[Wayne1]

While I have been working away at my SB mod backlog, I also managed to put some time in on the mod for the Musica.

I believe It is finally finalized

I have rebuilt the stock power supply. There is an ACME Audio Silver plated IEC and Silver plated fuse holder on the back of the unit. ALL of the capacitors in the power supply section have been upgraded to LOW ESR types with Black Gate NX series bypasses.

The analog output ICs have been removed and the signal is routed direct from the main chip to the output jacks through a BlackGate "N" series with a Sonicap Gen 2 bypass caps. Inputs receive the same treatment as does the headphone output. By removing the analog output ICs, total output voltage is reduced to 1.1 volt, just like with the SqueezeBox.

The DC voltage to the DAC chip is tightened up quite a bit with a local regulator and additional BlackGates. The digital output connector is removed and a WBT NextGen RCA is used. Close to 5 square feet of dampening material is used on the chassis and case. This has really made the machine very quiet when the hard drive is in use.

I did not dampen the HD or the space above it on the case. I have found excess heat to be the number one killer of HDs. I will give this HD all the space it can get for cooling.

I will be bringing this modded unit over to Tweak Geeks for a comparison to a stock unit shortly. Hopefully the listening session will be posted. I will also bring one of my Hyper tweaked SB and new PS along .

I hope to be able to finish up the rest of the beta units next week. The price of the mods for the beta testers will be well under the original $500.00 quoted. If there are others who wish to get a Olive modded by Bolder, this mod should retail for about $500.00. Price subject to change.

[Jon L]

Wayne, how comments on execution of stock digital out of Olive vs stock Squeezebox? 

I imagine many people would use Olive as server into outboard DAC and are wondering how it fares in that capacity to squeezebox.

[Wayne1]

The quick reply is I do not know.

The Olive uses the AC97 Codec. It is a computer in a nice case with a built in sound card.

It is really easy to copy your CDs to the hard drive. The CD drive is rather noisy, even with dampening.

I do not have any external DACs. I can run the digital out of a Olive into a digital in on a modded Panny receiver, but that won't happen for awhile. Maybe TweekGeek will have something that can be compared.

[shokunin]

The Olive uses the AC97 Codec. It is a computer in a nice case with a built in sound card.

AC97 as in Realtek AC97 or ALC chipset?  Yuk...  that's basically what most most motherboards use if they're not using an 9 series chipset from Intel.  I know it's all in the implementation but there has to be a better chipset out there.

[Wayne1]

The chip used is the Analog Devices AD1981B

Here is the data sheet on it.

http://www.analog.com/UploadedFiles/Data_Sheets/87560554AD1981B_c.pdf

I just came back from TweekGeek's. We compared the modded Musica to a $2000.00 Atoll upsampling CD player, the CD200

http://www.atoll-electronique.com/uk/lecteurcd.php

We did, without question, prefer the sound of the modded Musica. We also compared it to a stock Musica, well worth the upgrade cost

We compared the modded Musica to a SB2 with BOLDER mods with Sonicaps and Sonicap Platinums and Sonicap Gen 2s for bypass and felt the the SB2 was the better sounding player.

Playing direct into TG's NuForce amp and SP Tech speakers, the Musica actually sounded very good. I do prefer the way the SB sounds and works, but I can understand why someone would want a stand alone machine that is pretty much plug and play.

The BOLDER modded Olive Musica is a very good sounding option for a source that plays bigger than a lot of more expensive gear.

I think with Sonicap Platinum's for bypasses and a couple of Bybee purifiers, the Musica mods might come close to a SB 3 on analog outs.

[mgalusha]

The modded musica was very nice and IMO a very worthwhile upgrade over the stock Musica. It wasn't quite a good as the SB2 but it was much more musically involving than the Atoll CD player. The Atoll sounded quite lifeless and boring in comparison. Sometimes components that have a "lively" sound can be fatiguing but in this case all of us just let it continue to play as it sounded very good. With the CDP and the stock Olive no one really wanted to even let one song end.

To level the playing field somewhat we ran all of them through a preamp since the CDP doesn't have any type of level control. Once we were done the modded Olive was connected direct to the amps and that provided an even cleaner and pleasing sound, much like connecting a Squeezebox directly to the amps, just less stuff to gunk up the sound.

Thanks again to Mike for the opportunity to listen and to his wife for putting out some mighty fine eats.

mike

[maxwalrath]

I think with Sonicap Platinum's for bypasses and a couple of Bybee purifiers, the Musica mods might come close to a SB 3 on analog outs. Wink

What are the prices for these fancy upgrades?

[Wayne1]

$75.00 a pair for the Sonicap Platinums, installed.

Bybee Purifiers depend on what flavor you want.

$200.00 a pair for copper, $400.00 a pair for Silver and $500.00 a pair for Gold. Each price is installed.

The Beta testers are able to get a discount from these prices. PM or E-mail me for the special deal.

[Wayne1]

The Olive Musica mods are now listed on the BOLDER Cable website.
Olive Musica Mods