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Post by stellabagpuss on Jul 30, 2024 20:42:45 GMT
l seem to be having a bit of a love affair with the Farad Rather like my love of the Uptone JS-2, of which I have two. Again, the sound quality uplift is very easy to hear. lt is indeed Martin... Sometimes words are not enough to convey the improvements,except the usual cliques that are used. |
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Post by mattspl on Jul 31, 2024 9:19:01 GMT
I can see a Farad super 10 or what could be an upcoming Super 6 in Mr Al Farads future.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jul 31, 2024 11:34:44 GMT
I can see a Farad super 10 or what could be an upcoming Super 6 in Mr Al Farads future. More lightly to be another Super 3 😁 |
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Post by julesd68 on Aug 15, 2024 19:48:41 GMT
D - are you using two clocks, one for the switch and one for the DAC?
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Post by stellabagpuss on Aug 15, 2024 21:03:04 GMT
D - are you using two clocks, one for the switch and one for the DAC? One clock, the LB, it has two outputs. |
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Post by julesd68 on Aug 15, 2024 21:57:09 GMT
D - are you using two clocks, one for the switch and one for the DAC? One clock, the LB, it has two outputs. Dang that's some clever shiit ... Lol. |
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Post by stellabagpuss on Aug 15, 2024 22:01:27 GMT
One clock, the LB, it has two outputs. Dang that's some clever shiit ... Lol. 😆 Your on fire 🔥Jules 🤣 |
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Post by stellabagpuss on Aug 25, 2024 18:52:31 GMT
Been a while since I last reported in. l been recently having a ebay clear out of psu's, but l've also added another Farad Super 3 PSU. Everytime l added a Farad, things just keep improving, only one left to get. My new addition the Gustard N18Pro arrived on Thursday, so l set to work with some mods.  Gustard N18Pro by Damien Read, on Flickr Thankfully taking the N18Pro apart isn't that hard, two screws underneath, and four on the rear of the unit. Surprisingly the transformer is bolted, but also glued in place, so l simply just made a Ultraperm and Laminate divider between the board and transformer. ln terms of Sheilding mods, l decided to Sheild the regulations and two network chips.Also added a,bit of Copper sheilding around the 10mhz clock input, it plastic based, thankfully it looks like Gustard are ditching pigtail wires,for direct to board. On terms of wiring, l ditched all the rear sockets and switch and went direct to the transformer, l also joined the secondary wires together, a similar mod that repeatable on the R26 & X26.  Gustard N18Pro Modded by Damien Read, on Flickr I still have the modded unit burning in, as it's only got a hour on the clock. At present it certainly seems to be quiet,and a certain blackness between note, sounds pretty good, however play a hot recording like,"Steve Perrys" "She's Mine" and it's to bright, couple of things at play, certainly the unit needs to been on for a few days,and l have swapped from my Ugreen CAT cable, to my Cisco DAC lead... Guess l need to get a few hours under it's belt,l will report back tomorrow. |
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Post by stellabagpuss on Aug 26, 2024 10:22:13 GMT
And tomorrow is another day, so having given the set up a run with Tara Labs, l decided to revisit this SFP brightness.
Funny how things happen, on Gustard A26 thread on Headfi, another chap said he preferred FMC rather than linking two N18Pro N18 together.
And I can certainly confirm this,l swapped back to using my Ugreen CAT 8 gaming cable, and normality resumed, that brightness and Hot sound had gone, back to that neutral sound. The modded N18Pro is now settling in nicely.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Aug 28, 2024 20:27:46 GMT
My final Farad arrived... The 1st l've purchased new, firstly managed to dodge import tax, secondly managed to get a SR Purple Fuse on the cheap,so swapped out the standard Fuse.
It only took seconds to to notice the improvement over ZZ on the PC end of the FMC, more pratt, and weight to lower end, and to boot its made things clearer, and how can l put it, more intelligeable.. all this.. within 5 minutes... Very promising indeed.... l would have never believed that the final unit would make such a difference.
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Post by MartinT on Aug 28, 2024 20:52:27 GMT
It has surprised me again and again what difference a good LPSU can make.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Aug 28, 2024 21:35:43 GMT
It has surprised me again and again what difference a good LPSU can make. That's it for PSUs .... Next will be a,Puritan PSM156. Being that my mains isn't treated and probably noisy like most,l'm expecting some nice gains |
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Post by mattspl on Aug 29, 2024 13:14:51 GMT
Great to hear the final Farad worked out so well Damien.
Looking forward to hearing about the Puritan.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Sept 2, 2024 15:17:23 GMT
Had a nice visit from John today. lt's been a while since we seen each other, and l would really like to say a Big Thanks for the visit, we certainly live a good distance apart.
I will of course,let John air his views on my setup,the main positive ,John felt l'm not far away from reaching the end game, and pointed towards accessories like,Black Revoli Feet,speaking of which, he happened to bring a set with him. Where l didn't think they made a big impact,they did indeed clear on mid range interaction. Possibly a Orange Fuse,and improved mains.
