Jason, it probably is like that with international shipments coming from non EU countries!? Many have the same experiences the other way around.
Within NL and D (well EU really) PostNL and DHL are both OK with low hassle and pretty good delivery rate. Here Fedex is one of the worst with their “handling services”. They even ask shippers for private information of the person the shipment is being sent to.
Although the world seemed to become smaller and smaller the new motto now for private persons seems to be to buy locally for best results.
Within NL and D (well EU really) PostNL and DHL are both OK with low hassle and pretty good delivery rate. Here Fedex is one of the worst with their “handling services”. They even ask shippers for private information of the person the shipment is being sent to.
Although the world seemed to become smaller and smaller the new motto now for private persons seems to be to buy locally for best results.
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Here's what I can say - the vast majority of energy that has been invested in the store has been directly related to making it as easy and affordable as possible for non-US members of the community to purchase things from the store. Shipping within the US is a piece of cake. We have to be judicious with areas where there are problems.
International shipping has not been an easy journey, many facets remains imperfect, there are some annoying and baffling outliers (such as DHL eCommerce deliverability to the UK and NL, and the general UK and EU VAT/Duties red tape), but I am determined to keep trying and exploring avenues to improve things for the international DIY community as resources allow.
I appreciate the feedback and "heads up", it's put reviewing UK and NL on the todo list. Maybe we'll offer DHL eCommerce to UK and NL again in the near future, and build an additional insurance buffer into the pricing just for those countries with that service. Let me review the stats and sleep on it. I know there was a "straw that broke the horses back" moment with them last year.
International shipping has not been an easy journey, many facets remains imperfect, there are some annoying and baffling outliers (such as DHL eCommerce deliverability to the UK and NL, and the general UK and EU VAT/Duties red tape), but I am determined to keep trying and exploring avenues to improve things for the international DIY community as resources allow.
I appreciate the feedback and "heads up", it's put reviewing UK and NL on the todo list. Maybe we'll offer DHL eCommerce to UK and NL again in the near future, and build an additional insurance buffer into the pricing just for those countries with that service. Let me review the stats and sleep on it. I know there was a "straw that broke the horses back" moment with them last year.
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Just my personal experience...
I live in F and after the implementation in 2022 of the EU regs, which charge anything from the first $ when not coming from EU, ordering parts 'abroad', be it audio or else, has been a nightmare for the first months or so. It was time consuming, complicated and expensive.
Some new processes have been meanwhile implemented, at least for F, which makes ordering under a certain amount (I believe 150E or so, but that's from memory) for private consumers (only! not companies) much easier as the seller can, if he wishes so, follow that simplified process relative to this case.
I like to support the Store here, as they always provided an excellent service, so as soon as Jason & Co proposed it I put an order for a small amount, around 140$ I believe or so.
I have to say it went smooth, quickly, and without bad surprise. Yes, indeed, the 20% VAT are now due, but somewhere that has always been the case, it is just it wasn't applied always and some were lucky to bypass them and get away without it. What is new is a small fee to handle this new process, but then if ordering below a certain amount it was in my case 10E extra regardless the details, all inclusive.
So I paid 10E extra at the end, from what I used to pay in the past years when ordering from the Store (or else). OK, that's clearly a negative, but in my view an acceptable one. For me, it means I have to purchase in bulk, over 100$ to make it efficient and under 170$ (or whatever the limit is, dpending on currency parity etc.) to keep it smooth and hassle free.
I find the Store has adapted quickly to these complicated changes, and for sure much quicker than most UK specialised car parts suppliers I order regulary parts from, so for me the Store has been efficient and there is even hope they improve, regs permitting...
Just my experience, I believe it can only get better and for sure most countries will go for a simplified process for small online orders as it would be otherwise a nightmare to handle for customs IMHOI
Claude
I live in F and after the implementation in 2022 of the EU regs, which charge anything from the first $ when not coming from EU, ordering parts 'abroad', be it audio or else, has been a nightmare for the first months or so. It was time consuming, complicated and expensive.
Some new processes have been meanwhile implemented, at least for F, which makes ordering under a certain amount (I believe 150E or so, but that's from memory) for private consumers (only! not companies) much easier as the seller can, if he wishes so, follow that simplified process relative to this case.
I like to support the Store here, as they always provided an excellent service, so as soon as Jason & Co proposed it I put an order for a small amount, around 140$ I believe or so.
