If the noise reduction was audible I'd happily have 3 caps sticking out of the top. If the difference is negligible well, there is no reason to ruin a poor little hammond box. What I'll perhaps do, as there hasn't been much response on this topic, is given the GrubDAC some good listening over...

First, thanks for a great little DAC - really handy size and a great price. I built a GrubDAC a few months ago and have been very happy with it as my on the road source. It's setup with the on-board miniUSB and I managed to squeeze a mini-jack socket in Hammond enclosure as well making it nice...

        Indeed I did :)   Another potential stockist of the 2CP-2511 in the EU is http://www.acoustic-dimension.com/tkd/TKD-main.htm. I say potential - I've not mail them to see if they actually have any.   The UK Noble stockist I mentioned before...

Thanks all.   The 2CP-2511 was my first choice but it's hard to source in the UK at a sane price - the only stockist I can find is unlikely to get any more due to supply problem. If I go to EU/US suppliers I'm looking at prices well over double the price of the Noble. If I'm getting to that...

I'm currently having a toss up between various pots all around the mid range price mark. It's for a 3-channel β22 build. I don't want to go crazy on a pot but at the same time I want something that will do the amp proud. I've trawled forums & Google and still can't decide. The toss up comes down...

To avoid blowing the drivers measure the DC between each of the output channels and ground with the volume all the way down. You don't want more than a few mV, especially into sensitive headphones. Still a good idea to use someone elses headphones for your first run   Have fun!    

If you've never soldered before, get your self some strip board and cheap resistors from ebay and practice soldering them following the various guides around. a CMOY is a good, inexpensive place to start and you get something out it. Once you're comfortable, or at least have learned some lessons...

I received my MS-1's today and having listened to them for a short time so far I have to say I'm suitably impressed. With the HD-497's I was using X-Fi crystaliser and bass boost to get a sound that was more what I wanted. With the MS-1's the plain output is just great. In the short time I've...

Thanks for the advice calaf. I've gone ahead and order a set of Alessandro MS-1s. They are nicely with in my budget and from what I've seen get a fair amount of praise. If I like the sound from them I'll see about an upgrade to the MS-2s or the SR-225s in the future. I was giving some thought...

I've spent the last week or so trawling this delightful place along with any other information that I can Google and I think I've finally decided on my first step into the world of headphone-amps. I think. I've had my Senn HD-497's for a good few years now and they've served me pretty well...