XS Xclusive: Xtreme Mod in Progress: Auzen X-Meridian Total Recap:

[NapalmV5]

please dont use "my formula" @ any other caps lol


heres the last/clean/permanent recap

all standard black gate caps @ stock value except for the power filtering cap which is 4700uf

it doesnt sound like the black gate NX caps but its 10x+ better than the stock caps

[XS Janus]

Damn good work.
Does it work?

[NapalmV5]

thanks.. does it work?! come on dont make recap again..

sounds good but these standard bg caps just dont produce the richness/darkness sound the NX bg caps do.. but i got no choice but to leave it as is.. its been a pita to recap the xm but worth every cap

[sdkevin]

really nice! I don't have a good skill of soldering so I bought these adaptors from ebay and it works just fine in case someone want to know



Front: OPA637BP
Center/Sub: OPA637BP
Side Sur. : AD797
Back Sur. : AD797

[NapalmV5]

^ nice.. great opamps

goodness, just what are those little round greens things on there? lol

[nfm]

Great stuff man, I got 2x OPA637BP on the way. Currently using OPA2227:



I'm using 10v 1500uF NX, maybe it's a bit of overkill on the 16v 180uF. I also got ghetto EMI shield using anti-static bags, at least it's better than nothing . The Black Gates produce warmer / much more pleasing sound than Panasonic FM, I still have to do burn-in. Do you still have your card? What do think about putting some NX caps around front OPAMP?



Edit: Interesting stuff, The top caps are: 16v 47uF, 16v 47uF, 16v 10uf (current of 8.16v goes through).
bottom caps: 16v 22uF, 16v 10uF (current of 8.16v goes through), 16v 22uF.
The rest 4 caps are constantly charged up to 0.1v and discharged to 0v .

I wonder if replacing stock crystal clock can help, http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...=535-9077-1-ND http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...=300-8568-1-ND http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...=300-2087-1-ND and interesting one http://www.mouser.com/Search/Product...3KINDxBQ%3d%3d .

[NapalmV5]

^nice clean solder great caps + opa2227/2228/2132/2134/627/637 all sound great

no i dont have it anymore though my last cap mod for prelude was 2-3 1000uf 16v fk/470uf 6.3v nx.. that thing was a beast

that 3rd cap there lol add it to the one at 470uf stock.. or at least temporary

you can try any of these cap methods or your own and see which sounds better to you:

X O
- +
O X

or

O X
- +
O X

or

X O
- Z + 'z-cap'
X O

and youll get even more expanded frequency

@ 180uf stock.. on my system i found the 470uf 6.3v nx/470uf 16v to sound better than 1000uf and more but if the 1500uf sounds good to you its all good.. depends on your sound system/cans


LOL @ antistatic bags EMI shield


to recap the front id recap all 8


10uf @ 22uf 6.3v nx
22uf @ 47uf 6.3v nx
47uf @ 47/100/220uf 6.3v nx


crystal clock can also be improved by caps.. the two below the clock i think

you can certainly try different ones.. but those custom ones would probably offer you the most though @ 100-400$ or more

you can end up recapping everything lol worth it though.. sounds nothing like stock

[nfm]

NapalmV5, thanks bro .
I finally got 2x OPA637BP, compared to OPA2227, the BASS is so awesome, mids are better, highs are comparable, OPA2227 is overall much brighter on my setup. But in the end, OPA637 without a doubt is the best thing I listened to so far .



I think single cap is enough for me in place of original 470uF, I don't want to mess with e-cap or z-cap. I have 2x BG FK 100uF 25v on the way, I wonder where I could put these , the 2 caps under the crystal clock as you mentioned seems to be a great spot or I might even parallel 2 FK's in place of original 180uF.

[nfm]

OPAMP DC Decoupling mod for X-Fi Prelude:



Not sure if it's entirely correct. The sound became slightly brighter, not much of a difference, I will have to max out the amp sometime tomorrow to see if there are more changes.

[NapalmV5]

never tried decoupling myself..

i only couple more caps lol

i got a new prelude.. will recap some more this time


btw would you consider a neutron star clock for your prelude ?

http://www.newclassd.com/index.php?page=36

[nfm]

never tried decoupling myself..

i only couple more caps lol

i got a new prelude.. will recap some more this time


btw would you consider a neutron star clock for your prelude ?

http://www.newclassd.com/index.php?page=36

Awesome man! I'm waiting patiently .
I fried 2 of my opa637bp by plugging them upside down...so I'm back to stock opamp in the meantime which isn't that bad at all:


Also my main mos-fet doesn't look good, I will be replacing it If can desolder without ripping the pcb:


Card works fine but I'm not sure it the yellow goo came out of the mos-fet or blown 6.3v panny fm cap.
The coupling mod is worth it . And that clock, man...if you can get a hold of that then you'll make out a monster out of that prelude!

Now, start ripping the teeth off .

