My (very) mini review of the Singxer SU-1 DDC

[elan120]

@jjh1585

 

Glad that I can be a help.

 

It would be great to hear your impressions once you have oscillator VR mod and the oscillator upgrade completed.  I am working on plans to use SOtM clock for USB input 24.000MHz and 22.5792/24.576MHz sampling oscillators.  Hopefully this will be a successful venture and will help gain further improvements.

[Energy]

On 1/24/2018 at 9:58 AM, elan120 said:

@jjh1585

 

Glad that I can be a help.

 

It would be great to hear your impressions once you have oscillator VR mod and the oscillator upgrade completed.  I am working on plans to use SOtM clock for USB input 24.000MHz and 22.5792/24.576MHz sampling oscillators.  Hopefully this will be a successful venture and will help gain further improvements.

 

You should also connect a bypass/decoupling capacitor with low ESR to pin 2 and 4 of your NDK NZ2520SD. The value should be 0.01uF to work as a power filter for the Ground and Power Line so that the noise from the oscillator does not leak into the clock circuit and the power noise from the circuit does no leak into the oscillator. Better isolation is what I'm saying. The leads should be cut as short as possible prior to soldering in order to minimize parasitic inductance from being formed which would equivalate to an increase in impedance for higher frequencies. It is written in the NDK datasheet as well as recommended by Analog Research. No changes are needed for the build out resistors as they are already in place on the SU-1 circuit board.

 

I recommend WIMA FKP2 for better quality since it's film/foil rather than metalized film however I'm sure even the metalized MKP2 should be fine for this purpose.

 

Circuit Design for Crystal Oscillator (and optimizations)

NDK NZ2520SD DataSheet

[pkane2001]

59 minutes ago, Energy said:

 

You should also connect a bypass/decoupling capacitor with low ESR to pin 2 and 4 of your NDK NZ2520SD. The value should be 0.01uF to work as a power filter for the Ground and Power Line so that the noise from the oscillator does not leak into the clock circuit and the power noise from the circuit does no leak into the oscillator. Better isolation is what I'm saying. The leads should be cut as short as possible prior to soldering in order to minimize parasitic inductance from being formed which would equivalate to an increase in impedance for higher frequencies. It is written in the NDK datasheet as well as recommended by Analog Research. No changes are needed for the build out resistors as they are already in place on the SU-1 circuit board.

 

I recommend WIMA FKP2 for better quality since it's film/foil rather than metalized film however I'm sure even the metalized MKP2 should be fine for this purpose.

 

Circuit Design for Crystal Oscillator (and optimizations)

NDK NZ2520SD DataSheet

 

Hi Timothy,

 

How critical is the uF value? I just put a sorted NZ2520SD (22MHz) into my SU-1. I like the change so far, although it was a pain to get it installed without damaging anything else. These things are tiny! 

 

[Energy]

15 minutes ago, pkane2001 said:

 

Hi Timothy,

 

How critical is the uF value? I just put a sorted NZ2520SD (22MHz) into my SU-1. I like the change so far, although it was a pain to get it installed without damaging anything else. These things are tiny! 

 

 

Hopefully you bought a sorted one and not just any as their phase plot is all over the place and so you might even end up getting one that performs worse than the stock CCHD-575.

 

Film capacitors have been used as bypass/decoupling capacitors for a long time now and if one owns op-amps or crystal oscillators, it’s beneficial to connect the voltage and ground together with them. Anywhere values of 0.01uF to 0.1uF should be sufficient. I have a couple if you are interested. I reakon even higher values up to 1uF would even work but that would increase the charge time of the capacitor but probably would be negligible due to their incredibly low ESR and charge time compared to standard electrolytics. I doubt charge time matters in this scenario as it’s only working as a power filter and not as any time interval vital operation.

 

Let me know if you need any. I believe I have some rare WIMA FKP2’s (greens) in a tight tolerance of 1%, not that tolerance  really matters for this purpose of noise filtering though.

