[Review] Mf Xdacv3 & X10v3 Modified By Zanash

Mf Xdacv3 & X10v3 Modified By Zanash

Around Two Years ago I posted a review on Zerogain Forum for my Musical Fidelity X Series Units XDACV3, X10V3, XPSUV3. And To sum it up quickly, I was impressed with the sound of the Three Units together. So you are probably asking what prompted me into having mod's done on the XDACV3, X10V3. Well bare with me for a bit, as it's all to do a Zerogain Forum Member “Zanashâ€Â.

Zanash is one of those nice blokes you don't often bump into these days, just checkout Zerogain and it's riddled with replies from Zanash offering advise on Cables, Mod's etc. In short he is a true HI-FI Fan that's been DIYing for some 25 Years with cables, and his friends and own equipment. He is certainly a rare breed these days.
It all started for me when I decided to take Zanash up on an offer on one of his DIY Digital coaxial cables which he kindly built for me. To be Honest, I was surprised that it did improved things quite a bit.

This then lead to me making my own Solid Silver Interconnects (Replaced my Van Den Hull D102MKIII) wiring inside the XDACV3 & X10V3. This made a Hugh difference, I was enjoying better Detail, Speed …Well Everything. I couldn't help myself after that, I made some Solid Silver Bi Wired Speaker Cables (Replaced my QED 25th Ann Silver cable) and then to top it off, I then replaced the cheap PSU cables that run from the MF XPSUV3 with yes two cables made of …1mm Sold Silver.( Cable Non – Believers can now open there eyes)

Well the end result, I was enjoying little bits of detail I had never enjoyed before, this is when after talks with Zanash I decided to send both X Units for to him to modify. Zanash had modified an earlier version of his own MF XDAC, and had improved the sound by some margin. So I imagined Zanash was interested to see what had changed under the hood of the XDAC some three versions on. Know doubt Zanash will add to this, he described the XDACV3 as having the attack of the accountants, cheap parts a plenty!! The Good news being he could improve things quite simply, the Bad news it's going to cost money, £60 which isn't too much. The X10V3 was done after the XDACV3, and presented Zanash with a few problems, the X10V3 seemed to have a major design floor, and was slowly cooking the PCB board!! Thankfully Zanash managed to get this sorted out…Thank God!
I will leave Zanash to comment on what mod's were done where etc and his opinion on the Sound before & after Sound.

Before I kick off with the review, I decided to test X Units using the Wall Warts Units that MF Supply when you first purchase the units, why I hear you ask? Well there seems to be a myth going around on the Rock Grotto Forum that there is no difference compared to using the XPSUV3 and being that I found adding the XPSUV3 before the Mods were carried out made a big difference, I was interested to test this out with my own ears……so read on.

You can probably imagine my excitement when my Units returned. First up I connected the XDACV3 using the wall wart unit. Straight away it was clear to my ears that the sound of XDACV3 had really improved, the bass that was always lean when using the Wall Wart unit, and had now really beefed up, Dynamics and Speed had seemed to have improved, it reminded of a similar sound I had experienced when I used all 3 Units prior to them being modified, which is pretty impressive of starters. My next step was to get rid of the wall wart, and connect up the XPSUV3, straight away there was the usual improvement that have experienced using the XPSUV3, better Dynamics, Lower noise Floor, and simply more Air & Space around Vocals, although it must be said these differences didn't seem as big prior to the XDACV3 being modified, I put this down to the DAC now having better parts fitted.
Another worth while Mod for the XPSUV3, is to change the PSU connection cables, you will be surprised at what an improvement this makes, even prior to me having the units modified.
So enter the X10V3, when I first connected the X10V3 & XDACV3 together, I did a bit of a double take, Before the Mods adding the X10V3 really improved things, after a few plays of different CD's, I can report that X10V3 now offers a different presentation, rather than the big improvement it did offer prior to the mods, it's not noticeable straight away, again I believe this is another case of the XDACV3 being improved. So after a lot of listening between units I decided to stick to the X10V3 output. I put this down to the 6112 Valves inside, they seem to and extra air and space to vocals, little details really, the tail end of reverb or delay can be detected. The bass end of things seem to be under control better as well, although I must point out this varied from CD to CD. I found the sound of The XDACV3 soundstage to be smaller without the X10V3. In the end, I guess the differences are down to personal taste, with the XDACV3 sounding more Digital.

