Jacken’s Blog

So I bought this Pioneer PD S-505 for $40 to test how good audio quality I’m able to squeeze out by modifying it. But I’t wil not be just the standard subjective judgement of improvement but also measurements. Back in 2000 you had to pay about $400 for it. It uses the stable platter which means you have to put the CD in upside down. So let’s get going.

The steps I planned is the following:

• Remove the mute transistors.
• Replace the output opamp
• Remove headphone output
• Replace the clock with a GD-Audio clock
• Improve the regulated voltage feeds to the DAC and opamp
• Improve the power supply
• Add a separate regulated power supply for the clock and opamp

But first we need the schematic of the player, so download the Pioneer PD-S505 schematic here.

Ok, lets look at some stuff we need to do. First we have to remove the mute transistors. Less stuff in the audio path equals better sound. The transistors is just there to make the measurements look better for reviews. So they have to go.

Click for larger image

So transistors Q403, Q404, Q453 and Q454 is removed. Desolder och just clip the pins (carefully) with a wire cutter.

Next step, time to desolder the opamp which is a rather old opamp (NE5532). Desolder the opamp IC405 and solder in a socket for easy testing with different opamps. I settled on LM4562 at first.

Remove the heaphone opamp if you don’t going to use it. It’s better to buy an external headphone amplifier like V-CAN Tube Headphone Amplifier or better.

That’s about it for today. Next installment, upgrade the clock to improve jitter numbers…

Well, let’s face it. The iPod have changed my interest in music during the last few years.
With my 5 gig first generation iPod I had most of my music coded in 128kbit MP3 due to the constraints of the number of songs. The first year I put up with the included earphones and really didn’t think of upgrading.

But finally I got a Koss Porta Pro by recommendation from a friend. These headphones are not audiophile, but good enough to make me realize how much better MP3 files coded in 160 or higher sounded. But to accomondate that kind of upgrade in sound, forced me to buy a 15gb third generation iPod to fit more songs. So I recoded all my music to AAC in 160kbit and faced out older songs when I could get my hands on a higher quality version. The third generation iPod worked excellent for me for over three years. Then I upgraded my headphones to some in-ear headphones which took the sound quality up a notch again. A month ago I bought a iPod Classic 160gb and now have all music in lossless full quality.

But guess what, I bought a vinyl record player a while ago. Some would say that it’s a step backwards, but have to disagree. There is something about listening to vinyl. It’s like smoking a pipe, It’s a bit more involved. An other good aspect of this is that I’m forced to actually listen trough a whole song. But one thing is for sure, you need to invest in rather expensive equipment to get good performance from vinyl. But one can still find interesting records dirt cheap. It really is the black gold.

I just bought a new Mac Mini Core Duo2 as a media player in my bedroom. I connected it an old 23″ Cinema display that I don’t use. First I was a bit annoyed that I needed to use the keyboard and mouse, but then I found Remote Buddy. What a relief! I can now do almost anything with Apples lovely simple remote. I’m going to use it for playing back my CD collection that’s been ripped to a large hardisk. Watching DiVX, DVD, MPG films on it. And watch TV with my EyeTV kit.

So the next step was getting the audio out of the mini. Well, let’s face it, the output quality from line-out isn’t something you can call great. So I’m about to order an Zhaolu DAC 2.5 and mod the crap out of it! I’m thinking of installing a ZapFilter, better clocking etc. I’m then going to use mini-spdif connector to get the digital data out from the mac to the DAC.

Now I just need to get my home built amp finished.

I want to have a couple of speakers in the beadroom, so I started to search the net. I found a very intresting [DYI speaker project](http://www.hififorum.nu/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=45145&whichpage=1&SearchTerms=lancetta) here (Swedish). So I ordered the speakers and can’t wait to get them. My skills in working with wood is very limited, but I may get some help from one of my friends, who is an expert wood carpenter.

The build is based on a [German project called Lancetta (PDF warning)](http://www.blueplanetacoustic.de/pdf/134/Lancetta.pdf) but with some modifications. Very cool using a small 3″ driver. I’ll try to post more info when I get started.