Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

right, could be a problem. narrow to wide adaption will be a little bit annoying.

are you sure with your original 470uF Vcom filter caps? mine has 47uF/16V in it.
All the others caps are the same in the 56

[Khron]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

Yeah, i'm pretty sure about that. These would be the four 8mm diameter caps, in-between the 5 ADC/DAC chips, in the middle of my Pro 40 board (see the pic in the first post). I doubt 47u/16v would be so "fat" The 47u/16v are usually 5mm, or 6.3mm diameter, max

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

interesting.
I even thought you accidentally interchanged Filt+ and Vcom because this is what the Saffire 56 got there:
Filt+ filter caps for the codecs : 47uF 16V
Vcom filter caps for the codecs: tiny blue 10uF 16V

[Khron]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

My guess is they got designed at different points in time, hence the possible different component value choices

PS: What's the model of that square chip near the ADAT i/o? And is that black rectangular device near the S/PDIF i/o a relay, or what?

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

chip is a DSPB56374AF and yes it's a relay.

here's a picture of the preamp board. All in all, a total of 144 capacitors and 48 opamps.

[Khron]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

Aha, that must be handling the "liquid" channels then. Thanks for the info

I really wish the 40 had a 2nd ADAT i/o, though

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

what are you using the ADAT i/o for?

[Khron]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

I'm planning an "extension" with, in my case, 4 other mic preamps. It'd be nice to have two ADAT in's, for an extra 8x96k

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

Just finished my PSU and decoupling update and tested it a acoustically treated studio surrounding.
I expected to find a subtle improvement in sound, but man this is HUGE!

[Khron]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

Difference in the outputs? Or have you finished re-capping the analog input board as well?

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

Yes. Only a few caps left to do now .. a day of work.

[Khron]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

I'd really like to get a (close) look inside an OctoPre Mk.II Dynamic, though

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

OctpPre is a really nice unit too! Had it but sold it because I didnt need that much inputs anylonger.

Here's my conclusion after changing all caps:
Overall it improved the saffire enormous.

I found changing the input cap didn't make a huge difference. To me the mids got cleaner and more defined on the inputs. But I will measure this in addition later.

Since I did the recap stepwise to compare it directly, I was really impressed how the sound improved after changing the power supply caps on PSU and on the mainboard inputs.
Strangely after this step my very normal software bug with the mixControl disappeared!
(I had to switch syncSource to ADAT or Word Clock and back to Internal to get an output after turning it on.)
Maybe there was a bigger problem with the power supply here?!

For now I am waiting for some LM4562 i found fairly cheap hoping they will fit the wide body pining in the saffire

[lti]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

I think the old caps might have been bad. Replacing good caps wouldn't have caused that much of a change in sound quality.

[Khron]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

4562's are in narrow SOIC, so... Good luck

About the OctoPre, i was / am mostly interested in the "Dynamic" part of things, ie. the compression The plain one should be pretty straightforward, 8 pre's and some ADC's, plus an ADAT converter or two...

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

they do fit. no problem at all. seems the board was designed for both sizes cause the pins soldering surfaces are long.

finished one preamp using the lm4562 compared it to the stock njm2122 preamp.
difference is obvious. the 4562 really shines. slightly more output and MUCH less noise. the 2122 sounds covered and thin. hard to describe but 4562 is worth its dollar

so I'm gonna get a lot of these and change them.

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

Additionally: I hate soldering smd.

how do you desolder these little chips in between all the caps?!?

[Khron]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

Hot air station Got one from China (fleaBay) about a year and a half ago, it was ~60eu including customs and whatnot... and it already more than paid for itself

Soldering's easy, especially for SOICs

Before you mod all the channels, try leaving a 2122 in place, and just changing the other opamps around it (are they 4565's in the 56 as well?). I'm curious which parts have what effects

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

yes, 2122 on each preamps. after that 3x4565 on the liquids and 2x4565 on the 6 other inputs.
then there are 21 (?!dont understand why and how) 4565 for the 10 outputs.
SIP NJM4556 for headphones. These sound very good to me. is there a good replacement?!

first smd soldering for me. but it worked

[PhilippHoeger]

Re: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 re-cap

changing the 2122 made the biggest improvement. replacing the 4565 enhanced it furthermore, but wasn't a big step up as the 2122.
I made some speaking samples with a mic to compare it after all.