brenden Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 (edited) The tda1541a players still have more potential than most recognize. My modified Marantz cd94 mk2 now stands up there with the very best in my humble opinion . Its taken years and lots of work . It is non over sampled ,reclocked with the best gold leaded Elnas, Copper foil caps in the digital and audio sections . Duelund vsf on the outputs copper foil decoupling caps on the tda1541a dacs .all 28 of them . Best thing is, with the lid on you wouldnt know . Its just classic Marantz 94 . Edited December 18, 2017 by brenden 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 18, 2017 Author Share Posted December 18, 2017 This is the non over sampling mod with 99.999 pure annealed silver wire in teflon tube .. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve M Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Hi Brendan, Nice mod-project and agree the CD94 with TDA1541 dac chip and CDM1 pro transport sled mechanism has a lot of potential. Never quite liked it ‘as is' though, I once owned CD94+DAC94, the combo was over engineered and had a bland (undynamic) sound. With mods can take off. I still have in the armoury and use a Zen-clocked, Duelundnized, battery powered CD94 transport into a TDA1541 Killerdac ...amazing humanistic sound as opposed to a mechanical digital result. Cheers, Steve. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 18, 2017 Author Share Posted December 18, 2017 Hi Steve M My clock has had a lot of work too , but have already put my order in for a new updated zen clock . You may have already seen the comparison of this machine to the killer dac . I think I was lucky i got it back . The tda1541a chip is awesome . The cdm1 is awesome . Some of the caps were good but some were not . I really targetted the weakest links and spent a lot of time to find the best parts possible . I just sold my Marantz CD12 . ? It was a really tough decision for me . It sounded awesome , but the mk2 still won . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 19, 2017 Author Share Posted December 19, 2017 I never really understood the CD94 / CDA94 combo . The dac was almost identical to what was in the integrated unit . Then you had to connect a digital cable seemed a bit pointless . In any case most who listened to them never felt it was an upgrade with the dac . I could turn a 94 mk1 into a world class machine with the right treatment and the extra room would allow for some nice power supply improvements . The mk 2 is real tight inside as you can see from the photos . The green caps around the dac are made of copper foil and polyphenylene sulphide dielectric which is close to the quality of polypropylene but much thinner allowing for a much more compact cap .Normally a foil cap would never fit here . What you dont see underneath this board is more caps bypassing the copper foils . This was the real turning point that made this player go from excellence to greatness . The bypass caps i used are 1500v .01 auricaps . They are very large but simply the best bypass caps i have used. Never had a bad result and i have used hundreds . They are so sweet and resolving but so neutral you can use as many as you like and the sound never gets unbalanced. . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgehifi Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 (edited) On 19/12/2017 at 9:01 PM, brenden said: I never really understood the CD94 / CDA94 combo . The dac was almost identical to what was in the integrated unit . Then you had to connect a digital cable seemed a bit pointless . In any case most who listened to them never felt it was an upgrade with the dac . One big difference when comparing separate dac/trans to a one box cdp. The clock/s. In separates you have a clock in the dac and a clock in the transport, they are not sync'd together, in a one box cdp you have one clock for both dac and transport so these are sync'd together. Ten Labs use to made a an expensive $800 board kit that sync'd both separates together, but you needed to do some heavy surgery, and then have a second connection link for the transport to then run off the dacs clock. Cheers George Edited December 21, 2017 by georgehifi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Triode Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 On 12/19/2017 at 9:01 PM, brenden said: I never really understood the CD94 / CDA94 combo . The dac was almost identical to what was in the integrated unit . Then you had to connect a digital cable seemed a bit pointless . In any case most who listened to them never felt it was an upgrade with the dac . I could turn a 94 mk1 into a world class machine with the right treatment and the extra room would allow for some nice power supply improvements . The mk 2 is real tight inside as you can see from the photos . The green caps around the dac are made of copper foil and polyphenylene sulphide dielectric which is close to the quality of polypropylene but much thinner allowing for a much more compact cap .Normally a foil cap would never fit here . What you dont see underneath this board is more caps bypassing the copper foils . This was