Oppo Sonica DAC and with EVS mods.

Ric Schultz

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2013
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333
Soquel, CA
Oppo has just released the Sonica DAC for $800 that has the new ESS top of the line 9038 DAC chip in it (same as what Ayre uses in their $9000 DAC). The Sonica has wireless streaming and can play files from a hard drive plugged in. It also has DSD512 via usb DAC input, has digital volume and really cool it has an app to use with your smart phone/tablet that lets you control the whole shebang. It does not have an I2S input that will allow you to use a usb to I2S converter for best sound playing DSD512 and also has no way to select the digital filters built into the DAC chip. But, I imagine, that with my mods it will be killer.

I imagine that with serious mods this thing could be competitive with the T&A $4000 DAC or better.....just guessing.

This should be a fun thread as the units get modded and people chime in here to what can be done with so little money. The modded Gustard Pro and the modded Sonica are game changers, for sure. Of course, how the unit is stock is wanting to be known. So those with stock Sonicas....feel free to chime in.
 
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NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
I've read five pages (just under 150 messages): http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-ne...rked-music-player-announced.html#post50398361

Page 4 (message #117):

Sonica first impression

"I got my Sonica Dac today. While hardly broken in, I had hoped for better sound quality. The soundstage is expansive, but I found the placement of instruments a little less exact compared to my modified Gustard X20uPro. If I were a headphone guy, I might not notice or care. I have a hard time listening to an unmodified Gustard - 8 standard bridge rectifier diodes need upgrading to fred soft-recovery types to become musical.

Popping the Sonica lid, I see some likely reasons. Outputs look to be capacitor coupled. Inputs to the PCM1808 ADC also look to be capacitor coupled, again with Muse "audio cap" electrolytic capacitors. No wonder ADC specs are not disclosed by Oppo - its an old, cheap ADC that is mainly there as a convenience feature.

The Sonica is the least expensive ES9038pro dac I know of, with Matrix more than twice as costly and just a dac without all the intelligence/connectivity. The ES9018 has been out for years with countless product implementations, so I'm going to stick with my modified Gustard until a better, affordable implementation of the ES9038pro comes out. The ES9028pro is also a great dac chip, sharing much of the same new technology."
- Mark

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-ne...ed-music-player-announced-4.html#post50600465

• Page 4, #120 ? http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-ne...ed-music-player-announced-4.html#post50607513
• Page 5, #123 ? http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-ne...ed-music-player-announced-5.html#post50613633
• Page 5, #126 ? http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-ne...ed-music-player-announced-5.html#post50616017
• Page 5, #132 ? http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-ne...ed-music-player-announced-5.html#post50630513

Interesting read.
 

Ric Schultz

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2013
227
56
333
Soquel, CA
Yes, I told Mark what diodes to put in the Gustard. I now have even better diodes....it never ends! He is an old customer of mine. He likes to tweak. Not many do......this is why I will be offering mods. I have over 35 years of tweaking experience.....and I keep learning new things almost every week. This game is infinite!
 

MarkK02474

Well-Known Member
Dec 1, 2016
14
3
108
Ric, I never tried the diodes you named. I tried a similar and perhaps better one and also a surface mount one that was definitely inferior to the first- both were Vishay fast, soft recovery Fred, and yet the difference between them was large. I didn't try Schottky or SiC types (yet). Diodes make a huge difference and I don't think many people, if any, have done an exhaustive comparison of them like they have with capacitors and resistors, even after all these years of availability. Seems you have and that's what people are getting when they have you mod for them!
 

Brucemck2

Member Sponsor
May 10, 2010
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Houston area
Ric, any reason to believe that when you're done your modded Gustards will be better?
 

Ric Schultz

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2013
227
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333
Soquel, CA
The Gustard has access to the 7 digital filters in the ESS DAC. The Gustard has I2S input that will allow DSD512 via an external usb to I2S converter (most feel this sounds better than using the internal usb board.....which can then be removed for even better sound). The Gustard has 2 50 watt toroids.....the Oppo has one 25 watter and a switching supply. Which one will sound better once FULLY modded? Will have to wait to find out. I should have some idea in about one month (enough time to get an Oppo here and to tweak it enough to see how far it can be taken). The Oppo has streaming, the app for the phone and a usb input for hard drives. What I am sure of is that they will both be outrageously good. Either one will be mind blowing for the money.....my sense is the Oppo will need more work than the Gustard did......but, you never know till you do something. The layout of parts on the output board on the Oppo is more open....allowing easier tweaking of power supplies to DAC, etc. We shall see....er...hear.
 

Ric Schultz

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2013
227
56
333
Soquel, CA
Been busy modding the Sonica and customers are thrilled. You can see all the wild insides on my webpage: http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Oppo_Sonica_DAC_mods.html A few customer comments are on the page, as well. There should be some comments on this thread by owners soon too. I have added a low jitter clock that is described but not yet shown on the site.

