Upgrading Audio Note Dac Kit

[petng]

Just thought I share my upgrade project with Audionote Dac kit.

 

Thus Dac started out as a stock 3.1 kit which was updated to 4.1 spec with AN output Trannies.

 

Have been very happy with this Dac for the last 5 years in which this Dac beating out many higher priced dacs during this period.

 

Had the itch to buy a new Dac during Lockdown, but it looked like I had to spend $$$ for anything interesting.

 

In the end I opted to max out my current Dac with the best possible parts( within reason).

 

Attached are some pics of my Dac prior to mods. 

Edited September 17, 2021 by petng

[MattyW]

Be interesting to see how this works out.

[petng]

First up is a pic of after and before mod on the output board. 

Edited September 17, 2021 by petng

[petng]

 5687 tube Output board, 2 watt non magnetic tantalum and 2 watt niobium resistors and AN Kaisei caps, the copper foil caps are yet to be installed underneath the board. The cotton wrapped covers are a shielding device that originated from an idea by Be Yamamura.

[denimhunter]

Looks impressively! Thanks 

[petng]

Board not finished yet. Will update once its done

[MrBurns84]

Looks great @petng.  Whats that material over the caps?

[petng]

Steatite ferrules, they minimize heat transfer from on component to the other thus making the components heat age less and the solder connections more reliable.

[petng]

Board back in the dac

[Mendes]

5 minutes ago, petng said:

Board back in the dac

Very tasty, I was amazed the sound improvement that upgrading resistors and caps on my output side made to my DAC. Great job, am sure you will be very happy.......

[petng]

Thanks mate. The work was not done by myself. It’s the work of Audionote importer Bryan Fletcher . 

[petng]

[muon*]

1 hour ago, petng said:

Thanks mate. The work was not done by myself. It’s the work of Audionote importer Bryan Fletcher . 

Bryan is great!

 

Please say hi from us, if you think of it next time.

 

Should be a nice result with these changes

[Jehuty]

Great stuff! As Ian said, Bryan knows his stuff. It will be a great sounding DAC for sure.

[xlr8or]

@petng Can you do me a big favour please? Please replace that 6X5GT rectifier with an ST shaped GEC Hammersmith 6X5G. It will bring tears to your eyes each time you listen.

Edited September 29, 2021 by xlr8or

[Mendes]

11 hours ago, petng said:

Thanks mate. The work was not done by myself. It’s the work of Audionote importer Bryan Fletcher . 

I thought the boards looked familiar, his attention to detail is incredible.

Miss his words of wisdom on this site.....

[petng]

8 hours ago, xlr8or said:

@petng Can you do me a big favour please? Please replace that 6X5GT rectifier with an ST shaped GEC Hammersmith 6X5G. It will bring tears to your eyes each time you listen.

I have a coke bottle mullard which i will try. A mate has a GEC which he will lend me next time. 

 

XLR8or, do you use an AN dac?

[petng]

Some of the caps were too big so it had to go underneath the board 

Edited September 30, 2021 by petng

[petng]

Muon Bryan says hi back.

 

Also thanks again mate for your help in shipping Abbas phono down last time.!

[xlr8or]

6 hours ago, petng said:

XLR8or, do you use an AN dac?

 

Yes. I've owned a few and still have one. All mine are the UK ones made by Peter Q. and team.

[petng]

ANVX 31 strand in place 

[dcathro]

On 17/09/2021 at 2:14 PM, petng said:

 5687 tube Output board, 2 watt non magnetic tantalum and 2 watt niobium resistors and AN Kaisei caps, the copper foil caps are yet to be installed underneath the board. The cotton wrapped covers are a shielding device that originated from an idea by Be Yamamura.

 

You didn't want to try the silver tants?

 

They are something that I want to try in the near future..

[dcathro]

23 hours ago, Mendes said:

I thought the boards looked familiar, his attention to detail is incredible.

Miss his words of wisdom on this site.....

 

+1

I could spend hours in the AN room at shows just chatting with Bryan. Would love to see him back on stereo net.

[petng]

Nearly finished. Just some AN D copper power cable and Furutech IEC to go. Can’t wait to get it back.

 

 

[petng]

Power cabling will be soldered onto IEC plug vs clips on original dac