RME Converter Mod's?

[soundtrack2life]

Does anyone else mod RME adda converters ie: 96k ADI-DS & ADI-AE or FF800 besides Audio Upgrades? Then again has anyone had or know anyone that had theirs modded. In the end is it actually worth the upgrade? I already have one of each above and would like to go that route in lieu of purchasing 16 channels of converters if it is cost effective to do so. Then again I could just bite the bullet and stick them on ebay and cough up the rest of the dough and go with the Apogee or Aroura 16. Not sure of what to do yet.
Joe

[soundtrack2life]

No one? I guess these converters are that good . . . . or that bad

[AlexLakis]

Never felt the need to mod my ADI-8DS...

Gonna be doing a shootout with the ADI-8DS and a Rosetta 800 soon. I doubt I'll be able to hear much of a difference if any. Then again, my ears suck.

[Jim Williams]

If you want to DIY, I used National LM6172 dual opamps for the 5532/4560 types and installed machine sockets. The coupling caps were changed to Panasonic FM 220 uf 25v and bypassed twith Wima .01 uf 250v MKP-2's. That will help. Try it yourself as the sockets let you play with lot's of dual opamps like the LM4562, AD8599, OPA2134, OPA2604, OP275, LT1358, etc.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[Barish]

Originally Posted by soundtrack2life

Does anyone else mod RME adda converters ie: 96k ADI-DS & ADI-AE or FF800 besides Audio Upgrades? Then again has anyone had or know anyone that had theirs modded. In the end is it actually worth the upgrade? I already have one of each above and would like to go that route in lieu of purchasing 16 channels of converters if it is cost effective to do so.

I don't know why you'd ever wanna do that.

I mean, how high do you want to fly? Why don't you save your money and buy an Apogee or Prism or Lavry or something?

I think this modding idea is just getting crazy. People are forcing the limits of cheapskating into the territories of false economy now.

An upgrade as such on an ADI-8 DS would at least cost you some 5-600 dollars, with labour and everything.

Add that money onto the price of an ADI and you could buy a product of a higher level anyway.


I have an ADI-8 DS and never thought of upgrading it whatsoever (despite the fact that I am an electronics engineer who does upgrades to his own gear when necessary.)


I mean, it's understandable that Jim earns his bread out of this, and spends his spare time on upgrading whatever his eye catches in his studio, just to keep himself fit like a baseball player practicing pitching and all, but in my opinion, what's suggested up there is an absolute waste of time, money and resources.

You'd rather play Peter Gabriel and have a custom converter designed and manufactured for your ear taste.

B.

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by Barish

I don't know why you'd ever wanna do that.

I mean, how high do you want to fly? Why don't you save your money and buy an Apogee or Prism or Lavry or something?

I think this modding idea is just getting crazy. People are forcing the limits of cheapskating into the territories of false economy now.

An upgrade as such on an ADI-8 DS would at least cost you some 5-600 dollars, with labour and everything.

Add that money onto the price of an ADI and you could buy a product of a higher level anyway.


I have an ADI-8 DS and never thought of upgrading it whatsoever (despite the fact that I am an electronics engineer who does upgrades to his own gear when necessary.)


I mean, it's understandable that Jim earns his bread out of this, and spends his spare time on upgrading whatever his eye catches in his studio, just to keep himself fit like a baseball player practicing pitching and all, but in my opinion, what's suggested up there is an absolute waste of time, money and resources.

You'd rather play Peter Gabriel and have a custom converter designed and manufactured for your ear taste.

B.

Come on, whip out that soldering iron and give it a go, it's not that much effort and the results are very cost effective as the chips and sockets will only run around $25 or so. If you don't like it you could always pop in the old opamps, the sockets are great for servicing them as well. If you want user comments, do the search and read them.

One thing is true, you won't know if it's a waste of time unless you try it.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[Barish]

Sure, I'll take your word and give it a go at some point just to try and see how it goes.

