Want to begin DIY audio, what kits to start with?

I recently built the Crack and find it to be excellent with my HD600s. It is not supposed to be that great with lower impedance headphones though, so that should be a consideration.

If I were you I would not limit yourself to kits - there are many excellent designs with well documented instructions that list a bill of materials and sell pcbs, but you have to source the parts yourself. A step up I guess from kits, but not too much more difficult. 

I built an AMB gamma 2 DAC to go with my bottlehead crack and it sounds great. I am currently in the process of doing a much more involved AMB build too - alpha 10 + beta 22, so be careful, the DIY world can be addictive!

Edit: A great site with kits for some builds where the designers themselves don't offer kits is glassjaraudio.com. 

If you've never done much diy in the past I recommend starting with something simple, easy to do, easy to troubleshoot (which will be very likely to occur). A cmoy kit is highly recommended.

Some people started out with big project like a b22 in their 1st time, and it worked! But I'm curious what the percentage is. In my case working your way up bit by bit help you gain a lot experiences that will come in handy in the long run. It'd be great if you can get your b22 running right at 1st power up, but it'd be a hell if it doesnt. And not to mention that working with high voltage psu is nothing to joke around.

Just my 2c.

My first DIY project was the Mini Max tube amp.

http://www.diyforums.org/MiniMAX/MiniMAXoverview.php

What I liked:

1) All through Hole soldering

2) No parts ordering

3) Nicely finished product.

4) Tube rolling to match my headphones: k701's

5) Head-fi's support thread.

Disliked:

1) Initial bias WARNINGS.

2) Break in time.

Overall the cost was commensurate with the quality product I got.  The next project (y2+++)was a whole order of magnitude harder because it had SMD's , I had to order specific parts from suppliers and find the case for it. 

If you are taking any recommendations for making it easier: 1) Find a place to work that has LOTS of light, 2) get a decent soldering station.

Hope this helped and Have Fun!  Welcome to DIY.

Radioshack did that a long time ago here. I get all my parts online at places like mouser, digikey, jameco. I imagine there is probably an Australian equivalent.

The nicest thing about Crack as a first time kit is it essentially eliminates casework, which can be a very expensive and time consuming part of the build. It comes with panel with all the appropriate holes and 4 cut to size pieces of wood that you just have to glue together and paint/stain if you so desire. Crack is also all point to point soldering which is arguable even easier than through hole. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by iLol 

Alright, I guess the Bottlehead Crack will be my first kit! Should I order it with the speedball upgrade as well, or can that wait? And I guess the y2 DAC will come after, and if I want better portable audio, then the Mini3. And this is probably a stupid question on my part, but is the Bottlehead phono stage kit appropriate as a pre-amp for a turntable?

The Speedball upgrade can wait: the instructions are for a completely built Crack, so it is actually easier to add it afterwards. DACs can be difficult, due to the use of surface mount devices (SMD), so inform yourself on how to solder them before ordering it.

Phono stages are made for RIAA equalization of vinyl playback, so it is appropriate. I've read good things about the Seduction (I assume you're not speaking about the Eros), but I decided to go with the Hagerman Cornet 2. Remember that the Seduction is a Phono Stage and as such it has no volume control: it has to be connected to a pre-amp or integrated amplifier.

As for Bottlehead in general, their manuals are fantastic, so they should be a great learning opportunity.

For what it's worth, I agree with Uncle Erik.

You should try to build a cheap CMOY (from protoboard) just for the practice.

Even though I have no need for a CMOY I'm going to start my foray into DIY audio with it. It's simplicity, low cost and the fact it runs on battery (AC line voltage is DANGEROUS!) make it an ideal introduction in my eyes. Also, Tangent has put together a fantastic site with loads of general DIY audio information and a great CMOY build guide. From reading through his site and reading past CMOY related threads on head-fi, I've learnt a lot (i.e. options around the difference capacitances to use and why film caps are better than electrolytics in the signal path, DC offset, how OPAMPS work, etc.)

Admittedly not having a labeled PCB and having to order all your own parts does make the CMOY trickier in one sense when compared to other projects, but it's overall simplicity doesn't make this too much of an issue I think. I was able to order nearly every part required from one supplier (Mouser), and again, having to order your own parts is an educational activity.

I guess not everyone wants to know the gritty detail, but it gives you a level of understanding that helps you make better decisions (and it's important to make the right decisions when dealing with high voltages!) and troubleshoot when things go wrong. I've also been reading through Practical Electronics For Inventors. While it's a bit heavy on the maths (I'm not very good at maths!), it contains a wealth of information and goes into a level of detail not many beginners electronics books appear to do. I've also been building a few Velleman projects to strengthen my soldering skills.

Although I'm VERY new to electronics/DIY audio, it's apparent that it's a massive subject and from what I've read it appears that it pays to invest time and effort in understanding the basics.

Once I've built the CMOY I'm going to move onto a more sophisticated portable headphone amp (i.e. Tangent's PIMETA or AMB's Mini3). This should help build me up to my ultimate goal of building an M3 this year (initially with an off the shelf PSU, then I want to build a Sigma 11). After that, who knows? A B22? A tube amp? A DAC?