Joe,
I wish I could tell you exactly what was done. I asked John Wright the same thing because originally, I planned on doing it myself. Plus, the upgrade is $350 which made me hesitant... especially since I could buy other DAC's for just a little more.
However, the only DAC I've heard that I thought was perfect in every way was the Bel Canto DAC2 which is over $1,k. I participated in a DAC shootout with some Audiocirclians (AC'ers?) here in NC where we compared a few. (I didn't bring mine, we had enough to test already) When I got home, I listened to the Bitstream and thought it sounded pretty good. That is, until I got a new amp. The Museatex made audible mistakes when transitioning from one sound to the next. -Especially in subtle vocals. It was annoying but, the rest of the sound was OK.
I talked to John who convinced me that with the mods, this DAC would compare well with the top DAC's at big money. I liked the overall sound of the DAC, I just wanted those little transitions to sound smoother. I also didn't have that much money. We worked out a deal that I'd do the power cord if he'd do the rest of the modifications. So, I saved a few bucks. This ended up being a great thing because I got to hear how much differnce a power cord makes later.
The total turnaround time was about 2 weeks (from sending to receiving it). When I first got it back, I connected it and let it warm up a little. The first thing I noticed was the mistakes were gone. All of them. The dac produces a very honest, uncolored sound to start with so, it was the same character but, a cleaner sound. After listening a few days, I decided to put the power cord on... major difference. The sound got smoother and more articulate. Imaging improved a little as well. The way I figure it, with the new components, the DAC needs a good power supply. I used Belden 83802 because that's what I have on everything else.... and I had extra lying around. I bought a Marinco AC plug, and wired directly to the transformer. This was not an easy task but, the results are great. (Correction, this would have been an easy task had I simply unbolted the transformer.) I liked connecting direcly from the outlet to the transformer. I specifically did NOT want an IEC outlet. From my experiments, the IEC outlet kills a lot of what your power cord is doing for you.
In any case, with all the mods now in place, the sound is much more dramatic, emotional, and involving. Imaging is improved. My room sucks for imaging so, I can only get so much. However, from what I can hear, it is the best I've ever heard in my room. I can't wait to get a longer room.
Overall, I'm happy with the mods. I think DAC's have personalities. If you like the personality of the Museatex, you'll love the mods.
By the way, John's website is up and running now.
http://www.museatex.comThe specifics on the mod I had done are here:
http://www.museatex.com/bitbox.htm#bitboxUpdateBest of luck. Welcome to the Circle. I've learned a lot here and many of the people are very smart and wise. I also found a lot of answers by searching
www.harmonicdiscord.com, the precursor to this forum.
-Carl
