Apply Mcandmar's ramblings into my S.E.X. 2.1

[puhaha]

I was curious about what Mcandmar's upgrades sound like. So I applied his methods into my S.E.X 2.1 as well.

1. 100 ohm resistors to c1-c3, c2-c3
2. replaced 680 ohm resistor with C3X (I grounded its body to 13 and 23 since its supporter is plastic)

and cap rolling.
3. rolled capacitors with Mundor Supreme (sorry guys. This only make sense to me with price/performance ratio; even this is sketchy for me. If there are some caps make sound so good that these bring tears to me eyes, then I might try haha).

In case, there is mystical break-in in any components, I played some music for about 10 hours. And I listened to it about 30 hours or so until now.

Overall I like how it sounds; treble is little more refined, mid is little smoother, and bass is little deeper and puncher. Also overall instrument separations and image have been improved. I did all of them in one shot, but I believe it is cap that makes sounds better since 1 and 2 is nothing to do with sound improvements. (Maybe lower noise sounds did some trick as well haha)
 
Did it make the amp quieter? Yes, it did. However, it is not so much that I can use with my IEMs. Putting a 75 or 150 ohm adapter is still needed in order for me to listen with any IEMs comfortably I guess this is same as putting 120 ohm resistors into headphone jack, but it is not a permanent method. But maybe my tubes are nosier than others.

Are those worth? 4 Mundor Supreme caps costed me $60 from ebay, 2 C3X and 2 resistors were $30 from Mouser, 3d printed supporters were free from my boss. So it is about $90 (included s&h) upgrade. If you are satisfied with S.E.X 2.1, then no. If you want to experiment (since it is a S. E. eXperimenter model after all) with your amp or want to squeeze its potential, and you have an access to 3d printer (I think there is a company prints out 3d parts online), then yes, it is worth. And I'm in the 2nd option.

It was very fun for me to upgrade parts and I'm very satisfied with the result.

Thanks Mcandmar!

[JamieMcC]

Nice result. I did very much the same thing and was very also please with the end results the mods are all relatively easy and straight forward to carry out a little creativity on how to mount the chokes is really all that is required. Seeing your picture reminds me that I still have the impedance switches to install.

Thumbs up for Marks build thread the discussion their has be good to follow.

 

[mcandmar]

Nice work.  The mods were all about lowering the noise floor however using IEMS is a big ask as they are usually very sensitive, and sometimes lower the 32 ohms. The resistor adapter you are using sounds like an ideal solution for them.

[puhaha]

Seeing your picture reminds me that I still have the impedance switches to install.

Yes, you should install one. it was pretty fun to change impedance to find what I like easily.

The mods were all about lowering the noise floor however using IEMS is a big ask as they are usually very sensitive, and sometimes lower the 32 ohms. The resistor adapter you are using sounds like an ideal solution for them.

 
First of all, thank you for your thread. It was very fun for me to follow and tried what you have found.

Yes, it is too much to ask an headphone amp (especially powerful one) to drive IEMs without hum/hiss. Also, I think for some listeners, it could be very enjoyable to listen with IMEs after installing those mods that you have suggested. It is just me that listen to music in low volume and those noises always bother me a lot. btw, I don't use my IEMs with S.E.X. I use delicate dac/amp or portable devices for those highly sensitive IEMs. It was just for testing.

For sure, I can tell background got darker which I love. But, I did not want to give some false hope for those who want to IEMs with S.E.X amp.

[sbelyo]

is there a sketch or post with the dimensions for the bracket?

or maybe Mcandmar can chime in with the dimensions for this one

http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=5316.msg51193#msg51193

[mcandmar]

I have no idea, i just bent it to fit.

[sbelyo]

i'll figure it out one it's built.  I just realized that's what you did

[puhaha]

I have a STL file that I used for my S.E.X above. I hope this helps figuring out what size you need.