Genesis/Megadrive audio comparison recordings. CCAM, stock consoles, mods and more...

[MaxWar]

Update:

Added a few files:

Mega turrican Intro for Stock Model 2 Va3
Mega turrican Intro for Stock Model 1 Va7
DnD Warriors of the eternal sun for Stock Model 2 Va3
Mega turrican Intro for CCAM Model 2 Va3
Thunder Force IV- level 1a for CCAM Model 2 Va3

Latest observation: The Model 2 VA3, despite being a 3/4 motherboard, has the same 315-5660 FC1004 ASIC as the Model 2 Va0,1,1.8. The stock console has better sound than the earlier model 2, but installing a CCAM on it gives the same result. The sound and interference pattern in the Model 2 VA3 with CCAM is the same as those earlier model 2, there is no practical difference for sound between all those revisions.

[MaxWar]

Added recordings of the Original CCAM circuit. For both the Model 2 VA1 and the Model 1 VA3 modded to use Discrete YM3438.
Those differ from my previous CCAM recordings which had been done with more filtering on the treble.

Those new files are more representative of what CCAM "should" be.

[fluxcore]

A few of my own recordings, if you're interested.

All are PAL consoles, so the power is 50Hz. Recorded into a Focusrite Scarlett interface, to an iPad with Focusrite Tape (which appears to only record to .m4a, so no lossless sorry, but the difference is plainly noticable anyway). Also I wasn't careful about keeping the L/R audio consistent, whoops :/

Test sample is intro of Thunderforce III, and stage select music.

MD1 VA6.8 stock audio: https://soundcloud.com/lanosk/tfiii-md1-va6-5
MD2 VA1.8PAL stock audio: https://soundcloud.com/lanosk/tfiii-stock-md2-v1-8
MD2 VA1.8PAL w/CCAM: https://soundcloud.com/lanosk/tfiii-ccam-md2-v1-8

I can't pick between whether I prefer MD1 or CCAM MD2, but they are a bit different. MD1 is a bit... less pure? Which in some ways has its own charm. Stock MD2 frankly just sounds bad when compared to either.

[SEGA-Jorge]

CCAM sounds really impressive in those TFIII examples. MD2 really does show that drop in quality, it's rather grainy with a lot of noise. This is just more reason to stock up on those model 1 HDG consoles while you can.

[MaxWar]

A few of my own recordings, if you're interested.

All are PAL consoles, so the power is 50Hz. Recorded into a Focusrite Scarlett interface, to an iPad with Focusrite Tape (which appears to only record to .m4a, so no lossless sorry, but the difference is plainly noticable anyway). Also I wasn't careful about keeping the L/R audio consistent, whoops :/

Test sample is intro of Thunderforce III, and stage select music.

MD1 VA6.8 stock audio: https://soundcloud.com/lanosk/tfiii-md1-va6-5
MD2 VA1.8PAL stock audio: https://soundcloud.com/lanosk/tfiii-stock-md2-v1-8
MD2 VA1.8PAL w/CCAM: https://soundcloud.com/lanosk/tfiii-ccam-md2-v1-8

I can't pick between whether I prefer MD1 or CCAM MD2, but they are a bit different. MD1 is a bit... less pure? Which in some ways has its own charm. Stock MD2 frankly just sounds bad when compared to either.

Your CCAM sounds just as filtered as the model 1. Did you get the CCAM from RetroGamer343 by any chance?

[fluxcore]

Your CCAM sounds just as filtered as the model 1. Did you get the CCAM from RetroGamer343 by any chance?

Correct! You know what you're talking about It's his most recent revision. Have you got some more information on the mod you performed to it?

[MaxWar]

Correct! You know what you're talking about It's his most recent revision. Have you got some more information on the mod you performed to it?

If you look at the original CCAM schematics, you will notice two 0.022uf caps. One for each channel.




What RetroGamer did is replace those caps by higher value ones. I do not remember exactly what values he used. This is what makes the CCAM sound more like a model 1.
I guess some people would prefer that or consider it "more authentic" but personally I like it the way Tiido originally made it with 0,022 uf caps.

So I just replaced those. If you want to compare both Original and filtered version you can check my samples on the first page.

[evildragon]

I prefer the filtered sound.

However, looking at that board, I have to say, the PCB layout isn't as good as it could be. It has no ground planes for example. It really should.

[retrogamer343]

Just so everyone is aware the filtering caps used on my ccam are indeed .022uf. The board is built off of Tiido's schematic with nothing changed at all. The only possibility might be that I was sent the wrong value. There are no markings on the caps but the packaging is indeed labeled .022uf.

Also the board layout is made to make it as easy to etch as possible. At the moment these boards are completely built by hand by me and it takes a lot of time to print/etch/cut and assemble these boards. I do plan to revise the board in the next few months and have the board made at a fab house. I think I can get the board size almost cut in half and make it a little cheaper. There will also indeed be a ground plane. I learned from my early boards that making them at home with a ground plane was very difficult and my success rate was about 50% and since updating the layout my rate is know nearly 100%.

[MaxWar]

I had checked the caps on the board you sold me with my multimeter and if I remember correctly Maybe they are like 0.22 uf instead of 0.022 uf. I might be mistaken and sadly I do not have the caps anymore so cannot recheck.

[retrogamer343]

I had checked the caps on the board you sold me with my multimeter and if I remember correctly Maybe they are like 0.22 uf instead of 0.022 uf. I might be mistaken and sadly I do not have the caps anymore so cannot recheck.

Thanks for that info. I'm actually all out of those caps and need to order some more. Hopefully they will be the correct rating. Unfortunately my hearing is not good and I cannot distinguish or even hear certain pitches so I need to count on others to let me know when there is a problem.