John also treated myself to a listen of his Aurrender A15. The A15 is pretty big, has a nice display. In terms of sound, l loved the timing,the sound of is certainly brighter than my R26, but that shouldn't be a shock to anyone. Personally and this is not a criticism, l found the A15 just a little bright. And when Streaming,it reminded me a bit of CD replay in tone, and actually think this is a DAC chip thing, when John swapped from Streaming to the A15 internal SSD, things really improved in my opinion, reverb, and bass interaction tightened up, and the Jeff Beck song that we where testing sounded lovely. ln terms of noise floor, both our units where quiet.
My takeaway is indeed that l still have more work to do,and my R26 has a darker tone, probably from the R2R design. The Aurender A15 is definitely brighter, Streaming l would find a bit fatiguing long term,BTW l don't stream,via the SSD it's like a clock upgrade, everything more precise, reverbs don't smudge... Very nice.
Again l'd like to thank John from listening and advising with his honest and critical view point.
It's ironic... I will be getting the Puritan PSM 156 next week, which is going to mean quite a few changes, it's a shame we didn't have it here when John visited, but that's life.
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Post by John on Sept 2, 2024 15:51:59 GMT
It was nice meeting Damien and visiting his man cave. Which is basically a big hut in his garden.
I found the mids a bit congested compared to what I am used to, adding the new Black Ravioli big pads helped to open the mids up. The system also missing a bit of grunt when needed, but no harsh issues when I played the Deepness, which means all that RFI has paid off.
I think the biggest surprise was the difference in the Leo Bodner, a bit more subtle in Daimen system compared to what it did in mine.
I do not think with the current system it will ever have the scale and resolution of Martins or Tonys. But that's due to their speakers. However I do think what Daimen has is a system that has more to come, that will make the music more involving,
My suggestion would be to work on the isolation, the small BR pads are not crazy costs and would help a lot under the power supplies, but both the amp and DAC would benefit from the BR big feet. I think the new mains conditioner and the work he will do on will also help a lot.
The A15 is not hot in my system but I use the BD cable to the mains conditioner and 6d cable to the A!5 and Carbon CC. I also ground the DAC via a RTZ. All of this helps in terms of sound quality. But agree for whatever reason it was bit hot in the treble in Daimen system.
If you ever spend. spend it on the speakers (nothing wrong with your speakers they are nice and open. But you never going to get true scale, if that is something you want. Your room can cope with bigger speakers.
Yes I think the Puritan will really help. Put the best cable you have going to it.
Internal fuse will also help with the R26, actually thinking about it the pink might actually be a good match. I had the orange in my R26.
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Post by John on Sept 2, 2024 15:53:56 GMT
If you ever in London let me know and lets do something similar PS I think for someone with your sense of tinkering, there is no end game  |
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Post by stellabagpuss on Sept 2, 2024 16:19:16 GMT
If you ever in London let me know and lets do something similar PS I think for someone with your sense of tinkering, there is no end game You know me to well John, l have plenty of tinkering ahead of me 🤣 Something l've overlooked is my Nord fuses, l noticed they take T 5.0 amps, any suggestions on what to swap them out for? |
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Post by John on Sept 2, 2024 16:32:41 GMT
If you can find the orange fuse for the nord that would be my first choice.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Sept 2, 2024 16:44:51 GMT
It was nice meeting Damien and visiting his man cave. Which is basically a big hut in his garden. I found the mids a bit congested compared to what I am used to, adding the new Black Ravioli big pads helped to open the mids up. The system also missing a bit of grunt when needed, but no harsh issues when I played the Deepness, which means all that RFI has paid off. I think the biggest surprise was the difference in the Leo Bodner, a bit more subtle in Daimen system compared to what it did in mine. I do not think with the current system it will ever have the scale and resolution of Martins or Tonys. But that's due to their speakers. However I do think what Daimen has is a system that has more to come, that will make the music more involving, My suggestion would be to work on the isolation, the small BR pads are not crazy costs and would help a lot under the power supplies, but both the amp and DAC would benefit from the BR big feet. I think the new mains conditioner and the work he will do on will also help a lot. The A15 is not hot in my system but I use the BD cable to the mains conditioner and 6d cable to the A!5 and Carbon CC. I also ground the DAC via a RTZ. All of this helps in terms of sound quality. But agree for whatever reason it was bit hot in the treble in Daimen system. If you ever spend. spend it on the speakers (nothing wrong with your speakers they are nice and open. But you never going to get true scale, if that is something you want. Your room can cope with bigger speakers. Yes I think the Puritan will really help. Put the best cable you have going to it. Internal fuse will also help with the R26, actually thinking about it the pink might actually be a good match. I had the orange in my R26. Thanks John, like everyone's set up, it's always work in progress. Funny the things you have in place,are the things l'm planning to address. Mains next, fuses will be is and when, along with better isolation. On one final note... Your face 😒 when you played all five seconds of that Steve Perry song... It was like a sonic shotgun 🤣 |
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Post by John on Sept 3, 2024 4:44:37 GMT
Yes that treble is far to hot
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