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Post by MartinT on Apr 5, 2021 15:26:28 GMT
Something MikeMusic said to me made me think about comparing my reasons for buying my DAC and my car, and then modding them both. In both cases, some people have said to me "why didn't you just buy an upmarket DAC", or "why didn't you just buy a Porsche?" In both cases, they missed the point entirely. So here's a fun comparison...
| DAC | Car | Model | LKS MH-DA004 | Subaru BRZ | Why selected? | ES9038Pro dual mono chipset Good layout with plenty of chassis space Good basic circuit design Compromises made to keep the price down | Good basic 2-door RWD sports car Excellent chassis Hi-tech flat 4 engine Compromises made to keep the price down | Cost price | £1,100 | £23,000 | Mods done | Power routing Coherent femtoclock Selected resistors & capacitors replaced Selected rectifiers & regulators replaced RFI shielding & damping | Supercharger & mapping Exhaust manifold & exhaust system 18" wider wheels & tyres Bigger brakes & sports pads Sports clutch | Total cost of mods | £1,500 | £8,000 | Total cost | £2,600 | £31,000 | Result | Resolution, soundstaging, note decay, bass, timing that all compete with far higher priced DACs heard | Handling, performance, precision and fun for half the price of a good used Porsche |
One more point: the satisfaction of having something unique and a little different from all the ordinary boxes (I speak of both hi-fi and cars) out there. EDIT: I forgot to add a key point. It takes a lot of research to decide on what to buy that's suitable and how you're going to mod it. If you don't understand the technology, you'll be working in the dark and are unlikely to be successful.
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 5, 2021 16:26:14 GMT
Helps to know what you're on about and also have the confidence If I went into R&D mode it would take me a long time working out a brand new field
Mods I've made to my hifi : After market leads and black ravioli supports Case left closed on everything
Biggest mod I think I ever did on my Saab 9000 was getting 2nd hand alloy wheels to replace the metal ones. From Two Stroke to Turbo who know their Saabs inside out That is probably it
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Post by MartinT on Apr 5, 2021 16:39:17 GMT
Fair enough, Mike. It's not for everyone.
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 5, 2021 16:44:42 GMT
I must have modded something at least once I'll have a think
Ooh yes. I rewired my 2nd house with the help of the Reader's Digest book Doubt that would be up to current specs !
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Post by petea on Apr 5, 2021 17:21:29 GMT
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 5, 2021 18:15:17 GMT
Readers Digest book on electrickery you tinker !
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Post by MartinT on Apr 5, 2021 19:00:44 GMT
Back to the LKS. Everything is settling in nicely and tonight there is an extra level of soundstage ambience. The very small reduction in brightness/sting has paid off well, with more fine detail evident. Those polystyrene caps in the I/V feedback loop are doing their job well.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 6, 2021 17:27:26 GMT
This pretty little 0.3m AES cable has just arrived from China. A Ghent Audio AES digital balanced interconnect using Canare DA206 cable with Neutrik gold pin XLR plugs. I ordered it because I wanted to try the Canare top-of-the-range double screened 110Ω digital cable, and Ghent comes with a very good reputation on other forums. I'll let it thoroughly warm up to room temperature, let alone burn in, and will report on it later.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 6, 2021 20:06:37 GMT
Ok, the above experiment has proved to be rather interesting. The $19 Ghent is equalling or beating the £85 Wireworld in all areas More after an appropriate amount of burn-in.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 8, 2021 17:07:45 GMT
Look what I've just received...
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Post by julesd68 on Apr 8, 2021 19:08:26 GMT
Ok I'll bite - where does it go?
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Post by MartinT on Apr 8, 2021 19:37:04 GMT
It goes in the sinewave feed of the master clock to my EtherREGEN reclocker.
It's an 11MHz low pass filter, effectively filtering any noise above the 10MHz clock signal and therefore reducing phase noise.
It does seem to work - there is an extra bit of atmosphere to soundstage backgrounds and tiny detail in the mix. Worth £43 landed? Yes, I'd say so.
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Post by wannarock2 on Apr 9, 2021 19:44:36 GMT
Hans Beekhuyzen has a 30-day money back guarantee on the ENO passive ethernet filter. Tempting MartinT?
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Post by MartinT on Apr 9, 2021 20:24:47 GMT
Well, no, because I have the EtherREGEN active ethernet reclocker.
But it sounds like it could be useful for those dipping their feet into noise reduction in digital playback.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 9, 2021 21:49:50 GMT
The BLP-10.7-75+ from Mini-Circuits is a high quality low pass 11MHz filter. Putting it in line with a 10MHz sinewave clock has the effect of scrubbing the signal clean of high band noise. Feeding this noise-free clock into the receiving component reduces uncertainty around the trigger threshold, therefore reducing phase noise, the thing we most want to achieve with a reclocker. Since the filter was proposed by John Swenson of Uptone, I naturally put it in circuit to the EtherREGEN, feeding it cleaned sinewave and leaving the squarewave feeding the Mutec. There was a small improvement in low level clarity and soundstage atmosphere. Using Why Don’t You Try Me from Ry Cooder’s Borderline album, the opening is very low level with plucked acoustic guitar accompanied by a bass line. Superb for evaluating subtle changes. The filter sounded worth the £43 I had paid. Then I thought about things some more, remembering that the Mutec is the last stage before my DAC and therefore ultra-critical of its clock input. So I swapped things around, feeding squarewave into the EtherREGEN (which Uptone have always recommended anyway), and the filtered sinewave into the Mutec. I had to swap one Canare LV-77S out for a Belden 4694R as the former was too short to accommodate the BLP, running between the BLP and Mutec. I had found them almost identical in previous listening tests. Bingo! Now things are less subtle and more obviously improved. More defined detail, better ambience, edges with real shape (like Tangerine Dream’s electronic drums), less sibilance (the Paul Simon test) and organically sounding like music. I’ve never heard the LKS DAC sound so good, testimony to the ultra-pure reclocked signal reaching it. All this using an inexpensive Chinese master clock! The system sounds at once more detailed and textured, yet calmer in presentation. No, I can’t explain it either. I’m very happy, though.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 11, 2021 16:49:01 GMT
I made the decision to ditch squarewave altogether and connect my 2nd Belden 4694R cable in anticipation of the 2nd Mini-Circuits filter arriving. It's not done any harm to the sound quality at all.
Diagram above amended.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 12, 2021 19:27:57 GMT
I received my second Mini-Circuits BLP-10.7-75+ just earlier today. It's now in circuit from clock to EtherREGEN. Both reclockers are fed from 10MHz sinewave outputs via Belden 4694R cables into the 11MHz filters.
I wondered if a second one could possibly be audible but it is. With both filters in place, the sound is incredibly delicate when it comes to tiny details. Cymbal strikes, shimmer and decay are to die for. Complex mixed vocals can be better picked out. Percussion strikes are startling. The sense of timing is very tight with great boogie factor. The whole presentation flows very naturally.
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 12, 2021 19:31:34 GMT
This seems to be a good thing then ?
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Post by MartinT on Apr 12, 2021 21:05:18 GMT
This seems to be a good thing then ? For two little plug-in filters that give me that amount of sound quality uplift? You bet!
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 13, 2021 9:18:18 GMT
Amazing what we find, without needing a 2nd mortgage
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