Recommended source for headphone rig?

Thanks Francisco,

since you are looking to improve your source, one thing I neglected to mention, that Han (Cyreg) will endorse, on the modded player, I have checked the input polarity and marked the figure of 8 power connector (having checked the lead for input polarity) to ensure correct input polarity from the mains.  I believe it is trivial for you to reverse your input socket connectors and try this for yourself.

Moreover, since my current project is the DAC I mentioned earlier and it has now around 6 - 700 hrs on it, I am eager to start modding it.

I thought I would first test it against the unmodded player analogue out and also against the modded player digital out.

The Caiman offers two coaxial inputs and I have two identical relatively inexpensive Cambridge Audio digital I/Cs of quite good quality to provide a neutral reference point.

Running the two digital outputs into the DAC allows immediate switching between the two and the Solo allowing switching between the analogue out of the unmodded player and the DAC.

This should allow to hear any effect from the clock upgrade as distinct from the combination of clock and discrete opamps.  No other part of the digital circuitry has been modded.

I am continuing to run the same CD in parallel on repeat and just pickup up the cans now and then for a listen and compare for 15 or 20 minutes at a time to reduce listening burnout which I have experienced in the past when too obsessively listening for differences.  

Difference between the digital out is very subtle and not sure I would pick it blind, but it seems of the character that one would expect from a reduction in "jitter" - an improved clarity and ease, less veiled, more expansive and less harsh.

Changing the digital I/C for a heavy Valab silver job on the modded player merely emphasised this difference, making it somehow larger lusher, richer and more "full" - both of music and of silence and space behind the music.

I have often found with turntable mods that many minor ones seem to have little impact and then suddenly one will make all the others "gel".

I rather think the clock upgrade is in the class of "foundation" tweaks, allowing others to work better.  I may well fit a digital pulse transformer to the digital out now since I have a number of them to spare (had to buy a minimum of 10 when I wanted one for my Monica2)

Two questions are answered from today's session:

Does the clock upgrade make a noticeable difference?

Yes, but very subtle.

Does the Caiman DAC (stock) improve on the analogue out of the stock player?

Yes, definitely, in most of the ways you describe the upgrade to the UL, less congested, huge soundstage - this recording is good for getting a sense of the size of the venue.

Yet to be answered, does the Caiman improve on the modded player eg is stock player plus stock Caiman a better option than modding the player and who turned my Solo into a UL and my K701 into bass monsters.

Most of the conclusions above arrived at by simply noticing which I was spending the most time listening to and getting lost in the music then trying to discern the reason for that.

I spent much too long last night listening to my modded player and marvelling at why I have never heard it sound like that before.

Still not sure on that.

Edited by tg - 19 Jun 2010 at 8:54am

Time to round off this saga in case anybody has been following:  

Firstly, another 200 hrs of playtime has continued to improve the stock player, it has also brought the LC1 to the stage where, in this combination, with these headphones, I could live with them.

I have seen someone else comment that a CD94 improved considerably after 14 days of continuous "on time".
It has also been noted with other equipment, phono stages and headphone amps (SS) that many will not sound at their peak until powered on for some considerable time, even when thoroughly "burned in", not only by myself but a number of different people at different times have made similar observations.
All of which will make me rather cautious of the validity of "one day shootouts" of a number of similar items of equipment - it would seem probable that many of the items being compared may well not be giving of their best.
Such results, should, IMO, be considered indicative rather than conclusive.

Final conclusion from this lengthy comparison being that the upgraded clock and opamps have given improved resolution of micro detail and microdynamics, giving the effect of a "weightier" presentation and allowing a greater ability to hear "into" the mix.
They also seem to give a slightly less romantic and more matter of fact rendition (perhaps one might call this "neutral") while at the same time having a seeming greater ability to convey the emotion.

A couple of inexpensive tweaks that seemed to improve clarity and definition for both players, were placing foculpods (set of 4 can be bought for as little as GBP 12.50) under the player and some weight on top.
Isolating the Solo by sitting it on about 1cm of folded bubble wrap and placing some weight (an old hard drive of about 500 gm weight) on top.
The effects were subtle but I felt them an improvement, will not cost much to try.


Edited by tg - 07 Jul 2010 at 3:51am

thanx for that write up!