Thanks for the kind words Owen.
I would very much be interested in see the mods you describe, however, I am on the fence if I will make them. The performance of the amp is very, very good as I have it now and I really think I might try a balanced source in my future. Time will tell.
In regards to the power supply, while I have yet to instrument it to see it's actual performance, it's subjective performance in this application is very, very good.
A big point most are missing is how cool the unit runs under load. This makes many, many casing options possible. I have had it running most of the day and took some thermal measurements. At a room temperature of ~77.8F/25.4C I am measuring only ~103.5F/39.8C at the top of the regulator, on the heat sink, right above the screw hole. At the top of the heat sink itself (center), I am measuring ~98.5F/36.9C! Hell, I've had past girlfriends that weren't that hot! ;-)
Anyway, my point is, for the majority of the folks, the supply seems ideal for this app. There are of course many, many other options available, but, I would rather see Owen spend his time on the amp portion of the build.*
Now I just need to figure out how to get one of his balanced DAC's to pair up with this beast.*
A big point most are missing is how cool the unit runs under load. This makes many, many casing options possible. I have had it running most of the day and took some thermal measurements. At a room temperature of ~77.8F/25.4C I am measuring only ~103.5F/39.8C at the top of the regulator, on the heat sink, right above the screw hole. At the top of the heat sink itself (center), I am measuring ~98.5F/36.9C! Hell, I've had past girlfriends that weren't that hot! ;-)
Anyway, my point is, for the majority of the folks, the supply seems ideal for this app. There are of course many, many other options available, but, I would rather see Owen spend his time on the amp portion of the build.*
Now I just need to figure out how to get one of his balanced DAC's to pair up with this beast.*
you may say this headphone has flawed, or irrational design..but the truth is, i have tried Hifiman HE5-LE, Audeze LCD-2, and Sennheiser HD650, and the only headphone that considerably outperform my wharfedale is LCD-2, which is priced four times of my wharfedale..after i told you this maybe you'd a little understand why i'm not letting go of this headphone whatever happens
opc, thank you for chiming in my discussion..
when you were explaining those output power of "the wire", i assume the wire's gain were set to 1?
yeah good point owen, i was just going by listed specifications and warnings, which do not have much detail, a good reason not to do such things. does not efficiency come into the equation though? there are 150 ohm headphones and 150 ohm headphones, this was the reason i took for the discrepancy in recommendations. i realize the load effects the output, but i took there to be overiding factors that meant a standard ohms law or joules law could not be aplied without knowing them
hey i'm not saying you have to get rid of them, i was only suggesting perhaps get some others, i know the irrational love people have for their headphones, just look at how thunderpants came about. didnt think much of the lcd-2 tbh, just illustrates the variance of taste. i think they are very accomplished. fast, open etc, but not as dynamic as i prefer. i believe hd600 is more dynamic. which i by no means like over al other headphones
hey i'm not saying you have to get rid of them, i was only suggesting perhaps get some others, i know the irrational love people have for their headphones, just look at how thunderpants came about. didnt think much of the lcd-2 tbh, just illustrates the variance of taste. i think they are very accomplished. fast, open etc, but not as dynamic as i prefer. i believe hd600 is more dynamic. which i by no means like over al other headphones
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Hi idjoel2000,
The polymer caps have significantly lower ESR, and better frequency characteristics than your average aluminum electrolytic. As for performance, I'd be inclined to say that electrolytic caps aren't quite as good, but I'm sure some here would argue with me.
Judged purely on their technical merits though, they are significantly better.
Regards,
Owen
The polymer caps have significantly lower ESR, and better frequency characteristics than your average aluminum electrolytic. As for performance, I'd be inclined to say that electrolytic caps aren't quite as good, but I'm sure some here would argue with me.
Judged purely on their technical merits though, they are significantly better.
Regards,
Owen
i see..
the thing is, if i ordered the wire pcb only, i can't get 16v rating polymer caps here in farnell (my only local source). hence i thought if polymer caps are similar to electrolytic, i would just use electrolytic
now that you mention it, i have to find another source to get 820uF 16v polymer caps
jdkjake, have you tried the wire with high impedance headphone? how do you rate them compared to other amp?
high impedance headphone usually requires high gain with low current, while the wire is the other way around. i wonder if the wire is still the best for high impedance headphone
definitely use polymer if you can Joel, owen, i would suggest perhaps the panasonic special polymer range. smd, but large easily soldered smd, seriously high performance caps, but as with lots of polymer not always available in high voltage and high capacitance
the kemets polymer tantalum are good would be particularly good for the first stage, especially if we can supply a lower voltage here vs the buffers. could limit the opa1632 to +/-6v easy and still get good performance and then the whole world of bulk low Z caps comes into view. like 100-220uf caps as low as 5 miliohms
probably to late for suggestions like that, but for local supply caps bypassed with np0, or polyprop they make a great combination.
man Joel i pity you having to use farnell, you could order from mouser, or digikey and easily pay for fedex shipping with the money you save, and i mean easily!! farnell are the biggest bunch of wroughters around; often charging 300-400% and higher markup over digikey and mouser.
the kemets polymer tantalum are good would be particularly good for the first stage, especially if we can supply a lower voltage here vs the buffers. could limit the opa1632 to +/-6v easy and still get good performance and then the whole world of bulk low Z caps comes into view. like 100-220uf caps as low as 5 miliohms
probably to late for suggestions like that, but for local supply caps bypassed with np0, or polyprop they make a great combination.
man Joel i pity you having to use farnell, you could order from mouser, or digikey and easily pay for fedex shipping with the money you save, and i mean easily!! farnell are the biggest bunch of wroughters around; often charging 300-400% and higher markup over digikey and mouser.
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I tried out my HD-650's and the amp sounds just fine. Remember, I bumped the gain to 2 just so that I could drive those phones. There seems to be plenty of voltage swing.
So far, I have spent the most time using my HF-2's. The sound on those is quite impressive. I will try to pit some hours on the HD650's this weekend and give a more informed impression. My ears can only handle so much Grado duty before they need a rest. Not from the sound, but from the comfort factor.
thanks, jdkJake..
it'd be great if you could compare it to other branded high end amplifiers like gilmore, schiit, wooaudio, or any other amps
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