CM6631A + ES9023 cheap board - modification...?

[phase]

Have you explored the various options within your computer, buffering, etc?

I had followed some of the suggestions on this site or a similar one, and had some gains in overall sound quality.


Optimising your PC for audio on Windows 7 – Focusrite Audio Engineering

 

[chermann]

Have you explored the various options within your computer, buffering, etc?

I had followed some of the suggestions on this site or a similar one, and had some gains in overall sound quality.


Optimising your PC for audio on Windows 7 – Focusrite Audio Engineering

thank you !

 

[chermann]

update.....

Good evening


i am impatient. so i mod my board. i put out the ams1117 and use a origin LD1117..i use instead of the original 470µ sanwa at the output a 22µF 35V nichicon.
pic 1+2 no improvement...same noise...this is what i expected. pic 1 with adum4160, pic 2 without


at the crystals the beads where ready as wrote before: C18, C21 and C23
i use for each 10nF ceramic which i had at home.
pic 3+4+5 with adum 24/48k, without adum 24/48k, without adum 24/192k
much better
compared to post 16 + 18



thank you

 

[phase]

Glad you were able to take care of that with parts you already had there, that’s the best.
How does it sound now?

 

[chermann]

Good morning phase

They sound is slightly better but i am still not 100% sure if the setup 1 or 2 is better:

setup 1= with Adum4160 "just" 24/48khz
setup 2= without Adum4160 24/192khz

chris

 

[chermann]

hi

yesterday night i found a old Philips foil cap i have not done a pic but it looks like this cap - but the leads are radial and its written 4050/63 - i measure 4,5nF. i think about try this at Aout L+R.

i want to try this:
6x Folien-Kondensator von Philips MKT 341 HQ Chicklet, 1 mF / 250 V, Capacitor | eBay

chris

 

[chermann]

BTW. i read the thread about JP +Subbu DAC GB and now i am actually to study the V3 GB and other threads....omg....a lot of information
my conclusio is : a lot of possibilities at Vreg, pin NEG, and CN-CP to try some caps. Black gate, polymer...solid alu..etc..

eg:
The polymer caps have such an incredible low ESR that they might cause a resonance circuit when paralleled with small value ceramic caps. I read all this yesterday evening and think polymer caps are very exciting but should be used with attention. Solid polymer caps can not just be used as a replacement in many many cases ! Manufacturers advise to use larger value bypass ceramic caps and explain the whole matter in white papers.
I ordered 220/10 for Vpos/Avcc and 2.2 uF ceramic caps for decoupling Vpos and Vneg just to test.


additionally i found the AVCC cap for the mod´s- i read that its about 100µ up to 470µ fine. the strange thing is that this cap is far away from the 9023 AVCC pin 5. its near the crystal and beside the ATM TC173 24C08N Su-27-D chip. - see pic - yellow circle
i will try a 100µF at this size

this ATM TC173 24C08N Su-27-D chip is a serial 8k bit EEProm...what for is that?
i am asking because if i want to use aseperate power for the 9023 so i have to cut this trace (before the EEProm) and think about the place where i should "mount" the regulator 3,6 for the 9023. (mybe glue on the phone connector)

chris

 

[chermann]

...modification part 2...

Hi


i am impatient...


here is the pic of my next step:


yellow cap is the lucky found in my box - for Aoutl L+R 4,5nF 63V poly?
one cap upside the other cap is other side...no space here



left bottom the nichicon ufg 100µ/25 for the AVCC
left the green is ues muse (green) 10µF 16V bipolar for Vreg pin 6


right nichicon muse ues bipolar 22µf/16V for NEG pin11 and CN+CP pin9-10


jsut short test if its working....oh yes .............after 2 hours the green + yellow monster get better


chris

 

[phase]

That looks like a Seimens KS polystyrene or maybe polypropylene, very good parts.
The polystyrene take forever to settle in the where the sound stops changing.
Might want to look up “burn in” and see if you think it applies to what you hear, if you haven’t already. Is amusing to see the different opinions at the least, no matter what you think about it.
Glad you found a good combination of parts.

I have stopped at the regulators on these boards, mostly because I didn’t want to hassle with trying to mount a part that didn’t fit and produced heat also.

