My (very) mini review of the Singxer SU-1 DDC

[rafa]

I realize that. But that's better SQ effect for now. If I found better idea to separate ground I will do it.

[rafa]

Disconnect power supply, get the meter and check voltage on power supply. 

Are you sure you connect VR correctly? Caps polarised correctly? Shortcuts?

[rafa]

 

I removed standard VR and added LDVO to Crystek.

And the conclusion is, that nothing get close to SQ improvements as Neutrino did for 44kHz/dsd (22MHz).

 

Before the changes hires, so 48/96/192 sounded better than 44kHz in many aspects. Mostly from sound stage perspective.

Currently with Neutrino 44 get incredible boosted. 3D dimensional. Vocals more natural. But amazing is, it sounds better than hires.

Interesting is DSD didn't get kicked so much. It sound bit better in timing and precision manner but nothing spectacular.

 

Also interesting is the difference between 22 powered by new clock and 24 standard clock get bigger after xmos power upgrade.

New power for 24 crystek didn't improve much.

I am definitely going to replace 24 Crystek with Neutrino some time soon.

 

Last thing will be 24.000Mhz for xmos. How important for SQ is this one.. Is it wort spend even more money?

[rafa]

21 minutes ago, Energy said:

 And why is your LT3045 soldered to the 24.576 if you are using the Neutrino on the 22.579?

 

I don't understand why you asking about this?

[rafa]

Neutrino 22M has own power.

LT3045 is for Crystek 24M - will be replaced with second Neutrino anyway.

 

I am experimenting with SQ changes so some parts are just for test.

For example coupling cap you asked, make sound smother as just LT3045 make a sound to sharp for my taste.

 

Inductor is removed to cut the power off the USB.

 

The other two regulators., yes. Small steps in time. Another way I won't be able to tell which part makes what SQ change.

[rafa]

7 hours ago, Energy said:

I found all the voltage regulator upgrades to offer similar sound benefits. It's hard to distinguish which one was subtly more since I did all of them at the same time. It's intriguing that you say the clock upgrade was what improved the sound quality the most since I am still waiting on the NDK NZ2520's to arrive so that has made me a little more excited. 

Cutting off the USB power was also significant improvement here.

 

I've never used NDK clocks anywhere so I can't say how good are they. Hopefully will give you what you expecting.

Will be great if you replace 24.000 separate then other two to find out improvements.

[rafa]

21 hours ago, manishex said:

I removed the VR and tested at its recommended min 6.5V input, which gave 3.3V out so it's not broken.

 

Lowering the voltage to 5V gives about 2.7V which makes me think using the NewclassD UWB mk2 isn't ideal. 

I haven't tested it in use, maybe I should get a pulsar/sparkos or just test it? 

Test it. As I've told you before, if music flow just use it.

[rafa]

Of course it is possible. But not directly to main pcb.

 

You need to redesign power supply and feed it with your 12V from outside.

[rafa]

You were very lucky here!  

[rafa]

Better to use solder wick like this

[rafa]

On 27.02.2018 at 3:20 PM, Energy said:

I will have my XMOS's 24.000 replaced with a Crystek CCHD-575 soon. Photos will be posted as soon as I finish. I'm not too sure if this will offer much improvement but it would be quite nice to match the input oscillator with the output oscillator within my UltraRendu (also CCHD-575).

Any news on this?

 

My upgrades also delayed

[rafa]

18 hours ago, Energy said:

@rafa Solder wick aren't good so I stopped using them a long time ago.

Solder wick works very well but needs some trick. Use some soldiering paste in same time and you will be surprised how good it is

[rafa]

I'll tell you why. Because this thread is about D to D converter 

 

Check out other threads focussed on LKS 003/4, OPPO Sonica, GUSTARD X20/20Pro you will find more about DAC's 

[rafa]

20 hours ago, tgb said:

Hi

Thanks to Rafa & RickyV for testing the Neutrino2 clock. It seems a nice improvement.

