Yes I'm gonna give them some time in my system, although at the moment I'm only willing to go back to my Hiraga and my 300B SET's. The Trends are getting a bit on my nerves. Funnt thing though is that my girlfriend askes me all day to get the volume of the music down while I'm playing not at all as loud as I normal do, it's just that their is something very nervous in the sound wich give you listening fatigue after a couple of minutes. Sounds just like cheap solid state with lots amount of overall feedback and incapable power supplies.
Maybe the Trends don't like my 6 meters of CAT5 speaker cable. Have to try to bring them closer to he speakers but at the moment I don't have any long interconnects. Think I'm going to make some cheap ones out of ordinaary coax cable just to try if this helps.
Has anyone looked at the output filters in the Trends ? Seems like a copy of the TA2024 evaluation board with the addition of some extra 10nF caps on the output. Anyone tried some better quality caps on the output filter ? Would be hard to find I guess, size is an important issue here.
Would shielding the output filters with Stillpoints ERS sheets be sufficient (happen to have a spare sheet lying around) or would an additional copper shield be better ? I'm thinking of shielding the input caps as well, trying to ged rid of that anoying nervous sound.
All I can tell right now is that out of the box, brand new these things have nothing to do with high-end audio what so ever. But I'm not giving up so don't draw any fast conclusion out of my observations, yet.
Maybe the Trends don't like my 6 meters of CAT5 speaker cable. Have to try to bring them closer to he speakers but at the moment I don't have any long interconnects. Think I'm going to make some cheap ones out of ordinaary coax cable just to try if this helps.
Has anyone looked at the output filters in the Trends ? Seems like a copy of the TA2024 evaluation board with the addition of some extra 10nF caps on the output. Anyone tried some better quality caps on the output filter ? Would be hard to find I guess, size is an important issue here.
Would shielding the output filters with Stillpoints ERS sheets be sufficient (happen to have a spare sheet lying around) or would an additional copper shield be better ? I'm thinking of shielding the input caps as well, trying to ged rid of that anoying nervous sound.
All I can tell right now is that out of the box, brand new these things have nothing to do with high-end audio what so ever. But I'm not giving up so don't draw any fast conclusion out of my observations, yet.
Well, your subwoofers would have to be quite sensitive to take advantage of the Trends. You do not have to do anything special. Either they will work or they won't.
I have made Pano's Rf Shield and think that I have got an amp with a much more silence background. Turning to battery power had about the same effect. Nothing to pinpoint but everything much calmer. I think both tweaks are worthwihle. Otherwhise the ver 1.1 is a very competent amp.
/Erling
I have made Pano's Rf Shield and think that I have got an amp with a much more silence background. Turning to battery power had about the same effect. Nothing to pinpoint but everything much calmer. I think both tweaks are worthwihle. Otherwhise the ver 1.1 is a very competent amp.
/Erling
6 meters of diy cat 5 speaker cable? wow, I thought 3 meters was the maximum recommended. How long did that take you to braid? I actually have some cat 5 on order now for that purpose.
I second the suggestion for battery power if you have a chance to try it out; it turns down the fatigue and adds a little more body for me. Going back to the included power supply gets on my nerves after listening to battery power for long periods now. The hiraga and 300b amps are very well regarded, so I don't doubt that you may like them better. Maybe your equipment or ears just don't synergize with the trends.
I second the suggestion for battery power if you have a chance to try it out; it turns down the fatigue and adds a little more body for me. Going back to the included power supply gets on my nerves after listening to battery power for long periods now. The hiraga and 300b amps are very well regarded, so I don't doubt that you may like them better. Maybe your equipment or ears just don't synergize with the trends.
Got to stand up and be counted! Seriously though, you under estimate this little guy. Pano. is too modest to speak up but I will since I have been the proud owner of the "shep"1" for a while now. What's that? A fully revisited version, à la P. This is not a good amp this is a great one. Transparent, detailed, sweet, whatever you want. I have heard the Hiraga in question, or at least one from that era. It isn't even close to the Trends in bass, treble or resolution. I would be happy with it forever but for the low power issue which has to do with my speakers, and is no reflexion on the amp. 
I'm using 75cm long bulk anti-cables, very cheap ... but really really good, I tried Vdhull, Audioquest, Sonic link and Nordost but they all added something bad to the sound.
