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Post by brettj on Oct 18, 2018 18:59:54 GMT
Good news. Hopefully we all have that with non standard looking kit and odd looking names - for thieves anyway You're so right Mike. Is one of the reasons why I like my A&R Cambridge A60 - with the wooden sleeve. It looks like a piece of junk. Dacs are unknown, so not targetted. The kids that broke in wanted food. That's sad. But it's all sitting nicely in my stereo cupboard at home, getting some hours on it. |
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atoz
Rank: Trio
Posts: 147
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Post by atoz on Aug 15, 2019 16:08:12 GMT
Showing the current state of my SEG after various mods with the kind help of TonyC. Tonight I just replaced the Tokin supercaps with a couple more of the K caps (with the blue-purple flash in C87/C88 positions). All the reservoirs have been replaced and Tony replaced a few of the surface mount caps with some more K caps. To finish off, there is some RFI shielding above and below the circuit board. I also put an SR Red in the fuse position. The sound quality is incredible and belies the SEG's low price. This is the equal of several far more expensive DACs that I've heard and betters many more.  Hi Martin, I have been looking at this dac to buy,along with the Dorado and CMOS clock upgrade and supercaps . I know a lot of people are happy with that, but I would like to do some , if not all your tweaks to make it better. Can you list what you have added to the Seg on top of Stan's work . I will be using redbook cd's only ,through speaker and also using the Seg as my preamp.
Thanks
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Post by MartinT on Aug 15, 2019 16:18:20 GMT
As well as all the above, I fitted a Tentlabs superclock to the SEG and that really took it to another dimension, as did the Coherent QP-1 15V supercap PSU. I still have my SEG although I suppose I should find it a new home so that it can be put back to use. It's an excellent DAC and performs considerably above its price point.
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atoz
Rank: Trio
Posts: 147
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Post by atoz on Aug 15, 2019 16:32:41 GMT
I would be interested in it Martin, I have nothing atm, as my old dac died
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Post by MartinT on Aug 15, 2019 17:20:40 GMT
PM sent.
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atoz
Rank: Trio
Posts: 147
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Post by atoz on Sept 10, 2019 16:24:48 GMT
Just a quick reply...not very good at reviews.
I bought Martins SEG dac, also bought Dorado off Stan and a Chinese LPS, which Stan give me the link to,I spoke to Stan on the phone...and as everyone has said, a very nice guy to talk to...and especially as i was already to buy a SEG off Stan...but then Martin sold me his upgraded one..which appealed to me, saved me trying to tweak it and I know I wouldn't have done the clock upgrade.
I was hoping to use the SEG as a pre amp as well as a dac but i had to turn volume fully up on SEG and i found the sound wasn't as good as my passive pre, so stayed with passive pre.
Not easy trying to buy a Dac that will be a hit right away and i must say Martins SEG gives out a warm clear detailed sound, vocals are clearer than what i had before and i am picking out stuff that i never noticed before.
Seperation of instruments are not as good as my old dac(tweaked Teac UDH01) but this could be because i now have better mids now , though cymbals were sharper..had more attack with the Teac.
Played about with the modes on the SEG,thought i liked 3 and though it give me a bigger fuller sound, I felt it was a bit muddy so I seemed to be at mode 2 now, which was cleaner...to my ears.
So all in all,thanks to MartinT.. money well spent .
One question For MartinT or Fluxed in Time who i think has worked on a SEG ,could you please tell me which caps go to the power pins of the WM8523 chip.
Thanks Clifford
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Post by MartinT on Sept 10, 2019 17:33:51 GMT
I'm not sure - calling @tonyc to see if you can remember. Were they some of your 'K' caps?
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atoz
Rank: Trio
Posts: 147
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Post by atoz on Sept 28, 2019 15:46:14 GMT
Just a wee update on SEG,had system turned on for a few hrs and grab a cd i hadn't listen to for a few years..The Verve.. Urban Hymns.
This album has most of the bands chart hits on it which i liked and always remember listening to the chart hits and skipping past the other songs that didn't do it for me....but last night the SEG just sucked me into the whole album, depth of the soundstage was something else, the songs that i had skipped before were just as good...if not as comercial sounding, the SEG brought the whole album to life and I listen to the whole album right through,without even a thought to skip...job well done
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alp
Rank: Trio
Posts: 168
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Post by alp on Sept 30, 2019 17:47:21 GMT
Great to hear you are enjoying the upgraded SEG. I have the supercaps and clock upgrade from Stan plus the Dorado but do wonder what else can be squeezed out of it. Martin, do you recall how much the other mods set you back (roughly)?