I will have a "tour" unit soon and be sending it out to people who will A/B it with their own DACs so we can see how it fares. The obvious first comparisons will be with the Yggy, Holo, Benchmark 3, Mytek Brooklyn, Ayre Codex and then on to more expensive things like Exogal Comet, PS Audio, T+A, Lampy, Mytek Manhattan, Denafrips Terminator, Ayre biggy, etc. If you have one of these DACs and want to compare then send me an email.

I am also going to be doing the same mods to the Oppo UDP-205 and since it is done almost the same inside as the Sonica, the mod will take very little time to work out. I should have the 205 within a week. No, there will not be a 205 tour unit. Unless you want to donate one to me.....he he.
 

Jgwtriode

New Member
Sep 28, 2017
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0
Ric asked that I share my thoughts on his latest upgrades to the Sonica. I purchased mine slightly used about 4 months ago and used it for a couple of months before sending it in for the modification. I have had it back about 3 weeks and have been letting the mod further burn-in and also having recently purchased and Ifi Galvanic 3.0.

My system is built on an I5 PC With dual boot windows 10 using Jplay. I boot windows and all of my audio based software from a Micron P300 100GB SLC SSD. I have three software programs I run to optimize windows and Jplay. Audiophile Optimizer 2.20 Beta 5, Fidelizer 7.9 and Process Lasso latest itteration. I run Jplaystreamer with Minimserver locally set to my usb flash drives. This in order to run Windows Hibernate on a single PC. I run then naked and damped, as Ric suggests, which noticeably improves the sound. Upplay is the control point application.

I much prefer the Paul Pang V2 dedicated USB card to any port on the computer. I am currently running it with a 5V Ifi iPower which came as part of the Ifi Galvanic bundle. This actually outperforms my DIY kit 5V LPS. I am still running the same in a 9V version on my W4S Recovery Reclocker. I have been using my own Diy USB cables which use Neotech Silver/Gold OCC wire,from Zenwave Audio. Its Daves custom wire, a bit better than the std. Neotech. I am finicky but on a tight budget. I try to squeeze every ounce of sound out of my audio dollar.

I also run Dave's power cord to the Oppo and his D3 interconnect to my Neco V5 Portable Headphone Amp. I have been through 3 versions of Neco Beymanns Marvelous little Amp. This thing is flat amazing and I will not be replacing it until i can afford and find a suitable Single End Triode headphone Amp.

The Frankenheiser as an SBAF member called my Sennheiser HD650's are extremely modified and tuned. They sound remarkable and Clobber the Paradox, now enigmatic audio, Slants, which I quite enjoyed while I had them. I have less than half as much money into them as I did with the Slants. I had Dave at Zenwave build me a headphone equivalent of his D2 interconnect.

The Sonica stock outperformed my Ifi DSD micro Dac quite easily which I expected. I had sent my Ifi to another modder for upgrades and well lets just say it all fell through and I lost money and my DAC!

I had considered the Gustard but Ric convinced me the Oppo was the way to go.

It is very neutral stock. Nothing is really wrong and it does establish a very high level of performance at the price point. It is a touch dynamically constricted. Bass is reasonably extended and tight with a good sense of texture and detail. PRAT is quite good but could perhaps be better. Not that much better in this regard to the Ifi. Highs are natural but not really airy or substantially extended, but are still there and quite satisfying. Midrange is excellent and blends well into both frequency extremes. No bloat or brightness. Soundstaging is good. It favors width slightly to depth and height but still presents a good balance. Depth was not that much better than the Ifi. Height and
overall size of things was definetly better.

The W4S improved things across the board and got rid of a fair amount of the dryness and a bit of thinness that I was not previously aware of. Bass tightened up more. Soundstage noticeably improved as did layering of the soundstage. Focus was quite improved. You could also certainly hear the noise floor drop. The proverbial blacker background etc.

All in all a very pleasing level of performance and value for the dollar.

Ric created substantial expectations as I spoke to him about just how good the mod could be. I followed his website and talked to him every couple of weeks. Suffice it to say he more than exceeded what I expected for $600,(now $700). Mine also does not have the latest clock mod. But after Ric does a few more things he is talking about I will send it back for that upgrade as well.

Without further ado, the improvement is stunning. The Sound is so much more open and dynamic, PRaT is hugely improved. The system disappears in a way I have not previously heard. Bass is far more solid and textural with gut wrenching visceral Slam when the recording calls for it. The stage is dimensional in all directions; Wider, Deeper, Height is proportianal. There is far more layering and Images float more readily in their own unique space. On multi tracked Pop stuff you can easily hear where things exist seperately and are then packaged together. Live recordings are staggering in that you sense you are in the audience of the venue. I love this quality and have never heard it to quite this degree before. On my "Orchestral Manuvers in Dark Live at the Liverpool Museum' this just makes listening to the whole album imperative whenever I put it on. "I am at the concert.' The other one is my "Lindsey Buckingham Live recording at Beverly Hills Theater.'

Well this is all that autosaved and somehow lost other content...so will post more
later.

Happy, Listening,

jgwtriode
 
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