z3d
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Posts: 170
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Post by z3d on Jul 18, 2015 16:35:55 GMT
Hi folks It's been a while since I wanted to accomplish the mods on my Asus Essence STX (1.0 version) soundcard and around two weeks ago I completed all them and the soundcard is working like a charm since then. These mods requires quite some work and some skill for a properly done work. The mods consists in recapping the board (I used Elna Silmic II), bypass the output coupling caps and change of the original oscillator for a more stable TCXO type. I've done all in 3 steps: 1) bypass of the output coupling caps 2) recap 3) tcxo It's not easy to give an objective impression because I can't make any A/B test comparing the modded card to a virgin one and to give an exact idea of the SQ differences as each mod kicked in. If I have to give an advice is to make the 1) and 3) because the sonic differences after those mods were palpable to me. I'm still in doubt about the recap honestly so I won't say you guys to recap all the board but maybe instead to just change the 2 caps on the exit of the power molex, even because as you will see in the pictures a full recap requires some work and the risk to fry something is here. The differences between before and after the mods applied are sensible but not night/day ones (like some says); I hear a better instrument and voices separation and it seems like if I removed a somewhat "big" veil from the entire frequency spectrum. Here the pics of the original (not mine) and the modded (mine) STX:
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sekar
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Posts: 161
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Post by sekar on Jul 21, 2015 10:14:38 GMT
Hi, you did impressive work. I see you've replaced 3 OPAmps, noticed some improvement in sound ? As I was reading there are different combinations of op amps to replace for this card ... Sergey
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z3d
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Posts: 170
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Post by z3d on Jul 26, 2015 17:03:22 GMT
Hi, you did impressive work. I see you've replaced 3 OPAmps, noticed some improvement in sound ? As I was reading there are different combinations of op amps to replace for this card ... Sergey Hi Sergey and thank you. You can roll-in a ton of op-amps in there from a pinout point-of-view, but you don't know if some are working properly, oscillating or over-heating and that's another story! At the beginning I was myself sceptical about the differences in SQ provided by different op-amps so I didn't care about rolling. After some time, out of curiosity I decided to make some blind test myself and I ran some; the one I advise people to do is this one ran at Diyaudio Forum: www.diyaudio.com/forums/everything-else/245455-ultimate-opamp-shootout-where-you-get-decide.html , without jumping to final pages (because it's 2 years old and they already unveiled the different op-amps used). I was myself skeptical but took this test in a serious and objective way, listening to my main speakers only. In fact I could easily spot differences between "fruits" in some cases, while for other ones I had to make some really critical listening. I ran this test for around 2hours or so, even playing "fruits" at random without knowing which one I was listening to, in order to avoid even being biased toward a "fruit" which I could have already liked in previous listening/comparisons. The reward at the end of this test was quite enlightening to me because I could hear differences. In some cases the differences were big, in others the changes in SQ were subtles. After that I started rolling op-amps in my Essence STX to tame a bit some sibilance and shrills I was hearing which was causing me some hearing fatigue after some listening. I rolled in NEC5532, JRC2114, LME49860, LME49720HA, OPA827AID, AD8620ARZ, LME49710HA and LT1364 in various combinations but since 1 year I'm using LME49710HA (2x) in buffer position and OPA827 (4x) in I/V position because this one was the best setup to me ears. With the addition of Project Ember in my setup, in which I can roll-in different tubes for different flavours, I started myself thinking about making a new roundup about op-amps because with the valves things has changed. The thing which interest me right now is to listen at op-amps working properly and that means without oscillating or having strange behaviours which you will not know of without proper test equipment and knowledge. I think in some cases some compensation will be needed but at least I will have some solid results knowing that the system is rock solid and working as intended.
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sekar
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Posts: 161
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Post by sekar on Jul 26, 2015 21:44:45 GMT
Hi, all you wrote about your testing experience is interesting ... The results obtained may heavily depend on using PCB topology , time of manufacturing and some other factors. Oppositely for my side i was truly positive before rolling of OP amps in my old HP Amp. Was I wrong .... I didn't notice great difference ( if any ) between OPA in the same price niche. My final selection was well known LM4562 as Crispy did in his project and as Frans recommended . As I know some persons for tweaking sound cards applied separate linear PSU for clear power and Adnaco enclosing to decouple soundcard from PC but this serious upgrade is fairly far from budget solutions approaching to $1k . In basic version Asus cards have strange design for using optical cable so you need to use some proprietary adapter provided by this company.
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