Clarion DRX9255EXL (Part 2) Restoration Process & Capacitor Upgrade

I really amazed to the sound quality of Clarion DRX9255EXL. The main reason why it is sound so good is because the dual PCM1702 DAC inside this unit. The PCM1702 is multibit R2R DAC which naturally built for high performance audio or professional audio user aiming the best possible audio quality playback. It is totally different animal compares to the more simple, cheaper and popular Delta Sigma DAC. Hi-end audio manufacture which also aim the same things are mostly using this kind R2R DAC for serving their most demanding customer.

After my initial review from this used Clarion DRX9255EXL here, I know this unit is really promising. The sound is very analog and musical which I've never heard ever before. So in this post I will restore this unit. The first step is by changing the capacitors, which the previous owner had firstly replaced them to the cheap non-polar capacitor. I also clean this unit as much as possible to looks like new. At the end this unit will stay in my home audio system, so it should look nice.

Clarion DRX9255EXL (Part 1) The R2R DAC PCM1702

You might wondering where do I start to find these original R2R DAC chip now days?

Personally I don't trust most IC seller in online market. They are either selling fakes, or original but in nonsense sky rocket price. So the simply and cheapest way to find those multibit DAC IC is inside the working unit which already using those DAC IC.

The car audio is a great to start to find those great DAC and this PCM1702 is inside the Clarion DRX9255EXL. This unit is the hi-end car audio CD player built in 1996. It has 20 bit dual PCM1702 DAC.

And why car audio? This is because the car audio manufacture can selling their product cheaper than home audio. It doesn't require large and heavy transformer for linear power supply like home audio does. This is resulting lighter and small package car audio components that can shipped cheaper around the world.

When this Clarion released 26 years ago, I believe the price is should be very expensive for a car audio equipment. But lucky me, times passes by and I can bought this unit for only US$110.

Modern Delta Sigma DAC Vs. Vintage Multibit DAC

The DAC is the major components in the audio system. It determined how the whole audio system will sounds like. The analogy is close to the analog source such as the turntable, which the phono stage and the needle are playing major rules in how the audio system sounds like. Then in digital source, the DAC is having the same function as the phono stage, of course without neglecting others components besides the DAC in the audio system such as the amplifier and the speakers. But in this post, I will focusing only at the DAC.

Pioneer AVH-G115DVD (Part 2) Capacitor Upgrade

On the previous post, I talked about the internal of this Pioneer AVH-G115DVD here. This is quite surprise for me that this low end car multimedia is using a dedicated DAC IC from Wolfson WM8761. Although this type of DAC is not superior but think again, when all others cheap multimedia player mostly using all in one IC for handling all the  job in the player including the DAC, but Pioneer has more elegant approach by using separate DAC. This is for one reason, is the better sound.

So, in this post, I will replace few capacitors that I think will improve the sound quality of this unit. I bought several capacitors for this upgrade, not much, only 2 pieces Elna Silmic 0.47uF for signal and 3 pieces Nichicon FW 3,300uF for power supply filter.

Pioneer AVH-G115DVD (Part 1) Internal Components Review

I bought this Pioneer AVH-G115DVD here almost a year ago and this is the lowest grade of Pioneer car multimedia line up.

When I put inside my car, it look nice and modern compares to my previous head unit the Sony CDX-CA900 here. Although the Sony sound much better than this Pioneer, but I can accept using this Pioneer AVH-G115DVD because this multimedia head unit is the simplest way to listening the music on car. I can now playing downloaded DIVX movie copied to a USB thumb drive. There is no more stacking CD or separate portable audio device in my car to play music.

So in this post, I will open it and see what component inside.