The actual wood and drivers are sound, but yes, the build quality for the remaining components appears 'cheap'.  The grills let you see everything, but the cables are electrically secure.  I love them, don't get me wrong, but I did make a few changes to improve my satisfaction: 1) I pulled the...

Yup, the usb fits perfect. I blackened the plug with a dry erase marker, popped it in and out of the case, and measured the wipe. Then I did the same with my cell phone: exact same distance. However, I can only barely slide a piece of paper between the case and plug. If the back plate was any...

I dropped the gain down to 2-ish (edit: from 5.4) so I could use a bit more of the pot's range. (I use SE530s and GS1000s). But when I rapid cranked the bass boost to dig on Bud Powell I nearly soiled myself: that bass boost had a crazy huge gain (duh) and cut out in the mid range, (again, duh)...

Alrighty: after too many weeks away from an internet connection, I am back with the remaining pictures I promised. Rather than fill this post, you can just hit the source. HERE I have to say, the γ1 lite and PPAv2 work wonderfully together. Now I just have to get the YJPS put together...

MisterX asked a while ago to grab a picture of his γ1 lite stuffed in with a PPAv2 into a 1455N case (I stuck a link in the PPAv2 page with the remaining shots of the build.)

MisterX, attached are the promised photos. I still have to fix the rear panel; but, just to show how well the y1 fit in there, these will suffice. So, my first DIY is that much closer to being done. (Sadly, now that this ‘works’ and I am really digging the sound, I am afraid I may just...

(And we haven't even started on my HP calculator collection - and repair business- , but that would be far too OT. Noodler works better in both my Pelikan and Vanishing Point and doesn't bleed too much on cheap paper but the colors are not nearly as good, true.) The gamma1 fit so dang...

I had my co-worker snap a shot. (Who happened to be playing with it in my absence - another issue since I thought I had the only key to my office). I ordered new end panels since the old ones were jacked up so bad and, as you can see, I have been playing around with the guts. I still have to...

I certainly will! Unfortunately I will be out of the country for the next 6 days. (-Sitting in JFK right now) I will get them in there, though; (especially the bit with the gamma lite slid in a 1455N with the PPAv2).

Problem solved: R11 was dropped to 100 Ohms. There is no hiss, distortion, or any noise for that matter. Using a gamma1 lite as source, no music playing, Tread at 24V, there is only silence. The only way to get noise in right now is to max the volume pot...then I hear a faint whoosh...

UPDATE: I don't know how I missed it in my finger-numbing search fest yesterday, but this could be the prime Evil-Loud-Hiss thread for all those in need of exorcising him from this particular amp/headphone combination: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/ppa...bility-415863/ The boiled down...

That sounds like a much easier job than replacing R24/34. Is there any drawback to ramping C6 right up to 100pF? Also, I have a hand full of 22pF ceramics; I assume these would be adequate bypass caps if necessary. They would be very easy to solder the disk dang near to right on the brown...

After weeks of great service and an addition of a gamma1 lite configured by MisterX to slide in the top of a 1455N case, my PPAv2 has developed a nasty issue: Evil-Loud-Hiss enters the scene (about the same volume as B.B. King's strings) with an associated high DC offset (15mV-25mV) in one side...

...been away from civilization for a bit... Pinkfloyd4ever – great links; thanks for bringing these into this. On tip selection, I’m afraid I’m not much help. I ground a medium tip into a pseudo-hoof with a sharp ‘V’ on the other side (pointy bit out). I polished with a ScotchBrite pad and...

For those of you who fear bringing the iron near the little-bitty bits in the DIY world: Surface Mount Soldering This fellow has a couple of other videos on the subject as well. What does a good solder joint really look like? NASA knows.

*Slaps forehead* That's something, (once explained, mind you), that I feel silly having missed. I wonder how often that happens (in either the buffer or opamp bias circuit), and it just lives on as an unknown bug? That is what tomb was getting at; testing transistor parameters isn't always...

Quote: Originally Posted by tomb Actually ... you'll find that the output transistors are so consistent in HFE that matching is unnecessary anyway. I've gone through a lot of the output transistors listed on Steinchen's site and they rarely vary by much more than about 5 HFE - many vary...

Now that does clear up the issue; thank you! Truly, I am really only doing this for the sport of it and not because I believe it is crucial for my listening pleasure (or headphone's safety). The choice of 2N5087/2N5088 did make sense after reviewing the data sheets. The way I had my...

I know this question has been approached to death from nearly every angle and I apologize for any pain this subject may again surface; I have pondered the various posts and related net search hits to no clear answer. So, here I goes… As suggested (though clearly not imperative), when matching...

Fluorescent lighting and switch-mode power supplies are non-linear loads that are extremely good at generation third order harmonics (i.e., 180Hz for the bulk of North America). The 'energy efficient' fluorescent jobs can be particularly nasty and product third order harmonic currents in excess...

I purchased a pair of square-rod, two-wires in December and was deeply disappointed: -The cans would fall to the end of the rods if you lifted the headband or placed them on your head (yeah, who here would ever do THAT!) -The grills were scatched out of the box. (And I am more than reasonably...

Out of curiosity, I thought I might mention that the serial number of my suspected pre-release GS1000i cans is #7660. I am interested if any of the new GS1000i owners have something in this number range... or lower.

And if you really want to try something fun, go get an audiogram performed on your ears. Get a nice detailed one (i.e., narrow difference between tone for each test frequency). Then compare your hearing to various headphone responses. (Headroom has a number of the these curves.) This is one...

Yes, like a milkshake straw.

Interesting... I returned a pair of GS1000s in early December 2008 and recieved, what I thought then, was an odd pair back. They were very dark, had four wires per side, and the cable was as thick as the 1/4" connector. Now, I wonder...