Modding the Toshiba SD4960 DVD/DVD-A/CD/SACD player

rhale64 · « **Reply #240 on:** 10 Nov 2005, 11:49 pm »

Steve, which superclock did you get? I thought about trying the SuperClock1 because it is so cheap on Rams website. But it is old technology. I wonder if it would be any improvement over what comes stock?

STeveL · « **Reply #241 on:** 14 Nov 2005, 09:23 pm »

I have the AudioCom Superclock 3, I picked it up from Partsconnexion on sale a month back. It's the 27Mhz version.

The stock clock is simply a crystal along with a couple resistors and capacitors, probably about a dollar worth of stuff. I'd say that even the older Superclock must be better than that. Partsconnexion also has the Superclock 2 at a clearance price.

http://www.audiocominternational.com/
http://www.partsconnexion.com/

I was comparing my Toshiba 3950 to the Samsung last night. Both have basically the same mods except for the clock. Prior to the clock upgrade they sounded much the same to me. The Samsung 841 now has more detail and a more open sound compared to the 3950. It's more enjoyable to listen to, so I think the cost of the clock was worthwhile.

Picked up a spare 4960 on sale last week for $90CDN. Seems they are clearing these things out. I now have a spare for parts, or I may try replacing the case and running the whole thing off batteries. The Samsung certainly has a nicer enclosure (larger too).

Steve

rhale64 · « **Reply #242 on:** 15 Nov 2005, 12:51 am »

Steve I just ordered an enclosure for my Toshiba. I just couldnt look at it anymore. I got the 20 series from Parmetals. I am going to do some real tweeking. I am going to lay this thing out inside. It is 16wide by 4 high by 12 deep. I am going to put some wood side panels on it to bring it out to the standard 17inch. Plus this will give added heft. I am ordering a custom faceplate from FrontPanelDesign. The 12 inch deep is the perfect depth to lay my caps down with one leg soldered to the board and the other leg soldered to the rca. And the wires should then be about perfectly straight. I am going to mount all the caps on 1/4 inch oak plywood. They will all be screwed down with these wire looms that I have. There will be no oscillation with this. The bridge will then be layed down on another 1/4 piece of ply and my wire will then go from there to the board. The pics of the RAM modified player gave me this idea. I will then have plenty of room for a clock and power supply upgrade in the future. The case I got is vented but I am going to tile the inside of it. There will only be a vent left right where this thing gets its hottest. The chassis will be rideing on PartsExpress black chrome spikes. This thing should be a beast when done. I am hopeing somewhere in the 20lbs range.

gprro · « **Reply #243 on:** 15 Nov 2005, 06:32 am »

Any reason not to get a manufacture refurb unit to mod? I've seen some super cheap(hd841). Or just get a new one which are still not expensive?
I'm also considering sending out to get modded if I can't find the time or courage. Who is the preffered modder to send to: RAM, Tweak?

I just read the entire post, and am pretty pumped.

rhale64 · « **Reply #244 on:** 15 Nov 2005, 09:50 pm »

gprro it really isnt hard to do. It is a little scary at first. But once you get the hang of it it isnt hard at all. And it doesn't take much time. Bob has some pretty good directions there. Just follow his directions and go for it. I had never done anything like this. In fact the last thing I soldered was a remote that I had broken the wires off of. I actually ruined it by overheating it. But I accomplished this no problem.

gprro · « **Reply #245 on:** 15 Nov 2005, 11:02 pm »

Thats a little more confidence inspiring to know. I will need a new iron though. The one I have now has always sucked, and doesn't get hot enough to de-solder some things. Plus, the last time I actualy soldered something it looked like a big mess. It would be good practice I guess, I just don't want to waste time and mess it up. Time is also tight right now.

If I still want to send it out, who should do it?

thanks,
Giyan

rhale64 · « **Reply #246 on:** 16 Nov 2005, 12:10 am »

Probably RAM. I just ordered some more wire and unbleached cotton from them. They seem to be pretty good. And they do strive to make you happy.

sjmikeb · « **Reply #247 on:** 17 Nov 2005, 04:15 am »

Ron,

Sorry I haven't gotten a chance to look at the stock clock since getting back from vacation. I might get to it this weekend. BTW, you should check out the Hagtech Hagclock. It's priced much more reasonably than the Superclock, and you can save even more if you build it yourself. Also Jim published the specs and output waveform for his device. I haven't seen the same data published for the Superclock.

I built the Hagtech Cornet soon after it came out, and I am very satisfied with the design and sonics.

Regards,
Mike

rhale64 · « **Reply #248 on:** 18 Nov 2005, 02:34 am »

Mike sounds good. I am anxious to hear your findings.
OK guys I have a dilema. I am not likeing the Sonicap 1 with 2 bypass at all. The mids are very dry to me. The soundstage is very flat also. This is the two biggest concerns. This is after about 100 hrs. When I switched back to the 4560 opamps it just sounds better on all music. Like for instance when John Mayer takes a breath between notes. I cant even hear it with the Sonicaps. But with the opamps I can hear it plain as day. And trust me I do not like a edgy sound. I would consider what I like to be a liquid sound. Harshness hurts my ears. So it isn't like I like a very detailed sound. I like a more layed back quality. I can hear a slight edginess in the opamps but it is slightly more rythmic. With lots more body. So is there any other caps out there that I should try? Or does it sound like I might like the drive of an opamp? I would really like cap rolling. But that could get very expensive. And I am not rich. So some more recomendations please from the experts.

sjmikeb · « **Reply #249 on:** 18 Nov 2005, 03:00 am »

Ron,

I am not familiar with Sonicaps, but I have heard good things. Can you tell us about the rest of your system, and the input impedance of whatever you have the player connected to?

