That's exactly why I keep telling everyone that if they want to drive the HE-6 then the BAL-BAL version of The Wire headphone amp is always going to be your best bet.
The differential output setup gives you twice the voltage swing from the buffers - just over 19 VRMS. Maximum RMS power is current limited to about 3.5W RMS, and I can promise you from personal experience with the HE-6 that the output levels are FAR more than enough. Anyone who claims to need 6W RMS with those headphones is blowing smoke, and I challenge anyone to put those on your head with 6 watts feeding into them
3.5W RMS buys you roughly 118dB continuous SPL. I think that's both a dangerous and silly target to aim for in terms of continuous output levels, but that's just me. Keep in mind that physical pain creeps in just over 110dB and your body will go into panic mode at 120dB as you permanently damage your hearing.
If you really want the extra power, then a pair of parallel buffers in the same arrangement as the BAL-BAL will get you just shy of 7W into the HE-6. Unless you're using them with ear plugs though, I don't see the point.
Cheers,
Owen
The differential output setup gives you twice the voltage swing from the buffers - just over 19 VRMS. Maximum RMS power is current limited to about 3.5W RMS, and I can promise you from personal experience with the HE-6 that the output levels are FAR more than enough. Anyone who claims to need 6W RMS with those headphones is blowing smoke, and I challenge anyone to put those on your head with 6 watts feeding into them
3.5W RMS buys you roughly 118dB continuous SPL. I think that's both a dangerous and silly target to aim for in terms of continuous output levels, but that's just me. Keep in mind that physical pain creeps in just over 110dB and your body will go into panic mode at 120dB as you permanently damage your hearing.
If you really want the extra power, then a pair of parallel buffers in the same arrangement as the BAL-BAL will get you just shy of 7W into the HE-6. Unless you're using them with ear plugs though, I don't see the point.
Cheers,
Owen
That's exactly why I keep telling everyone that if they want to drive the HE-6 then the BAL-BAL version of The Wire headphone amp is always going to be your best bet.
The differential output setup gives you twice the voltage swing from the buffers - just over 19 VRMS. Maximum RMS power is current limited to about 3.5W RMS, and I can promise you from personal experience with the HE-6 that the output levels are FAR more than enough. Anyone who claims to need 6W RMS with those headphones is blowing smoke, and I challenge anyone to put those on your head with 6 watts feeding into them
3.5W RMS buys you roughly 118dB continuous SPL. I think that's both a dangerous and silly target to aim for in terms of continuous output levels, but that's just me. Keep in mind that physical pain creeps in just over 110dB and your body will go into panic mode at 120dB as you permanently damage your hearing.
If you really want the extra power, then a pair of parallel buffers in the same arrangement as the BAL-BAL will get you just shy of 7W into the HE-6. Unless you're using them with ear plugs though, I don't see the point.
Cheers,
Owen
They may be blowing smoke or the spl/mw curve isn't linear but fully I agree the bal-bal headphone amp is superior for this application.
Hello all. Finally I have time and money combined and ordered parts for my SE-SE pcb. Also I will be ordering ODAC in a few days, and have a question. I have decided to use PGA2320 to control the volume. There is a chinese shop that I recently found and it sells the PGA2320 module + controller and pretty cheap must admit. Yuo can watch here what I'm talking about. Also they have the same pga2320 module but with buffer NE5532. So here is the question: will it be fine to use just pga2320 without buffer between ODAC and Wire SE-SE? And what can be a purpose of buffered pga2320 in my situation. I have a feeling that NE5532 can add extra juice to make pga2320 function as a good preamp before a power amp for speakers, is this right? But as I look at the scheme I see some capacitors in the signal path of buffered module. My goal is capless design as possible. It should be better right?
Anyways hope that you guys can help me out so I can continue to build my big bang for buck project.
Best regards!
Alex
Anyways hope that you guys can help me out so I can continue to build my big bang for buck project.
Best regards!
Alex
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While I read nwavguy's articles I still want to use pga. Don't want to loose any bits of information. And anyway i don't like to use volume control in software. Have any ideas on buffered or unbuffered pga? And as price is pretty low plus pga is a lot better then crappy carbon or plastic pots or fake alps.
