Well it's been a busy week,sadly a funeral, lot's of travelling and I'm busy at work.
The positives.. l've reached "Big Band" status.. Haven't a clue what the next status is 🤣.

As l write tonight, l see the War by proxy is heating 🔥 up... With lran now committed, these are dark days...Where it will end... who knows?

Okay onto more positive things... atoz has been making great progress on his sheilding with the Gustard X26, we have been messaging regularly, and brainstorming.The biggest issue is the Heat Generated inside the X26, l don't have this issue with the R26, but to give you some idea, the heat Generated inside the X26 is amplifier terrority.All l can say,is that atoz is on the brink of nailing it.
l believe he will be posting details soon, what l can say, the sheilding efforts we have put in to both the R26 & X26 totally transform the DACs, and in my view, your just hinting at what sound quality is available, at external mods like cables can bring. And best news... lt's removable, at Blue Peter School level. My theory is simple,l believe most Hifi components are so cramped into one unit, in such close proximity, each section interferes with each other, of course this is nothing new, but it's recognised in any radio transmitters, and even your FM TUNERS where your find the RF section sheilded... It really all about the noise.

I've been following Matts blog with great interest, he doing superb with his ground boxes. And also interested in Jake's recent comments on Headfu reference the Innuos Phoenix USB Reclocker with the R26 being better than the R26 internal LAN playback by 20%... I waiting on his reply.

Okay..thats it for now... Catch you all up later.

Well you can use a fan Matt,but it's adds an additional rfi noise issue. There really is a simple solution, and the phrase... A picture paints a thousand words will be forthcoming from atoz, l'll leave it at that... lt's been his work, and due to work, l've just consulted. lt maybe a few days, as like many of us, we having a small run of good weather, which means trying to finish jobs outside... Speaking of which, l have to mow the lawn, and cut up some fire 🔥 wood 🪵... The joys...

Pre planing Jules ... You start gathering the wood now, for later in the year,when it isn't raining.

Mondays is my day off.. And time to finish the little things that's been bouncing in my mind.

Firstly l revisited the R26. I wanted to add some mesh to the vertical network board,just to ensure air flow. l have also been thinking about adding mesh a copper over the transformers,even though they are in a separate enclosure, and the toroidal Transformers are enclosure with a metal cover, l decided to separate them, with copper mesh and tape,to reduce RFI from each over.


R26 lnternal Shot Sheilded. by Damien Read, on Flickr

Then l reworked my Nord power amps, l made copper cardboard sheids for the PSU regulators, and this worked well, buy l have more Mesh available, l swapped over to Copper Mesh,so l don't get heat build up.

Copper Mesh over PSU regulators by Damien Read, on Flickr

Then it was on to adding Copper tape over CAT 6 cable's, to replace the CAT 8.1

And lastly... l've been following Matts ground box blog on TAS, and after reading his developments, l have removed the sheilding off my ground lead. The only thing is kind of says to myself, the wire itself must act an antenna itself, removing noise around it.

We'll that's all well and good,but what does it sound like? 🤔
We l can report Matt is bang on about the earth lead, it's seems to open things further, more holographic and air.

And without going into Hi Fi cliques, the combination of this mornings efforts, has been well worth the effort.
The whole combination seems to have increased the speed, but also brought a deeper insight into the music,and details with the music. Yes l perhaps should have tried the mods on their own,most of them where revisions, so l new the outcome. But the main thing,l'm very happy with the outcome. l can now start moving away from modding my components, as l am over the moon by the way they have transferred my set up to higher level.
It also means l can focus on ground boxes next.

Impressive amount of work there Damien

Everyone starts somewhere and I would sugegst you are further down the road than most Damien keep up the good work!

I must get some of the mesh. I have some copper tape ready.

Finding out is the fun part!, remember audio is a small part of what we do Damiem, being a professional pre complience lab does have it's benefits for audio especially an in depth RF analysis for all aspects. It allows us to really see what is really happening in the Rf spectrums with raditated, conducted and immunity emissions.

Hi Morph,
Ref the K2 mod, peel sticker off,and clean surface with Isopropyl alcohol.
Purchase a 15mm Tungsten Cube, superglue on surface. Let it cure. Then use bitumen flashing and stick over Tungsten Cube, then cover Cube only in Copper tape.
For cover, you can make a hood, using thin cardboard, like a cereal box. Then cover in Copper Tape. Lastly cover in insulation tape,stick the underneath of hood to Top of Tungsten cube.

The mesh works well where you need ventilation. And l should point out, that l'm planning a revision with mesh and Copper over the transformers.

There's lots you can do with the R26 and X26 to lift its performance.

Damien