NEWS: PortaCode : The Utimate Battery Powered Headphone Amp - Page 5

first i must say that i do agree that Phil is actually an amazing designer and beyond, he added to the head-fi community lots of real innovative ideas such as the three channels and the bass boast (out of the signal) and the diamond buffer and a very unique way of regulation (i read it somewhere but don't remember where).

and what i meant when i wrote "shadow designer" is that because Phil hates confrontations that last more then a few minutes (he explained it once), he always takes one step back from most communities and arguments, while continuing to create his designs relatively in the shadows (without too much "press" and publicity).

oh, i certainly did not mean to say that this amp would be targeted at the k1000...just that at that price-level there are few "portables" that are in the same ballpark, if you even want to call the signature 30/70 a "portable"...

On the subject of bass boost, I think it's fair to say that no bass boost is perfect and that whenever you have extra component in the signal path the sound will be affected. When I must use EQ I prefer it done digitally since it is technically superior, but if you like flipping switches that's cool with me too.

Full Metal Jacket PC Board construction

Regarding the point to point vs PCB construction method I favor the PCB method because I can control the parasitics and thus each production amplifier will sound just like any other because all the unknown parasitics often encountered with point to point and inter PCB wiring and known well in advance of any actual prototyping and thus the chances of the prototype working the first time and each successive unit also working properly thereafter is simply the way I like to do things. Now I suppose that some one laboring for a month can produce an amplifier that will best the same thing put on a PCB all else being equal and this same person could most likely produce another copy of the first the second month however these two will be different probably measurably different.

There is an time when point to point wiring is desirable over PCB such as High Voltage or extremely Hugh currents, In addition excessive heat can be a disadvantage of some PCB laminates however High temperature laminates eliminate this drawback. If I were to make a vacuum tube amp point-to-point would be my 1st choice unless manufacturing concerns demanded PCB assembly and in that case I would specify a High temperature laminate.

The Full Metal Jacket PC board concept was developed in the LISA III and thus put a Full and complete Ground plane on Both sides of the PC Board thus providing shielding of foils on one side of the Board from the other sides foils Most PC Boards designed today have foils on at least 2 sides and often times more, PC boards without full ground planes on both sides of the PC Board allow foils to see each other. This is undesirable since proper PC Board design often dictates placing foils that need separation from each other on opposite sides of the PC Boards. Ground planes upon PC Boards are often used in High frequency applications because the designer is able to allow stray capacitances bleed off to the ground plane as opposed to an undesirable foil causing such manifestations as interchange crosstalk and instability. As good as the ground planed PC board is it still leaves one entire side of the Board most often the side containing the most foils completely open and allow stray capacitances to not only bleed to the ground plane but additionally to an unintended foil located on the ground plane side. My Full metal jacket concept solves this and other limitations of simply using one ground plane. In previous protyping I evaluated both a one sided ground plane like I have always used previous PR1,PR-II and Headcode Designs vs one on each side of the Board and stability Noise and most importantly sonically.

thanks for the complete explanation Phil.

after asking Phil some question about his new coming portacode, Phil explained that on triad audio (Lisa), and on his new portacode he gets complete freedom to decide and choose all the parts and components and thus creating his own balance and his own sound signature, with other designs he used to make in the past he had his saying but often when the product became commercial there were other considerations that took place (space, availability, fundings and so on...), therefore i am certain that we can expect a lot more from his new portacode now that his hands are not tied in any way

Any updates? Although I will probably not be able to afford it in the near future, I'm anxious to hear of any offerings Phil has to release.

Yes, inquiring minds would like to know.

Yeah, where is the king of transportables???!!! *KingOfTransportablesSmiley*

the prototype is done, according to phill it is by far his best work.

you can see some prototypes here.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/bui...arocco-280043/

hope this helps

That's not the same thing. The portacode is supposed to be the PORTABLE version, like an upscale LisaIII.

Looks pretty cool! I cant wait to check out a finished product!

Id pay $1000usd if it were really that much better than a Lisa lll or any other amp out there. It would have to be a non-mistakable difference, not the cable arguement.

Does anyone know whether the Portacode is a dead project, or just a very slow one?