Competition is good, but this is the vendors forum. Advertising on a vendors thread claiming better xyz for less is poor form in my book.
@Mark: missed that thread, but not in the market for a PCB for a power supply from anyone. I wish you luck but still think you are bang out of order posting here. That is just my view.
@Henry: Tom has measured, there is no difference. repeat NO DIFFERENCE. For me I am just hard wiring my PSU as that also is no difference.
@Mark: missed that thread, but not in the market for a PCB for a power supply from anyone. I wish you luck but still think you are bang out of order posting here. That is just my view.
@Henry: Tom has measured, there is no difference. repeat NO DIFFERENCE. For me I am just hard wiring my PSU as that also is no difference.
Hi Tom,
From the beginning to the end of this thread we read about how low THD this amp has. To me this is just another parameter and one that will certainly not make a difference to the human ear... Although it is a GREAT achievement, we can't possibly hear that low THD anyways. To me, it is about how good the amp sound and how musical it is.
You are talking about selling hundreds of these boards and again I congratulate you on this task, however saying that people are busy listening to music instead of clacking away at their keyboards writing up reviews is being just a little too self confident to my taste... If I like something a lot, the first thing I do is to let as many people as possible know about it and in return will profit both party, you as a seller and others to profit from this well designed and sounding project. You would be the first to tell me you don't care about reviews, especially a positive one that would in return bring more sales and fame. I remember asking you to do a fair review of your amplifier and for the personal time I take/invest was asking for reduced price PCBs. For this, I still have to assemble and purchase all components and use up many hours of my own time to test, listen and write up a review... Your answer was, "what will this benefit me... what would I be gaining from this review...". Frankly this was a total insult. I'm not at my first review of products and for all the time I would have invested you were not even willing to send samples or reduced price PCBs.
I have many good amplifiers I wanted to compare it against, AMB B24, Telos 390 Clone, NX Amp, TSSA, FirstOne and the list could go on.
Anyways, have it your way and like we say in French "sans rancunes". I am still wishing you all the best for your current and future projects!
Do
@pinnochio: You have a different source, preamp, speakers listening room and music tastes to me. what possible use would a review from you be to me?
You seem to want to troll around asking for favours as if you are a trusted and calibrated review source. Which you are not. I am confused why you think Tom insulted you as I agree there would be little to gain other than one egos opinions of this.
You seem to want to troll around asking for favours as if you are a trusted and calibrated review source. Which you are not. I am confused why you think Tom insulted you as I agree there would be little to gain other than one egos opinions of this.
Low distortion is a good start, let us be fair, but there are also other measurements that would could further support how it integrates with the source and load, data I would love to see. PSRR is another interesting measurement. It seems to be measured with no signal passing through the amplifier which makes me sort of wonder...
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I agree with Bill on reviews - I wouldn't really trust a professional reviewer's opinion because it wouldn't reflect my system or listening environment; my faith in a review only gets worse with more amateur sources.
The Mod-86 has made a very enjoyable improvement in my system, and I have no problem with paying for the expertise of Tom's design work. All-in-all its been a good project and the end result sounds great to me.
The Mod-86 has made a very enjoyable improvement in my system, and I have no problem with paying for the expertise of Tom's design work. All-in-all its been a good project and the end result sounds great to me.
Soooooo, who is a trusted review source ?
Do i need to have same setup like builder in order to get what he is promising ?
As i understand, everyone here in this forum have a word and opinion about what all we do here ...
I follow this particular topic from the start, and from the start my only problem was a PCB price and some OP claims about "Best Amp In The World" !
To me his word is next to nothing, unless builders step up and start talking ...
I am kinda tired of things like "Endorsement from Seigfried Linkwitz" who wrote:
"... Specifications are excellent but I have no listening experience with such low levels of distortion ..."
To me, this is nothing but favor to one seller from another ...
High price for PCBs are OK, if you accept OP is much better, and much different then anyone else who sell own project and PCBs ... I buy and make most of the projects from AMB Labs who is guy in same position like OP and provide everything what is offered in this case with one difference - a price ...
Now, after initial posting on this topic i back off and stop posting - guy can ask what ever he wants for product he is selling, and is up to me if i want to buy or not, right ?
But in this particular community, i have a word too - to give my opinion like everyone else right?
So, if someone step up and say price for PSU board is just wrong - THANX, IT IS ...
And if someone say is wrong to post negative stuff in vendor forum, please tell me WHY ... I understand guy is making living of this, and i wish him good luck !
But in order to i go and order this project i need to know if this PCBs are worth what he is asking for, right ? So far, i am not too sure i want this, cuz technical specs, graphs, talking etc is not enough for me!
Let me be clear about one thing, I AM NOT well educated and i dont have any background in electronic like a guy who started this topic, i know some basic stuff, BUT please don't send me links with the books to go and educate my self if i want to know more and understand whole thing ...
And one more thing, maybe i will buy and build this amp, BUT only if members of this community give support to this project, and asure me money will be well invested - like every project i pick to build!
So thanx everyone who post review ... Looking forward for more, good and bad ...
