Ok first off Hi this is my first post - though I've been lurking for a while.

I've finally gotten up the gumption to try and build the CMOY headphone amp (actually I went ahead and bought parts to build three - one to learn on, one actual and one potentially for a friend if I don't fry any of the parts in the process).

As far as my DIY experience I've built a Bottlehead Foreplay (that I'm continually working on getting out a little hum I've got somewhere), Adire HE10.1 speakers and a couple of little kits here and there.

I've been reading all I can get my hands on about building this thing on the forum here and other sites . A big thank you to Tangent for your wonderful pages I wouldn't be attempting it w/o them...

But my question is to all who have built it - what did you learn from building it that you wish you would have known before you started?
(hopefully that makes sense....)

Thanks!

I learned to follow the diagram on the T-man’s site. I had to re do a board once because I soldered a resistor on the wrong pad.

You have enough parts for 3? You'll get 3.

Sell the third at cost to another newbie and spread the love.

I purchased enough parts for 2 in case I screwed up and sold the second to another user.

I have made a bunch and learned a lot. Tangent's site is great. I could list a bunch of my mistakes. Where to begin.

1. A hole punch works great for putting holes in mint tin.

2. Add electrical tape or some kind of insulation on the bottom

3. I kept placing the board with the PS caps towards the input and output plugs, instead of the battery, because I was used to seeing it that way in the layout.

4. Tinning the wires before attaching them to the jacks, switches and pots helps a lot.

5. The cheap battery connectors at Radio Shack do suck, but the heavy duty ones are great.

6. Patience is a great thing.

7. Double check your board and make sure everything looks exactly like Tangent's diagram. The first one I made, I had a couple of stupid errors, where the components were in the wrong holes.

That's all I can think of now

and don't be shy to ask questions here.

Beware, this diy stuff is addictive. I've built a cmoy and linkwitz crossfeed, but this week, im building a commissioned cmoy, mint, and ra-1 clone!

1> Don't make the wires to your pot and jacks too long.
2> Stranded wire is more likely to stay soldered in place.
3> Use a multimeter to match resistors in each channel.
4> Create a small hole in your case/Altoids tin as a guide hole before bringing out the larger drill bits.
5>Have an extra Altoids tin in case your hole drilling doesn't go as planned.
6>Enjoy those sweet, sweet sounds!

Good luck!