Posted on Wednesday, 23rd June 2010 by Auw Jimmy

Post to Twitter

This post is the 2nd episode of my Terratec Aureon 7.1 FireWire mod. You can check the 1st one here.

Below is the final appearance of my Aureon. Sigh… despite the colorful capacitors, I don’t see any reason to say it’s a beauty or an art :(

The first thing was to remove all the capacitors on the main supply section. It took almost an hour just to trace and find the right combination. This sound card was quite unique as it was supplied with an AC Adapter transferring AC supply directly to the sound card module. So the rectification would be done on the card itself, not on the AC Adapter (so I would call it as step down transformer, instead of AC Adapter).

The main bridge was the DF04S from Fairchild Semiconductor rated at 1.5A. At this stage, I would let this rectification section as-is.

The DAC section also got another modification. The VMID (midrail decoupling) of the DAC now decoupled with Rubycon ZA, upgraded to 22 uF from 10 uF. Rubycon ZA is a nice replacement for the famous Black Gate capacitor.  On the right of the ZA, you could see Os-Con for the digital supply section.

The VMID section also bypassed by default with a SMD Ceramic Capacitor, but I added another Vishay MKP 1837 to clean up all the noise on this section.

The final appearance of the DAC section. Elna RBP2 used as final smoothing caps for the 5V signal. A pair of 100 uF Rubycon ZA also used nearby.

The main supply section was powered most likely by Elna Cerafine and RBP2. The first smoothing capacitor was Black Gate NX Series. This should be the ultimate combination for a supply section. Also note the “giant” 2200 uF Elna Cerafine. This was used to clean up all noise before entering the LDO Regulator to power up the DAC and the clock.

The sound? It was a huge improvement over the previous mods. The separation, staging, and depth were improved a lot. I mean, A LOT!

That’s all I can say for now. I think I’m gonna love it…



Tags: , , , ,
Posted in DIY Audio | Comments (11)

11 Responses to “Terratec Aureon FireWire 7.1 Mod (II)”

  1. Arie Says:
    June 24th, 2010 at 21:50

    Dahsyaatttt :D , itu jd SC paling mahal jg tuh kayaknya hehehe.. Great job Oom Jim ;)



  2. Jimmy Auw Says:
    June 24th, 2010 at 22:03

    Hi Om Arie,
    Gak koq he he he. Damage cost-nya ga besar karena sisa-sisa stok capacitor yang ada aja didayagunakan.
    Thanks.



  3. Aren Says:
    June 30th, 2010 at 23:12

    when is cap shoot out hapening? i look forward to the one you have coming soon. . .

    thanks
    A



  4. Jimmy Auw Says:
    July 4th, 2010 at 20:05

    Later… Sorry don’t have enough time later these days. Even now I’m away from home for about a week.

    Thanks.



  5. Iwan Gunadi Says:
    July 5th, 2010 at 11:34

    Ko Jim, btw about BG,
    elko apa yg bagus selain BG untuk jalur signal out pada amp JLH?
    kalo bisa yg dapat dipesan in our country

    mohon tanggapannya, Tq



  6. Jimmy Auw Says:
    July 7th, 2010 at 16:28

    Halo Pak Iwan,
    Butuhnya ukuran berapa Pak?
    Thanks.



  7. Iwan Gunadi Says:
    July 9th, 2010 at 00:48

    ukurannya 2200uF/50V 2bh
    lagi belajar bikin JLH 2000 yg Trafo EI



  8. Jimmy Auw Says:
    July 12th, 2010 at 21:58

    Hmm… signal sih pake elco susah dapat yang bagus Pak… Kalo mau ya mesti elco yang high grade, even sebenarnya high grade-nya elco pun kurang ok suaranya. Mungkin bisa cari Silmic II atau Elna Cerafine kalo emang mau pake Elco.

    Thanks.



  9. Jimmy’s Junkyard » Blog Archive » Jensen Paper Tube on Terratec Aureon Firewire DAC Output Says:
    September 22nd, 2010 at 23:19

    [...] about to finalize this sound card mod. The output now is taken directly from the WM8770IFT, coupled with Jensen Copper Foil Paper Tube [...]



  10. Dani Says:
    February 11th, 2011 at 09:17

    Manttabs nih upgradenya Oom Jimmy…! ;-D
    Btw kalo nyari elko cerafine ato silmic II di mana ya? coz lagi butuh 220uF 4 biji nih Oom



  11. Auw Jimmy Says:
    February 11th, 2011 at 10:07

    Hi,
    Coba ke Glodok bro atau LTC.
    Thanks.



Leave a Reply