[rhing]

So what size wire was it that was used? I haven't opened up the virtue yet... need to take a trip to the shack or something...

-Tony

I used short segments of some 0.5mm Mundorf Silver-Gold wire. I stripped the Teflon insulation off and soldered it onto the pads of the SMD stepped attenuator to form legs. Be careful not to use too much solder, or it could short the resistors to ground, and render one or both channels silent.

Seth's right in that the path is so short, any solid core Copper wire should be fine. I'm a boutique parts guy, so that's why I used the exotic stuff. If you solder the wire segments (i.e., legs) onto the inside-facing solder pads on the stepped attenuator, the legs should line up perfectly with the through-holes on the small PCB that holds the volume pot. In other words, you really don't have to worry about Right-In, Left-in, Right-Out, Left-Out, and the ground connections. The pads correspond perfectly with the stock pot's pin-out pattern. Removing the stock volume pot using a regular soldering iron requires patience, so use a solder wick and/or solder sucking tool to remove as much solder as possible before trying to pry the volume pot out of place. If you you don't mind tossing the stock volume pot afterwards, just snip each leg of the pot and simply remove the remaining leg segments from the through-holes.

Also take your time in drilling out the flat in the volume knob hub. Keeping the knob's rotation true keeps the high quality look and feel of the Virtue's volume control.

A friend of mine just upgraded his Virtue Two with the same 50k stepped attenuator, and he concurs with my listening impressions. It really transforms the Virtue Two sound qualities in every positive way (tube-like midrange warmth, larger soundstage, greater detail, more precise imaging). I'm glad that Seth and Michael have decided to use this as part of some of the next generation of Virtue amps.

[TRADERXFAN]

Thanks very much for the tips Rich. 

I have the One so I am going to be adding some sonicaps to it while I have it open.
Any tips on that process?

-Tony

[rhing]

Tony,

I haven't changed the caps, because I really like the Auricaps in my Virtue Two. They've taken some time to burn-in, but my Virtue Two is sounding really great. If you are considering an upgrade from the Virtue Caps, you'll need to trace the capacitor leads and desolder them at those points.

I've attached a photo of the interior of my Virtue Two. I'm not sure how much this will help, but you can see that you'll need to carefully plan your work around all the wires. Use a digital camera to photograph all your connections before desoldering anything.

[panomaniac]

Using a camera to document your work is a great idea - especially if you have to but it down for a few days, or weeks!  I used to do this with a camcorder back in the days before digital cameras.

If you do get lost or mess up, post here, we can help.

Rich, I see from the photos that you might have an amp where the sideways holes in propeller posts point up/down.  For some strange reason the factory did a large number this way, I don't like it. For me it's better to have them pointing to the side (east/west).  It's an easy fix.  Just loosen the 12mm nuts inside and turn the posts 90 degs.  You can put something like a small screwdriver, file, awl, etc. thru the hole to hold it in place while you retighten.  It took longer to write that then it does to do it. =)

Of course if you don't use bare wire, it doesn't matter.

[rhing]

I use the Multi-Contact LS-4 banana plugs on my speaker cables, so it doesn't bother me. Thanks for pointing that out though.

[virtue]

For those of you bypassing the POT entirely, here's a new accessory:

http://store.virtueaudio.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VRTU%2DTPWA%2DNOPOT%2DBLACK%2D1




A wrap-around without hole for the volume pot.  It's priced a little higher than the normal one becausen we didn't make many of them.  It also comes in any color so long as it's black.

[earplay]

Ya know, there might be enough interest for someone to do this upgrade for other, less adept solderers, like myself, for instance. For a price, of course.

But then there is the issue of voided warranties. Still, I'd be interested.

[virtue]

You would just jumper the pot (on the PCB) and throw some duct-tape over it so that it doesn't short to anything... and then push it ito the unit... It's a temporary operation - fully warrantied!  Put that knob and other wrap-around in a safe place for storage if you eventually resell the unit!

[Nuuk]

A wrap-around with hole for the volume pot. 

Shouldn't that be 'without' old chap? 

[decal]

Silver Skunk is usually an upgrade from what most folks use....Oh,my gosh,you meant potentiometers.My bad.

[earplay]

Oh... I was referring to the stepped pot upgrade like rhing did. I want a volume control to remain integral to the unit. I'm downsizing.

[wsturner]

I may be showing my ignorance by asking this question. But what about digital volume control?

You could run the Virtue ONE.2 as a power amp, and feed it with the output from, say, a Squeezebox Duet. The interface for the Duet has a volume control.

[dvenardos]

For best fidelity you always want to run your squeezebox at full volume. The digital volume control compresses the dynamics. You would be much better off using the pot of the virtue.

I may be showing my ignorance by asking this question. But what about digital volume control?

