ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!

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jfz

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #160 on: 15 Mar 2012, 04:19 pm »
The volume control is definitely usable in Pure Audio.  I could have sworn I read somewhere that using it (including most of the way down) would not degrade the sound.  Does anyone know for certain? 

NutBuster

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #161 on: 18 Mar 2012, 02:58 am »
The volume control is definitely usable in Pure Audio.  I could have sworn I read somewhere that using it (including most of the way down) would not degrade the sound.  Does anyone know for certain?
A 'Pure Audio' mode is not for "degrading the sound".
A "PA" mode bypasses the video circuitry for a 'purer' audio (sound).
YMMV (as too the effect or even being able too perceive any effect at all)

rbbert

Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #162 on: 18 Mar 2012, 01:56 pm »
It's the volume control which degrades the sound, not the Pure Audio mode. :nono:

jfz

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #163 on: 19 Mar 2012, 12:29 pm »
According to a long-time beta tester who posts frequently on AVS Forum, the volume control is 32 bit, and therefore does not compromise the sound if it is turned down.  I did that this weekend, and did not notice any degradation.

A caveat:  I am using a high-end preamp, and did not turn the player's volume down very low. 

modwright

Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #164 on: 19 Mar 2012, 04:02 pm »
You can turn volume down to a certain point, before which significant 'audio' bits are dropped.  I.e. with 16 bit signal, you can drop 16 bits before signal is affected.  With 24-bit signal, you can drop 8 bits before signal is effected.

Not sure if relationship is linear, but I doubt it as volume controls work on a log curve. I.e. not sure that 50% volume means that 16 bits are dropped.

Let your earsbeyour judge.  Certainly a 32-bit DAC makes a digital control much more feasible.

Thanks,

Dan W.

talk2me

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #165 on: 28 Mar 2012, 08:29 am »
Dan, is your power supply a SMPS or linear ps? Thanks, and keep up the great work.

talk2me

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #166 on: 28 Mar 2012, 09:25 am »
Sorry, I ment the power supply for the video, if it is a smps, can you upgrade the video ps to a quality linear ps? There is a Dr. Lee Jaehong from Korea has done one. There is an excellent post on AVS forum in the Official BDP-93 Owners on page 659 and link 19765. Mr. Jaehong has a Phd and 30 years experience an written 4 books. We need to bring Oppo up to the Ayre DX-5 PQ level!
« Last Edit: 28 Mar 2012, 03:17 pm by talk2me »

modwright

Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #167 on: 28 Mar 2012, 03:38 pm »
Hi, our external supply for the tube analog stage is tube rectified, linear, and has dual-discrete SS voltage regulators.  The 95 also has a linear supply for Analog and Digital supplies for audio, but I believe that the video IS still powered by an SMPS.

It COULD be done and would likely improve the video, I just don't have the time to do so right now.  If a person were to do so, I would probably use the Oppo 93 and build a supply for audio and video that was linear.

My focus is always music as I am really not a videophile and am not knowledgeable enough of the subject to claim to be able to make significant video improvements.

Thanks!

Dan

talk2me

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #168 on: 28 Mar 2012, 06:10 pm »
Thanks Dan, I appreciate your quick reply. I can understand your situation as a man on the go!  :thumb:

modwright

Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #169 on: 28 Mar 2012, 09:58 pm »
Thanks!

Dan

NutBuster

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A Little History Lesson...
« Reply #170 on: 30 Mar 2012, 03:05 am »
We are designing an upgrade board that will allow as many as three digital inputs to be added to existing ModWright Modified players, tube or SS, thus allowing the ModWright player to act as both player and DAC.

Digital inputs will include SPDIF (RCA and/or BNC) and AES/EBU (XLR) inputs, USB not included.  The decision to not incorporate USB was based on the fact that to do so would compromise THIS design.  You can easily use a variety of external USB/RCA converters, such as those from M2Tech, that allow for up to 24/192 hi-rez data.