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atoz
Rank: Trio
Posts: 147
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Post by atoz on Oct 11, 2019 16:19:43 GMT
Just did a few things to the SEG,as i said the SEG was good but I also said that it hadn't got the crisp cymbals and volcals were good but didn't jump out at me, also soundstage wasn't as wide as my old teac dac ,I also felt the SEG it lacked a bit of punch. I sent a pic of the SEG to a guy who i have followed with some of his tweaks in the pass( Teac dac was one), he emailed me back that he had noticed the OPA2134 on the Tentlabs XO clock upgrade board that Martin had added,his favourite op amp is the LM4562,so he asked me to replace the OPA2134 with the LM4562, also another thing he has found out over the years is by adding 6800UF capacitors in place of the 2 caps that are going to the opamps V+ and V-, his words .."replacing it with an Lm4562 and the 6800Uf, the op-amp will disappear all together. Those 6800's will help anything else on the rail too" I did just that on Thursday , I didn't know which capacitors were going to the V+ V- so I soldered the 6800uf x 16v on top of the 4562, pin 4 V- and pin 8 V+. Now the SEG is producing all the things that was missing before ,Punch ,attack, Cymbals are crisp, vocals are the best I have ever heard from my set up, the Teac was never as good as the SEG is now, soundstage is big and wondefull, also more detail. CJ
Forgot to mention, while waiting for the LM4562 to arrive, I tried the OPA 2134 with the 6800uf, same outcome as above and would have been very happy with that, only the LM4562 bettered the OPA2134 for cleaner volcals and overall sound.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 11, 2019 18:20:18 GMT
Nice outcome and further proof that the SEG is moddable way above its original performance and price point.
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atoz
Rank: Trio
Posts: 147
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Post by atoz on Oct 11, 2019 19:01:11 GMT
Yes Martin, I can see that Stan's work and then the upgrades you did, the Seg was at good standard but for a few pounds more, the LM4562 op amp and more so the 6800uf cap has made such a big difference, bass is deeper,listening to volcals while still picking out individual instruments,PF Dark Side of the Moon,sound is so open,plenty of air ,never heard it like that before.
Martin I was also hoping that some ,like your self would try the 6800uf on whatever dacs you have at the minute,it makes so much improvement.....15 min job,go on
I had to lay the 6800uf fairly flat,so I could get the cover back on
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Post by Chris on Dec 21, 2019 5:15:50 GMT
How much does one of these cost along with the Dorado ps?
There's a s/h one near me which I reckon I could get for £200.
Can I beam to it direct from my iPad over wifi?
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Post by mikeyb on Dec 21, 2019 10:29:38 GMT
How much does one of these cost along with the Dorado ps? There's a s/h one near me which I reckon I could get for £200. Can I beam to it direct from my iPad over wifi? No it's a dac/preamp/ha with no wifi capability. |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 21, 2019 11:12:57 GMT
You would need a streamer, like the Pi, in order to send to the SEG over wi-fi or bluetooth.
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Post by jorisc on Oct 9, 2020 14:30:04 GMT
Hi all,
Since 2016 I have a SEG in my 2nd system. Connected my pc to it, and since earlier this year a RPi-Hifiberry Digi+Pro running Volumio.
Upgraditis hit me hard during the Covid Lockdown 😉. So I bought, based on other experiences on this forum, a Dorado and an Audioquest cinnemon USB A-B cable for my pc.
I am wondering if someone here has experiences with a seperately linear PSU, namely the Topping P50 which has 2x 5V and 1x 15V output. At 129€ pretty affordable. Multiple voltage outputs seems handy for connecting the SEG and the RPi, so saving one wall socket.
Thanks,
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 9, 2020 14:58:17 GMT
There are a few people here who can give chapter and verse on the best ways to proceed and the best sounding config.
Not me, but they will be along soon I'm sure
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 9, 2020 15:11:00 GMT
I am wondering if someone here has experiences with a seperately linear PSU, namely the Topping P50 which has 2x 5V and 1x 15V output. At 129€ pretty affordable. Multiple voltage outputs seems handy for connecting the SEG and the RPi, so saving one wall socket. Thanks, Hi, the Topping certainly looks like a convenient arrangement for your set up. I was interested in the Topping at one point for the dual 5v but settled on a Powerbank instead. What are you using to power the pi at the moment? |
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Post by jorisc on Oct 9, 2020 16:11:06 GMT
I am wondering if someone here has experiences with a seperately linear PSU, namely the Topping P50 which has 2x 5V and 1x 15V output. At 129€ pretty affordable. Multiple voltage outputs seems handy for connecting the SEG and the RPi, so saving one wall socket. Thanks, Hi, the Topping certainly looks like a convenient arrangement for your set up. I was interested in the Topping at one point for the dual 5v but settled on a Powerbank instead. What are you using to power the pi at the moment? The standard wall socket switching psu. |
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 9, 2020 17:41:35 GMT
Ok - the PSU you are using puts a ton of noise into your pi as you might have read.
If your experience is anything similar to mine, your jaw will hit the floor once you upgrade to battery or linear PSU. You can then start to hear what streaming can really deliver.
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