You could run the Virtue ONE.2 as a power amp, and feed it with the output from, say, a Squeezebox Duet. The interface for the Duet has a volume control.

[gitarretyp]

For best fidelity you always want to run your squeezebox at full volume. The digital volume control compresses the dynamics. You would be much better off using the pot of the virtue.

That's not true. The squeezebox processes 16 bit CD data at 24 bits. Therefore, 8 bits (~35 dB) are used for volume control. So, anything above ~30 on the squeezebox volume control is not altering the data.

[dvenardos]

The slim devices founder doesn't agree. Although, I misstated, it should be the SNR that is affected and not the dynamics.
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showpost.php?p=164814&postcount=12

That's not true. The squeezebox processes 16 bit CD data at 24 bits. Therefore, 8 bits (~35 dB) are used for volume control. So, anything above ~30 on the squeezebox volume control is not altering the data.

[Nuuk]

I use a Squeezebox (SB3) and for quite a while I stuck with its volume control because it was convenient, ie remote controlled.

When I got a remote-controlled volume control, I disabled the SB3 volume control and have found that the results are very slightly better. It's not 'night and day' but if you don't need the remote function, or if you have an R/C volume control, I suggest using it.

As Sean Adams said, it is a question of SNR, so you notice the improvement more when you turn the level up!

Also, I have just found out about a method for increasing the sound quality of standard potentiometers (that can be applied retrospectively). I can't say very much at present, one because it may be the subject of a review, and two because I haven't heard the results with my own ears. But this method is supposed to make the humble pot sound better than a stepped attenuator! I don't think that it will improve channel matching though, so you would still need to start with a decent pot to begin with. I will report more as and when I am able to. 

[gitarretyp]

The slim devices founder doesn't agree. Although, I misstated, it should be the SNR that is affected and not the dynamics.
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showpost.php?p=164814&postcount=12

That's certainly true and an inevitable consequence of not simultaneously adjusting the level of the signal and the noise from the squeezebox. However, the noise floor of the squeezebox is quite low; it's self noise is probably low enough as to only be audible with your ear near your speakers, unless you have an exceptionally high gain amp and/or high sensitivity speakers.

[littletree76]

I bought exactly the same stepped potentiometer built with SMD resistors (20K Ohm, log scale) from eBay. Though it looked cheap and delicate soldering work is required, it really improve sound quality of Virtue One (even after the power supply has already been upgraded) and make the effort worthwhile. Note the original potentiometer is of 20K Ohm value (but not 50K Ohm).

I cut six complete pins (round type) from a spare DIL IC socket and used them to solder the potentiometer onto original small square PCB. Make sure the original potentiometer is removed with clean pin holes (use solder sucker to clean up old solder completely). I had to destroy the original potentiometer in order to remove it completely from the PCB.

If you prefer Vishay resistors with tighter tolerance at slightly higher cost, perhaps you should consider following offer (USD 25 a piece) in eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290408853485&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching#ht_3725wt_941

It is also built with SMD (surface mount) instead of discrete resistors. If you want even better stepped potentiometer built with Vishay/Dale military grade 1% resistors in ladder (superior) instead of series (inferior) configuration, then following DIY kit might be a good offer in term of quality/price ratio:

http://www.diyfidelity.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=0_33&products_id=32

As for comparison in term of sound quality between DACT stepped potentiometer and ALPS potentiometer, following is a quick review:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/dact-stepped-attenuator-vs-alps-blue-velvet-my-observations-213420

I wonder how long will be the burn-in duration after the potentiometer has been upgraded ?

I bought 2 (cheap enough that I figured if one is good 2 is better for same shipping) of these from "gigaworks" also a hong kong based ebayer. 

So what size wire was it that was used? I haven't opened up the virtue yet... need to take a trip to the shack or something...

-Tony

[dboulet]

I also got a stepped pot from "Gigaworks" on ebay, and installed it the other night. To say that the hardest part of this job is removing the old pot is an understatement. I struggled with the pot for two hours, using a solder sucker, and was finally forced to pry the pot off with wire cutters, completely destroying the part in the process. Once the new pot was installed, hooked up the amp, turned it on and... no sound from the left speaker. After some investigation using a multimeter, I found the problem. Make sure that you solder the pot to the pads on the bottom, AND the top of the PCB  .

It's still too soon to say exactly what audible improvements this pot upgrade has made, but so far I can say that it appears to have removed some of the "harshness" in the treble.

[Cyan]

how about this one? http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200460914264
It should last longer, and is very cheap.
I'm going to buy a zerodac for my headphones and i want to upgrade the volume control to this.
I mean, if i'm going to put it on the zerodac, i think it would be even better on the virtue two.2 that i'm going to buy next year.