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Portable headphone amplifier kit

post #1 of 15
1/4/09 at 6:02pm
Thread Starter 
Looks like Decware has released their portable headphone amp as a kit now. looks interesting though it costs $135 with all the parts you can also pick up the PCB only for $24.

here is a link to the official page

FYI they also have quite a few other kits as well
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post #2 of 15
1/4/09 at 7:27pm
Looks like an A47 with some extra switches. Likely nice for people who like to play around, personally, I'd go with Mini3 any day.
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post #3 of 15
1/4/09 at 9:28pm
I was about to say the same Angel. It is an A47 with cross feed and a gain switch. That Radioshack pot is laughable. I don't see many people paying $135 for this. I would rather have a pimeta or a mini3.
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post #4 of 15
1/4/09 at 9:59pm
It'd be interesting to hear. But I agree, the mini3 kinda stomps everything in the price range.
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post #5 of 15
1/4/09 at 10:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rembrant View Post
I was about to say the same Angel. It is an A47 with cross feed and a gain switch. That Radioshack pot is laughable. I don't see many people paying $135 for this. I would rather have a pimeta or a mini3.
Agreed with most of this, but that pot is not Radio Shack's. It appears to be the Alpha used by Pete Millett and most everyone else on the Starving Student. It's available at Mouser.
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post #6 of 15
1/4/09 at 10:20pm
Hmm, build this or a mini3....decisions decisions.
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post #7 of 15
1/5/09 at 4:44am
hurrrrrrr,

Ground plane covering even the bottom of the OPAMPS? Unnecessary 90 degree angles on the traces?

*shudder*
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post #8 of 15
1/5/09 at 7:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rembrant View Post
I was about to say the same Angel. It is an A47 with cross feed and a gain switch. That Radioshack pot is laughable. I don't see many people paying $135 for this. I would rather have a pimeta or a mini3.
Actually, it's not. The A47 has the two opamps paralleled to give higher output current. The "47" in the title comes from the value of the load sharing resistors. This is a buffered crossfeed on the output, no extra current out.
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post #9 of 15
1/5/09 at 12:46pm
If you guys don't think this is a deal of the century, is there another kit with all parts included that you guys recommend?

I just finished soldering a pair of 75ohm resistors onto my IEM cable with a Neutrik jack, and now I feel like I can take on the world , so I'd like to build an amp.
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post #10 of 15
1/5/09 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomb View Post
Agreed with most of this, but that pot is not Radio Shack's. It appears to be the Alpha used by Pete Millett and most everyone else on the Starving Student. It's available at Mouser.
I stand corrected then. It looks a lot like this one.
10K-Ohm Audio Control Potentiometer with SPST Switch - RadioShack.com

I should have known it was of higher quality. The rocker switch in the kit is quite expensive.

Quote:
Originally Posted by chiefroastbeef View Post
If you guys don't think this is a deal of the century, is there another kit with all parts included that you guys recommend?

I just finished soldering a pair of 75ohm resistors onto my IEM cable with a Neutrik jack, and now I feel like I can take on the world , so I'd like to build an amp.
This one
http://www.glassjaraudio.com/product...=2&productId=9
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post #11 of 15
1/5/09 at 9:35pm
Thanks man! I researched a little on the mini3, most say that soldering the op amp is tricky business. Even the most experienced solder masters have managed to smoke the op amp.

The kit looks fun to build.
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post #12 of 15
1/7/09 at 4:36am
I'm confused; the Decware kit seems to contain (edit: does contain) all the parts to build a Zen Head. Isn't a Zen Head (even in kit form) a better amp than a Mini3? It doesn't look very difficult to build either. I've built a cmoy and I'm itching to move a step up.
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post #13 of 15
1/7/09 at 1:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by philtro View Post
I'm confused; the Decware kit seems to contain (edit: does contain) all the parts to build a Zen Head. Isn't a Zen Head (even in kit form) a better amp than a Mini3? It doesn't look very difficult to build either. I've built a cmoy and I'm itching to move a step up.
Reminds me, I'm still trying to decide if Jennifer Aniston is "better" than Courteney Cox What I'm getting at is there is often no "better". Maybe its better here because of a more simple build... I am one of those who smoked a mini3 U5, but was reasonably happy with it once things settled.

Think about portable/transportable vs battery powered though... For example, if the amp can have A/C & just needs to be small there may be other options (one of which may be popping up any day now.
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post #14 of 15
7/28/09 at 3:54pm
I just built one of these as a first project (not including some interconnects) and found it pretty easy. I relied on the picture from their website a lot and my multimeter and I finished it with no major issues. Best of all, it worked the first time I turned it on!

Now I just need to build/buy an enclosure for it and get a knob for the volume control.
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post #15 of 15
8/19/09 at 2:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by roadcykler View Post
I just built one of these as a first project (not including some interconnects) and found it pretty easy. I relied on the picture from their website a lot and my multimeter and I finished it with no major issues. Best of all, it worked the first time I turned it on!

Now I just need to build/buy an enclosure for it and get a knob for the volume control.
I was wondering what the outcome was since you bought the kit. Congrats on the build.
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