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A DIY Desktop amp?

post #1 of 7
9/24/11 at 11:56am
Thread Starter 

Does any1 know how a cmoy/mini3/tube DIY amp compares to a factory made amp like a Fiio e7/e9 or anything alike? :P

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post #2 of 7
9/24/11 at 12:06pm

Tubes will be worse. The rest kind of depends.

 

The Mini3 is a portable amp, by the way. Do you mean the M^3?

 

The Mini3 (not M^3) has much worse harmonic distortion at high frequencies with low impedances, but better distortion everywhere else (compared to the E9). IMD is pretty similar. Better noise. Much worse power output, expected because it's a portable amp. Much better output impedance (about 1 ohm vs 10 ohms). Bad crosstalk, little better channel imbalance but neither is very good.

 

As far as I know CMOY performance is all over the place depending on hows it's made. I don't know specifics.

 

You want to DIY, make an Objective2. You can wait for the desktop version to be finalized if you don't want semi-portability. The O2 will beat the E9 in most ways, losing out slightly at low impedance high frequency THD and in power output at low impedances where more isn't needed (current limiting, not because of output impedance).

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post #3 of 7
9/24/11 at 12:34pm


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Head Injury View Post
 The O2 will beat the E9 in most ways, losing out slightly at low impedance high frequency THD...

High frequency harmonic distortion seems to be the TPA6120's speciality.
 

 

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post #4 of 7
9/24/11 at 12:55pm
Thread Starter 

Thx for the replies ;)

 

Is it difficult to make something like this? And how should I start out?

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post #5 of 7
9/24/11 at 1:15pm
also consider a millet minimax.
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post #6 of 7
9/24/11 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 

It looks so complicated to make all :( Does anyone know if there are any step-by-step guides for things like this?

(That Millet Minimax looks awesome with those tubes btw!, are those hard to make?)

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post #7 of 7
9/24/11 at 4:25pm
Start with a CMoy. Lots of documentation and you'll learn how to build.

Actually, the electronics are the easy part. Casework is tougher.

Getting holes to line up and that sort of thing will take more time than actually soldering it together.
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