I've got some question regarding this clock : 

- NewClassD recommends to power it with a LPS 15V. Is it the voltage you use ? Which LPS do you use ?

- The quality of the LPS is key ? or any LPS will do the job ?

- how long does it take to brake in ?

- given the price of the SU-1 & the fact that the Neutrino is 1/2 the SU-1 price, do you consider the improvement with Neutrino2 still "cheap" ? Is Neutrino2 a bargain ? with/without is really like night/day ?

 

- looking at your photo, the installation of the Neutrino2 looks very easy : external power to the clock & clock wire to soldier on the data pin on the PCB instead of a 575 ? Really so simple ?!

 

Thanks for the info

Rgds

- I supply 9V as well. I use modified Teradac linear power supply

- The high quality power supply in my opinion should use VR based on transistors.

- Brake in for my Neutrino took about week of time so ca. 170-200h

- In audio there is never difference night/day. But yes, i think is worth to replace with neutrino. Specially for 44kHz audio files.

 

After you remove crystek clock you also need remove smd caps related to original 575.

[rafa]

vcc power

NewClassD recommend to remove existing coupling caps

[rafa]

The picture was posted by someone else in this thread early. Search from page 45 as I can't remember exactly 

[rafa]

On 27/01/2018 at 1:20 AM, elan120 said:

 

 

 

It was elan120 , There you go

[rafa]

8 hours ago, RickyV said:

 It is NOT these caps!!!!

This is in case of an xo and the 575 is an oscillator!!!!

I do not know why elan120 removed those caps. 

My mistake, of course

 

When Neutrino installed vcc caps doesn't matter as neutrino has own VR

[rafa]

Sorry, I confused you. You don't have to remove any caps in clock area when replace with Neutrino. Just soldier interconnect.

[rafa]

Start listen music, don't compare graphs

[rafa]

11 hours ago, colhd said:

Hi,

 

This is my first post on CA.

 

I have read this thread from the beginning and have seen no mention of this modified SU-1:

 

https://www.magnahifi.com/en/webshop/product/singxer-magnafied-edition-su-1-digital-xmos-usb-audio-bridge-dsd512

 

Magna are based in The Netherlands (I am in the UK).  I wonder if anyone has heard it or has any thoughts on the components used in the modification eg they use a Tentlabs discrete voltage regulator for the clocks and LT3042 for the PSU?  There is an image on the linked page that shows what they change.  When talking with them via email they stated that this was what they considered the best value and specifically said they liked the Elna Silmic II capacitors for digital circuits.

 

Compared to some of the modifications discussed here this is not too expensive and I have no desire to attempt SMD modifications myself (which translates to me having no desire to ruin a perfectly good item with my rudimentary desoldering/soldering skills).

 

It is really hard to say without listening. It may sound nice.

Generally Silmic is nice sounding cap. But nice sounding cap never is the guaranty of success. It depends from implementation.

As said above, it may sound OK. Maybe it is worth to try.

[rafa]

4 hours ago, Energy said:

Thanks @elan120 for supplying me with an adapter board for the Crystek CCHD-575 24.000MHz oscillator.

Also shout outs to Alex for his clock donation and help in furthering the upgrade venture for this here Singxer SU-1.

...

3

The most important question is: what differences in a sound you can hear after 24.000 clock change?

[rafa]

9 minutes ago, Energy said:

 

Improving the transportation of digital data leads to a very strange but addictive audible changes....

2

I like that

[rafa]

I really like the way you said that. I didn't suggest anything different...

 

I like fidelizer as make the sound more clear, transparent. Some say that may sharpen. But personally, I think something wrong with them system that transparency brings troubles. In well balanced system should be only better.

[rafa]

On 5/15/2018 at 2:59 AM, dreamsat said:

 

Happy to see (read) you happy!  

 

SU-1 is great device with even bigger potential...