It's about 1,25 dollars per foot!
http://www.anticables.com/
I also use their IC's
Once I find time, I would also like to do some mods for my trends, But I find it calm enough as it is, just the right balance.
Pano's RF field looks very good, but I would not know where to find the needed stuff for that.
(still have that skynet 8080 SMPS but not using it)
Robert
It's about 1,25 dollars per foot!
http://www.anticables.com/
I also use their IC's
Once I find time, I would also like to do some mods for my trends, But I find it calm enough as it is, just the right balance.
Pano's RF field looks very good, but I would not know where to find the needed stuff for that.
(still have that skynet 8080 SMPS but not using it)
Robert
Today I have made some first simple mods to one of the Trends. I have glued some "Sirex" damping sheets to the bottom and the top of the enclosure and also added some Stillpoints ERS sheets to the top, the bottom and wrapped some around the aircore inductors.
Compared to the unmodded unit things have really opened up, much much more detail, better dynamics, stiffer low/mids. The whole sound spectrum shifted a bit upwards though wich you might like or not, I thinks that's a little withdraw with this mod. It's still no competition for my other however but it's getting really better and it doesn't get on my nerves so much anymore (RFI ?). I think the rends does have a very serious RFI problem inside.
In the next days I will try to ad some kind of heatsink/Sirex damping and ERS shielding to the Tripath chip and the input caps as well.
After that I will have to experiment with the power supply and maybe the input caps.
Has anyone tried the difference between the Bennics and Auricaps ?
Compared to the unmodded unit things have really opened up, much much more detail, better dynamics, stiffer low/mids. The whole sound spectrum shifted a bit upwards though wich you might like or not, I thinks that's a little withdraw with this mod. It's still no competition for my other however but it's getting really better and it doesn't get on my nerves so much anymore (RFI ?). I think the rends does have a very serious RFI problem inside.
In the next days I will try to ad some kind of heatsink/Sirex damping and ERS shielding to the Tripath chip and the input caps as well.
After that I will have to experiment with the power supply and maybe the input caps.
Has anyone tried the difference between the Bennics and Auricaps ?
I did the damping on my case as well and used the stillpoints ERS where I could.I slid a sheet under the board (bottom) and got a short! nothing dramatic...stuff has to be carefully "finished" so no fibers are standing proud, when used this way. Whatever the net result is, the sound is virtually grainless and "quiet". There's only so much you can do in such a small case! had there been room, a better pot. would have been nice. As it is I am totally satisfied with the results. Sadly it is on its way soon to a new home. Hopefully for many years of loyal service.
Yes the ERS sheets are very hairy and conductive. The place underneathe the PCB is very tight so in this place I have added the ERS sheets first and the Sirex on top of it. I had to cut all the component leads underneath the PCB as close as possible to make things fit again.
Did you use some ers on the chip itself ? I want to try that but I'm a bit concerned about heat dissipation of the chip. The ERS works wonders on this little guy, much more than in other places I have tried it.
Too bad there's isn't any room left on the bottom of the PCB. I would have liked to try decouple the power supply caps with some small silver mica caps, have had good experience with that method in CD layers and DAC's so I think it would help here as well. I think the powerlines and the aire inside the unit is much more poluted with RFI than the average DA convertor.
I will see if there's any place to fit in some Black Gate NX 47uF/16V I happen to have lying around right at the power supply input. These also have worked quite well in digital gear I have modded in the past.
Did you use some ers on the chip itself ? I want to try that but I'm a bit concerned about heat dissipation of the chip. The ERS works wonders on this little guy, much more than in other places I have tried it.
Too bad there's isn't any room left on the bottom of the PCB. I would have liked to try decouple the power supply caps with some small silver mica caps, have had good experience with that method in CD layers and DAC's so I think it would help here as well. I think the powerlines and the aire inside the unit is much more poluted with RFI than the average DA convertor.
I will see if there's any place to fit in some Black Gate NX 47uF/16V I happen to have lying around right at the power supply input. These also have worked quite well in digital gear I have modded in the past.
