"The Wire" Ultra-High Performance Headphone Amplifier - PCB's

opc

Member
Joined 2004
Paid Member
I agree 100% with Andrew... a 2mm chisel tip is perfect for everything on those boards.

You will have difficulty getting enough heat into the joints with a fine point tip, although some people seem to prefer them. I suppose it depends on technique, experience, and whatever you learned with.

Glad the boards arrived in good order!

Regards,
Owen
 
I removed the big caps on output side of the PSU. I prefer it this way. For me this is a lot better withe the BAL-BAL. Bass absolutely still there just more precise and defined without any boom. There was something bothering me with the sound but now its relay clean and uncolored.

Interesting. I'm going to build my second SE-SE soon and I want to reduce the turn-on/off noise I'm hearing on my first build (which apparently gets louder with bigger output caps). I was thinking about going down to 330uF (just like in PSU v1). Could someone explain why v2 has bigger input (3300uF vs 1200uF) and output (3300uF vs 330uF) caps?
 
I just tested everything and my SE-SE is up and running and sound great! Now I just need to get it mounted in an enclosure and wired up and another "Wire" will be born:) I ordered a nice aluminum enclosure but it will take a few weeks to get here from China so I picked up this cheap plastic enclosure from Radio Shack to use in the mean time. I have a quick question about grounding in a plastic enclosure. Normally I would attach a safety ground wire from the IEC input jack to the metal enclosure but obviously that won't work with a plastic enclosure so where should I attach the ground?
c4e2bba9af789f7259ef40a59b30fa7e_zps49675b15.jpg
 
All exposed conductive parts must be connected to Safety Earth.

Do you have any exposed conductive parts?
Makes me wonder if the metal parts of the headphones must also be safety earthed, via the amp?

Nope no exposed conductive parts the enclosure is completely plastic. I got it wired up using a two prong power cable and it's dead silent so I think Ill just leave it alone since this enclosure is only temporary.
 
All exposed conductive parts must be connected to Safety Earth.

not true - just look at most DVD/universal Disc players today - 2 wire IEC - no safety gnd connection at all and metal cases

does require double/reinforced insulation speced parts, construction measures to secure mains side wiring from contacting the case in any single point/joint failure


3-wire plugs do often come with the requirement of safety gnding exposed metal in most safety codes
 
not true - just look at most DVD/universal Disc players today - 2 wire IEC - ...........
You are describing a Class11 product that is designed, built, tested and guaranteed to be safe without a Protective Earth (PE).

We are working with Class1 projects (when they are mains powered). We must use a Protective Earth. We have no choice.
In this "no choice" situation I stand by by usage of:
All exposed conductive parts must be connected to Safety Earth.

AND
that was why I asked:
Do you have any exposed conductive parts?

His reply would determine his course of action.
 
his pic shows a 2 prong plug - he doesn't have a safety gnd/PE

there are construction/testing requirements for PE product too

I don't see why a diyer has any less liability with home constructed PE/safety gnded equipment - who is testing the PE/safety gnd impedance with traceable equipment? sending the proto to a independent test lab? - got ISO cert?


I do like to see "international" split bobbin EI where the isolation is visible rather than just rely on toroid manufacturer label in absence of your own home HiPot tester
 
Last edited:
I have accidently been jolted by 117vAC and once by 220. There is really no comparison between the effects. In a perfect world each electronic device would be self powered. Until we get there, the rules for the more efficient but much more dangerous high voltage "mains" should be stricter and followed more carefully IMHO.
 
Does this mean that the rca jacks and headphone jack should be connected to the safety ground? I'm going to rewire with a 3prong plug just to play it safe.

On a separate note I somehow managed to kill my power transformer when I mounted it in the enclosure. It was working fine for hours until I mounted it and now it's only putting out 4VAC on each secondary. Any ideas what could have caused that? I've already tested the amp with a different transformer and it works fine so at least no damage was done but I'm really curious how something like this could happen since I've never had a transformer go bad on me before.
 
you need to know what to look for in parts specs, follow the construction requirements

many cheap toroids, layer wound EI, R, C core may not be double/reinforced insulated and should only be used with PE/Safety gnd


mounting of toroids can cause issues - creating shorted turn with the mounting hardware is a big problem - heat has to be considered too


buying a "wall wart", or other safety rated supply with SELV output is simplest at headphone amp power and V levels if you don't have the safety knowledge, skills, competence for working with mains V
 
Last edited:
Here's my completed SE-SE Wire in its temporary enclosure, it's not pretty but it'll do until my aluminum enclosure arrives In a few weeks. I took everyone's advice and rewired with a 3prong plug and safety ground and also replaced the dead Talema transformer with a higher quality 12v/10va Antek. Thank you to everyone who helped I really appreciate it:)
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
..................................
Makes me wonder if the metal parts of the headphones must also be safety earthed, via the amp?

Does this mean that the rca jacks and headphone jack should be connected to the safety ground? ....................
That's why I asked the question.
I don't know.

I am not qualified to design, nor build, nor test, nor guarantee the safety of a Class11 product.

With Class1 product the limit of responsibility seems to stop at the in/out sockets.
I can see quite clearly that the way we plug in other equipment to our Class1 equipment that we should consider our responsibility for what is connected and may constitute a Hazard.
In my somewhat biased view I consider that the interconnects that have exposed conductive parts at the far ends MUST be connected to Safety Earth.

Does that extend to headphones that have some exposed conductive parts?
 
Quick question before I hit the buy button on Digikey...

I'm using the Wire PSU to power a JG Buffer for an ES9023 based dac -- The Acko ADK23P. The buffer requires 15v-0-15v and has a current draw of up to ~32mA. With no modifications to the PSU PCB could I use this trafo? -- Invalid Request

By the way built the SE-SE version about 1.5 years ago and it's still one of my favorite amps. Have brought it to a bunch of headphone meets and it always gets the nod of approval. Maybe someday I'll graduate to the BAL-BAL version.