the real turning point that made this player go from excellence to greatness . The bypass caps i used are 1500v .01 auricaps . They are very large but simply the best bypass caps i have used. Never had a bad result and i have used hundreds . They are so sweet and resolving but so neutral you can use as many as you like and the sound never gets unbalanced. . The CD94 has one DAC chip while the CDA94 has two. The CD94II was the one with two DAC chips. So there was an improvement if you had the CD94/CDA94 combo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Full Range Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 Sometime in the past I owned a CD94 MK II and regretfully sold it to an SNA member Lucky for me I still own the Philips version of the CD94 - that would be a CD960 So I will be interested in this thread to a future upgrade Any instructional links or components of tried and tested upgrades would be appreciated ?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 The CDA94 dac only had one chip just like the mk1 . The ones with two tda1541 chips in dual differential were the CD94mk2 , the CD95 ,CD99, CD7 . Sir triode you may be thinking of the rare Marantz Project d1 dac . It has 2 chips in dual differential . 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 Full range , i can help you with most aspects including some parts supply and time saving tips . Just pm when needed. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 5 hours ago, Full Range said: Any instructional links or components of tried and tested upgrades would be appreciated ?? There is a more detailed discussion about this particular player on the Killer Dac site under other dacs . But when time permits i would like to add more here too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McP Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 TDA1541 DAC mods see under Marantz http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/CD_ALPHABETICAL.html eg http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/REFERENCES/MARANTZ_CD50/CD50_marantz.html http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/REFERENCES/Marantz CD94/Marantz CD-94 MK2.html Philips DAC 960 http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/REFERENCES/Philips DAC-960/Philips%20DAC-960%20CD%20DAC%20with%20TDA1541A%20DAC.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob181 Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 (edited) Here's the link Brenden is talking about... Better mods here than on the Lampi site... Alas...more expensive parts list as well.... http://killerdac.com/index.php?topic=3640.0 Edited December 21, 2017 by Rob181 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Full Range Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 Thank you all for the links I have read some of them in the past However I would like to participate in the process and post a link of a product/s that on the surface has great merits comments welcome http://www.net-audio.co.uk/tda1541nos.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 Full range . I considered that product a few years ago . It is a nice easy and neat option for those that want an elegant solution for non oversampling . I am sure it would be a decent upgrade ,and much easier for a novice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob181 Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 5 minutes ago, brenden said: I am sure it would be a decent upgrade ,and much easier for a novice. With the exception of one major caveat...as per their web site.... Please note:- When the NET Audio NOS board is fitted to a player the digital output for an external DAC is disabled. This would be a deal breaker for me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 I guess you could just plug the filter back in if you want to use a dac . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob181 Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 4 minutes ago, brenden said: I guess you could just plug the filter back in if you want to use a dac . My guess is there aren't that many... Who leave the top off...run a clock off a car battery... Swap boards around in a 30 year old CD player types... Around here...let's see shall we.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 (edited) Yeah , when i began this project i decided it had to be a fully boxed , one box player indistinguishable from a stock player . The only thing that gives it away so far is the Duelund vsf output capacitors boxed in underneath , but you cant see that anyway unless you upend the player. I may hook up a servo to correct the op amp offset as per Zens suggestion and that would fix that . I dont run a battery to my clock any more but chose to use a very ultra filtered quiet power supply .Its got around 9000uf of Elna audio caps just on the clock . The Valab clock has its own nice regulated supply . Edited December 21, 2017 by brenden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 (edited) Here is the stock Valab clock . Nice regulated power supply ,excellent strong board . The only thing holding this back is the caps . First the little blue philips ones are a bit noisy and