I added a TentLabs XO2.2 low jitter clock and a separate power supply for it to my exposure 2010S CD player. The process was very straightforward - see the pictures.

The exposure 2010S CD player has an easy internal layout, where most of the components sit on a large PCB.

The original clock is based on the 74HC04N chip located in the middle of the PCB, to the left from the three white power connectors connecting the toroidal transformer. A close-up picture shows the crystal resonator wrapped in a black heat-shrink tube, two 33pF capacitors on each side of the resonator (those with black dots on top), and a resistor R75, which also serves in the circuit. The oscillator is built on the single invertor (pins 13 and 12 of the IC).

The original clock is generating 16.9344 MHz at 5V CMOS levels.

To install XO2.2, I removed the resonator and the capacitors, leaving the resistor in place. I connected the signal cable from XO2.2 to the...

Built from a kit. Sound lacks finesse.

Built from a kit. I don't like the sound at all.

ezDAC lacked a USB input, so I leveraged my newly acquired SMD soldering skills building BantamDAC from a kit. While PCM270x-based USB DACs are rather common, BantamDAC is a compact (1" x 2"), neat version.

After power amps, speakers and a preamp I wanted to try my hand in digital sources and built a version of ezDAC. It is a fairly simple DAC with a CS8416 digital receiver, an AD1896 sampling rate converter, and a PCM1794A with a passive I/V converter for the DAC proper. Nothing fancy, but sounds as good as my DacMagic.

I used three separate 3VA toroidal transformers (for digital circuits, the DAC, and opamps) in the PSU. The enclosure is from modushop. I had to re-create ezDAC's PCB using the free version of Eagle (which I had never used before) and learn to solder SMDs.