 

[chermann]

That looks like a Seimens KS polystyrene or maybe polypropylene, very good parts.
The polystyrene take forever to settle in the where the sound stops changing.
Might want to look up “burn in” and see if you think it applies to what you hear, if you haven’t already. Is amusing to see the different opinions at the least, no matter what you think about it.
Glad you found a good combination of parts.

I have stopped at the regulators on these boards, mostly because I didn’t want to hassle with trying to mount a part that didn’t fit and produced heat also.

hi phase
no...this yellow caps are with the lable "philips"...(4530 F63 443 S2 KS)bad picture...sorry
better pic....40pcs NOS PHILIPS KS443 8250pF 8.2nF 63V 1% STYROFLEX HI-END POLYSTYRENE CAPS! | eBay

this caps are not in use since 10-15years...so i will see. the other boards i will use the recommended Wima FKp2 4,5nF.

th other caps for Vreg, NEG and CN+CP i do not have any kind of the types as written in the threads what i read...so i try what i have at home and i know the green muse well. at my YJ tpa3255 boards i try this and i am always happy with the sound


regulator:
actually i plan to build 1 board with just "3,3V" low noise regulator. i look for the AP2114 because its cheap and low noise and has the same pin config.

my target is to keep the alu case...so this version with the yellow caps is not aim this...

soundcheck:
the frist minutes i was disapointed because the sound was strange, nearly everything comes from mid...no really soundstage but i know this from new caps and a sepcially from the muse ues...during reading and music was running in the background it was a small "burn in". i stopped reading threads and concentrate on listening....after 2,5hours ...it was a noticable big change in sound....its sounds "normal"...and the muse are start to glance.

chris

 

[phase]

Ahh yes, I see now. They look very similar to the other ones.

I’m pretty sure they are better than most everything that you’d be able to find nowadays, they should be fine after all these years.

 

[chermann]

pop noise....

Hi

as i try yesterday evening som short sound session and play around with the setting With/without ADUM4160 i always have a pop on/off noise at connect/disconnect the usb port to latpop/adum4160.

at ES9023 at pin 15 there was a 1,5µF caps(red wima) and i try a 4,7µ cap to exeed the time. pop off noise is gone but the pop on is still "loud".
terrible is the situation if a have to reboot the laptop and the on off pop is really "scary" noteable

did i miss intepret the working of the Mute pin?
or is the input caps(decoupling) after the usb too big...it is actually a 470µF cap?

BTW... i have to use a 5m usb cable because my sitting position is about 3m away and a 3m usb cable is like a catanery

chris

 

[eljoantonyn]

Mouser have some cheap clamp-on ferrite cores which you can use on your USB cable.

 

[chermann]

Mouser have some cheap clamp-on ferrite cores which you can use on your USB cable.

i use the supa dupa very expensive USb cable
audio quest diamand...i bought this after check all my cable + 5 other cables for this lenght...but will try..


thx

chris

 

[phase]

I try not to connect or disconnect any plugs while powered on.

Probably hard to do that if it is usb powered I suppose though.

 

[chermann]

I try not to connect or disconnect any plugs while powered on.

Probably hard to do that if it is usb powered I suppose though.

yes it is....i guess my solution whould be to mute the amp during changing ADUM4160

 

[chermann]

...2nd board arrieved..

Hi


i got my 2nd board...on the pic you can see a different version.


my question is:


should i change this black crystals with the other Silver crystal which i still have from my damaged board for fair comparision? which are better?


thx
chris

 

[phase]

I wouldn’t have the slightest idea which is better.
Maybe there are data sheets that could give you an idea perhaps before risking damage by swapping that many parts?

 

[chermann]

Good evening phase
thanks for your reply.........yes i will do this home exercise..
chris

 

[chermann]

...sound check..

Hi


after the last mod i let the DAC "burn in".i have a separate room so i get about 30 hours since my last mod.


to make long short...
yeah!! this DAC sounds realy fine now!!!
i compared with my not mod D50 (-4dB...i read that in the forum) and with 24/192k setup. Tidal master recordings.
the sound is smooth and no nervous or "crying" sound comes out. i mean a had always 8 volume step between D50(louder) and the "cheeky" ES9023. but now its much more quiet and the difference is 4 volume steps. relaxing lay back sound comes aout...fine.....yes the sound stage is not as deep as with the D50 but the rhythm and the tempo is really "well done"


i have to update with the better regulator 3,3 + the Mic5205...etc.


chris