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PSUxSE Doggy style
For those who have not thought of doing, the PSU can doggy mount the SE pretty nicely and makes a clean and neat combo that's easy to handle or to install in a chassis. All the external wiring points are still easily accessible. It saves the usually unsightly wiring in between the boards, and probably makes The Wire sound more sexy.
The spacers in between the boards are 14-mm in length. I use slim, round spacers as the standard hex profile standoffs will interfere with the E-caps. The power/ground connections between the two can be done with three pieces of single-strand copper wire soldered after bolting the PCBs together. The wires will be running at a slight angle. They do not have a chance of touching the casing of the E-caps as long as the caps are installed up right and straight pieces of wires are used.
For those who have not thought of doing, the PSU can doggy mount the SE pretty nicely and makes a clean and neat combo that's easy to handle or to install in a chassis. All the external wiring points are still easily accessible. It saves the usually unsightly wiring in between the boards, and probably makes The Wire sound more sexy.
The spacers in between the boards are 14-mm in length. I use slim, round spacers as the standard hex profile standoffs will interfere with the E-caps. The power/ground connections between the two can be done with three pieces of single-strand copper wire soldered after bolting the PCBs together. The wires will be running at a slight angle. They do not have a chance of touching the casing of the E-caps as long as the caps are installed up right and straight pieces of wires are used.
Hi Nattawa,
I love the post title, and I like the idea! It's a really clean way of mounting them together.
There was enough PSU adoption this time around that if I ever do it again, I'd probably just integrate the PSU, amp, and a 10VA PTH toroidal transformer all on one board.
I did the separate small board thing to appeal to those who wanted custom supplies, but I do prefer the look and function of a single clean board designed to fit properly in an extruded chassis.
Great work on the soldering too! Very clean job.
Let us know how it sounds when you get some hours in on it!
Cheers,
Owen
I love the post title, and I like the idea! It's a really clean way of mounting them together.
There was enough PSU adoption this time around that if I ever do it again, I'd probably just integrate the PSU, amp, and a 10VA PTH toroidal transformer all on one board.
I did the separate small board thing to appeal to those who wanted custom supplies, but I do prefer the look and function of a single clean board designed to fit properly in an extruded chassis.
Great work on the soldering too! Very clean job.
Let us know how it sounds when you get some hours in on it!
Cheers,
Owen
Very true. I'm going to be trying out the Odac once it arrives and it needs to see a minimum of 5K impedance, 10K+ would be better.
Just reporting back after finally sorting out some unrelated problems further up the signal path.
The BAL-SE board I posted about late last month lives and produces some absolutely beautiful music! Now I just need to get my headphones back from qusp
before I give any more impressions since I've only used cheap ear buds and my wife's headphones so far.Having heard it briefly SWMBO has now asked that I put together a DAC and BAL-SE headphone amp for her desk also!
Thanks opc!
Yep, it's just as I suspected. A nice box of Wire pcb's and related bits
Thoughts going foward... ODAC > Wire se-se [used as HPA & pre] > Wire Power Amp.
The Odac should arrive Monday or Tuesday, so I can appraise its performace over the next week etc. Plus, we have the Queen's Diamond Jubilee BH next week, so will have time to get the Power Amp boards assembled, but will need to get a bench supply to test it.
Paul
Thoughts going foward... ODAC > Wire se-se [used as HPA & pre] > Wire Power Amp.
The Odac should arrive Monday or Tuesday, so I can appraise its performace over the next week etc. Plus, we have the Queen's Diamond Jubilee BH next week, so will have time to get the Power Amp boards assembled, but will need to get a bench supply to test it.
Paul
The Wire PA
Well I was going to wait until next weeks bank holiday but I couldn't resist putting the two boards together.
Due to putting my apartment up for sale, just about all building and buying bits is on hold. Could be 1 month or 1 year before I get to start on the amp again
1 - ready to go with the schematic and build guid on display.
2 - base, the LME isn't fully soldered.
3 - top, going with SE AC coupled input.
Well I was going to wait until next weeks bank holiday but I couldn't resist putting the two boards together.
Due to putting my apartment up for sale, just about all building and buying bits is on hold. Could be 1 month or 1 year before I get to start on the amp again
1 - ready to go with the schematic and build guid on display.
2 - base, the LME isn't fully soldered.
3 - top, going with SE AC coupled input.
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