Yes, cleaning the flux around the jfets was very important. I did a particularly
crappy job on one and had a dc offset problem. Proper cleaning fixed that.
crappy job on one and had a dc offset problem. Proper cleaning fixed that.
Any good tips for PSUs that work well with Waynes Linestage? I ordered super regulators from the store, along with the linestage PCB. How would that work, in your opinion?
Regards,
Andreas
Regards,
Andreas
Hi,
I've been told the VRDN kit seems to be the one to go with.
The user Vivaregina from the HK has some.
I'm trying to source 2 from him.
-Cheers,
Fabricio
P.D. If you find some in EU let me know.
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[special=]%[/special]Based on what? Every PSU has its own merits so there isn't one that's best as such. Many people have been happy with mine as it's based in part on Wayne's original PSU like featured on the Whammy which is super quiet already. Only difference is I refined the design and updated the regulators. The VRDN will have lower noise than mine as it uses a clean up shunt based on a circuit design by a chap called Wenzel which drops the noise to negligible levels. In the real world though you will not hear any audible difference between a PSU with 10uV noise and one with 500uV noise. At least I can't anyway.
I've corrected my text. I personally don't have the knowledge or the equipment to verify which on is best.
It's cool no worries. I am actually quite liking the TPS7A4701 and TPS7A3301 regulators. They have an output noise as low as 4uV without any additional output filtering circuitry required. I am currently in the middle of designing a new PSU based around these regulators and its overall footprint will be quite small. Stay tuned. 🙂
@booja30
Gorgeous builds!!!!! Love.
You can't sell them 😀😀. Treat them like the artwork they are. I framed the F5 boards I blew up. They are on my wall now. (And I fixed F5 with some generosity from a friend). Or at least interview the prospective buyers to make sure they appreciate your babies. Might I suggest, if you have the building bug—and who here does not—that you build Iron Pre next (fine contribution to the community from Mr. Zen)—It's spectacular with F5. Precision with sweetness. My opinion. My Wayne's build is the quietest thing I've made—and awesome with phones.
Gorgeous builds!!!!! Love.
You can't sell them 😀😀. Treat them like the artwork they are. I framed the F5 boards I blew up. They are on my wall now. (And I fixed F5 with some generosity from a friend). Or at least interview the prospective buyers to make sure they appreciate your babies. Might I suggest, if you have the building bug—and who here does not—that you build Iron Pre next (fine contribution to the community from Mr. Zen)—It's spectacular with F5. Precision with sweetness. My opinion. My Wayne's build is the quietest thing I've made—and awesome with phones.
Thanks for all your help, guys!
So nobody has tried Waynes Linestage with the store superregulators? Considering Gaz’s if superregs worn work, and I will also check out VRDN. Thanks!
So nobody has tried Waynes Linestage with the store superregulators? Considering Gaz’s if superregs worn work, and I will also check out VRDN. Thanks!
If you want to go with the vrdn, you easily could get the boards made yourself.
Good Mark Johnson kindly gave us everything (inclusive all the Adresses) to do it, and it‘s actually quite a breeze.
I did so, because I wanted them in blue just like the pre, and sold the surplus to others here. Flawlessly in what, 2 weeks?i
My build is actually not finished because some parts aren‘t here yet, and also because I want to build some volume control variations just to see what’s best.
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Hi,
I've got 2 amp kits going and I just rather not get into more hassle.
Thanks for the info though.
It took me 1 hour to have the boards ordered, from the moment I got the Gerbers from post #1 [emoji6]
But nevermind, you‘ll be fine with any other psu recommended here I’m sure
So if my offset is stable I do not need to worry about my soldering skills affecting performance, am I right?
Btw, does anyone know how this circuit does balanced to se. Can I make it work with dc on both balanced signals cancelling out?
I would like to try my second board with my dddac bal to se.
Input much appreciated!
I use balanced, current-out DAC as well. The voltage on positive-out and negative-out pins is around + 2.5V DC. I tried feeding the analog-out signals without the capacitors, straight to Aleph J used in balanced mode (AND without that 1uF cap on -IN !!!). It sounded superb, BUT... you have to pay strict attention to NOT turn the amplifier first. In other words, I had to be certain the DAC was turned ON first, wait a few seconds, and then the amplifier was turned ON. The sound was incredible, however, there was a great chance that I was going to damage my speakers if I wasn't paying STRICT attention.
So, my suggestion is to use 4 high-quality caps between the DAC current out pins, and the next stage (especially if the next stage is a DC amplifier).
Mind you, once the DAC was ON (no caps at the output), and the Alaph J was ON (DC coupled throughout) for a few minutes, the DC offset at the output was hovering between +20mV and -20mV... the sound was incredible.
Later on, I decided to save my Dynaudios by installing 4 Auricaps XO caps on each DAC-out feed, which did not really change the sound much... maybe the depth a bit, but it was still good and (reasonably) safe.
The issue with (DIY, right...?? no relays!!) DAC's is that when they are turned ON, one side may reach +2.5V quicker... and if the amp is on, you'll see the bass cone movement. Now, if the AMP is DC coupled, that difference will also get the full gain as well... and that is quite dangerous. Unfortunately, even if you use the capacitors, they will charge unevenly during that first second, and the DC difference will STILL be present at the amplifier input.
But, did I mention already a few times that the sound was fantastic..?
If you know what you are doing... go for it. I tried to highlight a few risks above, so...
You could try everything on a bench; load the amp with 50W / 8-ohm resistors, remove the caps, use the oscilloscope (record function? so that you can capture what happens when you turn things ON...)... and see if what you observe is satisfactory to you, or not. This is really the only way. Otherwise, you will not know for sure.
So, my suggestion is to use 4 high-quality caps between the DAC current out pins, and the next stage (especially if the next stage is a DC amplifier).
Mind you, once the DAC was ON (no caps at the output), and the Alaph J was ON (DC coupled throughout) for a few minutes, the DC offset at the output was hovering between +20mV and -20mV... the sound was incredible.
Later on, I decided to save my Dynaudios by installing 4 Auricaps XO caps on each DAC-out feed, which did not really change the sound much... maybe the depth a bit, but it was still good and (reasonably) safe.
The issue with (DIY, right...?? no relays!!) DAC's is that when they are turned ON, one side may reach +2.5V quicker... and if the amp is on, you'll see the bass cone movement. Now, if the AMP is DC coupled, that difference will also get the full gain as well... and that is quite dangerous. Unfortunately, even if you use the capacitors, they will charge unevenly during that first second, and the DC difference will STILL be present at the amplifier input.
But, did I mention already a few times that the sound was fantastic..?
If you know what you are doing... go for it. I tried to highlight a few risks above, so...
You could try everything on a bench; load the amp with 50W / 8-ohm resistors, remove the caps, use the oscilloscope (record function? so that you can capture what happens when you turn things ON...)... and see if what you observe is satisfactory to you, or not. This is really the only way. Otherwise, you will not know for sure.
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Yup, I have a few spare VRDN left over.
US$20 for 2.
US$30 for 4.
Of course you are welcome to send a tiny bit more if you want to buy me a beer. Actually any extra $ will go to support the diyaudio site.
Regular air mail, all included ... provided the COVID situation didn’t disrupt the post to your country, but you will get them eventually.
If you are reading this post in the middle of 2021, apologies but please don’t ask.
Oh and of course a big THANK YOU to Mark Johnson.