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Supercharged - Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 DAC

I do believe that deserves a dancing banana ...

:banana:

Good that we headed you off from taking the D2 out in the back forty and shooting it, right? <G>

Might want to check with Andrew and see if maybe he can bench the toasted chips and make a simple (and less expensive) repair? Not sure whether he builds them himself or farms out the labor. Then again, lot of SMD stuff, which can make repairs cost prohibitive.

If nothing else, this qualifies as a learning experience ... what don't kill ya, makes ya stronger!

PS ... I forget ... are the OPA627 upgrades still good? Can't say as I've any complaints on mine ...

Oh. Might also want to touch bases with Ryan at Maverick. I'm sure he'll be happy to pass your experience (and fix) along to anyone else who has the same problem down the road.
 
sKiZo said:
Oh. Might also want to touch bases with Ryan at Maverick. I'm sure he'll be happy to pass your experience (and fix) along to anyone else who has the same problem down the road.
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That's a good idea. I've been in communication with him but haven't told him about my 'adventure'.
sKiZo said:
If nothing else, this qualifies as a learning experience ... what don't kill ya, makes ya stronger!
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That's how I look at it. Wasn't the first...won't be the last.
sKiZo said:
Good that we headed you off from taking the D2 out in the back forty and shooting it, right? <G>
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There's a big rock out in the back forty that I wanted to go beat my head against.
 
We'd have to report you for cruelty to rocks, right? ;-}

I'm sure you still want to poke around some, but I'd just leave well enough alone for now and just sit back and enjoy. Get some distance between the last adventure and the next ...
 
Holy moly buddy. Glad it's only the OpAmps. When you finally get the Sparkos Lab OpAmps in there it'll be even sweeter after your adventure.

I feel terrible about your issues. So in the spirit of Audiokarma I'm going to get some karma by sending to you a NOS Tesla 6cc42 pinch waist tube. Send me a PM with your name and address and I'll get it in the mail for you.

I'll also edit the OP to explain the importance of installing them properly. My pictures show the orientation I believe.

Go figures that I'm on my phone and photo bucket is down for maintenance so I can't double-check that the pics are good enough to help.
 
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bce22 said:
So in the spirit of Audiokarma I'm going to get some karma by sending to you a NOS Tesla 6cc42 pinch waist tube.
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How cool is that? Thank you! I'll send you my info.

What's cooler than rolling tubes? Rolling op-amps, apparently. These cheapos from RS are not sounding as refined as the upgraded Mavericks but it sounds great. Like a mellow version of what I had before......and when I get the SS3602's I'll have another type of sound. One DAC...three different flavors of sound and none of them suck. Not yet anyway. I'll be a tube-rollin, op-amp killing audiophile without a clue but having a blast.

More dancing bananas! :banana::banana::banana:
 
Been listening quite a bit since yesterday with the cheap Radio Shack OpAmps. Even though sound quality is not as detailed and refined as the Maverick upgraded OpAmps, the sound is smooth and rich. I could easily live with it this way.
 
Yup ... biggest impediment to good sound here was the tube. Replaced that, and the thing really began to sing. Not saying the OPA 627's din't take it yet one more step towards nirvana ... In any case, getting some hours on the old one should train your ears to a specific sound and point out any differences dramatically as to what the new op amps can do. GooOOOgle "psycho-acoustics" ...

Got an email back from Ryan on using the Sparko's on mine ... as I expected, the D1 and D1+ will support their use, but due to major design changes, I only need ONE for digital playback. There's only two op amps in the older models as they more or less emulate a dual triode driver configuration.

The second op amp is strictly for the headphone amp. I never use that anyway, so I don't really need it. Now that I got the golden word, I may just pop that OPA627 out of the D1+ and swap it with the standard chip so I've got a good backup.

* You may ask why both a D1 and a D1+? I got the D1 when it first came out - the D1+ made MAJOR improvements in USB playback ... my preference with my system. Why not a D2? I really like the analog in AND adjustable line gain of the original boxes. Different strokes, as they say.
 
I don't feel like taking the cover off again to take a pic but what is the wire that is somehow attached to the tube? Does it serve any purpose?
 
That's what I figured. Never seen a wire to hold a tube in place on any of my other equipment so I figured I'd ask.
 
sKiZo said:
Got an email back from Ryan on using the Sparko's on mine ... as I expected, the D1 and D1+ will support their use, but due to major design changes, I only need ONE for digital playback.
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Alrighty then.....whatcha waitin fer?
 
Also removed the clip thingy here. That's fairly common with horizontally mounted tubes to make sure they stay in place, mostly during shipping. They mount in under the socket, but easy enough just to remove the wire itself and leave the base plate alone. The Chinese tube is quite large, and the clip won't fit a "normal" size tube anyway.

9-Pin-Ceramic-Chassis-Mount-Socket-w-Mounting-Bracket-Prea-image.jpg


And as far as the Sparko, I'm waiting for you to come over and install it ... NOT! <G>
 
SWL3600 said:
I don't feel like taking the cover off again to take a pic but what is the wire that is somehow attached to the tube? Does it serve any purpose?
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Mechanical vibrations in the tubes can translate in electrical noise. That's where those clips have a role, they keep a slight pressure/tension on the tube glass to minimize low frequency vibrations (like the ones from the transformers). I would keep them, manufacturer knew what they were doing when they added those there.

SWL3600 said:
Been listening quite a bit since yesterday with the cheap Radio Shack OpAmps. Even though sound quality is not as detailed and refined as the Maverick upgraded OpAmps, the sound is smooth and rich. I could easily live with it this way.
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TL072/082 are JFET input OpAmps, with fast slew rate (13 V/us) versus the "normal" low noise ones of that era (3-7 V/us), that's why they sound good in some applications. The JFET opams where used in many professional mixing consoles in 80's (at the high levels involved, the noise was not that much of an issue as the slew rate).
Of course, the newer ones are faster (20-22 or even 40 for OPA627) and on top of that have much less noise, but depending on the rest of your system, that extra difference it might not be that audible (like you noticed).

PS: Tubes have the slew rate dependent on the output capacitance and their maximum current (output impedance), so it can vary depending on the actual configuration and even the cables connected to that stage. Cable influence is usually eliminated by a MOS-FET follower (or similar), I am not sure how is done inside your DACs.
 
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I just got my first smartphone a couple of months ago....I've never posted any pics on AK before so I thought I'd start with the three different OpAmps I've tried do far. The cheap Radio Shack version, the upgraded OpAmps from Maverick Audio and the Dual Discrete SS3602's from Sparkos Labs.
 
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I would have left the clip if it worked with most of the tubes I roll in, but it doesn't, so I removed it.

I haven't noticed anything different in the sound with it in or out with the tubes that worked with it. YMMV
 
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