[jandrews]

Would love to start a discussion about what are some reasonable upgrades to pursue on the Vista Spark for those of us that are DIY minded.
Understanding that warranty would be voided, are there any paths that folks here have taken to squeeze the last few drops our of their Spark?
I see someone here replaced the input caps.
Anyone else do anything similar?  Volume pot?
Any other areas to look into?
thanks
JS

[Audiovista]

Allow me to jump on this 

Changing the input capacitors is the most common Spark upgrade.

A customer in Singapore reported improvement after replacing rectifier diodes with ultrafast diodes. For new products I am considering UF5402 or UF5403, they have soft recovery with reasonably low voltage drop. They are not expensive.

Replacing potentiometer with ALPS RK27 (linear, 10k) offers audible improvements. However, I am not sure if it will fit easily (it would need to move to the front panel). I was planning to try and see what it will take to fit it in, but can't find the time.

More suggestions are welcome.

Best,
Boris

[jandrews]

Thanks Boris
Are the diodes direct drop in replacements?
One thought thought ....I wonder if faster responding diodes would potentially cause some of the tubey quality the Spark has to go away
The alps pot is an interesting idea...I can see if one here relatively handy it could be mounted on the front.

Looking forward to anyone else's thoughts

I'm currently using my Spark in a temporary apartment in the city while I'm there working.  It's a mini system with a Wiim pro plus streamer and some recently purchased 2nd hand Fritz mini-monitors.
My goodness. For such a modest system, the sound is stunning

[Audiovista]

Nice setup, a simplicity that Spark was meant for 

To answer your question about diodes: yes, the UF diodes are a drop-in replacement. They should not affect sound quality and they may reduce noise a tiny bit, although there should not be much noise to begin with.