I have to say it went smooth, quickly, and without bad surprise. Yes, indeed, the 20% VAT are now due, but somewhere that has always been the case, it is just it wasn't applied always and some were lucky to bypass them and get away without it. What is new is a small fee to handle this new process, but then if ordering below a certain amount it was in my case 10E extra regardless the details, all inclusive.
So I paid 10E extra at the end, from what I used to pay in the past years when ordering from the Store (or else). OK, that's clearly a negative, but in my view an acceptable one. For me, it means I have to purchase in bulk, over 100$ to make it efficient and under 170$ (or whatever the limit is, dpending on currency parity etc.) to keep it smooth and hassle free.
I find the Store has adapted quickly to these complicated changes, and for sure much quicker than most UK specialised car parts suppliers I order regulary parts from, so for me the Store has been efficient and there is even hope they improve, regs permitting...
Just my experience, I believe it can only get better and for sure most countries will go for a simplified process for small online orders as it would be otherwise a nightmare to handle for customs IMHOI
Claude
I'm trying to establish (on another forum) whether a group buy for the UK would be feasible. It also seems to me that a network of members pooling orders - say once every three months - would mitigate these costs. Unfortunately, post Brexit there would probably need to be one group for Europe and a separate one here.
Before the customs changes were introduced in the EU in July 2021, we hired several tax consultants from the UK and EU and were told that any shipment that didn't have duties pre-paid would make the receiver go through a very painful duty collections process, with a high likelihood of being returned (with the financial ramifications being borne by the store). Though each consultant had different opinions on what it all meant, what we would have to do and how things would look in reality.
We were admittedly surprised that after this date, and after going through lots of research, negotiations and systems upgrades to prepare for this change in the EU, that packages without duties pre-paid still managed to get through after July 1st 2021. Even in a reasonably affordable way if the receiver went through the local customs department processes.
We honestly didn't think that DHL eCommerce's cheaper methods would be viable options after July 1st 2021. Based on your comments, and the general feedback over the last 12 months that non-duty-pre-paid shipments are still managing to get through with little problems and the systems and processes to pay duties are now relatively well travelled roads for most EU citizens, it might be time to re-assess our strategy and priorities in regards to EU shipping methods.
We were admittedly surprised that after this date, and after going through lots of research, negotiations and systems upgrades to prepare for this change in the EU, that packages without duties pre-paid still managed to get through after July 1st 2021. Even in a reasonably affordable way if the receiver went through the local customs department processes.
We honestly didn't think that DHL eCommerce's cheaper methods would be viable options after July 1st 2021. Based on your comments, and the general feedback over the last 12 months that non-duty-pre-paid shipments are still managing to get through with little problems and the systems and processes to pay duties are now relatively well travelled roads for most EU citizens, it might be time to re-assess our strategy and priorities in regards to EU shipping methods.
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David, just joking. Here we see again that Brexit only benefits the large corpco's, they become costcos for mortals like us.
Now, ebay has not solved it but Aliexpress did solve it. How? They mass declare the goods from a certified administration. Decades back, I was the first to design a certified warehouse for automatic declarations for car parts in the NL. It is not rocket science at all anymore. But the current situation is very profiable. For some.
The scale of the DIYA shop is small, but it could be done on a smaller scale too.
Now, ebay has not solved it but Aliexpress did solve it. How? They mass declare the goods from a certified administration. Decades back, I was the first to design a certified warehouse for automatic declarations for car parts in the NL. It is not rocket science at all anymore. But the current situation is very profiable. For some.
The scale of the DIYA shop is small, but it could be done on a smaller scale too.
First channel complete of my extensively modified Stasis FE. Hacked in a third stage to have a single-ended emitter follower with CCS, for a nice low output impedance and good drive capability (transformer drive, not headphones). So first stage is mostly stock except a quad of tightly matched K170's rather than a pair, current is ~5mA through those. Custom made thermal cap for good output DC offset behavior. Second stage VAS uses KSA992 / KSC1845, ~10mA or so. Output stage consists of KSC3503's, set for 45mA. Compensation is a 10pF cap across the feedback resistor, and the same series resistor / cap combination that Wayne used on the BA2018 (on base of the 992). I set the gain at 5.5. That double decker input board is a 2-pole cap multiplier, or "transistor enhanced filter"... whatever. Values chosen for fast response rather than maximum ripple rejection. Just wanted to try something different than a simple RC filter for isolation, and had just enough room to do it. PSRR inherent in the FE itself I just consider gravy, I guess. Measurement shown is with 25V rails (limit of my Agilent tracking lab supply), negative input grounded, driving a 600 ohm load. Seems stable, and turn on / turn off behavior looks good. Rock solid DC offset. Should be able to DC couple this no problem. Haven't played music yet, just staring at sines and squares... and goats...
