Cheap to Audiophile with Simple Hacks

petertrog writes "The IEEE has a story showing how you can turn a cheap DVD player into something that sounds a whole lot more exotic. All you need is a small budget, a soldering iron and a desire to void your warranty."

Comments

Let's see some scope output....

[ivan256]

I'd like to see him put this stuff on the scope before and after each of these changes. That way we could get an idea of what he means by a 'dramatic improvement'. I can see the op-amp changes and the power supply upgrades helping a lot... However I have a hard time believing that he would be able to demonstrate a difference in the analog output with some reference tones by, say, buffering the crystal from vibration on a standard scope. I'm sceptical he can hear the jitter too. Even cheap clocks these days are pretty damned good once everything warms up.

5.1 cheapo

[Solder Fumes]

I grabbed one of those $35 "5.1 surround sound" speaker systems from Wal-Mart. They only accept a stereo input, and just kind of mix in the surrounds, center, and sub. So I popped it open and ran the numbers on the chips inside, locating the 6-channel volume control IC. I discovered that if I ran an audio signal directly to the inputs on the chip, it bypassed the stereo upmix. A few wires and drilled holes later, I had actual surround sound for my computer. Not gonna say it's the greatest sounding setup ever, but it was cheap.

Finally...

[Transcendent]

...now I know the purpose of my EE degree.

It seems simple enough. Basically you're replacing components with ones that are better with no major rewiring of the circuitry. Diodes with faster switching times, add noise reducing capacitors, gold terminals instead of nickel or tin, replace the op-amps to get better slew rates and less distortion... etc. All this is pretty much what the more expensive models would have done anyway.

This is a good general reference for those who aren't afraid of electronics. But, I strongly warn against it for anyone who really doesn't know what they're doing (especially the ones who can't solder). These components are simple enough, and swapping identical devices shouldn't be too hard, but going from schematic to PCB is very challenging if you're not used to it.

On a side note... Favorite quote: "Plug it in and turn it on. No sparks or smoke? Terrific!"

It's 90% crap

[djpenguin808]

Well, as a trained audio engineer, I have to say this article is interesting, but mostly garbage.

Screwing around with the power supply is just stupid, a decent Tripp-lite conditioner or a UPS would handle line noise much better, simpler, and more safely..

Replacing the op-amps with better ones is probably the best tip in the whole article, and the only thing that is likely to have a serious impact on the sound. Replacing caps and other components in the signal path will have some effect.

The jacks have to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

All this 'gold-plated, super oxy-free' stuff is pure hokum. Sure, the cables might conceivably make a difference when you're using an Apogee converter to run audio from your RME Hammerfall through your $50K amp to your $250K mastering monitors.

But on a consumer-level system with unbalanced jacks? Please.

Unbalanced cable can only be run for 3 feet without serious risk of RFI and EMI corrupting the signal. You can run balanced cable 1000 feet before you face similar risks.

Pro recording and audio environments use almost entirely balnced gear, because it provides the signal quality necessary for major recording projects. For cable, it's plain old Mogami or Belkin. We break out the fancy-looking gold-braided super cable when we get a cranky performer who insists that our gear is simply not capturing his muse, because he always delivers perfect performances. Slap those into the mic chain, and watch them listen to the playbacks, nod knowingly, and say "Yeah...it sounds right now"

Nothing has acutally changed, but it sure makes some people feel better, and the same thing is at work in the audiophile arena.

Sure, different compositions of metals have different abilities to conduct signal, but once you get to a certain level of qaulity (which all basic cables meet), it doesn't matter too much.