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Post by stanleyb on Nov 5, 2015 12:40:15 GMT
Do you think Stan that modding PCB for second iteration of the firmware may bring the benefit as well - option 4? I can't hear an improvement on mine. The standard PCB seems capable of coping with the changes. |
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Post by krzysztof on Nov 5, 2015 12:48:06 GMT
I can't hear an improvement on mine. The standard PCB seems capable of coping with the changes. Fine, so probably needs to be moded for the upcoming firmware with 3 options right, since it's running at 115fs? When you consider it to be available Stan - put me please in the queue though. |
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Post by stanleyb on Nov 5, 2015 12:49:08 GMT
Thanks, Stan. All caps ordered (47000uF Tokin super caps, 10nF WIMA caps and I've found some Sanyo Os-Con 22uF 25V to bypass the two large reservoir caps), so I'll let you know what I hear when I've modded it all up. You'll need a 100uF /6.3V SMD tantalums as well instead of one of the 47000uF. I shall try to find my strip of 100uF and solder one in so that I can take a pic of its location. If I get enough people interested I might do a mod kit that comprises all the required bits. But the Allen key to undo the front panel and loosen up the rear one is probably going to be a sticking point for many people who would want to try this mod. Due to the requirement to do the powerline upgrade as well I'll probably refrain from supplying the chip on its own. |
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Post by krzysztof on Nov 5, 2015 12:55:42 GMT
Thanks, Stan. All caps ordered (47000uF Tokin super caps, 10nF WIMA caps and I've found some Sanyo Os-Con 22uF 25V to bypass the two large reservoir caps), so I'll let you know what I hear when I've modded it all up. You'll need a 100uF /6.3V SMD tantalums as well instead of one of the 47000uF. I shall try to find my strip of 100uF and solder one in so that I can take a pic of its location. If I get enough people interested I might do a mod kit that comprises all the required bits. But the Allen key to undo the front panel and loosen up the rear one is probably going to be a sticking point for many people who would want to try this mod. Due to the requirement to do the powerline upgrade as well I'll probably refrain from supplying the chip on its own. Yes, mod kit would be very nice together with the firmware or ready to mount whole moded PCB. Taking out the PCB is not so hard. |
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Post by stanleyb on Nov 6, 2015 8:30:27 GMT
Out of curiosity I am going to try this firmware and hardware mod on the Bushmaster as well.
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Post by pre65 on Nov 6, 2015 8:54:00 GMT
Out of curiosity I am going to try this firmware and hardware mod on the Bushmaster as well.  |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 6, 2015 9:26:49 GMT
I'll do a photo story of upgrading the Caiman-II when all the parts arrive.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 6, 2015 9:36:48 GMT
It is drawing more current from the power supply, but a couple of internal smoothing caps are not large enough to be able to supply smoothing at a sustained rate. I noticed that it keeps my battery alive and stays on all the time - yay! It could be that my running it from battery is slightly masking the lack of smoothing, compared with a mains PSU. We shall see. |
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Post by stanleyb on Nov 6, 2015 9:38:39 GMT
I ordered a set of 100uF SMD caps since I can't find the ones I got. There should be enough there for me to try the same mod on the BMI, BMII, and CMII.
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Post by stanleyb on Nov 6, 2015 9:52:40 GMT
It is drawing more current from the power supply, but a couple of internal smoothing caps are not large enough to be able to supply smoothing at a sustained rate. I noticed that it keeps my battery alive and stays on all the time - yay! It could be that my running it from battery is slightly masking the lack of smoothing, compared with a mains PSU. We shall see. The smoothing problem occurs after the internal regulators in this case. I have used the DAC chip set recommended smoothing caps size in the standard Caiman, but the firmware mod is causing the chipsets to work a lot harder now. The actual ripple that I manage to measure is 2mV max under worst conditions with a 20Hz audio signal playing at 0dB. After the mod it is rock stable. Headphone output is also affected. The bass has a lot more slam than before. |
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Post by krzysztof on Nov 6, 2015 10:05:12 GMT
I'll do a photo story of upgrading the Caiman-II when all the parts arrive. Yes, please! It could be very worthwile to check it out and improve CMII even further. |
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Post by krzysztof on Nov 6, 2015 10:06:08 GMT
Stan, do you think of selling the new firmware any time soon?
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Post by stanleyb on Nov 6, 2015 10:33:07 GMT
Stan, do you think of selling the new firmware any time soon? I am not in a rush to fleece anyone for funds right now. Let's get independent confirmation from Martin that he can replicate my own findings. After that I got to figure out how to order the extra bits and make up a limited run of the kits to spare people the hassle of having to source the parts. I might call it the Gatorized Firmware Upgrade, or GFU for short  . |
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Post by krzysztof on Nov 6, 2015 10:43:11 GMT
Stan, do you think of selling the new firmware any time soon? I am not in a rush to fleece anyone for funds right now. Let's get independent confirmation from Martin that he can replicate my own findings. After that I got to figure out how to order the extra bits and make up a limited run of the kits to spare people the hassle of having to source the parts. I might call it the Gatorized Firmware Upgrade, or GFU for short . Perfecto! Please include me in the waiting queue. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Nov 6, 2015 17:29:41 GMT
I like GFU |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 6, 2015 19:49:37 GMT
I've got the 100uF 6.3V tantalum SMD caps now. Only ordered them yesterday afternoon!  |
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Post by stanleyb on Nov 6, 2015 20:37:07 GMT
I found out that those types are a bit harder to solder in They are type D, which is a bit longer. You'll have to solder in one end and dab some solder under the other end till it makes contact with the metal contact point on the cap.
I got the smaller B size on order to see if that will be a better choice of body size of the cap.
You can do a stage-1 upgrade by just replacing the one cap for the 100uF as shown in the picture I sent you.
You won't need to strip the PCB for that. You can do the stage-2 upgrade when you get the other caps.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 6, 2015 22:01:30 GMT
I think the Tokin super-caps, WIMAs and Os-Cons are due to arrive in just a few days, so I'll probably do them all at once as I don't want to open it up twice. I've soldered some of these SMDs in the past - bloody fiddly but tack-soldering one end while properly soldering the other and then returning to the first is my favoured way of doing it.
Is there a reason R63 and R64 are desoldered in your photo?
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Post by stanleyb on Nov 6, 2015 22:25:02 GMT
Is there a reason R63 and R64 are desoldered in your photo? They are part of an abandoned muting circuit. The Caiman is so quiet when no signal is passing through, it turned out to be a waste of time and performance trying to include a muting circuit in the signal path. |
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Post by Clive on Nov 7, 2015 16:48:48 GMT
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