Attachments
I did the same thing with the circuit I posted in #409. Tested it on bench yesterday and just a few minutes ago tested the output follower part separately, as my distortion had almost doubled from ~0.15% to ~0.3% with the entire circuit. It was still low at the PNP collector, so I suspected just a noisy board. The separate test of the follower today confirmed it was not the problem.
I'm thinking I'll start a PCB layout.
EDIT: BTW, the LTSpice waveforms like the one in #413 were showing incipient clipping. Raising the rails or lower the signal are the first things that easily clear things up. More work was needed.
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Ok, a couple of quick notes as these are going to be hitting the hands of builders very soon…. 
Using a single-rail PSU (for example 0-24V) has the following connections;
PSU 24V to V+
PSU 0V (ground), Input signal ground, output signal ground, and -IN all connect to V-
R10 is jumper
Ignore VG
Bipolar PSU is straightforward and is shown/discussed in Nelson’s article.
PSU V+ to pcb V+
PSU Ground to pcb VG
PSU V- to pcb V-
Input + to +IN
Input ground to VG
Output+ from +O
Output ground from VG
Jumper -IN to VG
Here‘s a chart if you want to play with gain - (Gain is simply R4/R2 and R3/R1)
R1 and R2 remain 10K
R3 and R4 you can adjust as shown.
For unity gain (0, I.E., a buffer), make R3 R4 10K. The amplifier is unity gain stable.
A gain of 10 (20db) is quite a lot for a preamp… if you are using this with typical sources into an amp that has some gain, you will likely find 20db to be too much. Reducing the gain has the advantage of decreasing the noise and giving you more useable potentiometer range. Most users should try lower gain settings. Of course, if you have a follower amp (F4, MoFo, Theseus Mosfet by itself, etc…) then stock gain is what you’ll want. The stock gain drives a MoFo wonderfully, and sounds excellent.
Using a single-rail PSU (for example 0-24V) has the following connections;
PSU 24V to V+
PSU 0V (ground), Input signal ground, output signal ground, and -IN all connect to V-
R10 is jumper
Ignore VG
Bipolar PSU is straightforward and is shown/discussed in Nelson’s article.
PSU V+ to pcb V+
PSU Ground to pcb VG
PSU V- to pcb V-
Input + to +IN
Input ground to VG
Output+ from +O
Output ground from VG
Jumper -IN to VG
Here‘s a chart if you want to play with gain - (Gain is simply R4/R2 and R3/R1)
R1 and R2 remain 10K
R3 and R4 you can adjust as shown.
For unity gain (0, I.E., a buffer), make R3 R4 10K. The amplifier is unity gain stable.
A gain of 10 (20db) is quite a lot for a preamp… if you are using this with typical sources into an amp that has some gain, you will likely find 20db to be too much. Reducing the gain has the advantage of decreasing the noise and giving you more useable potentiometer range. Most users should try lower gain settings. Of course, if you have a follower amp (F4, MoFo, Theseus Mosfet by itself, etc…) then stock gain is what you’ll want. The stock gain drives a MoFo wonderfully, and sounds excellent.
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@JeyDee There is no advantage or disadvantage using whichever PSU configuration you want - the circuit was made with flexibility in mind, so can be used however you want and/or need. Bipolar, single-rail, and even single-rail positive ground if you have that (rare, but not unknown) use case.
@kannan_s Thank you, but obviously those are just placeholders until something real comes along. I guess if they convey the information clearly that’s a win.
@kannan_s Thank you, but obviously those are just placeholders until something real comes along. I guess if they convey the information clearly that’s a win.
We have re-enabled the low cost DHL eCommerce shipping methods for the Netherlands and the UK, up to a goods value of USD150.
We will watch for problems and review if necessary.
Thanks for the "heads up".
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