Design Scope and details below:

Design scope has been finalized and expanded. Digital input design shall include custom vcxo control algorithm, data buffeting and other circuits to achieve less than ~20ps jitter levels. This is the proprietary design of Alex Dondysh, digital engineer (former owner of 3Dimension Audio).

this appraoch was chosen over merely using a standard digital input receiver with internal PLL circuit, typically producing jitter levels on the order of 200ps or more!  It DOES add cost to the design, but I feel the performance MORE than justifies the end cost.

This is not to be confused with the master clock, internal to the player. The purpose of this clocking/buffering circuitry is to minimize jitter of external digital data, feeding the player's own DAC. This is to maximize performance of the modified player as a DAC for external digital source. In this configuration, the circuit consists of our ultra-low jitter digital input circuitry to the player's own DACs and output to ModWright's own analog stage design.

Oppo BDP-83SE and Sony XA-5400ES units will be the first units available for this upgrade.

SPDIF (RCA), BNC and AES/EBU (XLR) inputs may be provided. Multiple digital inputs will be switchable via mechanical switch on back of player. Toggle switch on rear of player will toggle unit from player to DAC
The digital input will accept up to 24/192 samples.  It will accept 16/44, 24/48, 24/96 and 24/192 if available.  It will not upsample but will re-clock and buffer the data for ULTRA-LOW jitter.
The mod is in final testing and programming stage for the Sony XA-5400ES.  At this point, the digital input mod for the Oppo 95 is on hold until we have the Sony digital input mod finalized.

The Oppo WILL accept USB music input from external USB hard drive or USB stick or other storage media.  At this point, it will not allow direct connection to the Touch via RCA (SPDIF).
Agreed and appreciated.  We are completing the first digital input mods for the XA-5400ES and while it has been difficult and taken longer than expected, the results are promising!

This is also 90% of a DAC, that we will be offering in the future as a standalone product.

RE the Oppo, I agree, if Oppo has provided THIS much flexibility already, it doesn't seem difficult to incorporate the rest of the functionality into a future firmware upgrade.


Our first intent, was to use our digital input receiver, to accept XLR (AES/EBU) and Spdif (RCA) inputs and have them feed the internal Sony DAC. Well, this took over a year and in the end, I have ONE working prototype, but it is VERY twitchy and I decided to 'punt' on that approach in favor of a more attractive approach!

The problem was the interface and communication with the Sony firmware.  We decided it would make more sense for our digital input receiver to just have IT'S OWN DAC.  We chose the PCM1794, which is much better DAC than the Sony uses.  There is zero oversampling, but there is re-clocking and data buffering.

This combination formed a complete DAC that is SO GOOD that we are also using it to add a DAC to our LS 100 and KWI 200 SS integrated amp.  I have the first Sony prepped and ready for install of this new DAC/Receiver board for testing, today.

I have also been working with installing it in the Oppo 95, but bizarre grounding schemes in the Oppo have made this VERY challenging.  I am not expecting such problems with the Sony.  I know that the input receiver works in my one prototype.

More to follow as I install the first Dig. Input mod in the Sony XA-5400ES.

The truth is, it takes TIME to do proper design, and rushing a product out before it is ready is NO recipe for success!

As a result, I have 'hunkered down' in my 'lab' and worked hard to finalize the following designs:

Digital input mods: Oppo BDP-95 and Sony XA-5400ES.


First of all, the digital input mods for the Oppo and Sony have been in the works for A LONG time and proved to be a MUCH bigger task that initially anticipated.  We changed tack late last year, after realizing that it was not feasible to simply integrate our digital input receiver board into the Sony and Oppo.  As a result, we added our own DAC to the receiver, such that the digital input includes our own DAC, completely separate from and BETTER than the players own DAC, but feeding the same tube analog stage as part of our mods.

The Oppo is still giving me fits, but I AM making progress.  Specifically, it sounds great, but there are grounding issues that are not acceptable to me and I continue to analyze and approach this from different angles.

We have prototype installations of the full DAC and its own separate power supply, including USB input (24/192 asynch') in both the LS 100 and KWI 200.  We showed these prototypes at CES and they sounded very good, but were still not ready for final release.

