This mod was first described by Danny of GR Research in
this thread. In our
NYC October get-together most everyone noticed differences between the Sony 777ES playing redbook and the dAck. These differences were not subtle and are described in that thread.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the
dAck and the TubeDac+ after which Danny suggested I try this mod and give it about 50 hours break-in. The mod itself is quite simple and takes less than an hour to perform.
Disclaimer: if you're concerned about product warranty please get in touch with the manufacturer.The 3.0 uF Sonicaps are a bit larger than the 2.2 uF Auricaps and can be tricky to fit into the same spot. For my purposes, I decided to keep the Auris in place as these were glued to a backing tape attached to the back plate. I found it was also much simpler to cut the cap wires where it joined the output terminals.
Next step is to desolder the Auris from the PC board. The underside of the board also marks the L-R output channels.
Before soldering the Sonicaps decide where you'd like them to fit (above the board is fine but make sure those exposed terminals don't touch anything else). Then make sure you've got the channels correctly matched from the board through the output terminals. If you're keeping the Auris, then you might run those wires under the securing tape for neatness sake.
Final inspection before assembly.
There's little wiggle room in there and if you find the front and back plates can't get snug into the case, then you must've dislodged the battery. Just nudge it back in place.
SoundImmediately after the mod, I played through the dAck using most the same tracks from that DAC shootout. From my listening notes (this was done a week ago), I wrote that although the cap change improved both top-end and bottom extensions, some noticeable grain crept back especially with vocals. The dAck with the 2.2 uF Auri's sounded a bit more refined. On one of my "unlistenable" CDs, Pee Wee Russell and Coleman Hawkin's Reunion, the instruments were brought more forward than I'd have liked. I thought about this tradeoff and decided to let it break in some more.
A week later (~ 30 hours burn-in), listening to the dAck with the Sonicaps I must admit I can't remember any difference between the original caps and the mod EXCEPT that there isn't any noticeable rolloff in the extensions with the mod. On my reference tracks, the modded dAck sounds very smooth with a touch of sibilance added to vocals, but I'll take that as part of the tradeoff. Although the original personality remains intact, it seems the dAck put on a few pounds of extra muscle.
Thanks to Danny for suggesting this mod, for me, it's a keeper.
