Newbie question: Which gainclone should I build?

[hansolocg]

Hi,

as i could use a good replacement for the small compact stereo system i use at my PC, and would like to build something myself, i came across the chipamps (gainclones).
Now, after several hours (days) of reading and looking around, i still cannot decide, which design i should try.
I often came across the chipamp.com kits (too expensive because of shipping, but someone can produce single layer-PCBs for me), and therefore also the carlosfm-designs, and the My_Ref Rev C from Mauro Penasa.
I like the My_Ref so far, because it includes all the schematics and PCB-layouts for speaker protection and so on. But from what i read, carlosfm's power supplys seem to work really well.
The chipamp.com layout seems to be a bit simpler than its reference by carlos, and uses fewer parts (less caps on the psu for example).
Many other projects use the psu-layout from carlos, which would make it easy and cheap to try and test different modifications in the future, because the transformer and psu-caps are the most expensive parts, apart from the chip itself.

Can you give me any recommendations or directions? Has anyone compared different designs?

[Leolabs]

Start with the most simple configuration.

[Nuuk]

These are my thoughts on the subject!

[hansolocg]

Thanks Nuuk, i've read your pages before, but must have overlooked that article (or maybe its new?). More or less just the information or little encouragement i needed
I think you mentioned, that the inverted GC might cause problems depending on the kind of preamp you use. What would these be? I was going to build the headphone/preamp from blackwidowaudio.com, because the output level of my soundcard is sometimes just too low for my headphones.

[Nuuk]

With the IGC, what comes before the input affects the operation of the amplifier. So the impedence of the pot (for instance), or even the length of interconnect, can affect the sound and performance.

[gainphile]

After 15 years of not touching electronic gear, I built this with much satisfaction:

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Chip/Syn...lone/index.htm

The simplest GC I've seen so far.

But if you want even more simplicity (PCB, etc) have a look at audiosector design:

http://www.audiosector.com/lm3875.shtml

[Dxvideo]

Originally posted by Nuuk
These are my thoughts on the subject!

Did you try SMPS with Pedja's buffered GC? Whats the result?

[Nuuk]

Did you try SMPS with Pedja's buffered GC? Whats the result?

No I didn't try that combination because I am using the discrete regulated PSU with Pedja's GC.

But the SMPS works well with all the GC's I tried it with, and there is no reason to suppose that the type of buffer will affect the performance of the amp PSU!

[Dxvideo]

In fact and as you know I am about to start a GC project with buffer. And planning to use my two MeanWell 24v 4,5A SMPS for this project.
I am worrying about the switching noise with this SMPSs.
So if you consider Pedja's notices about the power supplies especially for the buffer stage then the PSU noise becomes more important.
Another point is; I am taking care even about the capacitors and resistors on every point and still havent made a choice for them then I dont want to make a mistake for a si lly power supply.