Still remember Asus Xonar Essence One DAC? It’s time to disassembly the power supply. It’s separated on small PCB. Good design as this makes my life more beautiful, although it’s not an easy job to disassemble it.
It has 3 power supply rails: One 5V, and two 12V (positive and negative). The regulators used are the low dropout one, LM2990 and LM2940.
The first target to be improved is the capacitors. I could see some values on by storage bin which could suit. Hearing the sound, I think adding some Silmic would be best, although Black Gate NX could be very-very interesting (but my supply is very limited).
The diodes are the SMD type. I believe this board has two layers. Black PCB makes my tracing skill got some challenges.
The Asus Xonar Essence One with PCB Power Supply removed. Big heatsink mounted at bottom PCB to transfer the heat. Another good design from Asus (to be honest, I admire the high end design from Asus which is mostly “exceptional” with “no compromise” approach).
Agus
March 20, 2013 14:28Siang Ko,
Jalur supply digitalnya dikasih Oscon mantep keliatannya..
Salam 🙂
Auw Jimmy
March 20, 2013 16:05Hi Bro Agus,
Lebih mantapan BG NX sih, apalagi di mode Super-E-Cap 🙂
Thanks.
Agus
March 21, 2013 07:41Pagi Ko,
Iya, ditunggu penamakan Super E CAp nya…. sipp
Salam 🙂
Auw Jimmy
March 21, 2013 10:57Pagi Bro Agus,
Tapi saya (rasanya) ga akan pake Super-E-Cap sih disini.
Thanks.
Timothy Hoang
April 13, 2013 13:20Why are you replacing these to Black Gates and Silmics?
Power Supply capacitors should use higher rated caps like Panasonic FC, FR, FM with longevity and high ripple current.
Usually these audio caps would have terrible life due to low stats.
Power Supply Circuit should not affect audio quality anyway.
Tim
Auw Jimmy
April 13, 2013 13:49Hi Tim,
For an ‘audiofool’ like me who believes of capacitor sounds, I never like the taste of Panasonic, even their higher rated Purism. Sorry.
I also hate WIMA, but on this situation, I don’t think I have choice due to space constraint.
I agree on some aspect, some good quality capacitor usually has higher rating. But I also rarely see good audio grade caps fails in short time.
Black Gate (F/FK/N/WK/z) and Elna (Cerafine/Silmic) are simply my choice if I have to use Electrolytic in power supply (but it doesn’t have to be your choice to). If space and design permits, Jensen 4pole is one of my reference for Electrolytic.
Power supply does impact the sound. This is not ‘audiofool’ game, because power supply itself will become a loop of the amplification process. So if you are asking why do I care with the power supply? Because from my own experiment, you can easily improve sound quality with good power supply. This is not a joke because I have been there (some of my experiments were written on my blog).
And finally, high ripple current and longetivity are two factors. You should see a lof of their ‘friends’, like ESR, ESL, impedance, etc. That what build a good audio caps.
Easy to build a super car who can reach 100 in 3secs, but making sure it will have a good handling is another story 😉
Sorry if part of my explanation will sound nonsense for you 🙂 You can always ignore it.
Thanks.
henry
April 25, 2013 08:06Hi,
im ASUS XONAR DX,owner, i want to mod it(op-amp,and caps too).
pleaswe take a look at this:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/339127/asus-xonar-dx-mods
i will use theese ones:
1:Elna simic ii 22uF 25v x2caps
2:Elna simic ii 220uF 25V x2 caps
3:Elns simic ii 1000uf 16V x2caps(can’t find uF1200),for power supply decoupling.
**do you thisn it’s the better way for caps modding?
thanks.
henry
April 25, 2013 08:09pd:sorry for writing errors.
typing too fast.
Auw Jimmy
April 25, 2013 10:32Hi,
There are a lot of ways to mod it. And you can start with yours. A good start, I think.
Thanks.