PerfectWave DAC Mk II Upgrade Kit Thank you for purchasing the PerfectWave DAC Mk II upgrade kit. The instructions that follow will assist you through the modifications necessary to upgrade your DAC to the DAC Mk II. If you have any questions concerning your kit or the instructions please don’t hesitate to call us at PS Audio. We recommend you first watch the installation videos and then use this handbook as a guide. The first video to watch is how to remove the digital input board.
Your Kit Should Include the Following 2, 1A, Slow Blow Gold Fuses 1, DAC Mark II Name Plate 1, 1.5” X 0.
2, Pieces Copper Tape 2, M2.5 Phillips Pan Head Metric Screws 1, 4-24 X 3/8” Tapping Screw 2, M3-0.
1, White cleaning cloth
1, Upgrade manual 1, DAC II Input Board 1, PerfectWave Remote control II 1, Wrist Strap 1, 1, 9/16” wrench 1, ½” open end wrench 1, Plastic Tweezers The Mezzanine Board.
The I2S cables Type A Type B
Remove the Top Cover 1. Unplug your DAC from its power source and unplug the AC line cord from the rear panel of the DAC. 2. Find or create a padded work surface such as a table with a piece of carpet or rug. 3. Place your DAC upside down on the white cleaning cloth with the rear panel facing towards you. 4. With the Phillips screw driver, remove the four 4-40 flat head screws shown in circles below. No need to save these screws your kit has new ones. 5.
9. Unscrew the 4 pieces of all thread from the top cover bracket and set aside. 10. Wiggle and pull the top cover ground wire from the grounding block. Note: Some DACs have this ground wire and some do not. 11. Retrieve any pieces of gasket material that may have come off the top cover and fallen into the unit. There should be 9 pieces of gasket material on the top panel in the locations shown below. Replace the loose pieces by pressing them back over the bracket where they came from.
17. Using your thumb and index finger, carefully rock the J10 ribbon cable back and forth out of the header as shown right. 18. Using the same method, unplug ribbon cable J11. 19. Unplug the ribbon cable from J13 of the old input board and J3 of the analog board below. The J13 cable will not be reused. Use ½” open end wrench 20. Remove the three 6-32 screws (squares) that hold the old board to the 3 spacers. 21. Lift the board out of the chassis moving it away from the rear panel.
25. 26. The I2S cable is labeled with four acronyms. 27. 1.MCK (Blue) 2.BCK (Yellow)3.DAT (Red) 4.LRCK (White). 28. These acronyms will correspond to the colour code on the new MKll digital board I2S input coaxial sockets. Type B Analog output board. 29. You’ll note that the type B board has a 16 pin socket on the right hand side (looking from the rear of the unit) between the metal support posts labeled J2 . 30. If your Analog DAC board has this socket you will use the long (6 inch/15cm) I2S cable.
31. 32. The I2S cable is colour coded and will correspond to the colour code on the new MKll digital board I2S input coaxial sockets. Installing the new Digital Board. We recommend that you take a few moments to view the Perfect Wave MK ll upgrade videos on YouTube these are accessible from www.psaudio.com. If you have a Type A analog board, follow the next procedure. If you have a type B analog board, skip the next procedure and move to the Type B analog board procedure following this section.
The first step in the process of the Type A analog board is to connect the new Mark II digital Input board to the Type A analog board. To do this you will connect the supplied short I2S cable between the Digital Input board and the analog board. The short I2S cable looks like this: It is important to make sure the 4 wires are connected properly for the upgrade to work. Each of the wires are labeled to match the corresponding connections on the new Mark II Digital Input board.
42. This photograph shows a correctly installed I2s coax cable. Move on to the final assembly section next and bypass the Type B assembly section. Type B analog board procedure The following removed your MK1 Digital input board and have a type B analog J3 instructions assume you have Polarizing Tab board. The first step in the B analog model is to connect the I2S coaxial cable and mezzanine board assembly between the type B analog board and the new Mark II Digital Input board.
47. Reconnect the original J10 and J11 ribbon cables so the assembly process between the two boards is now complete. 48. Copper Tape. (see photograph on page 12) Take one piece of copper tape, the other is a spare, and peel the backing off the self-sticking adhesive copper tape, form the tape to an “L” shape, and press the tape into the gap between the USB connector and the rear panel as shown below to ensure the gap is sealed.
52. Put the black washer on the RCA connecter followed by the gold nut. 53. Place the 1.5” X 0.755 nylon washer over the outside of the double “D” nut and use the ½” open end wrench to tighten the nut on the RCA connector; do not over tighten, it only needs to be snug, about ½ turn. Changing the Fuses 54. Lift off the fuse cover and fuse with the back of the tweezers shown below left. Note: Both of the fuses are the same so you don’t need to worry about mixing them up. 55.
Place the DAC Mk II Label 64. Peel the back from the DAC Mk II label and place it on the rear panel of your DAC in the location shown below. Press Back and Down EMI Foam Rear Flange EMI Gasket Foam Inside the Chassis Firmware Update 65. Plug your DAC back into the power source. 66. Remove the SD card from your DAC if you have one installed. Press to eject. You will no longer need this SD card. Place Label here 67. Insert the SD card with the new firmware that came with your kit into your DAC.
Checking System Information 69. Turn the rear panel switch OFF and then ON again. Once the “INITIALIZING” screen appears, tap the center of the display to enter the information screen shown below. 70. The “Unit ID:” number should match the unit UID label on the rear panel and your DAC. You should also see a Bootloader version, a Firmware version, a CPLD version, a USB version, and a Bridge version if your DAC has a bridge card installed. The screen below is an example; some of your values will be different.
