Thanks for the input everyone!
tbaashus, have you noticed any differences between headphone amps with your DT 880? In my experience, one one of the most noticeable traits with a lack of "oomph" tends to be in the bass region. Obviously, volume levels (distortion) are also pretty important.
to sp33ls
I use the Whammy with my Beyer DT880PRO in the 250Ohm version.
Sounds absolutely great. Made a long journey through different OPAmps.....
My Whammy got two competitors:
Waynes LineStage as a headphonamp and the ACP+ as a headphonamp.
Which ones best? None - they are all great in their own way!
I would recommend to built them all three - my crazy experience...
Enjoy your Whammy!
Greets
Dirk
I use the Whammy with my Beyer DT880PRO in the 250Ohm version.
Sounds absolutely great. Made a long journey through different OPAmps.....
My Whammy got two competitors:
Waynes LineStage as a headphonamp and the ACP+ as a headphonamp.
Which ones best? None - they are all great in their own way!
I would recommend to built them all three - my crazy experience...
Enjoy your Whammy!
Greets
Dirk
Whammy is certainly a fantastic device to listen to the differences of opamps.
Overall I am sure you will not be disappointed with the sound, (and more likely overjoyed) because it’s absolutely amongst the very, very best of any/every HPA I’ve ever heard.
Ditto all of this. Nothing at all to loose—opportunity to play with opamps to taste—and you built it yourself—amp sounds fantastic. (I've built 3!—but I may have a problem—only slightly smaller than avdesignguru's based on that list. WOW!
Thanks for the input guys.
My chassis design is almost finished and I'm patiently waiting for my PCBs to arrive so I can get into this build!
In the meantime I will search the thread for other reviews and build tips.
Thanks for the input everyone!
tbaashus, have you noticed any differences between headphone amps with your DT 880? In my experience, one one of the most noticeable traits with a lack of "oomph" tends to be in the bass region. Obviously, volume levels (distortion) are also pretty important.
The Whammy is the only headphone I own, but the combination with DT 880 sounds effortless to my ears.
Wich alternative should I choose for 32ohm headphones for the second whammy?
Whammy 1:
I have a Whammy with 25VA 2x22V and standard resistors (10ohm) and its overwhelming at 3 on a 10-scale with 32 ohms headphones.
(IRF9610/IRF610, 50k ALPS, naked regulation, OPAMP: Burson v6V). This one has some noise at full volume.
Whammy 2:
(LED regulation, 50k ALPS, FQP3P20/FQP3N30, transformers at hand: 25VA-2x18V, 15VA-2x15V)
A: Transformer 25VA 2x18V with standard resistors (10ohm)
B: Transformer 25VA 2x18V with standard resistors (10ohm) and lower gain with R1-R12 or R39-R40
B: Transformer 15VA 2x15V with 15ohm source resistors
c: other setup, if this case: suggestions?
Whammy 1:
I have a Whammy with 25VA 2x22V and standard resistors (10ohm) and its overwhelming at 3 on a 10-scale with 32 ohms headphones.
(IRF9610/IRF610, 50k ALPS, naked regulation, OPAMP: Burson v6V). This one has some noise at full volume.
Whammy 2:
(LED regulation, 50k ALPS, FQP3P20/FQP3N30, transformers at hand: 25VA-2x18V, 15VA-2x15V)
A: Transformer 25VA 2x18V with standard resistors (10ohm)
B: Transformer 25VA 2x18V with standard resistors (10ohm) and lower gain with R1-R12 or R39-R40
B: Transformer 15VA 2x15V with 15ohm source resistors
c: other setup, if this case: suggestions?
With 32ohms, you do not need a lot of voltage/gain,
- decrease the gain via resistors around op amp. I found vivid to be sounding best around 9-10oclock on my 50k alps. (I also see via scope different behavior depending on input impedance towards op amp)
- use naked regulator (dont need the extra voltage)
- use 15v transformer so that your regulators run cool, which in return should allow you to further decrease the output resistor.
, but you need some current:
- decrease the output resistors to better drive low impedance headphones, until temperature/heatsink is not sufficient.
The only question mark on that configuration is whether the 15v transformer sag after crcrc circuit will still give sufficient headroom for regulators to do their work. Worst case, you could half the resistors in the crcrc if 15v transformer is not enough under load.
I also compared the vivid with and without its plastic casing, and prefer when it runs cool, which 15v naked regulator should help you achieve.
- decrease the gain via resistors around op amp. I found vivid to be sounding best around 9-10oclock on my 50k alps. (I also see via scope different behavior depending on input impedance towards op amp)
- use naked regulator (dont need the extra voltage)
- use 15v transformer so that your regulators run cool, which in return should allow you to further decrease the output resistor.
, but you need some current:
- decrease the output resistors to better drive low impedance headphones, until temperature/heatsink is not sufficient.
The only question mark on that configuration is whether the 15v transformer sag after crcrc circuit will still give sufficient headroom for regulators to do their work. Worst case, you could half the resistors in the crcrc if 15v transformer is not enough under load.
I also compared the vivid with and without its plastic casing, and prefer when it runs cool, which 15v naked regulator should help you achieve.
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Not crazy at all. It will do BAL in to SE out as-is, it's why there is a -in on the input.
For BAL in BAL out you need (2) PCBs for stereo.
There's a ground linking the center of the PCB to help with this.
EDIT: sorry, ignore the above. I though this was the BA2018 thread...
Balanced whammy would require two PCB for stereo. And wouldn’t have a bunch of advantage. If you want balanced in, use an input transformer. If you want balanced out, well, that gets really complicated very fast.
For BAL in BAL out you need (2) PCBs for stereo.
There's a ground linking the center of the PCB to help with this.
EDIT: sorry, ignore the above. I though this was the BA2018 thread...
Balanced whammy would require two PCB for stereo. And wouldn’t have a bunch of advantage. If you want balanced in, use an input transformer. If you want balanced out, well, that gets really complicated very fast.
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If you are planing on 15V rails, use the 15V transformer. Save the 18V for a BA2018 project or something similar.
Either Transformer will work perfectly for 32R headphones. In it’s stock configuration whammy can push 500mW into 32R. That’s enough power to make even the most inefficient headphones play at hearing-damage levels.
Either Transformer will work perfectly for 32R headphones. In it’s stock configuration whammy can push 500mW into 32R. That’s enough power to make even the most inefficient headphones play at hearing-damage levels.
I've been thinking about this after studying this document. There are several options here if we're thinking of the Whammy as a line stage. The two that are simplest are output transformers and an impedence matching network on the negative leg. What I'm wondering is whether these also make sense as a way to provide balanced output for headphones?