So there you have it, I would say a BIG YES to anyone thinking of having this mods done, I'm sure that Zanash will provide the information to anyone who is interested in doing the mods, you can't loose really as I'm sure I would have to pay a lot more £££ to obtain this improved level of sound quality. All thanks to Zanash…


Music Used for testing
Janis Joplin Pearl
Dusty Springfield Boxset
Sweetmouth
Van Morrison Days Like This

EQUIPMENT USED
MUSICAL FIDELITY X10V3, XDACV3, XPSU. WALLWART UNIT PSU
PIONEER A300R PRECISION AMP TOM EVANS FULL MONTY MOD
MERIDIAN 500 MK2 TRANSPORT FITTED WITH TRICHORD CLOCK4 & NC SUPPLY
MONITOR AUDIO 20 SEC SPEAKER
ZANASH SILVER SPEAKER CABLES & SILVER I/C DESIGN.

 

I'm glad you like the "new" sound. As you say its mainly because the units appear to have been built down to a price, or maybe not to upset the heirachy of MF gear....no point in your budget range outperforming the higher stuf.

The units were mostly easy to work on ....but with hind sight I'd do the 10xv3 heat sinks differently. I had not noticed that the hot transistors were neither level nor equi spaced, so having drilled out the heat sinks I found they would not fit....but after much bodging and swearing the things were fitted, I'm certain the unit sounded better too. From a hot 80degrees the 10x now runs at a comfortable 30 degrees c.

The real winner was the dac....quite a transformation, due mainly to the removal of the diode bridge and the output cap. If people are interested in the mod I'll put something in writing.

Thank's must also go to STELLABAGPUSS for letting me loose on his kit !

cheers mate !

 

strange things are a foot.............

The forum alluded to in Stellarbagpuss's post has just banned me ?

I also recieved the following email

Hi Peter,

A few forum rules:

Strictly NO posting about mods (paid, unpaid, whatever) that compete with my own mods. I think that should have been common sense? I have built my site and reputation up over 6 years and will not allow unsolicited self promotion and advertising of audio products or services under my roof.

My advice would be to get a website up and do it the hard way like I had to do. Get a reputation by being good at what you do and do it off your own back, it's a lot more satisfying in the long run.

All the best.

Mike.

I think that says it all ......

Which is odd because I've not posted any comments following stellarbagpuss recieving his gear.

So as a heads up to any other users of that forum, is not at all what it seems.

 

Yes, I have to echo that Zanash, I posted the same review twice, and was told that I has broken Forum Rules "This was when I posted The review the 2nd Time", I wasn't given any email or warning it was just taken off ! Then the invention of new rules. Then a email from Mike of Rock Grotto, ranting "That he hasn't spent 6 years buliding the site, for us to under mine it"...Very strange...since I was only offering a review,on his review section on his forum !! It still makes me laugh, even 4 weeks on !
Mike hasn't responded to my email's to the reason, he has banned me from the forum,just for writing a review !! Even funnier, Zanash has been banned for modding my equipment, and doing nothing else !

 

Guys - congrats on a successful mod. I own a very similar system, and having started down a similar road - having had my CDP modded very successfully - I'm interested to read of suitable mods possible elsewhere in the X-foodchain.

A couple of X-10v3 questions - Zanash can you give any more info on the nature of the overheating problem, mine runs just warm to the touch (outer casing), and wonder if later versions are exempt from this problem?

Also, one of the valves is on the way out - have you (or anyone?)any experience of changing these? I'm concerned about screwing-up the PCB tracks - any hints?

cheers, eofs

 

I have to say it smarts a bit especially as he was interested in a cable design .....maybe he's planning on ripping it off ?

I did think it a little below the belt to then publish private emails too...but I've nothing to hide.

I just hope he doesn't screw Graham Slee, who seems to be posting on his site.

