Hey Greg, yes mate this is the second time building the Whammy and on this board I spent a good few hours with a plain 20K pot before trying the Xfeed with a 10K Alps.
Now the Xfeed is very subtle, don't worry it doesn't add or subtract from the music but seems to place the music in the front and centre but somehow keeping depth. I guess it sounds more accurate and integrated inside your head and it seems to reduce fatigue somewhat, I can listen for hours or as long as I can stand the phones on my head.
So I would say the XFeed works very well, the Danyuk passive version here (you'll be getting soon!) is the most simple version is seems, follow Patricks component values and it will work in most situations but you can tailor the crossfeed point to suit. Interestingly the Xen motherboard has very different Xfeed component values for some reason.
Zen Mod - fixed the pot squelch and noise, I hadn't screwed the front plate properly! The pot was not connected to the chassis earth! Once this was done, no problems.
So running with 1K for R39/40 inputs, 10K for R4/R8 and no compensation caps yet, might try some 47pF.
While I was under the hood, I added some extra 0.1uf MKP decoupling caps to C1/C3 and C9/C28. Everything sounds very good.
My favorite op-amps it seems are two LT1028. Slightly better maybe than OPA627BM.
Attachments
If I were to use the Burson as the permanent opamp, I would not stack the sockets like that; I would reconfigure the caps on either side to allow for more opamp space. It's a temporary solution so that I could use the Bursons.
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OPA2107AU vs OPA1612AID
Finally tested an OPA2107AU which requires a SMD to DIP adapter. Very clear and precise with a good sound stage. A bit clinical, cold and unexciting. Not harsh. Some may like it but I prefer the OPA1612AID, particularly on Sennheiser HD650 headphones. I'll be sticking with the OPA1612AID as an upgrade to the OPA2134PA.
The OPA1612AID sounds wonderful on all my headphones, HiFi Man HE400i, Sennheiser HD650 and Masters and Dynamic MH40.
Finally tested an OPA2107AU which requires a SMD to DIP adapter. Very clear and precise with a good sound stage. A bit clinical, cold and unexciting. Not harsh. Some may like it but I prefer the OPA1612AID, particularly on Sennheiser HD650 headphones. I'll be sticking with the OPA1612AID as an upgrade to the OPA2134PA.
The OPA1612AID sounds wonderful on all my headphones, HiFi Man HE400i, Sennheiser HD650 and Masters and Dynamic MH40.
I compared the following op amps, and so far OPA2107AU is the very best. Using hd58x modded:
Opa2107
Lm833n
Opa1642
Opa2156
Lme49720NA
And some waiting to be tested:
Ad8599Arz
Lme49860
Burson v6 classic
Burson v6 vivid
Then i ll note my subjective observations and only then measure few key test with apx555.. will be fun
Opa2107
Lm833n
Opa1642
Opa2156
Lme49720NA
And some waiting to be tested:
Ad8599Arz
Lme49860
Burson v6 classic
Burson v6 vivid
Then i ll note my subjective observations and only then measure few key test with apx555.. will be fun
I compared the following op amps, and so far OPA2107AU is the very best. Using hd58x modded:
Opa2107
Lm833n
Opa1642
Opa2156
Lme49720NA
And some waiting to be tested:
Ad8599Arz
Lme49860
Burson v6 classic
Burson v6 vivid
Then i ll note my subjective observations and only then measure few key test with apx555.. will be fun
You should add AD812 to the list. Not technically an audio op amp, but one I really like. I was using it to test the need for the feedback compensation capacitor, but it failed to push the op amp into oscillation without compensation, but it sounds fantastic, very analytical.
For the Azul headphone amp I demonstrated at Burning Amp, the one with the output stage chip made in 1971, I think I like the sound best when the first stage opamp is an LT1122. It's a single and I don't think they offer it as a dual; so you will have to DIY a little contrivance in order to try it in a WHAMMY.
LT1122 was designed by George Erdi, the wizard of Precision Monolithics. He also designed the LT1028 which was the world's lowest noise opamp for several decades.
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LT1122 was designed by George Erdi, the wizard of Precision Monolithics. He also designed the LT1028 which was the world's lowest noise opamp for several decades.
_
The post you may be referring to was one where I inquired as to weather it was possible to integrate a phono pre in the same chassis with the Whammy. No one had an answer at that time.
it wouldn’t be that hard, put a stand-alone phono PCB like the Muffsy https://www.muffsy.com/ into the case and power it off the Whammy PSU. You’d need something for select and output, but that’s a switch or two and some RCAs.
Actually im also interested in knowing when the chassis will be avilable. It's the only reason I have not pulled the trigger.
A few post ago (#1908) I have written down my impression of Whammy with Burson V6 Classic. I said I slightly prefer my Pellerano Zen amp to Whammy with V6.
Well I have done much more headphone listening recently. At the moment I really cannot say Whammy is second to Zen. Both are very good and very enjoyable.
I need a third opinion (amp) ;-)
Well I have done much more headphone listening recently. At the moment I really cannot say Whammy is second to Zen. Both are very good and very enjoyable.
I need a third opinion (amp) ;-)
From my experience with the Burson V6s, they do take some time to 'settle down' - about 100 hrs of use - I initially thought it was my imagination, but it does seem to be a consistent characteristic.
I can't add to your preference/comparison between the 2 amps as headamp listening is so personal that opinions aren't really all that relevant and are directly system dependent - sorry
I can't add to your preference/comparison between the 2 amps as headamp listening is so personal that opinions aren't really all that relevant and are directly system dependent - sorry