 

WIMA FKP2/MKP2’s are 5mm. Cut the leads as short as possible and place it directly over the NDK NZ2520SD’s. Have each lead touch either pin 2 or pin 4. The orientation does not matter as it works like a resistor in a bipolar way. Solder it down to the lead pads or the existing joint of the NDK or carrier board and you’re good. This helps the oscillator to work more independently as it filters out the band noise. Good luck friend. Please be careful.

[pkane2001]

8 minutes ago, Energy said:

 

Hopefully you bought a sorted one and not just any as their phase plot is all over the place and so you might even end up getting one that performs worse than the stock CCHD-575.

 

Film capacitors have been used as bypass/decoupling capacitors for a long time now and if one owns op-amps or crystal oscillators, it’s beneficial to connect the voltage and ground together with them. Anywhere values of 0.01uF to 0.1uF should be sufficient. I have a couple if you are interested. I reakon even higher values up to 1uF would even work but that would increase the charge time of the capacitor but probably would be negligible due to their incredibly low ESR and charge time compared to standard electrolytics. I doubt charge time matters in this scenario as it’s only working as a power filter and not as any time interval vital operation.

 

Let me know if you need any. I believe I have some rare WIMA FKP2’s (greens) in a tight tolerance of 1%, not that tolerance  really matters for this purpose of noise filtering though.

 

WIMA FKP2/MKP2’s are 5mm. Cut the leads as short as possible and place it directly over the NDK NZ2520SD’s. Have each lead touch either pin 2 or pin 4. The orientation does not matter as it works like a resistor in a bipolar way. Solder it down to the lead pads or the existing joint of the NDK or carrier board and you’re good. This helps the oscillator to work more independently as it filters out the band noise. Good luck friend. Please be careful.

 

Oh yeah, absolutely! Sorted, with a phase plot that looks pretty impressive (to me ):
 

 

Made a carrier board out of one of these (cut it to the outer white rectangle):

 

Don't want to put you out, but thank you for the offer! I see that Mouser carries WIMA FKP2s. Should be easy to order a couple to play with.

[Superdad]

4 hours ago, Energy said:

Hopefully you bought a sorted one and not just any as their phase plot is all over the place and so you might even end up getting one that performs worse than the stock CCHD-575.

 

4 hours ago, pkane2001 said:

 

Oh yeah, absolutely! Sorted, with a phase plot that looks pretty impressive (to me ):
 

 

Hi guys:

 

I have mentioned it elsewhere before, but the fact is that the phase-noise plots on Crystek's web site for the CCHD-575 are NOT representative of the actual performance of the production parts.  Current production (the last couple of years) of the 575 are MUCH BETTER!

Their published plots show -100dBc/Hz at 10Hz, but the individual plots we received with 3 samples (of 25.0MHz) in December  2015, had 10Hz points of -108, -110, and -112!  And when we received them I immediately called and got confirmation that these were not specially picked pieces--they were just what came off the line when they mad those custom 25.0MHz samples for us.

 

So why the heck don't they publish plots of what is current production?  I have gone round and round with Luiz (Sales Director at Crystek) about this for over a year.  It is some complicated mix of them being a very conservative company, not wanting to claim something and then have someone find a part falls below that, and also not wanting to show the 575 bettering their big 957 by too much.

 

I will keep trying to get them to publish graphs like the printouts they sent with our samples.  About 7 months ago I mentioned this to Patrick (at A-rt in Texas, who I think most of you guys are getting the sorted NDKs from), and he said he might order some 575s to check this.  I have not followed up with him.

 

So that is all I know.  If I was looking for an available, under $500 clock to upgrade to from the 575s, I'd go for the Pulsar.

 

Ciao,

 

ALEX

 

P.S.  Tim: I can't remember if it was you or Kevin that I sent some 24.0MHz 575s to for replacement of the XMOS clock in the SU-1.  (I know I sent some to Sam @scan80269).  If it was you, did you put it in and did it help?