Thanks.

B.

[ddageek]

Originally Posted by Barish

I don't know why you'd ever wanna do that.

I mean, how high do you want to fly? Why don't you save your money and buy an Apogee or Prism or Lavry or something?

I think this modding idea is just getting crazy. People are forcing the limits of cheapskating into the territories of false economy now.

An upgrade as such on an ADI-8 DS would at least cost you some 5-600 dollars, with labour and everything.

Add that money onto the price of an ADI and you could buy a product of a higher level anyway.


I have an ADI-8 DS and never thought of upgrading it whatsoever (despite the fact that I am an electronics engineer who does upgrades to his own gear when necessary.)


I mean, it's understandable that Jim earns his bread out of this, and spends his spare time on upgrading whatever his eye catches in his studio, just to keep himself fit like a baseball player practicing pitching and all, but in my opinion, what's suggested up there is an absolute waste of time, money and resources.

You'd rather play Peter Gabriel and have a custom converter designed and manufactured for your ear taste.

B.

How about we reverse this argument and state that the reaso for modding is that the Manufacture went a little cheap and the guys already bouth something thats good but might have been billed as being "Great" and for a small investment can be better and even to some degree tuned to taste?
Almost everything I have heard that Jim has modded has been a ton more transparent and a bargin! (you priced Prism or Lavry lately).
If You have ever worked or consulted one of the LARGESCALE audio manufactures you would know that sonics rank far far behind Profit and Pricepoint!
and a lot of this stuff is billed as good as or the best!

Oh and Jim how much to polish one of these for thse of us with 8 fingers and only 5 of which we can feel in?

[soundtrack2life]

Originally Posted by Barish

I don't know why you'd ever wanna do that.

I mean, how high do you want to fly? Why don't you save your money and buy an Apogee or Prism or Lavry or something?

I think this modding idea is just getting crazy. People are forcing the limits of cheapskating into the territories of false economy now.

B.

FWIW I already own Lavry Blue AD (8 chan) & DA (2 chan) plus the Lavry DA10 feeding my monitors. Currently I have an RME ADI-DS & ADI-DS AE sitting around not being used. I am not expecting the mod to turn the RME's into Lavrys but I would love to see how close it would come. Since I probably wouldn't really get much for them on Ebay. In lieu of buying 8 channels AD/DA of the Lavrys and if the RME mod was a major improvement then to me it would be worth the handful of hundred $. Jim what would you compare them to after the upgrade . . . . . and is it really worth the effort?
Joe

[1monkey1]

i agree with jim williams, these upgrades can make huge differences. i am continually shocked at the 23 cent op amps that make their way into $1000 boxes. if the gear manufacturers (even the 'high end' names) took some of their marketing budget and actually put it into the product they're making, they'd get more sales from word of mouth.

the only exception i've seen so far is mytek. they don't skimp on components, and they don't gouge on their prices. they're unique in my experience. i'm sure there are other gear makers with a conscience, but a lot of these guys should look in the mirror and then at their parts list.

steven walcott
www.engine-studios.com

[MattiMattMatt]

Originally Posted by Barish

I don't know why you'd ever wanna do that.

I mean, how high do you want to fly? Why don't you save your money and buy an Apogee or Prism or Lavry or something?

I agree when it comes to FireFace converters. Now if Jim/Audio Upgrades modded the mic preamps on the FireFace, that'd be another story.

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by 1monkey1

i agree with jim williams, these upgrades can make huge differences. i am continually shocked at the 23 cent op amps that make their way into $1000 boxes. if the gear manufacturers (even the 'high end' names) took some of their marketing budget and actually put it into the product they're making, they'd get more sales from word of mouth.

the only exception i've seen so far is mytek. they don't skimp on components, and they don't gouge on their prices. they're unique in my experience. i'm sure there are other gear makers with a conscience, but a lot of these guys should look in the mirror and then at their parts list.

steven walcott
www.engine-studios.com

There is a reason for that. Michal does listen and relies on the opinions of friends like Andrew Lipinsky for QC. I was glad to help out as well which is one reason you will see premium components in there instead of the more common stuff found in other products.

