cult following and superstitions

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just wanted to get the dirt on all the little philosophies of the gainclone. i often hear people suggest things because it fits the simplistic ideals of the gainclone. what, in your opinions are the major ideals of gainclones? like physically short NFB and small components, but any reasonsfor these, and anything else.
 
yeah, but usually there isn't reall an explaination for why you need small parts, just that is fits for gainclones. also, i may miss something

I don't think that I have yet seen anybody suggesting parts based on their small size!

The bottom line is that you need to build one of these amps to hear what it is like for yourself. Then try different components and see what difference they make in YOUR system.

There is really no substitute for the real thing and if you do read some of the posts on this subject, you will see that there are always different opinions about nearly every aspect of the IGC construction.

I wasn't being rude earlier, but I doubt very much that we all want to go over the same ground again. ;)
 
theChris said:
i often hear people suggest things because it fits the simplistic ideals of the gainclone. what, in your opinions are the major ideals of gainclones?
My opinion about this is: Simplicity. It's easy to succeed and the chip is descent, one of the best in it's class I imagine.

I have, infact ordered some samples and plan to make pcb's with LM3886.... eventually. My plan is to make the amp (the pcb in particular) a little bit nicer than Gaincard... not so hard :no:
 
Re: Re: cult following and superstitions

peranders said:
I have, infact ordered some samples and plan to make pcb's with LM3886.... eventually. My plan is to make the amp (the pcb in particular) a little bit nicer than Gaincard... not so hard :no:

I dunno, Per. Sure you're not aiming too high? It's quite a daunting challenge. Just take a good look at what you're up against. Perhaps that'll bring you back down to earth. :)
 

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wasn't there a post from the importer saying that this is NOT
a picture of the innards of a Gain Card???

...then again, if i were the importer i'd be saying the same thing,
even if it were true!!

(does that one resistor look like a little ear of corn to anyone else?) :nod:
 
moe29 said:
wasn't there a post from the importer saying that this is NOT
a picture of the innards of a Gain Card???

...then again, if i were the importer i'd be saying the same thing,
even if it were true!!

Heheh.

Yeah, Yoshi Segoshi of Sakura Systems said that that was a photograph of a prototype that he said must have slipped through. However I've verified the innards photo with two different people with two different Gaincards so if this is a photograph of a prototype, then more than one prototype managed to slip through.

When Yoshi was asked for photos of the non-prototype Gaincard, he refused.

Take it for what it's worth.

(does that one resistor look like a little ear of corn to anyone else?) :nod:

Otherwise known as toilet paper in certain parts of the southern United States. :)

se
 
It seems that noone in the whole wide world can take a photo of a "real" Gaincard. Odd.

When I look at www.sakurasystems.com I get not good vibes. Much talk, almost no pictures! How many high-end manufactures are _not_ pride of the insides of their products, and also want to show it (so they can convince the customers that the products are worth the high price)?
 
The only important thing is the sound or at least it should be. If many clones do look ugly, so what? I'm listening to one ugly looking DAC whose sound happens to be just fine.

So, what exactly are the serious technical complaints about this particular PCB? That it's not a 'looker'? Hardly serious. Hardly technical. Hardly anything. I've seen so many nice looking PCBs having too many layers, too many errors, over-autorouted... That's professional?

As I myself have never had a chance to listen to a gaincard, could anyone tell me how it SOUNDS? Maybe in comparison to some other amp? I'd appreciate it.

Regards
 
How many high-end manufactures are _not_ pride of the insides of their products, and also want to show it (so they can convince the customers that the products are worth the high price)?

How many have amps that have only a few components and are very easy to copy?

And as the (supposed) pictures of the Gaincard seem to meet with so much disapproval from some quarters, would publishing those pictures to potential customers not affect their judgement of the sound quality?

I don't know if those pictures are the Gaincard but as I have stated before, there is 'method in the madness' if you care to look closer than a teenage boy looking at a typical cheapo music centre!
 
moamps said:
The only important thing is the sound or at least it should be. If many clones do look ugly, so what?
I think the main issue was the price vs. content and looks.
moamps said:
So, what exactly are the serious technical complaints about this particular PCB? That it's not a 'looker'? Hardly serious. Hardly technical. Hardly anything. I've seen so many nice looking PCBs having too many layers, too many errors, over-autorouted... That's professional?
The alternative was a professionally made pcb in _every_ sense, not just the looks. To be honest I have never seen a obviously bad pcb in high-end or even in "normal-end" hifi but in other electronics, i.e. in a battery charger, the pcb looked just :dead: (Made in China)
 
Marchand has been selling a kit using two LM3886's for a few years. Configurable as a two-channel pair or bidgeable. I bet he is kicking himself he didn't think of a cute name like "Gain Clone" rather than the boring "PM21". Marchand was way ahead of the curve on this item, he should be getting more credit (and $'s).

BTW, I have built one of these and find it is excellent to power a couple of bookshelf speaker connected to a PC. It results in a very compact and convenient unit and the sound quality is comparable or bettter than to amplifier sections of decent quality AVRs like the mid priced HK,s Denons and so on one finds at Good Guys. While I don't see how one can really expect to push it much beyond the performance cited in the National datasheet, a handfull of these would be an excellent choice to power a HT set up.
 
If anyone has overlooked that, in the same thread Yoshi promised response considering pricing, but, to my knowledge, till now…

Steve Eddy said:
Yeah, Yoshi Segoshi of Sakura Systems said that that was a photograph of a prototype that he said must have slipped through. However I've verified the innards photo with two different people with two different Gaincards so if this is a photograph of a prototype, then more than one prototype managed to slip through.
Steve, I remember your first post about this (posted more than year ago). Did you manage to come across some photos (I mean do you have anything more than just “a verification from two different people”, do they have a camera…)? And where and when did Yoshi say that about the prototype?

Pedja
 
Pedja said:
Steve, I remember your first post about this (posted more than year ago). Did you manage to come across some photos (I mean do you have anything more than just “a verification from two different people”, do they have a camera…)? And where and when did Yoshi say that about the prototype?

Nope. No photos. Cfaser's photos are the only photos I've seen. I just showed the two photos to two others who had cracked open Gainclones and they were only interested in satisfying their own curiousity and didn't bother with photos.

As for the prototype, I thought it was Yoshi who'd said it but after reading through the original thread, I don't see it. If it wasn't Yoshi then it must've been Sead (their Eastern European distributor). I'll have to dig through my old AA chat logs and see if I can find it.

se
 
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