 

[elan120]

6 hours ago, Energy said:

 

You should also connect a bypass/decoupling capacitor with low ESR to pin 2 and 4 of your NDK NZ2520SD. The value should be 0.01uF to work as a power filter for the Ground and Power Line so that the noise from the oscillator does not leak into the clock circuit and the power noise from the circuit does no leak into the oscillator. Better isolation is what I'm saying. The leads should be cut as short as possible prior to soldering in order to minimize parasitic inductance from being formed which would equivalate to an increase in impedance for higher frequencies. It is written in the NDK datasheet as well as recommended by Analog Research. No changes are needed for the build out resistors as they are already in place on the SU-1 circuit board.

 

I recommend WIMA FKP2 for better quality since it's film/foil rather than metalized film however I'm sure even the metalized MKP2 should be fine for this purpose.

 

Circuit Design for Crystal Oscillator (and optimizations)

NDK NZ2520SD DataSheet

@Energy,

 

I also agree having the by-pass capacitor is a must, but I a bit not sure the reason why you want to add another by-pass capacitor to the existing by-pass capacitors.  Is it because you find them not quite up to task or WIMA FKP2 will yield better result?

 

I didn't do anything more than replacing both Crystek oscillators with NDK NZ2520SD thinking the stock by-pass capacitors used for both Crystek CCHD-575 oscillators should be good enough, but if you think WIMA will work even better, I will get some and give them a try.

 

Below is a picture I outlined the stock by-pass capacitors for your reference.

[pkane2001]

6 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

 

Hi guys:

 

I have mentioned it elsewhere before, but the fact is that the phase-noise plots on Crystek's web site for the CCHD-575 are NOT representative of the actual performance of the production parts.  Current production (the last couple of years) of the 575 are MUCH BETTER!

Their published plots show -100dBc/Hz at 10Hz, but the individual plots we received with 3 samples (of 25.0MHz) in December  2015, had 10Hz points of -108, -110, and -112!  And when we received them I immediately called and got confirmation that these were not specially picked pieces--they were just what came off the line when they mad those custom 25.0MHz samples for us.

 

So why the heck don't they publish plots of what is current production?  I have gone round and round with Luiz (Sales Director at Crystek) about this for over a year.  It is some complicated mix of them being a very conservative company, not wanting to claim something and then have someone find a part falls below that, and also not wanting to show the 575 bettering their big 957 by too much.

 

I will keep trying to get them to publish graphs like the printouts they sent with our samples.  About 7 months ago I mentioned this to Patrick (at A-rt in Texas, who I think most of you guys are getting the sorted NDKs from), and he said he might order some 575s to check this.  I have not followed up with him.

 

So that is all I know.  If I was looking for an available, under $500 clock to upgrade to from the 575s, I'd go for the Pulsar.

 

Ciao,

 

ALEX

 

P.S.  Tim: I can't remember if it was you or Kevin that I sent some 24.0MHz 575s to for replacement of the XMOS clock in the SU-1.  (I know I sent some to Sam @scan80269).  If it was you, did you put it in and did it help?

 

 

I'm sure that's true, Alex. What I like is having the phase plot for my specific crystal (I hope it's accurate!) but that gives me some level of confidence that it's about as good as I can get, as least ATM. And considering it's showing -112dB at 10Hz, I'm happy, the sound is awesome, and I avoided destroying my SU-1 in the process! 

 

 

[Superdad]

7 minutes ago, pkane2001 said:

What I like is having the phase plot for my specific crystal (I hope it's accurate!) but that gives me some level of confidence that it's about as good as I can get, as least ATM. And considering it's showing -112dB at 10Hz, I'm happy, the sound is awesome, and I avoided destroying my SU-1 in the process! 