@ Billshurv: Wow! Nice come back... That's all you got? Frankly I'm dissapointed in this type of response but anyways... You're like a guard dog in this thread barking at everyone not in the same state of mind as you.
As you have read, I was wishing him well and no harm done anyways. I even spoke well of his project on another French forum and showed links where people can purchase his products and this is what I get in return...
Maybe I just leave this thread alone. Please no more comments, I get the point... 😉
Like I pointed out to you Tom in my previous post, kudos for a great achievement
Kirk out!
This is not an amplifier for subjectivist and flooby dust believers. I suggest you look elsewhere for your fix of BS reviews and opinions from keyboard ken and his kronies.
If calling someone out for mafia style 'nice amp would you like a nice review' being a guard dog, sobeit.
Thank you. It took a lot of engineering to get to the low THD. As you say, THD is just one parameter. It just so happens that when a composite architecture is used to drive down the THD, it also results in a huge improvement in other parameters as well. Most notably, the PSRR. One of these days, I'd like to measure the PSRR of the MOD86. I picked up an injection transformer a couple of months back, but have yet to actually hook it up and perform the measurement. I've been responding to customer requests for the development of the PAR86 and preamp/differential driver, which is a good thing. Customer requests do come first.
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come across as cocky. A "professional" review would be nice. Mostly from a marketing perspective, though. What really matters to me is the dozens of emails I get from actual builders of my circuits who praise the results and the level of documentation. Here's the most recent praise from someone who built a MOD86 + PWR86 amp:
Love those comments.
The plug on Siegfried Linkwitz's site actually comes from the recommendation of my amp to SL by one of my customers. The only communication with SL that I've had personally, has been a pre-purchase question and a purchase of the plans for the LXmini. This about six weeks after he put the plug for my amps on his website. He doesn't owe me any favors and vice versa.
I don't recall claiming that SL endorsed my amplifiers. The verbiage on his website is pretty clear: "Looks like a good fit, judging by the specs, but I have no personal experience with these amps" is basically how I read it. That's pretty darn accurate.
Tom
Guys, this is deviating too much into this: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/lounge/200865-sound-quality-vs-measurements.html
Tl;dr: if you're wanting a subjective review, either build one up (should be pretty easy to resell if you don't like it) or endeavor to get your hands on a copy to see if it strikes your (universal) fancy.
There are a litany of reasons why I would ignore anyone's review as one can nearly convince him/herself just about anything (I like big hunks of aluminum, and invariably those amps sound better), and my subjective preferences may or may not match up against you, an unknown source. It's at least be better if it was a known (consistent and blinded!) reviewer, that I could calibrate against, but that wouldn't be the case.
As such, here's my sighted (because I've looked at the specifications) but unheard, entirely subjective review:
Clean, slightly thin but tight in the bass, but really brings through the mids and highs. Falls apart slightly at higher power, but is pristine at lower volume levels. Sterile on rock (I just don't feel involved), but magnificent on orchestral pieces. Great for bookshelf speakers, but utterly rubbish if you have a 3-way setup.
How'd I do? 😀
Tl;dr: if you're wanting a subjective review, either build one up (should be pretty easy to resell if you don't like it) or endeavor to get your hands on a copy to see if it strikes your (universal) fancy.
There are a litany of reasons why I would ignore anyone's review as one can nearly convince him/herself just about anything (I like big hunks of aluminum, and invariably those amps sound better), and my subjective preferences may or may not match up against you, an unknown source. It's at least be better if it was a known (consistent and blinded!) reviewer, that I could calibrate against, but that wouldn't be the case.
As such, here's my sighted (because I've looked at the specifications) but unheard, entirely subjective review:
Clean, slightly thin but tight in the bass, but really brings through the mids and highs. Falls apart slightly at higher power, but is pristine at lower volume levels. Sterile on rock (I just don't feel involved), but magnificent on orchestral pieces. Great for bookshelf speakers, but utterly rubbish if you have a 3-way setup.
How'd I do? 😀
Yeah, i saw that one ... http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vend...r-achieving-0-0004-thd-n-140.html#post4358042
Bruno Putzys when asked about his hypex amps said that he wanted his amplifiers to sound of 'nothing', and that is what I would expect with a Mod-86. all measured parameters so far have shown it to be well below the threshold of audibility for any signature it has. Plenty of amplifiers out there have a sound caused by distortions. If you want an effects box then fine, there are plenty to chose from and be happy. If you want to join the neutral club this is a good way in. There are a few others on this forum that meet that target, but they all cost a lot more to build.
If you believe that opamps sound of something and that silver cable is bright and >20dBGNFB ruins the sound you are looking at the wrong product. What you prefer is your choice and will not argue with it. Many like high distortion. Heck they even build amplifiers to increase the distortion. This is for those who just want the sound out to be as close to the sound in but with power gain.
If you believe that opamps sound of something and that silver cable is bright and >20dBGNFB ruins the sound you are looking at the wrong product. What you prefer is your choice and will not argue with it. Many like high distortion. Heck they even build amplifiers to increase the distortion. This is for those who just want the sound out to be as close to the sound in but with power gain.