There’s the tautological response - since power cords make a difference, power supplies will as well. I already mentioned some ways to improve the supply that’s there. Yes, a competent engineer could probably splice in better supplies more easily than he could design other more intrusive mods.
Everything can make a difference but whether you get more bang for the buck working on the inside of a component compared to working elsewhere in your system is quite system dependent. “Simpler” things like room treatment, dressing of cables, speaker positioning, etc. may make more of a difference (or not.)
The last paragraph makes sense. For most of the folks room treatment and speakers setup would yield more than a transformers swap or change mk1 for mk2.
The truth is, Ted didn’t design the power supply. He doesn’t know a thing about this power supply (in our conversations I’ve told him more than he knew). It was designed for PerfectWave DAC and Transport. It’s very simple and noisy (the power part not the digital traces part) and digital mixed with analog which wasn’t an issue in PerfectWave DACs because they have a separate power supply for analog board. That’s the biggest problem of the DirectStream DAC.
When you install better transformers you hear the DAC better, but you hear the power supply better, too. You will hear the noise better. It’s the same as if you swap cheap interconnects and speaker cables in a cheap system for Audience frontRow cables. You will hear the weakest link in the system. Transformers are not the weakest link in DirectStream DACs.
same here. I will say I did NOT do the R6 and VCOM mods on MK1 when I did the Edcoor. I liked what I heard. But when I did the Lundahl ouch, harsh and shrilly. I added the R6 and VCOM and better, but honesty I liked the Edcors better.
APS alone was a bigger jump than all of them in my system. Love them.
Seems like an arrogant perspective, IMO…but you are certainly entitled to your opinion (Obviously).
FWIW, others have also reported that the secondary power supply was the “least” impactful compared to the other mods offered by Mr. Richards, in their experience with their DACs.
Separation of the power supplies makes a difference even with APS. But mods of the stock power supply - this is huge! A must to justify the money spent on APS transformers. Otherwise, I liked Edcor 4400 back in a day before I decided to commit to all feasible uncompromising mods.
Most of these “reporters” used either cheap power supplies or good power supplies but through JKRichards power board or very long runs, which make any power supply sound worse. Thus they didn’t hear much of a difference.
Ah thats new to me. I knew of the PS mod on the MKI but not the MKII. Same question as above, what are the PS modes for MKII? Did I miss something here?
And yes I have done the VCOM, just going off what the designer of the APS suggested.
My major is “Manufacturing and Design of radio electronic equipment”. Magister degree in “Technical means of information protection” (studied EMI/RF and protecion from it).
20 years in this hobby. Upgraded several DACs, streamers, CD transports, speakers, and amplifiers. DirectStream is my biggest project so far.
I’m not claiming I’m an expert in general, I’m not even close to Turbotk or TedSmith. But I consider myself an expert about DirectStream DAC, in particular, in the capacity of what I tried myself. I’ve read and digested the whole original thread “Modding DirectStream DAC mkI” thread, and implemented a lot of ideas that others shared there. I have always tried to avoid flood, and spoken only for what I know from my experience.
I didn’t want to impress anyone. I’m trying to contribute to community. I’m just sharing my experience. I just don’t like messages like “he/she said smth.” What you really hear and accomplished matters.
And I know I can sound arrogantly at times, but it’s only because English is not my native language. Sorry.
The order of the letters is V, O, C, M. Best written Vocm, as the letters after V are subscripts. The term denotes Voltage, output common-mode. References: https://www.ti.com/lit/an/sloa054e/sloa054e.pdf
I just want to clarify. Becase JKRICHARDS got offended.
I think APS transformers are very good. It’s probably best available for this DAC. I have them in my DirectStream. Actually, JKRICHARDS installed them for me because these transformers are expensive. I solder/desolder transformers multiple times before, and didn’t want to ruin the traces doing this again with a mechanical solder suction tool I have.
What I meant is that the better transformers you are using, the more you will hear. You will hear more good things but more bad things, too. It’s like when you’re using magnifying glass to see more details.
Therefore, high-quality transformers oblige you to go to the end, eliminate noise, and clean and polish the sound until only the details of the music remain visible through your magnifying glass.
As I said, before I committed to the ultimate upgrade I have now, I found a good balance with Edcore and additional power supply. Edcore magnifying glass was weaker, thus more forgiving for other imperfections.
The stock power supply is not good enough for APS transformers. If you have them installed, don’t stop, go, and improve power. You will be highly rewarded! With Edcors or Lundahls you will be rewarded, too.
Anton, since I don’t think anyone as yet has offered specific modification recommendations for the MkII, beyond the APS transformers, I wonder if you’d be interested in taking on an investigation for the MkII?