I really was doing this hit-or-miss! I had heard varying accounts, not all positive, about using the ERS. In my CDP I heard no dif. I figured since Pano. had shielded the coils, putting sheets of ERS all around had pretty much covered everything. I still don't know how the stuff works so my attempts are very much of the amateur variety. Having taken the trouble to do it, I wasn't about to undo to hear a dif.! I would like to be more rigorous about this in the future with my new T-amp, but I haven't found much usefull info on the web and the people who sell this arn't very helpfull either. Their attitude is "try it". Since it is supposed to have a very specific use/effect, there's not much point in just throwing it around in the hope...In my new amp, Pano. is going to really go to the outer limits! There's abviously a lot to be learned yet about this technology and how best to implement it. One issue that isn't much discussed is that of metal casing vs. plastic or wood. I would love to know if there is any hard experience to justify getting rid of as much metal as possible.
Well that's a good point about the metal. With my Hiraga amp I have had the best results by putting it in a wooden enclosure, no shielding whatsoever. I also heard no difference when I tried shielding with ERS paper in this amp, it's very strange stuff indeed, sometimes it works wonders, sometimes it doesn't do anything at all and sometimes it makes things only worse. Can't put my finger on it why and when exactly
At least the metal of the Trends amp in non-magnetic and I think it really needs the shielding
At least the metal of the Trends amp in non-magnetic and I think it really needs the shielding
Getting off topic here but these folks http://www.dnm.co.uk/principles.html
are of the school that metal-is-metal-is...they make a pretty convincing argument. If you ever find outs ome hard and fast info about the ERS; please share it!
are of the school that metal-is-metal-is...they make a pretty convincing argument. If you ever find outs ome hard and fast info about the ERS; please share it!
Today I went completely overboard with the ERS stuff. I have also put some on the side of the enclosure, wrapped the powersupply caps with it and put some directly on the Tripath chip and finall covered the outputfilter caps with it. This was not a good step. The sound stage collapsed and is now only somewhere between the speakers without any extension to the side and the height as I'm used too have, transients and attack is gone too. Took the extra ERS out again, wich was a pain to do, they provide it with a very strong sticky side, and everything came back as it was. Have to be very carefull with this stuff.
Still funny that the Trends amp reacts so heavy on this stuff.
The amps are also still burning in 24 hours a day with music at half power into a resistive load.
Still funny that the Trends amp reacts so heavy on this stuff.
The amps are also still burning in 24 hours a day with music at half power into a resistive load.
Its a catch 22 situation, shield the amp and you won't get outside influences, but whatever is being generated in the amp also cannot get out, so the simplest way is to shield anything from getting in and calibrated the known thats inside.
Try using adhesive aluminium foil tape, like a buck a roll at the dollarama.
Try using adhesive aluminium foil tape, like a buck a roll at the dollarama.
I've been listening to Jon Clancy's little Trends amp for a few days(cheers Jon), not a bad little unit at all
I own both an Amp6 and UCD plus various other amps, main comparison against my Amp6, the Trends is sweeter, it has a smaller soundstage/width but very pleasant to listen to, Amp6 is a bit more etched. Amp6 has a bit deeper bass.
Funny thing is I could listen to the Trends for longer
My Amp6 uses Auricaps as coupling and the usual other mods
Neither of the little Tripath's compare against the UCD mono's but I've done quite a lot of mods to these, the price of the T-net caps alone cost more than my Amp6.
I think for the price these little Tripath amps are spot on!
I own both an Amp6 and UCD plus various other amps, main comparison against my Amp6, the Trends is sweeter, it has a smaller soundstage/width but very pleasant to listen to, Amp6 is a bit more etched. Amp6 has a bit deeper bass.
Funny thing is I could listen to the Trends for longer
My Amp6 uses Auricaps as coupling and the usual other mods
Neither of the little Tripath's compare against the UCD mono's but I've done quite a lot of mods to these, the price of the T-net caps alone cost more than my Amp6.
I think for the price these little Tripath amps are spot on!
Yesterday I have made the same mods to the second Trends amp as I have done to the first one (because to my ears the unmodded unit was barely unlistanable) I discovered that they don't sound the same. The first unit has more transparancy and better low level detail, the second one sounds more shut in. Letting them burn in for another 24 hours on the testbench the differences remained. After close inspection on the inside of the unit I have discovered that there's a small difference between the two amps. The first one has got some 100pF foil type input filter capacitance. In the second unit these are ceramic ones, yak, that explains a lot. Just yanked them out and replaced them with 100pF film caps and yep, both sound the same now.
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