Sounds like a great project with your son. I built a pair of speakers and sub with my son years ago and he still enjoys them to this day and it was a great fun experience for us both.
I recently bought this board, when it arrives I will post pictures of it and describe my experience with it.
Said -by the seller- to be a TPA3116 with better-quality parts on it in places where such make sense. We'll see.
I've looked at that one but concluded the difference in price with the 20$ boards is not really justified; it is only halfway upgraded and not neccesarily with the most optimal parts. One could do better and more upgrades for less money. That said, they do look like good boards and still not expensive compared to non-TPA amps 🙂
I recently bought this board, when it arrives I will post pictures of it and describe my experience with it.
Said -by the seller- to be a TPA3116 with better-quality parts on it in places where such make sense. We'll see.
Really appreciate your informing us of what you think of this board. I haven't seen any other reporting on it - perhaps because of its cost very few people use it.
Do you have any othe TPA3116 amps to compare it to?
Cheers,
Rod
This is Hiamp's design. Looking at the pictures (at his website), the board is definitely better than the $20 boards. If you want to mod, this board looks much sturdier than the YJ balck/blue and should hold up better to all the desoldering and soldering. Besides, the input caps are upgraded, so are the power supply caps. In addition, the package does includes RCAs and a pot with extender (more flexible for installation to various sizes of cases). Do not forget if you have to order parts to upgrade, the shipping will cost money too. So overall, this board is not a bad deal (thirty something dollars plus shipping) inmy opinion.
I am curious how it sounds since very few people have commented on Hiamps boards.
Regards,
Regards,
Interesting that you see the board for "thirty something dollars plus shipping)". At the link provided Ultimate V1 TPA3116 Class D Stereo Power Amplifier Board w Bootstrap Caps | eBay it comes up as $65.80 US for me.
Good to know about some of the upgrades this board has. I am looking for the best TPA3116 board I can get that doesn't need upgrades and this is on my short list. Wouldn't mind doing upgrades but at age 73 with big thumbs and poor eyesight I fear I will really screw up one of these miniaturized (to me) boards.
I presently am running unmodified blue YJ boards and am totally amazed at the sound for the low price. But with my very efficient horns I do feel there is some HF glare and thus would like to get a better board without mods being necessary.
From reading posts here and other Forums I gather that the AudioBah green boards and the Sure TPA3116 boards are the best unmodded. Please correct me if I have misunderstood that.
Also I think I read somewhere that one of those boards is better for 8 ohm speakers and one is better for 4 ohm speakers. Unfortunately I don't remember which is which. Does anyone here know?
Thanks in advance for any enlightenment.
Cheers,
Rod
To my knowledge none of the YJ 2.1 boards do, but if you search Flea Bay for
Thanks John- this one says:
Three knob from left to right:
1.Stereo sound volume.
2.Subwoofer frequency regulation.
3.The subwoofer volume
I think I will give it a go 🙂
Thanks John- this one says:
Three knob from left to right:
1.Stereo sound volume.
2.Subwoofer frequency regulation.
3.The subwoofer volume
I think I will give it a go 🙂
Yeah the 'Ultimate' model is 65'ish + shipping, not 35'ish. But I agree it does look like a quality board, and what I do like about it is he has added solder pads on the back for bootstrap snubber caps (atleast I think so). For that reason I might still consider getting one, even though the included part upgrades are not my first pick and I don't need the volume control. I wish he sold that board with only the TPA3116 pre-soldered.
Only board that really should be sold without any parts is YJblueblack, saves a lot of time and frustration. None of the other 3116 amps I have are close to sounding as bad even after replacing half of the parts 😀
Close to best or best, haven't compared lately would be my hiampmini's. I did add snubber at bootstraps and did add cog 100nF's to get even better decoupling. The hiampmini's (2xpbtl I made) I did receive without any parts, $65 isn't much when you start ordering parts and newer boards do not resemble YJblueblack in anything I am certain.
