Having had my Beresford DAC for a while and having read about other people's experiences using the DAC at 13.5V rather than the 12V standard, I thought I might as well give it a go.
All I can say is if you run the DAC off the Maplin switch mode PS........... try it, you might be pleasantly surprised!
I think it was Ian who suggested the 13.5V "upgrade" but I was a bit sceptical.
I know the Beresford DAC seems to have fallen out of favour slightly on here as folks with far greater hard and software engineering experience than me build their own DACs. But those with the Beresford might be interested in seeing if the voltage change does anything to the sound of the DAC in their system.
Steve
Beresford DAC at 13.5V
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Cressy Snr
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Neal
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#2
At first I thought I couldn't see how this could make a difference but as the supply comes in there is a large diode on the PCB, this will drop .7v...it feeds a 10V regulator so at 11.3 volt I bet the regulator is dropping out.
At 13.5 the regulator will just about be able to regulate, I wonder if this is why it sounds better?
Anyhow the best plan I've found is to feed it from an ALW super reg and bypass the internal diode. It sounds much better for it.
I've still got to bypass the internal regs and feed a clean supply to the DAC and opamp. It should sound better still....
At 13.5 the regulator will just about be able to regulate, I wonder if this is why it sounds better?
Anyhow the best plan I've found is to feed it from an ALW super reg and bypass the internal diode. It sounds much better for it.
I've still got to bypass the internal regs and feed a clean supply to the DAC and opamp. It should sound better still....
#3
Good point that Neal, at 12v the reg will only have 1.3v headroom. maybe the use of a lower Vf diode would be a good replacement (at least before going to the extent of replacing the regs entirly).
Whenever an honest man discovers that he's mistaken, he will either cease to be mistaken or he will cease to be honest.
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Cressy Snr
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#4
Hi Neal/Nick
I didn't want to give too much credence to the improved sound quality gained by increasing the voltage fed to the DAC until someone could give some kind of explanation, but the regulator dropping out at 12V input seems plausible.
There's no doubt that the sound using a 13.5V input is clearly superior, giving a bigger, fuller sound with more depth and detail, plus better dynamics than the 12V standard input voltage. Clearly there is a lot more that can be squeezed out of this DAC.
Steve
I didn't want to give too much credence to the improved sound quality gained by increasing the voltage fed to the DAC until someone could give some kind of explanation, but the regulator dropping out at 12V input seems plausible.
There's no doubt that the sound using a 13.5V input is clearly superior, giving a bigger, fuller sound with more depth and detail, plus better dynamics than the 12V standard input voltage. Clearly there is a lot more that can be squeezed out of this DAC.
Steve
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The Stratmangler
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#5
SteveSteveTheShadow wrote:
There's no doubt that the sound using a 13.5V input is clearly superior, giving a bigger, fuller sound with more depth and detail, plus better dynamics than the 12V standard input voltage. Clearly there is a lot more that can be squeezed out of this DAC.
Steve
I tried this after reading your post - I'd read something about this a while ago and just never got around to trying it - and found exactly the same last night as you have described.
Chris
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Cressy Snr
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#6
I'm pleased that someone else has heard the same improvements I didThe Stratmangler wrote:[
Steve
I tried this after reading your post - I'd read something about this a while ago and just never got around to trying it - and found exactly the same last night as you have described.
Chris
A pair of Super Regulator power supplies with 5V output for the SB and 14V for the DAC built into one box would be quite an interesting project to try out.
Steve