref has to track thus the opamps are considered necessary. The transistor's job is to then take the 5V and pass out the 4V which is still output tracked by the opamps.
So you think there are sonic benefits to bypassing the 7x05 regs in this case? That's what was hard to discern from previous posts.
I will have to draw one up. It is just a simple 555 configured in a 5 second delay to power the 2 relays. The relays disengage shorting all 4 signal pins on both dam1021 as soon as the power switch is fipped off. Silence on the nc400.
I was also planning on adding a 3rd relay to control the nAMPon pins on my nc400's to force them into standby whenever the headphone switch was engaged. Unfortunately a small mishap where the nAMPon pins were subjected to -HV means they no longer function, fortunately they are stuck on, but I gave up on that part.
I was also planning on adding a 3rd relay to control the nAMPon pins on my nc400's to force them into standby whenever the headphone switch was engaged. Unfortunately a small mishap where the nAMPon pins were subjected to -HV means they no longer function, fortunately they are stuck on, but I gave up on that part.
Okay had to some more searching. So it sounds like the BC550/560 wasn't as needed for Rev3 but still has benefits if I bypass the regulators...
Good to know. So you also feel that bypassing the 5v regs is a worthwhile endeavor?
Removed the on board PS caps and resistors which then meant removing muting fets. Mild pops on headphone amp, no big deal. Music is more visceral and tangible now. So just the 1.2v switcher and +-5v regs powered by +-7.5v. Everything else is lifepo4. Stopped short of bypassing the regs. Maybe another day.
On to revisiting filters.
On to revisiting filters.
Bypassing the 5v regs is a highly recommended mod. With the regs gone, there's a notable increase in resolution, inner detail/micro detail, and instrument separation. A greater sense of both placement from left to right (imaging), and depth (soundstage). I can focus on one layer of performance and ignore the rest because it's so well defined. All while maintaining strong drive, solid bass, and musicality. All IMO of course,
There were times when I first got this board that I felt it was more like a very good Delta Sigma DAC. Even after some of the initial basic mods. Now it sounds special, and I'm excited to just listen and not think about tinkering.
For now.
Oh and thanks to Spikestabber, TNT, analog_sa, RandyTsuch et al. for the recent help. And of course Soekris for this great dac.
There were times when I first got this board that I felt it was more like a very good Delta Sigma DAC. Even after some of the initial basic mods. Now it sounds special, and I'm excited to just listen and not think about tinkering.
For now.
Oh and thanks to Spikestabber, TNT, analog_sa, RandyTsuch et al. for the recent help. And of course Soekris for this great dac.
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Bypassing the 5v regs is a highly recommended mod. With the regs gone, there's a notable increase in resolution, inner detail/micro detail, and instrument separation. A greater sense of both placement from left to right (imaging), and depth (soundstage). I can focus on one layer of performance and ignore the rest because it's so well defined. All while maintaining strong drive, solid bass, and musicality. All IMO of course,
There were times when I first got this board that I felt it was more like a very good Delta Sigma DAC. Even after some of the initial basic mods. Now it sounds special, and I'm excited to just listen and not think about tinkering.
For now.
Oh and thanks to Spikestabber, TNT, analog_sa, RandyTsuch et al. for the recent help. And of course Soekris for this great dac.
Cheers!
This sounds about right, percussion especially just came to life after the last of those mods were done. I was never good at explaining these differences however I am so audibly photographic know for certain they exist. I wouldn't consider the 7x05 regulators stable enough to generate any kind of clean upstream voltage for the audio path given the low noise requirements, infact none of the new dam boards use them and run off straight +/-5V instead.
Many have also reported good results after they removed the muting jfets, infact there was a point with my v2 boards that they just didn't sound up to par of my existing modded v1 even with the transistor mod, until removing those jfets did I feel 100% satisfied that things opened up to where it was at least equal to my previous single board build. I did the muting jfet removal when I moved everything to 5V so I had also removed the 7x05 regulators at the same time.
Enjoy your listening and thanks to everyone who have sacrificed boards and time to make these boards a rock solid listening platform. I have also noted a few comments where such fully modded dam1021 takes the fanfare off the dam19x1, however the 19x1 out of the box being significantly better than a stock dam1021.
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Hi Soekris.
I have a DAM 1021 rev 4. First, I connect to I2s an Amanero 384combo and it works well. After that, I remove Amanero and then connect a CD to SPDIF1 as your instruction, CD works well. When I connect both CD and Amanero, CD works well, but Amanero does not work, even I use a contact to ground Select0 and Select1. Now, I remove CD and connect only to I2s, Amanero does not work, although Amanero works well on DAC 9018 that I have.
Please help me to solve this problem.
Thanks for your help.
Yours sincerely.
PS. My executive system is Daphile with the newest version.
Thanks.
I have a DAM 1021 rev 4. First, I connect to I2s an Amanero 384combo and it works well. After that, I remove Amanero and then connect a CD to SPDIF1 as your instruction, CD works well. When I connect both CD and Amanero, CD works well, but Amanero does not work, even I use a contact to ground Select0 and Select1. Now, I remove CD and connect only to I2s, Amanero does not work, although Amanero works well on DAC 9018 that I have.
Please help me to solve this problem.
Thanks for your help.
Yours sincerely.
PS. My executive system is Daphile with the newest version.
Thanks.
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Bypassing the 5v regs is a highly recommended mod. With the regs gone, there's a notable increase in resolution, inner detail/micro detail, and instrument separation. A greater sense of both placement from left to right (imaging), and depth (soundstage). I can focus on one layer of performance and ignore the rest because it's so well defined. All while maintaining strong drive, solid bass, and musicality. All IMO of course,
There were times when I first got this board that I felt it was more like a very good Delta Sigma DAC. Even after some of the initial basic mods. Now it sounds special, and I'm excited to just listen and not think about tinkering.
For now.
Oh and thanks to Spikestabber, TNT, analog_sa, RandyTsuch et al. for the recent help. And of course Soekris for this great dac.
Can you post a few pictures? One with bypassing regs, one with muting fets ....
I'm about to do the VREF and transistor mod and add Salas reg to power the board. I could remove the muting fets too. I have rev2 board.
Regards
Having modded a few of these dacs i can offer my take on this. For my taste, doing the "transistor mode" alone is sufficient. I don't feel adding excessive capacitance at the output of the regulator brings further benefits, rather the opposite.
However straddling the extra capacitance between the shift registers does... this was figured out pretty early on before the transistor mod.
Anyone who did face this problem with DAM1021 rev4 can help me to fix this.
Thanks.
If no local distributer exists he points to: Audiophile R-2R DAC products Soekris Europe - You Soekris Provider
Almost everything is out of stock. Either he is quitting business or coming out with something new...
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Almost everything is out of stock. Either he is quitting business or coming out with something new...
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