Mike

rhale64 · « **Reply #250 on:** 18 Nov 2005, 12:49 pm »

The input impedance of my Sherwood Newcastle p-965 is 47k. I realize that this is not exactly a audiophile grade preamp but it does sound darn good. I have this cd player running through the 7.1 analogue inputs. I have an ADA PTM6150 power amp. It won HT mag amp of the year. It is based on a Krell design. It runs 50watts in class A per channel. It does have two fans to keep it cool. Otherwise it would be a great space heater. You can feel the heat in my equipment closet when I open it up. My speakers are Phase Tech PC 9.1. They are an amazeing sounding speaker. For the money you cant beat them. Unless you make your own. The Audiophile Voice simply gave them one of the best reviews I have read. I am going to remove the bypass Sonicap 2s in a moment. I will report my findings. I have right now a 1uf Sonicap 1 with a .1 Sonicap 2 bypassing them. Any sugestions

BobM · « **Reply #251 on:** 18 Nov 2005, 01:22 pm »

What you are hearing very well could be the difference between capacitor coupled and an op-amp output.

As you said, op-amps have more rythmic drive to them. More punch. More PRAT (i.e. flat earth).

Capacitor coupled is a bit dryer, with more audiophile qualities. It is still extended and transparent and has the benefit of reduced grain. Overall it is smoother. But it does lack that kick and dynamic drive that an op-amp can deliver.

You can do better by swapping out op-amps, reducing that glare that I hear on the op-amp side of things. But you're on your own picking the right one - and really need to know what you are doing. There are so many to choose from and you have to take into consideration a lot of variables. If you're going that route you may want to also change the surrounding caps to Black Gates or Nichicon KZ's.

This is ultimately why I have gone back to my modded Art DI/O fed from an EA modded Sony 7700 as transport. Better dynamic drive and soundstaging.

Good luck,
Bob

rhale64 · « **Reply #252 on:** 18 Nov 2005, 04:15 pm »

Thanx first Bob. Well I have removed the .1uf 2s. It has made a big difference. The soundstage has increased a bunch. It has a lot more drive also. It still is slightly dryer than the opamp. But like you said the opamp is slightly grainier. I think it is now more on par with the opamp. Before with the 2s in there was to my ears just a flat bland soundstage. Now there is a lot more depth. I wonder if a different value cap would be better. Maybe a .01uf instead of the .1, this for the bypass cap of course? Or maybe a different cap all together bypassing the opamp? Or an opa627 x4 opamp? It seems to be the biggest consensus winner in the opamps. Keep sugestions rolling.

sjmikeb · « **Reply #253 on:** 18 Nov 2005, 04:46 pm »

Hey Ron,

Glad things got better for you. I personally would have tried the same, but would not have expected much difference. Interesting that removing the bypass changed things so much. A rule of thumb is the bypass should be about 10% (at least as a starting point), so the .01 might work for you. What about the mid-range loss of detail you were experiencing? I was thinking you might have some impedance mis-match issue, but things appear in the ballpark anyway.

Aren't the op-amps surface mount? Changing them will likely be a PITA.

Good luck

rhale64 · « **Reply #254 on:** 18 Nov 2005, 05:01 pm »

OK the opamp replacement would probably be a pain. But on another website there was a bunch of people doing it. The consensus was two OPA 627's on BrownDog adapter times two. Only one person screwed it up. This was out of several. They are surface mount. The detail is way better in the mids, now though. Like I can hear the breathing of singers again. I swear I couldnt hear anything before. Unless I switched back to the opamp. The depth is better also. It is just a little to dry still. I like a very liquid sound so I am in the exact wrong direction here. I am just wondering if I went with a V-Cap teflon or something. Would this fix the mids? Or am I just not likeing the bypass sound? This could get expensive if you know what I mean. Those teflons are way expensive. But they do seem to be the best, from what I have read.

gprro · « **Reply #255 on:** 18 Nov 2005, 09:59 pm »

Excited, my 841 just arrived. Looking forward to letting it burn in for a while. A couple of quick questions, any idea why RAM states their mods are far superior to the ones being done here, and what they do in respect to the op amps( bypassed ?)?

What's the best circle to post a question regarding comparison between the various modders versions? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm going to mod this thing soon, trying to learn as much as i can.

thanks,
Giyan

rhale64 · « **Reply #256 on:** 19 Nov 2005, 02:49 am »

First congrats. I really do not know why they claim that. I do know that for bypassing the op amps they take and lift the caps neg leg. They run a high capacitance electrolitic to a buffer with a seperate power supply. They then take the neg of the rca and put a Rikens resistor on it and it goes to ground somewhere. That is as much info as I could get. They say it gives more drive. Which it sounds like it may work. They do use some custom parts though. I have used a lot of them in my modded unit. And they are nice pieces. It does sound like they do a lot of custom work also. But I will tell you that there unit won't be anywhere near mine in the custom work department, if everything goes as planned.

sjmikeb · « **Reply #257 on:** 19 Nov 2005, 04:58 am »

Ron,

I thought this setting was not applicable for 2 channel audio output, but I was wrong. Not a subtle change!

Mike

rhale64 · « **Reply #258 on:** 19 Nov 2005, 11:47 am »

Yes it is off. I even went in and set all my speaker sizes. Because I do have some DVD audio music. I kept going into my preamps menuing and dvd menuing to see what the problem was. But it is really way better now though.

rhale64 · « **Reply #259 on:** 19 Nov 2005, 04:27 pm »

The more it plays the better it sounds. I am telling you it was terrible before I took the other caps out. Now I am still wondering if anybody has heard these Teflons.I would use them for bypassing the sonicaps. The .01 Teflons aren't too expensive. They would be worth it if it gave me the sound I am looking for. Or maybe the opamp idea.