Enlighted Audio Design (EAD) Owners?

[Bluhn321]

Hi all,

I've recently obtained an EAD DSP-7000 MKIII dac with the gold face without too much info on it. Just kinda wanted to try it. On first look it looks stunning! The gold face definitely stands out in my stereo rack. Plugged it in, turned it on, and pressed play. All I can say is...wow. The sound is very musical and works perfectly with my Audeze lcd-xc headphones. I had some doubts if a dac would make a big difference or not and I was wrong. Going from my Zero 09 to this was an impressive difference.

Anyone else had any experiences with EAD dacs? What do you think of them?

 

[crooner]

One of the finest DACs ever made. You lucked out my friend. No modern Delta Sigma in the same price bracket comes close! This uses the fantastic Burr Brown PCM63 R2R ladder chips plus the original HDCD decoder. Everybody has now jumped into the "multibit" R2R bandwagon, and quite frankly I doubt they are better than this DAC unless you are into the megabuck category. Enjoy!

I owned the same DAC nine years ago. Added galvanic isolation via a pulse transformer with BNC connector for coax. And a bunch of very expensive Black Gate caps (now unobtainum)...

 

[Bluhn321]

Awesome!! The only thing I noticed is that it will only lock up to 24bit/48kHz. But I mostly listen to CD rips so that's no problem.

Do upgrades make a difference? I see there is a place called Noble Electronics that offers modifications.

 

[crooner]

Yeah, when it was designed only a handful of very expensive DACs handled 24/96.
24/192 was still a few years in the future...

Nowadays, the newly designed monolithic R2R DACs such as the Schitt's throw away the extra bits internally so they can "apparently" play high resolution material with no problems.

With older DAC's such as the EAD you would have to use a computer to downsample to at least 48 kHz.

 

[crooner]

I have no experience with Noble as I did the modifications myself. Apparently it is run by former EAD employees...

 

[Audiophilehi]

I have the original DSP-7000 and loved it. Built like a tank. I am also interested in possible upgrades.

Thanks!

 

[Bluhn321]

Yeah it says on their website "all our employees were EAD pioneers".

I would be able to do the upgrades myself but I'll have to do some research before. Did you notice a difference with the black gate caps?

 

[crooner]

Yes, most definitely. The boards on mine had either silver solder or wonder solder. Not your standard 60/40 type. Easy to lift a trace if not careful. I would use a temperature controlled soldering station and apply high heat quickly on the joints.

 

[Bluhn321]

I'll have to get some of that solder.

Comparing to pictures online you replaced 12 caps correct?

 

[crooner]

11 or 12. I counted 11 on my pictures. I left the original Panasonics alone in the power supply. Sorry, my memory is a bit foggy as this was 9 years ago.

 

[Bluhn321]

Well, it looks like I'll have to try to find an equivalent to the black gates! Luckily, there's a lot of info about that already.

 

[SylvainQc]

I have no experience with Noble as I did the modifications myself. Apparently it is run by former EAD employees...

Hi Crooner, I bought a DSP-7000 at little cost some months ago and have been surprised at how musical and "organic" this thing sounds and improved my Bluesound streamer. Living in Canada, an "upgrade" at Noble might be a bit costly when you include shipping costs for this "heavy" unit. Could you point out some resources about what the possible upgrades are, what parts to get, and how to perform it? How would you qualify the results? ;-)

 

[crooner]

Hi SylvainQc,

Congratulations on your purchase. It has been eons since I performed these mods and cap upgrades. I know the digital pulse transformer was the same one it was recommended for modding the Slim Devices Squeezebox back in the day. I suppose a more modern equivalent could be used as well....

 

[SylvainQc]

Hi SylvainQc,

Congratulations on your purchase. It has been eons since I performed these mods and cap upgrades. I know the digital pulse transformer was the same one it was recommended for modding the Slim Devices Squeezebox back in the day. I suppose a more modern equivalent could be used as well....

Hi Crooner. We're a few months later now and at some point my EAD DSP-7000 started showing problems. Distorting on peaks, with the connecting relay(s?) clicketing along with the music signal..
Since previously I had asked Noble electronics about parts to make upgrades.. and got no answer, I didn't get an answer either when I emailed them about sending my unit for repair. So what should I do?
I now hesitate on putting money on it to get it repaired.. it's 30 years old, or get something newer, but what?
I can't get myself to get rid of the EAD. I really loved the sound of it.
Thanks for reading

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Distorting on peaks, with the connecting relay(s?) clicketing along with the music signal.

Sounds like the relay contacts, or relay drive are on the way out. For the latter, check the voltage on the coil, and look to any electrolytic in the drive to see if it's gone dry/OOS.

 

[crooner]

Hi Crooner. We're a few months later now and at some point my EAD DSP-7000 started showing problems. Distorting on peaks, with the connecting relay(s?) clicketing along with the music signal..
Since previously I had asked Noble electronics about parts to make upgrades.. and got no answer, I didn't get an answer either when I emailed them about sending my unit for repair. So what should I do?
I now hesitate on putting money on it to get it repaired.. it's 30 years old, or get something newer, but what?
I can't get myself to get rid of the EAD. I really loved the sound of it.
Thanks for reading

At this point, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get something newer that supports higher resolution audio. My current DAC is a Lampizator, and I couldn't be happier. There are also lower priced brands that are outstanding as well.

As good as the EAD was in its day, technology has improved tremendously in the past decade or so.

You can attempt to repair the EAD and keep it as a second DAC. I do know the silver solder they used on the board is very hard to work on. It requires care and a good soldering station to prevent lifted traces...

 

[SylvainQc]

Sounds like the relay contacts, or relay drive are on the way out. For the latter, check the voltage on the coil, and look to any electrolytic in the drive to see if it's gone dry/OOS.

Hi Cpt,
Since I already have it, I'll 'try' fixing it. I'm away from home now, but I'll do my best to salvage it when I'm around it.
I'm no hi-tech guy, but built a few tube amps that work.. so, may be there's hope lol. Digital is another world, I know. I'll check these voltage and cap and post the results. Thanks for taking the time. It's helpful.

 

[SylvainQc]

At this point, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get something newer that supports higher resolution audio. My current DAC is a Lampizator, and I couldn't be happier. There are also lower priced brands that are outstanding as well.

As good as the EAD was in its day, technology has improved tremendously in the past decade or so.

You can attempt to repair the EAD and keep it as a second DAC. I do know the silver solder they used on the board is very hard to work on. It requires care and a good soldering station to prevent lifted traces...

Hi Crooner. You're quite probably right, technology has evolved since this EAD was made.. but this was the first DAC that I plugged in my system and just made music flow in my room, forgetting about electronics at last. It sounded much more natural than my Meridian 506 cd player for example, or my old 203 dac, Dragonfly.. I'll try some more recent dacs soon.
Thanks!