oll said
Is this affecting MKI only or both MKI and MKII?
Since many MkII’s have been built and delivered we can infer that it’s not affecting them in a material way. Since I have a MkI case I know it isn’t affecting them all, tho I don’t know what the reason might be. Some things that come to mind: I screwed up but most systems have enough slack it doesn’t usually matter, the holes in the footprint of the RCA connector are too loose and some float too far out, there are multiple styles of RCA connectors out there, there are multiple styles of MkI cases out there. The first two of these seem the most likely.
erikm said
I was trying to upload a couple of pictures off the holes being off but the site is so messed up I can't even load a tiny 325kb image?? WTF??
Sorry, didn't realize this it's fixed. Images up to 1.2MB now possible.
Sorry I didn’t get back. My retrofitted pwd mkII t Directstream is now playing. I had some issues with board alignment and grounding problems. Alex is shipping a strap for my grd lead. I will let the unit burn in tonight. This retro fit is not for rookies just take your time and stay calm and cool
Well, I’m certainly glad I’m not an early adopter this time! I’ve got a Mk I chassis too, perhaps this is related to the four different configurations that were used in the Mk I? Recall that when you ordered a Mk II upgrade kit you had to specify which version you had. Not sure if there were differences in the chassis, but there were differences in the jacks on the boards.
jerryd6 said
I just heard back from Mayoura. Someone with a Mk1 chassis was able to install the kit with some minor difficulty.
I don’t know whether some Mk1’s are more problematic than others (guess we’ll find out here), but I decided to risk it and asked her to ship. If it arrives this week I will try to install this weekend and of course let everyone know what happens.
I did the Mk II upgrade from Mk I. There were a number of different configurations of Mk I so you had to order the right one. The problem erikm has encountered seems to be related to Mk I PWDs. Is that correct? I am now having second thoughts about getting one of the first DS upgrade kits that arrive Downunder. I would be seriously pissed off if I could not make it work. In Oz the upgrade kit runs $3.5k. A lot cheaper than $7k for a new one but a waste of money if I had to send it back to the distributor or back to PSA. Dear o dear o dear
Thanks Paul for fixing the limit… So here’s the pictures of the holes. As one can see it’s really close but off just enough so that I couldn’t get the screws in without running the risk of either stripping the threads in the mounting bosses or having to bend the board… neither option being a good idea!
Let me also add that there are IIRC 7 holes on the board face they all must line up… Three of them are used to screw in the Standoffs needed to support the digital board and of course the front side of the board must line up with the back of the chassis so that all the nuts and screws for the Rca’s and XLR’s etc can be attached…
In any event my PWD, can’t call it a DS yet is on it’s way back to PSA, going right to Dave in engineering to get fixed up… I’ve spent all day at this and frankly I’m beat… Time for some meaningless TV and pizza…
Eric I had the same issue. Remove the RCA nuts and screws. Nothing is holding the analog board . Now align your holes for the aluminum post. Use the screws that held the mkII digital board and screw these into the top of the aluminum post. You can use these screws to tighten the aluminum post in place. When you have the three post in replace the nuts back for the rca’s then the screws at the back of the board.
I think you’re missing what my problem was, I couldn’t even get to installing the digital board because I couldn’t get the analog board in because of the misalignment of the holes on the analog board…
I have a very early Mk I that was upgraded to a Mk II. I was able to install the kit with a few issues. My chassis does not have a ground distribution block (I jury rigged a connection and Mayoura is sending a strap–probably the same as gocubs42). My digital board was hard to line-up to fit but eventually it did without bending anything. I did not have a problem with the analog board. The six screws that go into the back by the XLR connectors (same as the old screws) were a very loose fit–one just slid all the way in without being screwed. The instructions (last on page 19) refer to installing two ground screws but my chassis does not have holes there. Is this anything I should be concerned about? Finally, I think this came up at the time of the Mk II upgrade but since the DS is a new beast I’ll raise it again. My chassis does not have any RF shielding. That is, instead of having shiny metal all around the insides and the top, I just have the bare black stuff (same on inside as outside). Is this an issue?
At the end of the day, everything seems to be working, including the Bridge (I streamed using foobar2000). I also tried the USB and that seems fine, as does Toslink. Haven’t tried coax or I2S yet. The sound? To quote Odd (I think), holy sh#t! It’s worth the pain of the upgrade (which wasn’t all that painful really but did take awhile. Since I was missing some screws I tagged the old ones as I went so I knew what went where in case I had to reuse some, which I did. That added time but it was worth it in my case.)
stevem2 said
The instructions (last on page 19) refer to installing two ground screws but my chassis does not have holes there. Is this anything I should be concerned about?
Ideally these would be the most solid grounds to the analog board. I run my box without them all of the time so, no they aren't critical.
stevem2 said
Finally, I think this came up at the time of the Mk II upgrade but since the DS is a new beast I'll raise it again. My chassis does not have any RF shielding. That is, instead of having shiny metal all around the insides and the top, I just have the bare black stuff (same on inside as outside). Is this an issue?
Once again in an ideal world you would have shielding. (Once again I run with the top off all of the time so it's not critical) But the shielding is primarily there to keep the DAC from interfering with anything else in the house (or your system.) If the DS would be a problem your older box would probably have been a problem too.
Same issues with the loose screws spoke with Alex about this. Bridge works but freezes when changing albums. Have to reboot dac can’t access to restart the bridge. Curious where is you volume control compared to the mkII. I need to increase mine. Really sounds great
emailists, I only had time to listen to half a dozen songs via the Bridge but they were from 4 different albums and they all played fine. There were small gaps when switching resolutions (same as before). I used foobar2000 (gapless if songs are same resolution).
Ted, thanks very much. That’s reassuring, although I’m still a bit paranoid that I’m spraying RF noise all over the place.
gocubs 42, I also needed to turn the volume up a bit but not enough to be a problem. I’m using a preamp and the lower output is actually better in my case.
stevem2 said
Ted, thanks very much. That's reassuring, although I'm still a bit paranoid that I'm spraying RF noise all over the place.
Well the box spews out a whole lot less than a cell phone, a wireless phone, Wi-Fi, etc. And probably less than any computer you have. The fastest clock running around on traces is 25MHz, not all that high these days. The fastest edge is quite fast but it's on differential correctly terminated lines so it doesn't radiate that much. In fact when we did RF testing we got to take out some RFI protection caps.
brodricj said
I hope it is sorted before the kits come down under. I have an old mk1 & only use the network card.
I’m in the same boat but I did upgrade from I to II. I only use the Bridge as well. I have a PWT but don’t use it at all these days. It would annoy me no end if I could not make the DS upgrade kit work!
I shot a link to this thread to Mike at Magenta Audio and expressed my concern about the issues erikm was having. I am a natural born worrier & I’m sure my BP has gone thru the roof. Now where are my heart medications?
I seldom had the bridge freeze until the Directstream update. I’m using Jriver MAC and made the changes in jriver for the Directstream. Will try again today. USB/Tolink works great via LMS/Squeezebox and iTunes. This thing sounds amazing
is on it’s way back to PSA, going right to Dave in engineering to get fixed up… I’ve spent all day at this and frankly I’m beat… Time for some meaningless TV and pizza…