Great Customer Service for an Excellent Product
Personally, I was looking for a headphone amp with very low noise characteristics that would pair well with my low noise Benchmark 3 DAC. Also, I wanted an amp that would be capable of easily driving my Hifiman He1000V2 cans. Therefore, I decided to try building Tom's kit. Unfortunately, I rushed into soldering the board and I was extremely rusty in my soldering techniques. In retrospect, I should have read some of Tom's excellent guides prior to starting the project.
After rushing through the build I struggled with noise issues and channel drop out when testing the board. Tom was very helpful and responsive in an attempt to help me get the board working properly. Eventually, Tom offered to personally analyze the board for a small fee so I shipped the board back to Tom. Very shortly thereafter, Tom discovered several issues with the board and proceeded to fix those issues. He turned around the board in a very short time frame and now I have a working amp that sounds great with my headphones. It is very quite and transparent sounding when paired with the Benchmark 3 DAC.
I'm very impressed with Tom's customer service as he was extremely helpful and responsive. In the end everything worked out. Just a note, for anyone considering building the board. Go for it and if you are rusty like me take the time to read Tom's guides to soldering, etc.!
Personally, I was looking for a headphone amp with very low noise characteristics that would pair well with my low noise Benchmark 3 DAC. Also, I wanted an amp that would be capable of easily driving my Hifiman He1000V2 cans. Therefore, I decided to try building Tom's kit. Unfortunately, I rushed into soldering the board and I was extremely rusty in my soldering techniques. In retrospect, I should have read some of Tom's excellent guides prior to starting the project.
After rushing through the build I struggled with noise issues and channel drop out when testing the board. Tom was very helpful and responsive in an attempt to help me get the board working properly. Eventually, Tom offered to personally analyze the board for a small fee so I shipped the board back to Tom. Very shortly thereafter, Tom discovered several issues with the board and proceeded to fix those issues. He turned around the board in a very short time frame and now I have a working amp that sounds great with my headphones. It is very quite and transparent sounding when paired with the Benchmark 3 DAC.
I'm very impressed with Tom's customer service as he was extremely helpful and responsive. In the end everything worked out. Just a note, for anyone considering building the board. Go for it and if you are rusty like me take the time to read Tom's guides to soldering, etc.!
Thank you for writing and sharing your experience. I appreciate it. I'm glad you like the amp.
As you discovered, SAC305 lead-free solder is awful to work with and results in solder joints that are grainy in appearance which makes it impossible to tell the good joints from the bad ones. If you're going the lead-free route I recommend spending the bit extra and getting AIM Sn100C or any of the other germanium or bismuth doped 99.3/0.7 Sn/Cu alloys out there.
Lead solder (60/40 Sn/Pb or 63/37 Sn/Pb) is still my favourite. I use it for prototypes and such. All my fully assembled boards are made with lead-free solder.
For those interested in the nitty-gritty details of solder alloys, I suggest they read here: https://neurochrome.com/pages/choosing-solder
Tom
As you discovered, SAC305 lead-free solder is awful to work with and results in solder joints that are grainy in appearance which makes it impossible to tell the good joints from the bad ones. If you're going the lead-free route I recommend spending the bit extra and getting AIM Sn100C or any of the other germanium or bismuth doped 99.3/0.7 Sn/Cu alloys out there.
Lead solder (60/40 Sn/Pb or 63/37 Sn/Pb) is still my favourite. I use it for prototypes and such. All my fully assembled boards are made with lead-free solder.
For those interested in the nitty-gritty details of solder alloys, I suggest they read here: https://neurochrome.com/pages/choosing-solder
Tom
Tom,
Based upon your advice, I recently purchased some AIM Sn100C to use on my next project.
I highly recommend your "choosing solder" guide, especially if it has been a long time since you have done any soldering. Also, it is better to read the choosing solder guide prior to soldering instead of afterwards
Thanks again for your help and advice,
Alex
Based upon your advice, I recently purchased some AIM Sn100C to use on my next project.
I highly recommend your "choosing solder" guide, especially if it has been a long time since you have done any soldering. Also, it is better to read the choosing solder guide prior to soldering instead of afterwards
Thanks again for your help and advice,
Alex