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Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

Re: To mod or not to mod

Thanks for posting the link to the review, and keeping an open mind.

In my experience, replacing the op amp post DAC, or the coupling capacitors, will almost certainly change the "sound" a player.

But is the difference an "improvement"? Measured results often suggest otherwise. Often they show little or no significant change, and occasionally a change for the worse.

Also, the review provides no indication that the units being compared was burned in equally, or even came from the same manufacturing batch. Often different batches can sound different.

And putting in a substitute clock may or may not be a good idea, as the link in your previous post suggests. Yes, the clock may intrinsically have lower jitter, but what about the EMI/RFI emitted, and potential impact on stability of voltage rails? I wouldn't be at all surprised if the modded unit exhibits HIGHER jitter due to these factors which could be interpreted as euphonic.

Lastly, the review provided no measurement comparison, so it was hard to be certain that the modded unit is objectively improved. Given that our ears tend to interpret some forms of distortion euphonically (indeed, as I mentioned in my reply to Ted, a common technique used in mixing is to ADD DISTORTION to the mix) it is not beyond possibility that any perceived improvement in the sound could be due to a change in the distortion artefacts in the modded unit.


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