Paradisea DAC

Scott F. · « **Reply #240 on:** 28 Feb 2007, 09:23 pm »

F-100,

That should work right fine. If you wanted to save some room and a buck or two, you could easily drop the rated voltage of the caps to either 600v, 400v or 250v (I'm not sure what voltages and values are offered in the Mundorfs).

alana106 · « **Reply #241 on:** 28 Feb 2007, 09:27 pm »

Scott,

Does your your Paradisea have any of these mods yet?
Since you cleared me on Bryan's Korato, I'm starting to feel dangerous again. aa

Alan

F-100 · « **Reply #242 on:** 28 Feb 2007, 09:42 pm »

Quote from: Scott F. on 28 Feb 2007, 09:23 pm

F-100,

That should work right fine. If you wanted to save some room and a buck or two, you could easily drop the rated voltage of the caps to either 600v, 400v or 250v (I'm not sure what voltages and values are offered in the Mundorfs).

I believe Mundorf Silver & Oil caps only come in one voltage (1200VDC).

Thanks Scott.

Scott F. · « **Reply #243 on:** 28 Feb 2007, 09:55 pm »

Quote from: alana106 on 28 Feb 2007, 09:27 pm

Scott,

Does your your Paradisea have any of these mods yet?
Since you cleared me on Bryan's Korato, I'm starting to feel dangerous again. aa

Alan

Not quite yet (yet being the operative word)

Actually, I'm still trying to decide if I really want to mod it. Somebody around here

was nice enough to send me a couple of opamps to play with. I'm here to tell you, those surface mount replacements will be a challenge for anybody (even the well seasoned vet) to install. You need a super pointy soldering tip for your iron and you better not get sloppy slinging solder or you'll short that thing out in a heartbeat. But, while I'm in there doing the dirty deeds, I plan on installing a phase switch.......... just because.

F-100 · « **Reply #244 on:** 1 Mar 2007, 05:26 am »

Quote from: F-100 on 28 Feb 2007, 09:13 pm

I'm going to replace the output caps with Mundorf Silver 1.5uF/1200VDC and then bypassed them with Mundorf Silver 0.1µF/1200VDC.
Is this good, bad or overkilled? Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks

Did some measurement tonight and found out that the Mundorf Silver & Oil 1.5uF cap will not fit into the DAC. This 1.5uF cap is 35mm in diameter, almost twice the size of the stock cap... impossible to fit both caps into the DAC without modifying the case.

Back to more research again!!!

tanchiro58 · « **Reply #245 on:** 1 Mar 2007, 06:16 am »

Derrick,

You got to find a way to squeeze the Mundorf caps into your DAC anyhow. How tall are the Mundorf caps? You can place them stand upright. Good luck.

Regards,
Tan

F-100 · « **Reply #246 on:** 1 Mar 2007, 06:46 am »

Dimension of the Mundorf 1.5uF cap is 35mm x 38mm (DxL). The length between the Elna cap, next to the MHDT 1.5uF cap, and the side railing is about 65mm so I don't think they will fit standing up either. These caps are too FAT, need to put them on a diet.

tdangelo · « **Reply #247 on:** 4 Mar 2007, 10:05 pm »

Well, I just swapped out the opamp for the OPA2107au. Took about 40 min. The hardest part was getting the old part off - its kinda trashed now

I used a Wahl Isotip 7700 cordless solder iron. It has a very fine tip and worked great. I had to take my contact lenses off because I can't see small/close stuff with them on

All in all not a real hard job. My amps are warming up but I did test it and it works

Tony

shooter · « **Reply #248 on:** 5 Mar 2007, 06:50 am »

I have done the OPA2107 opamp mod, the sound is more detail but also a lot more forward, I don't want to pass final judgement yet, I am going to bypass the power supply next. Tony, what are your impressions?

tdangelo · « **Reply #249 on:** 5 Mar 2007, 01:16 pm »

Quote from: shooter on 5 Mar 2007, 06:50 am

I have done the OPA2107 opamp mod, the sound is more detail but also a lot more forward, I don't want to pass final judgement yet, I am going to bypass the power supply next. Tony, what are your impressions?

