Hard Drive based system

I have an Alesis Masterlink as well. If you were to
use it as "the hard drive", what would you have modified
on the box? Would it not be taking advantage of bypassing
the whole "laser reading" process as well as the DAC?

I use the balanced digital out to a Mark Levinson DAC
and it sounds very nice.

The track names and playlist features of the Masterlink
don't compare with that of a server/client package like
Squeezebox however.

Thoughts?

There has been alot of talk in the past on
"Gearslutz" about Masterlink Mods.

One link had this info about the mods being done:

Mine was the first ML Jim mod'd. It was a definite improvement over the stock unit. Specifically, here's what gets done:

- install National LM6172 dual opamps at 3000/us slew rate.

- install larger Rubycon Z series electrolytic caps to extend the low end (and did it ever!!)

- install .01 uf wima poly caps on the input, MIT's on the output.

- increased the power supply bypass caps and installed .1 uf mono ceramic bypasses.

- Bandwidth limiting caps were used on certain stages.

- The opamps used as followers were cut and changed to closed loop buffers.

The converters themselves don't get changed as they're apparently surface mounted to the board and Jim didn't want to risk lifted traces and such. However, the changes he did make do indeed improve the overall sound of the unit - low end is extended noticeably and there's just more overall detail that I can hear.

Joe T.