grainy . Ok for mid fi but not for this . I could have used oscon SG of which i have a stock but went with the Elna silmic 2 super gold . Cheaper good alternatives would be the silmic 2 standard caps or the oscon standard . The small yellow ceramic (a bit hard to see) has to be replaced .they are horrible . Its only 100pf but adds hash . Every ceramic i swap for a great foil cap has reduced hash . I replaced it with a copper foil polystyrene . I was lucky enough to get a decent stock in small sizes. If you want inky black backgrounds these are all important . The two larger caps i used silmic 2 , 1000uf . and off board is a 6800uf Elna in parallel with these . I replaced the brown 0.1 uf mylar bypass caps with .01 copper foil pps Panasonic . I now replace any 0 .1 bypass caps with a 0.01 cap because it is more natural . 0.1 tips up the subjective frequency response and sounds too bright . Mylar caps seem to blur the sound .not what we need around the sensitive clock . Any information lost here cant be regained. A cheaper alternative would be a polypropylene wima or Ero . Not as good but reasonable for the cost . My favourite bypass caps are the 1500v auriicaps but they arent cheap now . Underneath I placed some .01 film caps much closer to the active devices to ensure no noise gets through and to ensure the devices had access to as fast current as possible . It might be over kill but results speak for themselves . Oh ,and nearly forgot the Jupiter copper foils i used as bypasses . These are beautiful caps for signal and bypass but too many may cause a little roll off in the high end . They may not work everywhere . I did try a few around the dac but replaced them with auricaps for a better result . Edited December 21, 2017 by brenden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob181 Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 @LHC... @Eggcup The Daft... Based on your E101 principles... Has Brenden wasted shirtloads of money... On a 30 year old CD player with all these mods... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHC Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 25 minutes ago, Rob181 said: @LHC... @Eggcup The Daft... Based on your E101 principles... Has Brenden wasted shirtloads of money... On a 30 year old CD player with all these mods... Sorry. You have a case of mistaken identity. I was told by electrical expert that I don't know anything about complex E101. (using lots of emojis here). I was also schooled by another expert that the CD is a solved problem; and that the differences between R-2R and delta-sigma architectures are below human audibility limits. So if you are seeking the official line to toe, perhaps it is 'yeah, he could have invested his money elsewhere, like speakers'. But that is not my personal opinion. I do marvel at people like the OP who invests their time, skills and money to a project obviously driven from the heart. Such dedication could only mean that they are continually being rewarded from their effort, and are driven along by encouraging progresses in their pursue. Well done I say. Now I look at my own virgin (unmod) cd63 at home, and chastise myself for being such a failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Eggcup The Daft Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 12 hours ago, Rob181 said: @LHC... @Eggcup The Daft... Based on your E101 principles... Has Brenden wasted shirtloads of money... On a 30 year old CD player with all these mods... I'm not "an E101" type. I am on the objectivist side - that is a different matter. I presume you want us to come and lay into someone's project, on their post describing it? That doesn't feel right in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob181 Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 1 minute ago, Eggcup The Daft said: I presume you want us to come and lay into someone's project, Not at all... It was a genuine question as there have not been "before & "after" tests completed - other than listening... Parts have been tried & sometimes replaced with others when the sound was not where it should have been... How does it measure - who knows How does it sound - sensational (from those whose ears I trust)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenden Posted December 23, 2017 Author Share Posted December 23, 2017 (edited) Here is a photo showing the Dem capacitor . The small black cap next to the tda1541a This is a small 680 pf cap in this case . I replaced the cheap cap with a copper foil polystyrene . This is much better quality and from memory improved the noise floor and detail . I could also try a copper foil pps , but the polystyrene worked nicely . You can also change the value.Some cd manufacturers used a 470pf here but i havent fiddled too much except to replace an inferior part with a top notch part . This is a nice simple and cheap upgrade without changing the circuit in any way . A cheap alternative would be a fkp polypropylene film and foil pulse type from wima or similar a good quality polystyrene . Edited December 23, 2017 by brenden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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