The Objective2 (O2) Headphone Amp DIY Project

This is about markets as well, few people have ever heard of a headphone amplifier, I made a CMOY for my brothers 50th birthday, and he’s been listening to music seriously for 40 of those years and was astounded at the little amp and how much it improved his Walkman sound quality. When I told him I had made it myself and it cost less than £30, (plus I put it in a Jack Daniel’s 1 oz tobacco tin, his favourite drink btw)he was amazed. He asked me what I would charge for making a couple for him to give as gifts to his friends. So I thought about it and said £100 each. Of course that price is what I would expect to make in profit, I’m not making a special gift for my brother I’m making them to be passed on, there’s a big difference.
What you have to bare in mind with these projects is the things you have to do / buy besides just assembling them.
· Finding the parts ( the right parts not the cheapest)
· Dealing with suppliers
· Ordering them.
· Missing the delivery and having to drive to the local post office depot to pick them up.
· Trawling eBay for the correct enclosures.
· Sorting the parts.
· Soldering the parts.
· Assembling the enclosures and amp.
· Testing the amp.
· Advertising them.
· Packaging them.
· Hauling them to the courier.
· Dealing with unsatisfied customers.
· Collecting the money.
· Accountancy
· Marketing
· Creating spread sheets to keep track of all the parts you have and need.
· Space and equipment for the assembly.
· Tools.
I’m sure I could find more, but that’s the point I made to my brother, there’s a huge difference between audiophile enthusiasm for a fantastic little piece of electronics also I might point out you know it’s fantastic you have to convince other people they are and that’s hard with audio as its mostly subjective. Which gets me back to the market, how many people know how good an O2 amp is ? Chances are it’s because they have listened to one, and the chances are that was either made by themselves or by some who could quite easily make one for them. So the market itself is extremely narrow, people who know what the O2 amp is , don’t want to make one themselves and understand its quality because of statistics. That’s a very small market.
 
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LOL and when you go the part page its says
Customers Also Bought

ALUMINIUM INSTRUMENT HOUSING
BOX ENCLOSURES B2-080BK
Yes, I noticed that - rather ironic, considering that I had to wait 3 months for them to deliver 2 of them! I gather from a comment on one of the other forums that they had a problem at the factory in making the last batch of these, which caused the delay.
 
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Odac sized usb hole

Anyone got any ideas for making an ODAC sized USB hole for the rear faceplate?

I successfully drilled holes for the frontplate. However, a drill is all I have so right now it seems like I'm going to have to drill a large, round hole for the ODAC usb port and then find some way of making a surround (perhaps with a glue gun). Any suggestions on making surrounds would be great also.
 
Anyone got any ideas for making an ODAC sized USB hole for the rear faceplate?

I successfully drilled holes for the frontplate. However, a drill is all I have so right now it seems like I'm going to have to drill a large, round hole for the ODAC usb port and then find some way of making a surround (perhaps with a glue gun). Any suggestions on making surrounds would be great also.

Maybe drilling the corner holes for the USB socket and then chisel and file out the rest?