 

No doubt, that's great!  I totally get it.  And -112dBc at 10Hz is terrific no matter what.  You have to pay a LOT more to do better.

 

I was just pointing out that the 575 is to begin with better than it gets credit for.  I wish Crystek would change their stance on publishing more representative plots.  I simply don't get their reluctance to do so. 

[jjh1585]

@elan120

 

I received the Pulsar clocks. They are larger than the 575's.

 

What do you think would be the best way to mount them?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[elan120]

3 hours ago, jjh1585 said:

@elan120

 

I received the Pulsar clocks. They are larger than the 575's.

 

What do you think would be the best way to mount them?

 

Thanks.

 

 

@jjh1585,

 

When I was first looking at them last year, I was a bit concerned about the physical size being so much larger than the existing Crystek CCHD-575's, but thought if I was to use them, I will likely use a carrier board to solder the DIL14 socket came with the Pulsar oscillators to the carrier board, then solder the carrier board to the existing soldering pads after removing the Crystek oscillator.  The height of the carrier board will need to be raised about 2mm to clear the components carrier board+Pulsar oscillator board will covered up.  This method will keep the shortest signal path between Pulsar oscillator and the main board, yet having enough mechanical strength to support the Pulsar oscillator.

 

Other method will have longer path by mounting the Pulsar oscillator on the side and solder wires to the existing soldering pads.

 

I drew a draft carrier board (below) as a visual reference of the carrier board idea.  This is a 17mmx10mm size board, with 4 small holes 15.24mmx7.62mm apart that will be used to solder the DIL14 socket, the other 4 holes will be used to solder either a via or wire to the board, and then solder the carrier board to the existing soldering pads that are the 4 square blocks in the center.  The 4 PCB traces will be 7mmx2.2mm, and a 12mmx5.6mm hole in the center is used to solder the carrier board to the 4 soldering pads.  Once the carrier board is soldered to the main board.

 

 

[jjh1585]

@elan120

 

I like your carrier board. It could make many possibilities for clock upgrades in various devices.

 

Is the a company that would make some?

 

Thanks.

[elan120]

39 minutes ago, jjh1585 said:

@elan120

 

I like your carrier board. It could make many possibilities for clock upgrades in various devices.

 

Is the a company that would make some?

 

Thanks.

I normally will make the carrier board drawing and cut it myself, so I am not too up to date on who the possible supplier might be, but this place might be a possible source you can contact:  https://oshpark.com/

 

[Superdad]

+10 to using OSH Park for very small board runs.  Can't beat their price or speed, and the quality is fine. 

[Energy]

On 1/26/2018 at 5:19 PM, Superdad said:

P.S.  Tim: I can't remember if it was you or Kevin that I sent some 24.0MHz 575s to for replacement of the XMOS clock in the SU-1.  (I know I sent some to Sam @scan80269).  If it was you, did you put it in and did it help?

 

 

Hiya Alex. I've taken a look at the CRYSTEK CCHD-575 datasheets and they surely are better at nearly -20dB over the ABRACON ASTX-H11-24.000MHZ-T @ 1KHz which is quite excellent. Do you by any chance have 1 that I can source from you? I'd very much like to give it a try.

 

A little boggling though as it's quite larger than the 3.2 x 2.5 size of the originals. Even if I did use a carrier board, any wire run or traces would be bad for the parasitic inductance so I'm unsure how Kevin or Sam is doing theirs without jeopardizing something in the process. 

 

On 1/26/2018 at 5:20 PM, elan120 said:

@Energy,

 

I also agree having the by-pass capacitor is a must, but I a bit not sure the reason why you want to add another by-pass capacitor to the existing by-pass capacitors.  Is it because you find them not quite up to task or WIMA FKP2 will yield better result?

 

I didn't do anything more than replacing both Crystek oscillators with NDK NZ2520SD thinking the stock by-pass capacitors used for both Crystek CCHD-575 oscillators should be good enough, but if you think WIMA will work even better, I will get some and give them a try.

