CD DAC MAXI-Lampucera lampizator

MAXI- LAMPUCERA

The big sister of Lampucera
Country of origin - Hong Kong

This is how I bougt it and I recommend this seller very much:

Item:	NEW BIG 24bit/192Hz HI-FI DAC DIY KIT,ASSEMBLED MODULE 140229973655
Auction ended:	May 5 2008 2:47AM PST

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The ultimate solution ?? Or is it ?
This big DAC board has this great DAC chip - Cirrus Logic CS4397 which I currently consider to be the best there is, paired with the world's best receiver chip - Cirrus Logic (again) CS8416. The difference from my Lampucera is that this board is approx. 4 x larger, It has Two AC power inputs - one for DAC and second for the analog stage. It also has 2 opamps not one. The resistors are traditional - not SMD. (dale branded). This board looks very professional and high end.
BUT IS IT REALLY BETTER THAN LAMPUCERA !?!?
Lets find out.

maxi-lampucera lampizator

The two chips are the same in L and MAXI-L
The connection in between them is the same,
The analog part in L is less complicated - better.
The analog part we CUT AWAY ANYWAY for pure signal straight from DAC.
The power supply which comes with small lampucera is 100% identical with the big one on MAXI - it is just detached on separate board in small L.
The resistors in Maxi are better, but there is few of them and by the way, how better is one resistor from another ?

Soldering capacitors is IMPOSSIBLE on the MAXI - against common opinion - this board has very heavy copper ground plane and the heat of soldering iron just SINKS INTO IS and I can not remove any cap, I can not desolder, I can not solder, I can not suck out the solder either.
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.
In comparison - small L is a pleasure to mod because all is SMD. No through-holes, which hold the part legs VERY STRONGLY in Maxi.

Overall - no difference in favour of MAXI except one - the 4397 chip get two separate 5V supply for analog and digital, in miniL - the supply is common (although isolated by a coil).
A minor difference really

So Overall - the Lampucera still holds my recommendation as the best and cheapest and simplest solution. The big board costs 2 x as much and comes without transformer and the standard caps - although quite okay (Rubycons and Elnas) cant be replaced without a 2 hour efforts.

maxi-lampucera lampizator

Nice ELNA capacitor base power supply. Inputs - 9 VAC and 15 VAC. All together - 5 regulators: 3,3 V, 5V, 5V, 12V, -12V. Every electrolyte has a bypass MKP. Great !

maxi-lampucera lampizator

Op-amps were replaced with my reference adaptors with AD825 (dual). Also BB2604 is great here. Thats untill a proper tube solution was added.

maxi-lampucera lampizator

Unlike the small lampucera - this board has RCA outputs on board. (unnecessary cost when we add lampizator )

maxi-lampucera lampizator

Four signal caps (very low quality electrolytes) are removes. The two extreme left and right - are our signal stealing points - the point closer to the 2.2U mark.
There is 2,5V DC there which must be removed by a capacitor - MKP or PIO value min. 0,22 uF by 63 V.

maxi-lampucera lampizator

Our great chip duo: 416 and 4397 together. Very happy choice - IDENTICAL like in Lampucera.

maxi-lampucera lampizator

The AC power supply inputs. We can use just 12 V on both. If we do lampization or just DAC signal bypass without opamps - the left input is unnecessary.
The left input (blue (center screw is unused) is ONLY for opamps.

maxi-lampucera lampizator

My first bird nest lampizator for Lampucera: a one tube, cathode follower buffer.
Big black caps are new OBBLIGATO paper in oil foil caps 2 uF. HUGE CANS but sound great.

See OBBLIGATO at:

http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_ob_caps.htm

CATHODE FOLLOWER PHOTO SESSION - QUICK GUIDE

OPAMP TWEAK IN LAMPUCERA MAX

Lampization of MAXI-Lampucera

We can connect this Maxi-Lampucera board to any transport - any CD or SACD or DVD player that exists, and the output of the DAC chip has 4 signals - balanced stereo music signal. It can be used as it is straight from DAC to connectors, or apmplified by one op-amp of high quality, or connected directly to the lampizator.
I will call my adaptor DAC board a LAMPUCERA. The feminine "wife" of Lampizator.

If you want to stick to the OP-AMP - thats fine with me. OP-AMP - LM4562s . I used 2604 and AD825 (paired on adaptor) and liked them both a lot.

The optimal combination of Maxi-Lampucera and lampizator will be that of a cathode follower triode. This schematic is extremely transparent, pure and simple. It has the lowest output impedance of all schematics - just 70 Ohms !!! Its gain or amplification is circa 1 so the DAC signal - which is on normal CD level 0f 2 V pp will be just OK.
Personally I prefer my signal to be loud and I would use the SRPP which I describe elsewhere, but many people complain that 10 Vpp is too loud for them. That really depends on the amp.
So for those who like to stick with redbook level - this schematics is optimal.

These plans are for DAC type VOUT and not IOUT. So this plan applies also to the Wolfson DAC. Other Vout dacs are not worth the effort.

SCHEMATIC 1 - cathode follower

Cathode follower calculations

SCHEMATIC 2 - Anode follower

Anode follower calculations

Also for those more ambitious - the Cristal DAC would play very well with the Megalampucera: the board DAC connected to 6N13C triode amplification stage (megalampizator) just like in the Yamaha 480 description.

VASILI's List of DAC chips: http://www.vasiltech.nm.ru/files/cd-players/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htm

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