 

HI EARL, NO DOUBT ZANASH WILL BE AROUND SHORTLY. HE RECENTLY POSTED INFORMATION ON THE FORUM IN REGARDS TO THE PROBLEM WITH THE UNIT OVERHEATING,WHICH HE DISCOVERED ON MY UNIT,THANKFULLY HE MANAGED TO SORT THIS OUT.
ANYWAY,IT'S A SIMPLE MOD, AND I'M AFRAID ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PENNY PINCHING BY MF....HERE IS THE LINK...CUE ZANASH

https://www.audio-forums.com/as-rediect/showthread.php?t=12522

AND YES ZANASH, WHO KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON IN "MIKE" HEAD, O WELL, LETS JUST DRAW A LINE UNDER IT ALL, AND MOVE ON. I WOULDN'T WORRY, BAD NEWS ALWAYS TRAVELS FAST!

 

Thanks guys, will be looking into these mods/rescue remedies.

churz, eofs

 

Fitting the heatsinks to the 4 transisitors is a must, I believe Zanash managed to get the temp down to 30c, after fitting. The X10v3 seems to be alot less fidley to work on, there are big gains to be had by changing the internal wiring to Silver, and Changing the Caps Over,damping the case.Plus other bit and pieces, you can PM if you like some photo's.

 

Zanash has very kindly PM'd me, so I'll (literally) be looking into it; I need to find a cheap source of 6112 double triodes first though, because one of mine has an intermittant fault
Want to do all the work at the same time...

Yes please to the photos, and any of your modded X-DAC too please Will PM my email addy.

churz, eofs

 

Hi Zanash,

Ever modified any of the X-A2 MF amplifiers?

 

Not yet !........

Though amps do respond to tweaks and mods its not as clear cut sometimes as dac's and cdps.

the obvious areas are the psu, internal cabling and vol pot

What are mf using as the pot ?

 

zanash,

I would be interested in your mod procedure as well as pics for the X-DACv3 and X-10v3. You can PM me if you wish!

Thanks!

 

Zanash wrote:

Did you copy the guy's suggested MF modifications? Perhaps this is what he is annoyed about given he sells MF upgrade kits as a business venture.

Then again there's no intellectual copyright on these ideas AFAIK.

 

You jest ...the chap is a plonker, nuff said

Ah mosfet my man ............funny you should appear again are you Shi* stirring or is it social this time?

I've just demoed the green pen to one of your strong adherents.....you know, much to his supprise he could clearly hear the effect in his system.

It's therefore a little sad because he now see's you in a new light.

 

No Doubt Zanash will be along to confrim this mosfet, Zanash didn't copy Mike's modifcations, and I can confrim this as they were my units that were modified. The only similar part fitted are the Panasonic FC caps, and thats in the X10V3 only,mike dosen't do XDACV3 mods. Also Mike dosen't re-wire the internal cable, plus a few more components are changed and added. So there is no copying in designs here, if anything my X10V3 has changed again (Changed Audio In & OUT caps).
The simple truth, Mike from Rock Grotto seemed to be under the impression that Zanash was running a business, of course Mike is running a business, it's seems he just pressed the panic button, without finding out the facts first. He never replied to my emails, to why I was banned. Still it's water under the bridge now. I look back, and think of it as a funny affair......Some People.

 

You seemed completely nonplussed as to the reason for your banning zanash. If you've copied the mans modifications then there's your reason.

Yes? Great! Get out more

 

I've always found Mike (Pinky Floyd ) to be a nice, friendly, helpful chap.

I was glad to stumble upon his site a few years ago and used the details on his website to do the mods to my X-Can v1 headphone amp and also used his design of an X-PSU Clone, both of which i still use.
aving owned an X-PSU in the past his design for a clone is a much cheaper alternative, good job too as the X-PSU is one of the biggest waste of money upgrades I've ever tried - it did precisely nothing to the sound despite extensive listening tests with headphones. Luckily i managed to flog mine off to another e-bay punter and even made a little money on the deal - phew !

I think there is room enough for everybody and am glad that folk such as Mike , Zanash and all the others are out there trying things out and pushing the boundries of possibilities, and giving some of us less inventive DIYers something to try or at least think about.......

 

Thanks ........

And yes he seemed that way just before he took his ball home !