[nfm]

Getting rid of the the MOS-FET was a nightmare, I crushed tiny SMD capacitor in the process, so I soldered lowest uF cap I had which happened to be 47uF:



^^ that's one big MOS-FET eh? Basically what I did is upgrade whole power section and DAC with Panasonic FM 120uF 16v & 47uF 25v caps. Card sounds great.

[NapalmV5]

i take it youve replaced to ST L7808 positive regulator.. the L78xx is a better v regulator than what auzen used on the xmeridian/using on the prelude

wow all that because of the upside down opamp.. ouch.. but in the process you made your prelude better lol

now replace the negative s7908d regulator to ST L7908 and youll have an even better prelude

thats the recap i got in mind.. recap the bottom caps since thats where all the voltages pass thru.. nice

good to know the card still sounds great after all its been thru

[nfm]

Thanks for the complements .
MOS-FET was tricky to fit, I wasn't expecting it to be bigger than stock, I couldn't solder the drain gate (backsite) entirely to the PCB so ramsink is necessary . I still wonder the value of C169, probably it's identical to C173. Hehe you have good eyes, I'll think about the ST L7908.

Did you happen to find any clocks for ~$100 or DIY equivalent? . That neutron star is just WOW.

[NapalmV5]

definitely think about the ST L7908.. not because i say it.. i mean your positive has been upgraded by the ST L7808 but your negatives still regulated by the crapy s7908d

the negative is most important be it sound video etc..

the ST L7805CV/L7905CV on my prodigy hifi is just as powerful if not more than the 8 volts regulators on xmeridian/prelude

havent really looked around for clocks.. custom clocks/regulators caps opamps.. man im looking @ 1000-1500$ sound card lol

[Mr.Guvernment]

this is just awsome! i never would of thought of this at all! ever!

question, would changin caps on Sound blaster Audigy make any difference? or since the card is so old wouldn't be worth it?

[vampalan]

Very confused. But looks like fun.

Got a question how do you decide which cap to replace and what capacitance to replace with?

I guess the power cap would be better from more capacitance, the others, what do they do?
They just signal filters or something, or just more supporting caps for power?

How would I go about identifying the power cap? I’ve got a Sound Blaster Live! With the daughter board.

Say I replaced everything with N uf? Would that work?

[Demo]

Im using a plain old multimedia speakers, Altec 621.. should i even bother recapping my X-Fi extreme music?

[vampalan]

Im using a plain old multimedia speakers, Altec 621.. should i even bother recapping my X-Fi extreme music?

Depends if you want the extra sound and power?
It would make a difference if you use headphone.

[NapalmV5]

depends how expandable your speakers are

expand/filter/power just a few of what caps do @ sound

it could and it does make a sound system sound more powerful


vampalan now you confuse me lol N uf ??

[vampalan]

Okay.. one question at a time, how do you decided which power cap to use?
There's the voltage rating and the capacitance.. would it be a good idea to use high voltage rating and capacitance or stick to the same?

[jmilcher]

I would only be worried about some of those leads touching, since the caps are now much higher off the board. I like it, nice job!

[SSJ5]

What tools did you use to do this mod?

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

just a quick question, I have an auzentech forte and what advantages do I get from recapping the power filtering node? seems I could do this without too much difficulty.

[NapalmV5]

this is just awsome! i never would of thought of this at all! ever!

question, would changin caps on Sound blaster Audigy make any difference? or since the card is so old wouldn't be worth it?

Very confused. But looks like fun.

Got a question how do you decide which cap to replace and what capacitance to replace with?

I guess the power cap would be better from more capacitance, the others, what do they do?
They just signal filters or something, or just more supporting caps for power?

How would I go about identifying the power cap? I’ve got a Sound Blaster Live! With the daughter board.

Say I replaced everything with N uf? Would that work?

@ headfi they have a lot of guides/mods for creative sound cards

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/

Okay.. one question at a time, how do you decided which power cap to use?
There's the voltage rating and the capacitance.. would it be a good idea to use high voltage rating and capacitance or stick to the same?

usually the power cap is the bigger cap not always and certainly there can be more than one.. some desings are two power caps.. some three

as for voltage you dont have to recap to the exact voltage rating on the sound card but you have to at least know what voltage goes thru the caps before trying diff voltage caps.. one way to find out is to measure the voltage

as for capacitance.. they all sound diff just as much as diff brand caps do.. theres no set capacitance.. you gotta find the sound to your liking

all this can also be found @ headfi

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/

I would only be worried about some of those leads touching, since the caps are now much higher off the board. I like it, nice job!

thanks

the leads are fine.. none are touching if that would be the case.. well

What tools did you use to do this mod?

just regular tools from radioshack like 25watt iron etc

even 40watt iron works.. whatever one is comfortable with

just a quick question, I have an auzentech forte and what advantages do I get from recapping the power filtering node? seems I could do this without too much difficulty.

ive responded to that in a earlier post.. more power/filtering/changes sound dynamics by expanding/shrinking sound

you gotta try diff capacitances/voltages/brands till you find the ones to your liking

personally the rubycon blackgates are my favs