 

Below is a picture I outlined the stock by-pass capacitors for your reference.

 

You are very much right.

 

There is already what seems to a ferrite bead SMD that connects the Oscillator's Pin 4 (Vin) to the ADP150's Pin 5 (Vout) which minimizes resonance problems as it's resistive above 100KHz and will therefore lower the effective Q of the circuit intended. It also looks to have two ceramic SMD connecting to ground and contact with Pin 2 (GND) of the oscillator which is good as it shows that it is properly bypassed. I'm not sure why there are two ceramic SMD's though. Perhaps each ceramic type has a dielectric in which works better for a particular frequency.

 

@pkane2001 So either way, despite using Crystek CCHD-575 or NDK NZ2520SD, there is no need for any further bypassing. The ferrite bead, ceramic (low ESR, low ESL, low resonance/ring), and build-out resistors are already in place. Using a film capacitor will not be good as they are wire wound and would only increase it's inductance. Additionally ceramic types work better in frequency range that we need. I apologize for my spur earlier without properly looking at the PCB.

 

@elan120 Do you by any chance have a drawing so I could have a PCB made on OSHPARK to use as a carrier for the NDK NZ2520SD's? Having read more into decoupling of oscillators I can understand now why you chose to angle your traces. 

[rafa]

On 27/01/2018 at 1:19 AM, Superdad said:

 

 

Hi guys:

... If I was looking for an available, under $500 clock to upgrade to from the 575s, I'd go for the Pulsar.

 

 

Once Pulsar looks like one of the top I ordered Danish Neutrino 2 from newClassD. It is 169 euro  for clock with 1ppm accuracy and own power supply.

They have also Neutron Star clock but in Pulsar price range. 

I ordered only one so far 22.579200 MHz just to see performance.

[pkane2001]

15 hours ago, Energy said:

 

@pkane2001 So either way, despite using Crystek CCHD-575 or NDK NZ2520SD, there is no need for any further bypassing. The ferrite bead, ceramic (low ESR, low ESL, low resonance/ring), and build-out resistors are already in place. Using a film capacitor will not be good as they are wire wound and would only increase it's inductance. Additionally ceramic types work better in frequency range that we need. I apologize for my spur earlier without properly looking at the PCB.

 

@elan120 Do you by any chance have a drawing so I could have a PCB made on OSHPARK to use as a carrier for the NDK NZ2520SD's? Having read more into decoupling of oscillators I can understand now why you chose to angle your traces. 

 

Not a problem, Timothy. I'll just have a few of the WIMA capacitors I ordered left for a future project

If you do make a PCB with OSHPark, let me know. I wouldn't mind replacing mine with something neater.

[elan120]

18 hours ago, Energy said:

 

@elan120 Do you by any chance have a drawing so I could have a PCB made on OSHPARK to use as a carrier for the NDK NZ2520SD's? Having read more into decoupling of oscillators I can understand now why you chose to angle your traces. 

Hi @Energy,

 

I will take a look at the drawing requirements.

 

Ran into a bit of issue with my computer yesterday that has the files, and is now in recovery mode.  I should find out more later today to know where it stands.  In the meantime, I will take a look at re-do the drawing using the CAD programs OSHPARK requires and will let you know more later.

[Energy]

7 hours ago, pkane2001 said:

 

Not a problem, Timothy. I'll just have a few of the WIMA capacitors I ordered left for a future project

If you do make a PCB with OSHPark, let me know. I wouldn't mind replacing mine with something neater.

 

 

Do you by any chance have a picture of how your unit look like with the adapter board and NDK NZ2520SD's affixed?

I believe you managed to source the adapter boars from here : Oscillator Adapter Board (eBay)

 

The smallest supported size is:

3225 3.2 x 2.5mm

 

But you're saying this size fits fine? (NDK NZ2520SD)

2520 2.5 x 2.0mm

I'm taking a guess that you cut the outer white lined rectangle and affixed a solid core wire to their respected positions after soldering the oscillator on? 

