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tweaking the Dlink III

I've had the PS Audio Dlink III now for about a year and overall its a nice DAC,solid and detailed. Where it tends to be unsatisfying is separation of instruments in massed orchestra and with particular female vocalists such as the Cranberries, Sherry Crowe, Norah Jones and particular songs their singing becomes more of a shriek than music.... this I know is the DAC's fault because the issue disappears with the Oppo DV-970 analog outputs at the sacrifice of low bass and dynamics but is still there fed in the Dlink III as an A/B test.
Wondering if replacing the power supply caps in the Dlink III (NCD 12000uf 35v) with Mundorf Mlytic AG caps (10000uf 40V)would help this?
http://www.partsconnexion.com/capacitor_ele_mundorf_plugin.html

Anyone else swapped these to good result?
davide256

Showing 2 responses by davide256

davide256's avatar
davide256 OP
402 posts
 
Been there, done that with several digital cables. This issue has been present on all. Also done many audiophile cap upgrades on multiple components with the only fiasco being a first attempt on an Oppo DV-970HD died(second attempt succeeded). The Dlink III power supply caps aren't mini components so swap out and soldering will be easy, may have to use a razor blade after desolder if they used an adhesive ring between cap and board. Note that Cullen mods used to be popular on the Dlink III before they went on to other things... the DAC can be made better.

In general I find that better grade caps reduce irritating sound components and improve the richness of the mid range.

Barring any better candidates than the Mundorfs, I'll pull the trigger and order these Friday, probably be about 2 weeks between order and when I have them installed with some time to assess.
davide256's avatar
davide256 OP
402 posts
 
thanks Tgrisham. thinking about it you are correct, no guarantees this will make the DAC better and I do want to be able to sell this easily in the spring after buying a better DAC. The stuff I have modded has always been equipment I have no intention to part with. So will set this project aside and move onto others.
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