Chinese TPA6120 eBay module warning!

Well, I have about ten of these modules from two batches. Even the silkscreen is wrong. Surprisingly it only was about the fourth module or so that started up in Badaboom ;)
All in all not a big thing, its easy to change the 'lytics and the price is still awesome.
 
Yes, I use them as headphone amps. For my K702 and T50RP I needed something with a little bit more oomp. I'd say it is very good, even better if you mod the board for balanced input which can be done but one needs 0603 resistors. The PCB layout is prepared for balanced in.
 
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I have tried this recently and it sounds quite decent - has 0dB gain though so just a current buffer. Nice built in linear PSU with dual voltage regulators and bridge and smoothing caps.

TPA6120 Headphone Amplifier Board HiFi TPA6120A2 Dual Channel Headphone Amp | eBay

Caps all appear to be in correct orientation. Plus, the resistors are all metal thin film and film bypass caps are used. Metal thin film has lower distortion than metal thick film SMD's when used on feedback circuit path.

s-l1600.jpg
 
I just got one of these TPA6120 boards from Taobao - very cheap - and it gets my award as the worst sounding amp I've ever heard. There must be something wrong with the circuit. The pot is 50k and that goes direct to the input of the TPA, where the typical bias current is 4uA. The result is the pot sounds 'scratchy' as its turned but this is the least of this amp's problems.
 
Ignore my last post, finger trouble! I hadn't twigged that this amp was entirely DC-coupled when I fired it up and I'd connected it to a prototype DAC that had very significant DC offset on its outputs. Putting some series capacitors in-line has fixed it from sounding so awful, its now not bad at all for the money although clearly adding its own veiling when compared to a direct feed.
 
Hi folks-

Im making a little phono preamp for a friend, repurposing an old surplus military box. Pics attached.

I was going to use the Electronics Salon RIAA preamp-
Stereo Phono RIAA Preamplifier Module Board, Preamp, MD-A310. | eBay
-and thought it would be cool to add a headphone amp inside.

I'd like to use a kit or get a decent headphone amp board off ebay. There are numerous choices out there. There are some great builds/projects here on diyaudio-

"WHAMMY" Pass DIY headphone amp guide

The Objective2 (O2) Headphone Amp DIY Project

The Wire - All Boards and Kits Explained Here!

The Objective2 (O2) Headphone Amp DIY Project

But it needs to fit in this little box. 80x50 mm.

TPA6120 Hi-Fi Stereo Headphone Amplifiers mentioned here, but what about these?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RA1-clone-...h=item41f33fb549:g:tB4AAOSwkNZUlYOy:rk:1:pf:0

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HV-10-RA1-...=item33f10a574d:g:WkEAAOSwKLxbYvI8:rk:89:pf:0

https://www.ebay.com/itm/47-Amp-Hea...=item5467e8f67b:g:n4MAAOSw8R9cJttG:rk:57:pf:0

Any good feedback out there on the above headphone amps?

Thanks! -Kent
 

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