 

I planned on doing the same but utilizing a solid core (silver) wire for optimal routing.

 

5 hours ago, elan120 said:

Hi @Energy,

 

I will take a look at the drawing requirements.

 

Ran into a bit of issue with my computer yesterday that has the files, and is now in recovery mode.  I should find out more later today to know where it stands.  In the meantime, I will take a look at re-do the drawing using the CAD programs OSHPARK requires and will let you know more later.

 

Thank you for looking into it. I believe according to the majority of optimizations for oscillator fixtures is to have a ground plane directly beneath die and eliminate the use of vias (changes impedance and causes reflections) and 90 degree angles.

 

I've been experimenting with trying to make my own carrier board using CAD software but it's a little over my level of expertise.

[pkane2001]

53 minutes ago, Energy said:

 

 

Do you by any chance have a picture of how your unit look like with the adapter board and NDK NZ2520SD's affixed?

I believe you managed to source the adapter boars from here : Oscillator Adapter Board (eBay)

 

The smallest supported size is:

3225 3.2 x 2.5mm

 

But you're saying this size fits fine? (NDK NZ2520SD)

2520 2.5 x 2.0mm

I'm taking a guess that you cut the outer white lined rectangle and affixed a solid core wire to their respected positions after soldering the oscillator on? 

 

I planned on doing the same but utilizing a solid core (silver) wire for optimal routing.

 

Yes, that's the board. I cut the board using a Dremel tool to the outer white rectangle, and shaved off a bit off the bottom portion of the PCB to make it thinner (and to remove unneeded traces). NZ2520SD fit just fine in the middle of the board. I used soldering paste to put it in place.

 

 

I then just soldered the carrier board, making a solder-based connection from the top four corners of the carrier board to the SU-1. A silver wire might have been neater

 

 

[Energy]

1 hour ago, pkane2001 said:

 

Yes, that's the board. I cut the board using a Dremel tool to the outer white rectangle, and shaved off a bit off the bottom portion of the PCB to make it thinner (and to remove unneeded traces). NZ2520SD fit just fine in the middle of the board. I used soldering paste to put it in place.

 

I then just soldered the carrier board in place, making a solder-based connection from the top four corners of the PCB to the SU-1. A silver wire might have been neater

 

 

 

You shave the bottom to the point where it's so thin and about to hit the inner traces before stopping?

 

How far is the traces of the adapter board from stock mounting points?

Based on what you're describing. If the traces are lined up enough there would be little sense to use a wire. I reckon direct soldering from the two pads to be better than having a wire run that can hurt impedance.

 

If we do get a better carrier board made the main gain you'll only get is from a more uniform trace going into the soldering points rather than the square to square tracers your adapter board currently presents.

[pkane2001]

15 minutes ago, Energy said:

 

You shave the bottom to the point where it's so thin and about to hit the inner traces before stopping?

 

How far is the traces of the adapter board from stock mounting points?

 

 

There was about half a mm left of the thickness of the PCB. The good thing about that eBay seller is that 10 boards are included, so if you mess up one, you have 9 more to try . I actually just used one, which surprised me. Let me know if you want me to send you a couple to play with.

 

I cut the board almost exactly at the outside white rectangle. Thats the size of the stock CCHD-575 case. This was enough so that the board corners would hit right about the middle of the stock mounting points. This left plenty of room for solder.

 

[Energy]

What's that black thing hovering nearby your oscillator? The heatsink?

The chip runs super cool so personally I'd get rid of the heatsink altogether. It'll help to lower micro-vibration and offer less strain on the metal alloys that holds up the regulator over time. Thanks for the picture. The carrier fits on nicely thanks to the larger traces. excellent.

 

I just finished an upgrade for my personal unit today before carrying on with other people's units. I haven't installed the clocks yet. That will be at the very end.

