Greetings all, apologies if this has been reiterated ad-nauseum but an initial search didn't reveal any results. I have a CKKIII that I built a couple years back and I've been experiencing troubles with a buzz from certain sources (in particular, sources that share a common ground). For...

    Ok, so its not very pretty inside.  And I pulled a redneck DIY deal and added some extra shielding to the transformer in the form of some aluminum foil.  Its grounded out though.   Actually the build is probably pretty laughable to someone who knows what they're doing, but this...

So I'm at a bit of a loss at the moment.  I've finished building my second CKKIII (never got the first one working so I scrapped it and started over).  After replacing the board with a completely new one, with new components, replacing the voltage regulators with higher quality ones, trying...

Ok so the thread is in no way ultimate right now, but rather a work in progress to what has potential to be a (hopefully) informative thread targeted towards DIY DACs, for both objective and subjective opinions regarding each device. I'll start off by picking a few DACs and giving some...

Has anyone ever heard of/used Koshin Capacitors? I opened up my Harmon-Kardon AVR146 today after a bit of an explosion (an MLCC in the power supply blew up, in the most literal sense), and I'm noticing these Koshin caps are everywhere, and debating whether its worth replacing these things if...

I'm currently debating running the iMod on my 5.5G iPod, but iReally don't want to do it on my iPhone (sorry, had to say it) So in that regard, would an unmodded iGadget still benefit from a nice metalized polypropylene or teflon capacitor coupling its output stage on the docking connector?

I kind of fell into the business of building myself a B22 (not that I didn't want to that is), and as this is a huge project, I'm wanting to put a lot of effort into it. As such I do have a few questions. I notice Ti lists Silmic II caps on both the B22 and o22 BOM, but I find it...

So I finally worked up the nerve to finish my CKKIII, and I got everything together, my only problem is kind of odd. I measured the +/- 15v test pads and they both are within 0.3v of 15vdc. However, whenever I go to bias the output transistors on R19 and R43, only 1 channel will allow me...

Does anyone have an approximate battery life that they've found average with the high performance Mini3 with the 325mAH battery? I've found my battery lasts about 2 days regardless of how often I run it or not, before it starts sound like crap (gets fuzzy and grainy towards the end of its...

Now I've picked up a few books like "Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics" and "The Audiophile's Project Sourcebook" and read through them, and while they've been decent at detailing some amplifier theory, they haven't really delved into filter circuitry and amplifier topology to the point...

I'm planning my build of one of Alex Cavalli's CTH amps and I'm loving that he left enough room for proper electrolytics (like Elna's) in such a small board. However, he did design in bipolars (non-polars) at several stages. None of these bipolars look like they're in the signal path (correct me...

I ordered myself a set of Toshiba transistors on eBay as is common, and I just ordered myself a set from MCMinOne (specifically, 2SC2238/2SA968) and I'm wondering if there's a way I can compare the two to determine if the ones I purchased on eBay are legitimate or not (I paid about the same...

I'm looking to get a set of decent cans that have a relaxed feeling to them. I'll mostly be listening to rock, metal, and techno/electronica/variants therein while doing homework or programming or some other task, so I'd like something that's comfortable to wear and isn't fatiguing on the ear...

Has anyone ever heard of them? I was looking into some documentation about Low-ESR capacitors and one of their engineers had a pretty good article on it. Anyone have any experience or know of these capacitors to know if they're good in audio products?

I've grown to become a fan of Ti's products, and one thing I wished was that the gamma-2 DAC had balanced output. Well fortunately, while browsing the development threads, someone mentioned that the board did have balanced output, and turns out it does in a couple of through-holes (apparently...

I'm looking over the schematics of the AMB M3 and I'm trying to figure out if the required 100uF and 330uF aluminum electrolytic capacitors are even in the signal path (debating whether to get some nice boutique capacitors like some Elna's or just go with high-grade Nichicon KW's, and save some...

I've recently started breaking into audio DIY with a CMoy, and from there the Mini^3 (sounds great on a pair of RE0 IEMs too I think). Currently I'm trying to work out the logistics of the iMod as well (ended up breaking one of the leads off of my dock connector because, well, I'm a bit of a...

Basically I already have I guess what could be considered a "mid-grade" cmoy amp tacked onto my iPod for portable applications, but I'm getting ready to run the iMod on the unit (throw in some high quality Black Gate caps) and I'd like to step up on my amplifier as well. My challenge is this...

So I've been reading this tutorial on building your own silver interconnects (I'm looking at building the Bantam DAC, with the cable modification). I've noticed that some of the higher end interconnects (or at least from what I've seen) include a dielectric core with the wires being wound in...

Sorry for the insanely simple question and further apologies if its in the wrong section, but I'm looking at building some headphone tube amps, namely the Millet MAX, but I'm looking at the tubes it requires, and I'm interested in experimenting some with the tubes it uses. My question is, I...

Hey everyone, I'm fairly new to the audiophile headphone arena, so asking the experts seems to be the most logical standpoint. I've picked out 3-4 different headsets based on information I've been reading about them throughout the forums, but I'm certainly open to new suggestions. I'd prefer...