[InSides]

I remember there was some talk regarding balancing a Millett Hybrid - has anyone completed a balanced version yet?

Budget issues aside, I have finally started looking into a dedicated headphone amp. I was first interested in a Dynamight, but realised that the cost with all the options I wanted would stretch my budget quite considerably, I dropped that idea.

So, while I had earlier decided on either a Gilmore Lite & DPS, or perhaps a PPX3 if I can have one made before my trip to NYC in May, I also wanted to explore this option, so I welcome and appreciate your comments and suggestions. I need to decide whether I am getting a commercial amp, or a bag of parts from NYC to have an amp built for me here.

That said, I would assume one would need two completed Millett boards, and two STEPS PSU's? The tubes would probably need to be matched, right? Adding premium parts, a nice chassis [IAG?] would probably mean cutting it close to the $1,000 mark.

I would go ahead with a balanced MH configuration, I am just worried whether I should be better off investing my money in a commercial amp with this budget, or even save up for the GS-X?

EDIT: Regarding headphones used with this - currently HD-650, a pair of AKG-701 on the way and possibly MDR-SA5000 on my NYC trip. I do know the HD-650's and the K-701's can be run balanced, what about the MDR-SA5000?

 

[motherone]

I think you could probably do it for under $300, depending on your chassis. You don't need a pair of STEPS for the system, as the total draw of the millett is under 500ma (so a pair would draw about 1amp, and if you wanted to make sure your LM317 didn't over work itself, just use a LM338 or other higher-amperage regulator).

The only benefit I can see is that it will drive high-impedance phones more easily, as the millett does have limited voltage drive (~1.5-2v, depending on tubes and bias). I can't really see any drawbacks other than the obvious "takes up more space, money, etc."