 

Replacements:

• (1) LT3045-A replaces stock (1) LD1086 voltage regulator - 3.3V
• (2) LT3045-A replaces stock (2) LEJ/ADP150 voltage regulator - 3.3V
• (1) LT3045-A replaces stock (1) L328 voltage regulator - 3.3V
• (1) LT3045-A replaces stock (1) 3R3 Inductor and ADJ voltage regulator - 1.0V 

To Do: (soon)

• (1) NDK NZ2520SD replaces stock (1) CCHD-575 oscillator- 22.579MHz
• (1) NDK NZ2520SD replaces stock (1) CCHD-575 oscillator- 24.576MHz
• (1) CRYSTEK CCHD-575 replaces stock (1) HCMOS oscillator - 24.000MHz
• (1) Kycon KUSBXHT-BS1N-O-HRF (high retention) replaces stock (1) USB Female Connector - Type B
• (3) White LED's replaces stock (3) Blue LED's.

Picture for giggles.

[pkane2001]

40 minutes ago, Energy said:

What's that black thing hovering nearby your oscillator? The heatsink?

The chip runs super cool so personally I'd get rid of the heatsink altogether. It'll help to lower micro-vibration and offer less strain on the metal alloys that holds up the regulator over time. Thanks for the picture. The carrier fits on nicely thanks to the larger traces. excellent.

 

I just finished an upgrade for my personal unit today before carrying on with other people's units. I haven't installed the clocks yet. That will be at the very end.

 

Replacements:

• (1) LT3045-A replaces stock (1) LD1086 voltage regulator - 3.3V
• (2) LT3045-A replaces stock (2) LEJ/ADP150 voltage regulator - 3.3V
• (1) LT3045-A replaces stock (1) L328 voltage regulator - 3.3V
• (1) LT3045-A replaces stock (1) 3R3 Inductor and ADJ voltage regulator - 1.0V 

To Do: (soon)

• (1) NDK NZ2520SD replaces stock (1) CCHD-575 oscillator- 22.579MHz
• (1) NDK NZ2520SD replaces stock (1) CCHD-575 oscillator- 24.576MHz
• (1) CRYSTEK CCHD-575 replaces stock (1) HCMOS oscillator - 24.000MHz
• (1) Kycon KUSBXHT-BS1N-O-HRF (high retention) replaces stock (1) USB Female Connector - Type B
• (3) White LED's replaces stock (3) Blue LED's.

Picture for giggles.

 

Yeah, that's a heatsink. I put it on after I started feeding my SU-1 with a bit more voltage (a 6V battery) to keep the Sparkos 3v regulator cool. It was running just slightly warm, so I attached a leftover heatsink from a previous project. I'd be surprised if this could pick up any microphonic vibrations.

 

Cool mods you have planned! Those white LEDs are definitely going to increase the sound quality of the unit

 

 

[Energy]

35 minutes ago, pkane2001 said:

 

Yeah, that's a heatsink. I put it on after I started feeding my SU-1 with a bit more voltage (a 6V battery) to keep the Sparkos 3v regulator cool. It was running just slightly warm, so I attached a leftover heatsink from a previous project. I'd be surprised if this could pick up any microphonic vibrations.

 

Cool mods you have planned! Those white LEDs are definitely going to increase the sound quality of the unit

 

 

 

Well you know people all over the audiophile market sell dampening feet and all kinds of exotic parts just for micro-vibrations. I doubt it'll resonate anything of it's own as long as its soldered on properly (good amount of solder). The vertical copper alloy fins of extruding the Sparkos shouldn't be worn down by a light aluminum block but who really knows when it comes to material science nowadays. Usually I just do everything just in case or perhaps more out of paranoia.

 

Having had experience in building gaming PC's for clients and eventually getting into the audiophile hobby makes me hate the color blue as it was a general color and overly used to the point where it bothered my eyes.