Have many people settled with the primary Directstream dac mods being the Edcor XS4400 transformers and the Jkrichards power supply board with outboard power supply? I have settled with these mods as they sound good and I could not afford to do the more recent mods for a variety of reasons. Just the same my dac as is sounds very nice.
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Same here. I have no electronic fab experience or skills so having the mods done by someone else is the only way for me. I still don’t have the last DAC with the Lindahl (sp?) xformers and JR power board in the system yet. Maybe next month.
I settled with just the Edcor transformers.
I settled?
Edcors still burning in,
But Hey…
Boy Howdy Lordy Mamma, what an improvement over the stock Dac.
There is a specific reason these transformers are in the DS MkII.
Ted chose 'em…they are that good.
Have JK Richards external PSU board swapped out for my Bridge Ii as well,
With a Farad 3 (all mods), so firing as strong as I can without going surface mount sodder…Vcom n stuff.
All about the mueic,
You get to a point where you can forget about the electronics and just enjoy the music.
My Dac’s more than hit that point.
And THEN some.
If Audiophilia Nervosa should ever kick in,
I’ll save up and buy a MK II.
Loved the ride over last 5 years or so with free Firmware updates, will miss that.
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I also “settled” with the Edcors and Jkrichards power supply board (with HDPlex 300 power supply). Sounds great to me. This unit will be going into my second system when the Mk II is released, where it will be a substantial improvement over my PSA Nuwave DSD.
I was settled but then jumped to the kit and use the LPS adapter as well. Still have not put them in as my friend who does it needs to schedule time for help.
It will be interesting to see how MK2 compared to a heavily Mod DS. I wonder if there will be a significant improvement.
I withheld all the mod temptation because mine is only two-year-old and was expecting MK2 to come out last year. So, I am looking forward to hearing huge improvements in my system whenever it comes out.
From what I read I think it will exceed a modified one. Way more FPGA to play with and more modern code and design. Isolated inputs and other things I think will make it a significant jump. But 8k is too steep for me
I am trying to decide whether to us my Lundahl’s just received from JK on the DS or DSII. I have to wait to mod until I have heard my new amps with my Reclocked Iconoclast UPOCC and Duncan ships me back two updated Whispers.
Right now I am waiting to Baseline old school McIntosh monoblocks versus the latest generation.
Once the winner is established on apple to apple basis then I can push forward with tweaks or more gear. I do need to then pull the lids on new MC125KW and see if a 3M AB7050HF cover over the microprocessor in each monoblocks as a power controller is an improvement or decrement. It does have an enable and disable switch. I guess that will be the first check for audible resonance once my good cables are back.
They McIntosh were pretty stealth on exposing they used the trick but is desguised as power controller. The auto off feature is not really needed since I use power triggers.
I did find 200 amps of instantaneous current which is 40 amps more than MC1000.
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You have a lot to do on your plate, but that is tweak heaven for your talent!
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I just received the kit from JK. But based on your last post, I will double-check with PS audio about their willingness to accept modified units for trade-ins.
Same here also. They sound very good to me besides my not being able to afford anything else…
I bought a second DSD with the Edcor transformer mod, some 3M stuff placed strategically inside, the J.K. Richards power board and a Farad Super3. Certainly an improvement and I’ve held steady with it. . . I can’t do further mods myself and I’m enjoying the sound. Still have a stock DSD in my headphone system now and no complaints there.
I am using a Keces P3 for my power supply to the Jkrichards power supply board and I had a pure silver dc cable made custom for between the Keces power supply and Jkrichards board. I also had a Furutech NCF rhodium iec installed on the DSD and I had purple SR fuses installed in the Directstream dac and Keces P3 power supply. I am pleased with the sound and I am not itchy to have the more recent mods done.
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Is it expected that the DS MKII could utilize the Lundahls? Will this require a JK adapter board (or the current DS MKI adapter board)? I hadn’t considered the MKII transition, my Edcor / JK Power equipped is just fantastic… BUT…
@jkrichards posted how to mod the current adapter board with cuts/jumpers for MKII on the DS modding thread after confirmation from Ted.
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I also have the Edcors and Jeff’s outboard. I will wait for the comparison of MKII and modded DSD before making any decision. I don’t think I have anything particularly lacking in the modded DSD but that has never stopped me from upgrading. Actually, I am more inclined to try DACs from other makers than MKii.