Da-capo issue (John W?)

Only thing regardless of the DC being in mains or battery the Da-capo battery light doesn't come on... Now I know battery is working as I can hear the diffrence but I wondered if you can remember if there is a pin on the DC psu card for the da-capo that signals the battery being on (I think 1 solder joint may be loose???
 
Hi John,

I'm very glad to hear that you appreciate the benefits of the “DC”. I remember that Hi-Fi World did a review of the Dacapo with the “DC”, and felt that the DC only offered a small benefit….. Personally like you, I found the difference enormous, and would never return to using a Dacapo without the “DC”.

I’ve just relocated to China, and my DC is still in shipping, so I will have to work from fading memory.

The Dacapo has two control lines between the DC: -

1. Control line FROM Dacapo to DC to Enable “Battery mode” – this is logic “AND” with Signal-Lock & Standby within the Dacapo.

2. Signal line FROM DC to Dacapo to indicate Battery mode on the following conditions: -

a. Digital Signal Lock
b. Dacapo switched on
c. Switch on “DC” selected to Battery mode
d. Battery’s in a Charged State.


The Batteries are always connected to the Dacapo – only that during “Charging” the batteries / Dacapo are not isolated from the mains Charging circuit – so even if the “Battery” LED is not lit on the Dacapo, you will still gain the benefit of the DC PSU.

You should check the DC voltages on the Battery Cells, each fully charged “bank” should be around 13.7V – if less then say 12.5V, then maybe you have worn cells – the life expectancy of the Battery cells is about 5 Years….

You could try selecting the Switch on the DC front panel, if you hear the Relays "Click" within the DC, then the DC is fully operational, and have a problem with the Dacapo "Battery" LED indication circuit..

Hope this helps,

John
 
The batteries, I belive, were changed 18months ago..... If I press the button on the DC the mains light goes out on the DC (to me meaning it's on batteries???? think I heared the relays switch). yesterday, after a good long audition the mains light automatically switched back in).

The DC automatically detects either the Da-capo or cardinal being turned off and auto switches from no light being displayed to the mains light being displayed.

i think the signal line from DC - Da-capo has a broken solder joint thus meaning the Da-capo isn't getting the signal from the DC to switch the light on.....

I think the broken solder joint is on the connector that the DC PSU module (the one installed inside the Da-capo) connects to the main Da-capo circuit board. (if looking directly at the connector on the PSU module I reckon it's on the left hand side of the connecter and the wire that connects to the underside of the circuit modules circuit board.

in fact the solder on this connecter is terrible, very messy and untidy (the previous owner says it must have been like that from factory as he has never had it repaired). I don't doubt this as batteries were changed when he said (according to sticker inside) and the rest of unit is in very good condition. it would mean though for some reason this connecter was de-solder and re-soldered badly by hand before it left Pink Triangle.... again why I suspect the problem lies on that card.

I will double check later if I can hear the solenoid and maybe measure the batteries voltage if I can't hear it....

But the fact that i can identify 100% correctly in 10 goes blindly whether the DC was running on Batteries or AC due to the improvement in sound quality when on pure batteries makes me sure the batteries are actually working ok.

Thanks

John
 
Mean to say I have a photocopy of a review, can't remember the magazine but they were very impressed with Da-Capo and as impressed again with DC at least if I correctly remember. You are very, very welcome to a copy of it...

Still IIRC the Hi-fi world only had the 18bit filter IIRC (which may not have resolved as much obvious improvement with the DC)....

Funny though as their review list only shows Da-capo and Cardinal no DC.

Still from the words of David Price (Hifi World editor) - he still reckons it is one of the Best Dac's he has ever heard (that's with 18bit and std AC).... He mentioned even Noel Keywood (Owner and Ex-Editor of Hi-fi world) who apparently hardly ever has anything good to say about any digital products) waxed lyrical about the Da-Capo's ability.... They used the Da-capo as one of the magazines benchmark DAC in reviews for a good number of years.

John
 
Hi John,

Yes - sounds like the joints on the connector need re-soldering.

As it appears your DC goes into "Mains" mode after a time, that the DC is working.

What filter do you use? In order of preference I prefer:-

1. HDCD (PMD100)

2. Yamaha YSF210

3. 24 Bit filter

4. 18 Bit Yamaha

5. 1307 - don't bother

6. 20 Bit - don't bother

The HDCD and 24 Bit are close until you listen to material with Bass - the HDCD wins hands down. We have been investigating why the HDCD is so good - with interesting results...

In the next coming months I will have a new filter based upon a FPGA available for internal research (we can always make a few more if anybody’s interested).....

John
 
I have the HDCD one :)

DP at hi-fi world thinks the FPGA has a lot of mileage in it for digital audio applications and thinks it was used to great effect in the new Chord DAC (also pointed last month in the letters section to all the FPGA based digital he has heared sounding considerably diffrent to most off the shelf chip based digital)...

I take it the FPGA filter module will allow it to be connected and updated through a computer so diffrent filters could be emulated and the ultimate filter configuration for the Da-capo to, over time, be found

Do FPGA's have any other advantages in audio over an off the shelf chip? (apart from being able to program them to do what you want)

Sounds very intresting (I still need to track down some more input cards so I can get the use of the DAC on some other sources).

I wonder how much extra the DC'd da-capo would shine with DAT or other 48khz source?