As to the RME sonics after mods, yes it improves quite a bit. I still would use something else though as the design has some limitations, I prefer my HD24XR with the LT chips as an example.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[Brad McGowan]

Jim,

Since you are familiar with the Mytek products, do you have any advice for fixing the damn fan? I have one of the early 8x192's that has the fan hard mounted to the board. Supposedly Michal has a fix and I've requested the fan upgrade about 5 times now, but I've gotten nowhere. I'm thinking of just DIY'ing it at this point. My gut tells me that having a noisy moving part device on a PCB that is sensitive to jitter is a bad thing. Any thoughts?

thanks,
Brad

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by Brad McGowan

Jim,

Since you are familiar with the Mytek products, do you have any advice for fixing the damn fan? I have one of the early 8x192's that has the fan hard mounted to the board. Supposedly Michal has a fix and I've requested the fan upgrade about 5 times now, but I've gotten nowhere. I'm thinking of just DIY'ing it at this point. My gut tells me that having a noisy moving part device on a PCB that is sensitive to jitter is a bad thing. Any thoughts?

thanks,
Brad

Is it a 80 mm or one of those mini jobs like on 1 ru cases? Those can be found in Allied, Newark catalogs. For 80 mm I use those Silonx fans. The small ones are always noisy as they must spin fast due to the small size.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[Barish]

Try to find a suitable replacement from EBM-Papst Ultra-quiet series. We replaced all the fans in our computer network with some 12dBA SPL ones, 8412 NGL or something, and the noise left us alone since then.

http://www.papst.de/index/sid/305F55...ukte_liste.asp

B.

[Brad McGowan]

Thanks for the tips guys. It's definitely a mini job because the 8x192 is a 1RU piece of equipment. The fan is literally sitting on the PCB next the to power supply. Should I be concerned that a mechanically noisy fan is adding junk to my audio path?

Brad

[Jamzone]

Originally Posted by soundtrack2life

FWIW I already own Lavry Blue AD (8 chan) & DA (2 chan) plus the Lavry DA10 feeding my monitors. Currently I have an RME ADI-DS & ADI-DS AE sitting around not being used. I am not expecting the mod to turn the RME's into Lavrys but I would love to see how close it would come. Since I probably wouldn't really get much for them on Ebay. In lieu of buying 8 channels AD/DA of the Lavrys and if the RME mod was a major improvement then to me it would be worth the handful of hundred $. Jim what would you compare them to after the upgrade . . . . . and is it really worth the effort?
Joe

Would be interested in buying one...



///Jamzone

[Barish]

Originally Posted by Brad McGowan

Should I be concerned that a mechanically noisy fan is adding junk to my audio path?

Brad

Why should you be concerned of things that you don't hear?

If you get into arguments about the things you don't hear but you "subconsciously feel", I'm telling you, there's no end to that mumbo jumbo.

Just replace the fan with a quieter one and move on.

B.

[Karloff70]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

If you want to DIY, I used National LM6172 dual opamps for the 5532/4560 types and installed machine sockets. The coupling caps were changed to Panasonic FM 220 uf 25v and bypassed twith Wima .01 uf 250v MKP-2's. That will help. Try it yourself as the sockets let you play with lot's of dual opamps like the LM4562, AD8599, OPA2134, OPA2604, OP275, LT1358, etc.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

Jim, if you're still watching this thread.....would this work in a fireface 400? How can I tell which ones are the coupling caps? Would all the mentioned chips just work, or would I have to alter anything else in the circuit, I guess the changed coupling caps take care of the opamp compatibility?

Oh, and thanks for your wild throwing about of very useful info!! Not all very knowledgable people 'give out' in that way......