I'm new to headphones, and was wonder if a current amp like the F1 would make a good headphone amp?
I'm looking at purchasing one of the highend Grado's like the GS1000 or RS1 which are both 30 ohm loads with 98spl sensivity.
Thank you for your insights and recommendations! This is new ground for me personally.
-David
I'm looking at purchasing one of the highend Grado's like the GS1000 or RS1 which are both 30 ohm loads with 98spl sensivity.
Thank you for your insights and recommendations! This is new ground for me personally.
-David
Whether Nelson has any intention of designing a headphone amp as part of the Zen series, I know not, but I've semi-promised to do a JFET one with the Lovoltechs. I've got two or three different circuits in mind, but haven't gotten around to building them. Now that the boys are born, things are (slightly) less crazy and I'm beginning to have some control over my time. I've actually managed to get a couple of circuit boards done that I've been needing to do for the last six months or so, Got my buddy's Hurricane amps running again. Etc.
*****
Anyone who has Hurricane amps, beware...they used 10 ohm resistors under the cathodes so as to have somewhere to read the bias. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is the fact that these resistors are little dinky 1/2W jobs that smoke if the tube arcs. Then they lie and tell you that these little 1/2W resistors are 2W. [Yeah, right.] I tried to talk my buddy into using at least 1 or 2W resistors, and preferably 5W. He wanted "what was in there originally." So what happens? They send replacement parts that are completely different from the original ones. Harrumph. The next time they blow, I'm not going into the things unless we use 5W resistors.
Oh yeah, and the cathode resistors for the power tubes along the outside edges of the chassis are damned near impossible to get to.
Grumble. Bah humbug.
*****
Anyway, I'm not promising when I'll get to the JFET headphone amp. I'd like to say that I'll look into it over the holidays, but that's sure to invoke the wrath of the gods.
Grey
*****
Anyone who has Hurricane amps, beware...they used 10 ohm resistors under the cathodes so as to have somewhere to read the bias. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is the fact that these resistors are little dinky 1/2W jobs that smoke if the tube arcs. Then they lie and tell you that these little 1/2W resistors are 2W. [Yeah, right.] I tried to talk my buddy into using at least 1 or 2W resistors, and preferably 5W. He wanted "what was in there originally." So what happens? They send replacement parts that are completely different from the original ones. Harrumph. The next time they blow, I'm not going into the things unless we use 5W resistors.
Oh yeah, and the cathode resistors for the power tubes along the outside edges of the chassis are damned near impossible to get to.
Grumble. Bah humbug.
*****
Anyway, I'm not promising when I'll get to the JFET headphone amp. I'd like to say that I'll look into it over the holidays, but that's sure to invoke the wrath of the gods.
Grey
O, I don't mean that your wrting is so . . .
As you might expect, I've got one or two of them lying about here and there. (Ahem.)
I have Grado headphones, myself, which need less voltage and more current than most other headphones. Ideal for the Lovoltechs, though. Actually, come to think of it, I've got an old pair of Yamahas, too. In any event, I do listen under headphones sometimes so I could use another headphone amp. I mean, jeez, I've only got a half-dozen or so now...why not another?
As for me being 'back,' I never really left. Just had to whelp a pair of baby boys. My wife did all the hard parts, thank goodness. I just cuddle them and pass them off to someone else if their diapers need changing. Unless, of course, there's no one to hand them to, in which case it's time to roll up my sleeves and get grubby. Oh, well.
They're too young to learn audio yet. I figure I'll wait until they're house broken. After that, I'll show 'em a trick or two.
Grey
I have Grado headphones, myself, which need less voltage and more current than most other headphones. Ideal for the Lovoltechs, though. Actually, come to think of it, I've got an old pair of Yamahas, too. In any event, I do listen under headphones sometimes so I could use another headphone amp. I mean, jeez, I've only got a half-dozen or so now...why not another?
As for me being 'back,' I never really left. Just had to whelp a pair of baby boys. My wife did all the hard parts, thank goodness. I just cuddle them and pass them off to someone else if their diapers need changing. Unless, of course, there's no one to hand them to, in which case it's time to roll up my sleeves and get grubby. Oh, well.
They're too young to learn audio yet. I figure I'll wait until they're house broken. After that, I'll show 'em a trick or two.
Grey
Hi Grey,
I'm so glad to hear fatherhood is a priority. There is nothing as great in this world as raising children. A person blinks and they are all grown up. My son is now nine and he's my main passion as well. I was hoping to share my love of Hifi with him (I've loved hifi since I was about 5yo listening to my parents marantz tube system in the 60's). Unfortunately he was born deaf and we have had to discover other mutual interests together. With his cochlear implant he hears reasonably well within the speech range of the audio spectrum (500hz to 2.5hz). We just completed his 3 person team competition in the Silicon Valley Lego Robots contest against 60 other teams, which I was his team's coach. He was a wiz at building and programming the robot to accomplish all nine missions within 2.5 minutes. His team came home with the trophy. Yea, I was a proud Coach and Dad!
Kids are a lot of fun!
Whenever you have an opportunity to share a great headphone amp design, I'm sure it will be great.
Take care,
-David
I'm so glad to hear fatherhood is a priority. There is nothing as great in this world as raising children. A person blinks and they are all grown up. My son is now nine and he's my main passion as well. I was hoping to share my love of Hifi with him (I've loved hifi since I was about 5yo listening to my parents marantz tube system in the 60's). Unfortunately he was born deaf and we have had to discover other mutual interests together. With his cochlear implant he hears reasonably well within the speech range of the audio spectrum (500hz to 2.5hz). We just completed his 3 person team competition in the Silicon Valley Lego Robots contest against 60 other teams, which I was his team's coach. He was a wiz at building and programming the robot to accomplish all nine missions within 2.5 minutes. His team came home with the trophy. Yea, I was a proud Coach and Dad!
Kids are a lot of fun!
Whenever you have an opportunity to share a great headphone amp design, I'm sure it will be great.
Take care,
-David
The balance between young 'uns, electronics, and writing is continually changing. The two older kids are pretty much independent now: one in grad school out at Berkeley, the other graduates here Monday and has already begun job interviews. I don't have to take them into account any more. The three year-old and the boys, however, all require intensive hands-on stuff every day. I'm reorganizing things with the intent to get electronics and writing back on track.
I've got an extensive list of things to try. As you might expect, the Lovoltechs feature in a number of the proposed projects. I was doing fine until about May, when things got complicated. Then in Spetember things got more complicated still. Now that the boys are here, I'm hoping that life will settle down and be more predictable.
Rest assured that the JFET headphone amp is one of the higher priorities. I have other variants on the New-Tron that I'll be posting, sooner or later. And a few other things. Just because my hands are burping babies doesn't mean that my imagination has shut down.
Grey
I've got an extensive list of things to try. As you might expect, the Lovoltechs feature in a number of the proposed projects. I was doing fine until about May, when things got complicated. Then in Spetember things got more complicated still. Now that the boys are here, I'm hoping that life will settle down and be more predictable.
Rest assured that the JFET headphone amp is one of the higher priorities. I have other variants on the New-Tron that I'll be posting, sooner or later. And a few other things. Just because my hands are burping babies doesn't mean that my imagination has shut down.
Grey
GRollins said:
Audio life
I'm unlucky
Have two boys,
Only boys . . .
At worst, they are tough
At best, they are quiet
Dry to their parents
I have wife
Who is family Fanatical Minister
I have to beg for my budget
Hmm, I have audio
I drink and smoke
No health care
The first boy studied electronics
He has a quite good job now
But, I wonder if he understands what the resistor is
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