Infact if it could be fed by some sort of combination of the HDCD coding with DAT's 48khz (be nice for record archiving) and I bet it would sound not just better than anything else produced but probablly better than the next hi-res format as well)....

I wonder would it be possible to build an HDD based audio transport that could feed HDCD coding at 48khz and clock lock? ach I am just getting carried away now....

John

PS do you mind me asking what your results were re the HDCD winning in the bass? I know the PMD100 is a really good chip (did LINN CD12 not use that or the PMD200, I know a whole host of other very expensive esoteric designs used those chips as well)
 
Defo intrested in the FPGA filter....

Also wondered I have recived a 2nd D.I.C. today (also a clock & digital twin co-ax one)...Can the dual co-ax one be used for non clock locked equipment as well as the Cardinal???

I was also intrigued at to why there was a AEL clock on the input card as I thought from somthing you siad before the clock in the da-capo was kept as close to the DAC as possible??? Is this a secondary clock of some kind???

Lastly I wondered if the AEL clock (if it is the master clock) or whatever type the master clock is was a high quality one (as trichord had told me they were fairly low quality, though they are trying to sell a clock uograde)....

Thanks Again

John

PS Maybe if someone has a spare single digital or optical D.I.C they may want to swap me for a D.I.C with clock lock on it :)
 
Hi John,

Was just wanting to check if your plan for an FPGA filter had any update or news yet??? I know you are busy, just thought I would check in.

Cheers

John

PS I still have a spare Dual Coax Digital Input Card up for a swap with a singal co-ax or optical one if anyone has a spare
 
Hi Mr. MAC,

Sorry for the late reply.

PCB design is completed for the new digital filter; the new filter will also come with a new input board (2 slots wide) to support DSD and up to 192 KHz PCM input - compatible with both the Ordinal and Dacapo.

The filter board will support native DSD - compatible with 3rd party’s DVD player upgrade boards, that allows access to the RAW DSD data stream.

The SAA7350 modulator is only fitted for development to allow comparisons with our new modulator designs; it will not be fitted on production modules.

Guess we will start sending out filter + input boards in 2 months, these will be available at "cost", I'm not interested in making money on this project, just to breath new life into my old designs.

John
 

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oooo new input card as well, very very cool :)

John, Maybe you could email me with an aprox idea of cost so I can start saving.

Cheers

John

PS does it have facility for changing the FPGA filter or will it be fixed to one pre-designated one (not that it really makes a massive diffrence I am intrested anyway)
 
Hi John,

A new input card (Double Width) is required as the Dacapo's CS8412 only supports up to 55 KHz, the new card has optical clock lock, 2 optical inputs and one electrical.

The FPGA’s cannot be replaced (no reason to change), however the filter and modulator can be upgrade if we develop better filters by simply changing the EEPROM which is socketed.

John
 
The new items are only the filter module and digital input card so no it won't fix it....

I belive john W repaired some damaged ones before (though I know he is quite busy at the moment).

I am sure he will be along soon to add comment, maybe someone knows of someone in this country who could repair the circuit as well.

John
 
Battery pack is not obsolete.

I have a cardinal transport, Da-Capo and DC Psu.

The new units are just the Filter module (silver encase module inside Da-capo that could be changed and a new Digital input card (in place of the current card) to allow up to 192khz and DSD input.

There was talk early in this thread of a full replacement DAC to go in the Da-capo case but nothing happened about that (tbh I wanted to keep the Da-capo working)...

Anyway John Westlake the Da-capo designer recently bought one himself and was also rather impressed at how good it sounded and is making the new card and filter for his own R&D and will build a few extra at cost for a few people who wanted them....

This is ongoing and as you will see in prev post from John W he only just said he would get ball rolling and showed the design....

Is yours an AC unit or does it have the DC PSU in 2nd box? Whatever it is if it can be repaired it will need all capacitors changed to prevent any more damage....

John
 
Collection

John

I have an Ordinal with a clock out, a da Capo (no clock) and a/c and DC psu and a Cardinal.

Ordinal is not happy.
da Capo has track damage but psu box.
I thought I would obtain a cheap DAC and work on getting
a good PT da Capo = I now have 3 filters!

Thanks for all your advice - I will stick at it!

I will see if Joohn Westlake will put me down for a board.

Best

Alistair
 
The digital input card with clock out in the ordinal will work in the da-capo to connect to the cardinal (once you have a working one).

Filters (you will probs already know from this thread) but the order of preferance as listed by JW:-

1. HDCD (PMD100)

2. Yamaha YSF210 (guess this is 22bit one)

3. 24 Bit filter

4. 18 Bit Yamaha

5. 1307 - don't bother

6. 20 Bit - don't bother
 
Hi WishfulAudio,

As long as the DAC under the potted section is ok, then you should be able to repair the Dacapo board, no matter how bad the PCB tracks have been damaged.

If you have no luck, then you can send to me in HK, and I can repair FOC, so long as you dont mind waiting alittle.... I'm not being very reliable at the moment - with too many projects.

PCB's for the Filter sections are back from the vendor - will need to build them at some stage - still need to design input board, however filter will work in 44.1KHz with standard input cards.

What filters do you have? interested in loaning a HDCD filter to evaluate the new filter design...

Mr mac, thanks for filling in while I was unable to answer, everything you posted is correct,

Yamaha YSF210 is the 22Bit filter,

JohnW