What I am trying to say is that while there have been delays, ModWright is moving forward with many new products.  Please simply understand that quality and excellence takes time!
Well, I have actually found the solution for the Integrated and Sunday's late night efforts proved fruitful with my LS 100 proto.  I believe that I found the necessary grounding sequence to eliminate the noise artifacts.   When I left last night, the HF artifacts were gone and it was sounding VERY GOOD!

I am hoping that what I learned last night will shed light on the digital input issues for the mods.

The standalone DAC will follow the finalization of the DAC in our integrated and LS, as well as dig. Inputs for our mods.  If grounding is the key, as it appears to be, then the isolation scheme that I had planned for the design may not be necessary.  I will begin by prototyping the standalone, while I am working through these things.

+ the posts found on this thread.
Dan, no reply requirED/requestED.

modwright

Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #171 on: 30 Mar 2012, 04:34 pm »
Not really sure if the intent is to bust my chops  :? or simply point out the difficulty inherent in some designs and resulting delays.

I have tried to communicate progress along the way.  I have faced a NUMBER of setbacks and this has been one of the most difficult designs I have had to work through.  It has changed direction a couple of times and now we are on the final track and I hope VERY close to having ALL resolved.

I can only say that I am human and work very hard to produce the BEST products that we can.  I won't release a product or mod that I am not pleased with.

Thanks,

Dan W.

dminches

Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #172 on: 30 Mar 2012, 08:26 pm »
Dan, I don't think it was to bust your chops at all. I think it was to summarize your progress so someone interested could read it all at once.

NutBuster

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #173 on: 31 Mar 2012, 03:36 am »
Not really sure if the intent is to bust my chops  :? or simply point out the difficulty inherent in some designs and resulting delays.

I have tried to communicate progress along the way.  I have faced a NUMBER of setbacks and this has been one of the most difficult designs I have had to work through.  It has changed direction a couple of times and now we are on the final track and I hope VERY close to having ALL resolved.

I can only say that I am human and work very hard to produce the BEST products that we can.  I won't release a product or mod that I am not pleased with.

Thanks,

Dan W.
No. no, & no!!!
The point was/is too catch "everyone" up w/what's going on.
I know you know what you posted B4; not everyone else may have realizED all that info was spread out over three threads!
That's all (I don't have a life/therefore I have the time).

NutBuster

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #174 on: 31 Mar 2012, 03:38 am »
Dan, I don't think it was to bust your chops at all. I think it was to summarize your progress so someone interested could read it all at once.
Thanks for coming too my rescue!!!
Ha, ha!! :lol:

modwright

Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #175 on: 2 Apr 2012, 03:03 pm »
I appreciate that ;).  I didn't get upset by it, just wasn't sure exactly where you are coming from.

Thanks!

Dan

Phil A

Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #176 on: 2 Apr 2012, 04:01 pm »
No. no, & no!!!
The point was/is too catch "everyone" up w/what's going on.
I know you know what you posted B4; not everyone else may have realizED all that info was spread out over three threads!
That's all (I don't have a life/therefore I have the time).

It's just your username :green: When you post stuff someone is thinking it is coming from that guy Nutbuster. :lol:

NutBuster

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #177 on: 3 Apr 2012, 08:08 pm »
It's just your username :green: When you post stuff someone is thinking it is coming from that guy Nutbuster. :lol:
:thumb:
I've GOT too get a pic; just too REALLY send it home!!!

What I will "NutBuster" Dan bout is that BLUE light on the PS 9.0.
Was just listening in the dark (CSN&Y), butt not really dark, cause of that LED!  :lol:
Even the five lights each on the Halo's (red & blue), 95 power light (blue),  & Onkyo power light (blue) all aren't as bright.

Free Tweak:
A simple sticker too cover the light.
Still bright enough too see powers on.
I went w/blue; keeping w/the MWI theme!

Peace (really!) out.

modwright

Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #178 on: 15 Apr 2012, 08:39 pm »
Thanks for the feedback! 8)

jfz

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Re: ModWright Oppo BDP-95 Mods?.....YES!
« Reply #179 on: 9 May 2012, 04:12 pm »
I'm curious to know what is happening with the digital input.

Thanks