Tweakers' Asylum

Posted by gads (A) on November 18, 2005 at 10:38:42

That does it.
My latest tweaks were replacing bridge rectifiers diodes for main, analog and digital.
I guess I was enlightened.
After trying almost every op-amp, electrolitythic film/foil capacitor, diode, solder, bypassing caps, and others tweaks I can't recall at the moment, I got to hand it to the manufacturers.
Even though I understand that mass-producing takes under the consideration the cost of every single electronic part and material, the basic stuff found in most mid to hi-end players is in the bottom line, when it comes to the best choice taken by the audio engineers, The best, tested and sonically/technically proven, the only argument left is which performs better and what is the best pcb layout within the manufacturing cost margins.
Yes, BlackGates and Elna Cerafines are the best lyths out there, but just dropping them in isn't always the best way to go.
Op-amps can produce, in the short run, staggering changes, but in the long run they become irritating and uncomfortable sounding, conclusion: nothing beats the old NE5532/4, OPA2/604/627 or AD811, 823 (some I forget) for I/V conversion.
Diodes, 1N400X, noisy, yes, But having tried numerous Schottkys, FREDS (fast switching soft recovery), all ended up bass shy, sluggish or smeared, even if more tuneful quiet or lush, producing some technical issues.
Caps bypassing, may sound more analytical, but hard and fatiguing.
Solder, All others but kester, Cardas and Wondersolder came out sounding too much with own character.
Removing muting transistors and o/p caps, will you risk your money spent ?
Resistors, I happened to put my hand on almost any Vishay/dale resistor available (domestic factory), and other appreciated bulk/foil , believe me, nothing sounds natural and as a good as a carbon resistor selected by the common mid-fi manufacturers, and so on..
Voltage regulators, they do actually put good quiet ones where it counts, Others I've tried did not make a difference.
I don't consider exterior tweaks like PC's etc. to be regarded as "tweaks" however. Discussing outlets, conditioners etc. is IMO belong to system synergy and do have an important role.
This is my final (and signing off) quote: Don't try to outsmart long time, experienced megabucks companies engineers, You will almost never achieve better rusult than the "whole/organic" original designers intention.
All the above is IMHO obviously.

Happy tweaking all.