Close to best or best, haven't compared lately would be my hiampmini's. I did add snubber at bootstraps and did add cog 100nF's to get even better decoupling. The hiampmini's (2xpbtl I made) I did receive without any parts, $65 isn't much when you start ordering parts and newer boards do not resemble YJblueblack in anything I am certain.
question from someone who doesn't know:
to what extent is the CR that's been called a "bootstrap snubber"
"just" a bootstrap snubber,
and to what extent is it the first element in the low-pass filter to minimize EMI?
whereas in the TPA3116 data sheet
they label the elements after the bootstrap/output junction
an "output LC filter" and an "EMI C-RC snubber", (L-C-C-RC as a single group)
in the evalboard
it looks like they just moved one of the capacitor shunts in front of the inductor,
that moves the first stage of the low-pass filter closer to the TPA chip
(CR-L-C-RC as a group),
the initial CR provides a route for taking very high frequencies to ground as soon as possible, should reduce "antenna length", no?
Looking at the evalboard itself, it seems to be wired differently than on the schematic.
("bootstrap snubber" components connect downstream from bootstrap/output junction,
and no, I don't know that this makes any difference, either.)
Please pardon my phrasing if it sounds argumentative to anyone,
I'm just trying to understand this better.
Thanks for any insight.
to what extent is the CR that's been called a "bootstrap snubber"
"just" a bootstrap snubber,
and to what extent is it the first element in the low-pass filter to minimize EMI?
whereas in the TPA3116 data sheet
they label the elements after the bootstrap/output junction
an "output LC filter" and an "EMI C-RC snubber", (L-C-C-RC as a single group)
in the evalboard
it looks like they just moved one of the capacitor shunts in front of the inductor,
that moves the first stage of the low-pass filter closer to the TPA chip
(CR-L-C-RC as a group),
the initial CR provides a route for taking very high frequencies to ground as soon as possible, should reduce "antenna length", no?
Looking at the evalboard itself, it seems to be wired differently than on the schematic.
("bootstrap snubber" components connect downstream from bootstrap/output junction,
and no, I don't know that this makes any difference, either.)
Please pardon my phrasing if it sounds argumentative to anyone,
I'm just trying to understand this better.
Thanks for any insight.
question from someone who doesn't know:
to what extent is the CR that's been called a "bootstrap snubber"
"just" a bootstrap snubber,
and to what extent is it the first element in the low-pass filter to minimize EMI?
whereas in the TPA3116 data sheet
they label the elements after the bootstrap/output junction
an "output LC filter" and an "EMI C-RC snubber", (L-C-C-RC as a single group)
in the evalboard
it looks like they just moved one of the capacitor shunts in front of the inductor,
that moves the first stage of the low-pass filter closer to the TPA chip
(CR-L-C-RC as a group),
the initial CR provides a route for taking very high frequencies to ground as soon as possible, should reduce "antenna length", no?
Looking at the evalboard itself, it seems to be wired differently than on the schematic.
("bootstrap snubber" components connect downstream from bootstrap/output junction,
and no, I don't know that this makes any difference, either.)
Please pardon my phrasing if it sounds argumentative to anyone,
I'm just trying to understand this better.
Thanks for any insight.
to what extent is the CR that's been called a "bootstrap snubber"
"just" a bootstrap snubber,
and to what extent is it the first element in the low-pass filter to minimize EMI?
whereas in the TPA3116 data sheet
they label the elements after the bootstrap/output junction
an "output LC filter" and an "EMI C-RC snubber", (L-C-C-RC as a single group)
in the evalboard
it looks like they just moved one of the capacitor shunts in front of the inductor,
that moves the first stage of the low-pass filter closer to the TPA chip
(CR-L-C-RC as a group),
the initial CR provides a route for taking very high frequencies to ground as soon as possible, should reduce "antenna length", no?
Looking at the evalboard itself, it seems to be wired differently than on the schematic.
("bootstrap snubber" components connect downstream from bootstrap/output junction,
and no, I don't know that this makes any difference, either.)
Please pardon my phrasing if it sounds argumentative to anyone,
I'm just trying to understand this better.