In my system I like it. Like you say, much more detail and it is a little forward but not excessive. Sounds more lively to me. I only listened for about 30 min. but so far I like it

Builder Brad · « **Reply #250 on:** 5 Mar 2007, 09:28 pm »

I have already upgraded the Op-amp on my Paridisea DAC, and by-passed the PS as per legarims earlier post(thank-you for the pics). This cheap upgrade has really improved the DAC.

I am now ready to swap/mod the output caps and have obtained 2 0.01uf Teflon in Oil V caps for by-passing:

http://v-cap.com/tefloncapacitors.html

I also have a small selection of Wimslow Audio Supercaps, 2 x 4uf, 2 x 0.68uf, which are made by SCR specifically for Wilslow:

https://secure.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=49_50_54&osCsid=4a55b3b0c3bf069ac4401d13c14a9c16

I am now wondering what to do next. This is possibly one of the easiest upgrades for the Paridisea, and I could easily try out lots of different combinations, but I would like to fit and forget, with the knowlege that the new caps will need a few (hundred) hours to break in before giving their best. In the spirit of Occams posts I think it would be good to just try to by-pass the standard 1.5uf cap already in the DAC with the 0.01uf V cap - and live with this for a while - or should I go for it and add the 4uf Wilmslow and the V cap to the 1.5uf standard cap.

Anyone have any thoughts?

shooter · « **Reply #251 on:** 5 Mar 2007, 10:02 pm »

Brad, did you use the opa2107? did you keep the same voltage on the opamp?
At first I did bypass the output cap with .01 Rel TFT cap with some inprovement. now mine are all Russian PIO.

Builder Brad · « **Reply #252 on:** 5 Mar 2007, 10:52 pm »

Hi Shooter,

I used the OPA2107 and did exactly what was shown by Legarem on P10 of this thread. As I was replacing the standard BB op amp which has the same power specs I did not feel there was a problem with the vsupply voltages, I think the concerns here would only apply if I was using , say another op-amp with lower supply requirements, some of the Analogue Devices amps are +-12v for example, and even then you miight get away with it.

I have now by-passed the original 1.5uf cap with the V Caps - I did not even bother to trim the V cap leads, and the caps are hanging in space at the moment. When they have settled in I will think about what to do next, considering using 3.9uf AudioNote copper/oil main caps by-passed with the V caps..........but I want to wait for the V caps to sort themselves 1st. Thinking about V caps in my GK1R pre amp if this goes well.

Brad

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #253 on:** 8 Mar 2007, 07:41 pm »

Anyone know the ouput voltage of the DAC and its compatibility with passive pre's?

tdangelo · « **Reply #254 on:** 8 Mar 2007, 07:43 pm »

1.8v or so - output impedence is 800ohm

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 8 Mar 2007, 07:41 pm

Anyone know the ouput voltage of the DAC and its compatibility with passive pre's?

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #255 on:** 8 Mar 2007, 08:02 pm »

Shazam!

kbuzz3 · « **Reply #256 on:** 13 Mar 2007, 08:32 pm »

New Owner. Just curious. Since i dont see an on off switch.

PS This thing is for real! Even with the stock tube

rollo · « **Reply #257 on:** 13 Mar 2007, 11:52 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 8 Mar 2007, 07:41 pm

Anyone know the ouput voltage of the DAC and its compatibility with passive pre's?

Worked great with Promitheus TVC at recent Rave meeting.

rollo

Cacophonix · « **Reply #258 on:** 14 Mar 2007, 05:09 am »

Quote from: tvad4 on 14 Mar 2007, 12:16 am

My Paradisea had an on/off switch on the front like the one in this photo.

Maybe i've missed this amongst the 28+ pages here ... but whats the diff between the regular paradisea
and paradisea+? I bought the non '+' version a couple of months back direct from MHDT.

NewBuyer · « **Reply #259 on:** 14 Mar 2007, 11:58 am »

Just curious here: Does using a toroidal transformer make any sonic difference (vs the standard transformer)?

Also, tdangelo you mentioned the Paradisea has an output impedance of 800ohm. Are you sure of this figure? MHDT advised me the Constantine has an output impedance of 800ohm, and I had assumed the tube buffer on the Paradisea would result in an even lower output impedance. Is this reasoning correct?