Thanks for any insight.
Oops! You are right. I should have checked the details. Hiamp has a few versions of the same amp depending on what components are used. The "entry level" one is thirty something dollars plus shipping and they have no bootstrap mod. Apart from the YJ black/blue boards, this is the only place that sells boards that use only through hole components.
I have listened to both the original red YJ board (with volume control) and the Audiobah green boards. The Audiobah board need a volume control but sounds better than the red YJ, to my ears. xrk971 likes the YBDZ board a lot and uses them with his miniDSP.
Boards that use 22 uH inductors in their out filter are better suit for 8 ohm speakers as compare to those with 10 uH inductors.
Regards,
Emailed him and asked. Hiamp would probably accept it since he also sells kits that uses the same board.
Actually, I am thinking of the same thing. I like DUG's GB board but I am no good in soldering SMDs. So getting Hiamps board with the 3116 soldered on is the way to go for me since I can pick whatever components I like.
Regards,
Regards,
It is a output filter, called bootstrapsnubber here because of location befor inductors. The frequency it filters shouldn't be audible, yet it is very audible, so it might have an effect because it also filters signal to keep mosfets switched on, the bootstrap.
Thanks!
I was going to ask a follow-up about the bootstrap filtering,
but I'm just too d**n thick-headed about that yet...
is the important part of the bootstrap signal the portion that goes back upstream into the bootstrap terminal of the chip,
or the part that is sent up the ouput terminal of the chip?
please ignore if that's so poorly phrased that it's incomprehensible.
I was going to ask a follow-up about the bootstrap filtering,
but I'm just too d**n thick-headed about that yet...
is the important part of the bootstrap signal the portion that goes back upstream into the bootstrap terminal of the chip,
or the part that is sent up the ouput terminal of the chip?
please ignore if that's so poorly phrased that it's incomprehensible.
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bootstrap is a filter too, to get energy as a powersupply back to mosfets
somehow it appears 3116 functions smoother when highest frequencies aren't recycled as energy for mosfets LOL it makes little sense to me that very high frequency snubber there is so audible frankly, but it is. the result is equal with 38A inductors, so not workload inductor related I would think.
somehow it appears 3116 functions smoother when highest frequencies aren't recycled as energy for mosfets LOL it makes little sense to me that very high frequency snubber there is so audible frankly, but it is. the result is equal with 38A inductors, so not workload inductor related I would think.
Let me know what he responds; if he's up for delivering those boards with only the TPA chip, that would be great for adding your own components of choice without all the needless work of desoldering and tossing most of the standard components.
Phalanger, irribeo * Lo-Tse,
Thanks very much for your responses to my query for the best TPA3116 board without mods. I think I will order a HiAmp Ultimate since it seems to have some upgrades already done and has other features I like.
Also thanks for info about 22uH inductors being best for 8 ohm speakers. I see that the Ultimate board has that as an option so I will order it that way. Do you know if having the proper size inductor/speaker impedance match affects SQ or just max power?
Will report back here when I get the HiAmp board installed. Am also considering ordering an AudioBah green board. Such a shame it has a long delivery period.
Cheers,
Rod
Thanks very much for your responses to my query for the best TPA3116 board without mods. I think I will order a HiAmp Ultimate since it seems to have some upgrades already done and has other features I like.
Also thanks for info about 22uH inductors being best for 8 ohm speakers. I see that the Ultimate board has that as an option so I will order it that way. Do you know if having the proper size inductor/speaker impedance match affects SQ or just max power?
Will report back here when I get the HiAmp board installed. Am also considering ordering an AudioBah green board. Such a shame it has a long delivery period.
Cheers,
Rod
ac1308/audiobah is quick for $8 from taobao agent, but audiobah isn't for 8 ohm, copy by YJ of the board is for 8 ohm
*ex shipping, so few dollars added
*ex shipping, so few dollars added
Thanks for that. Any way of knowing if the YJ is basically same board with same components?
Anyone here use the YJ copy of audiobah green board?
Cheers,
Rod