building an amp
Jul 4, 2002 at 5:52 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 8

Mimician

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hello everybody. i'm new here and new to headphones too.

do the HD580 need an amp for sure? if so, is it hard for me to build one myself? can someone gimme more info on this?

thks a lot!
 
Jul 4, 2002 at 6:19 PM Post #2 of 8
Welcome to Head-Fi Mimician.

The HD580 don't need an amp per se. But, at 300 ohms, it is my opinion that in order for you to hear what they are capable of it is advisable to get a dedicated headphone amp for them. This opinion is shared by many on the board.

As far as building one yourself. Your question is very vague. "Hard" is a relative term. There are some that can just pick up a soldering iron and a schematic and whip up a fine amp. there are some that can't handle an iron no matter how much they practice. I don't what kind of information you are looking for. You might want to start by reading the Projects at the HeadWize Library. There are some very good beginner projects to get you started. I would recommend the Cmoy amp as a great first project. Also Head-Fi member Tangent has put together an excellent tutorial for the Cmoy amp. Here is a link:

Tangent's Audio site
 
Jul 4, 2002 at 6:34 PM Post #3 of 8
Try the search function in the upper right corner. There're ton load of valuable information regarding these topic in this forum and in the DIY forum.
 
Jul 10, 2002 at 11:20 AM Post #4 of 8
Cmoy amp is a very nice starting amp. It was my first and it's a good stepping stone to other designs (/me points to signature
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Jayel
 
Jul 11, 2002 at 1:49 AM Post #6 of 8
Quote:

The META42 on tangent's site will be easier to build than making a cmoy on protoboard.


The single hardest part of building an amp is the casework and hooking up panel controls. Doing the actual circuit is the easy part. Since my CMoy tutorial gives protoboard layouts, it's almost as good as building on a PCB, and there are fewer parts involved anyway. I would still recommend that a newbie start with a CMoy, because it will bring their soldering (and desoldering) skills up to par, and they'll learn about selecting parts, ordering them, orienting them in the board, troubleshooting ... all very valuable skills. If you take those skills into a META42 project, you'll be almost certain to get it right the first time.

Quote:

Also, it will sound better


Unquestionably true. If you start with a CMoy and later build a META42, you will be left with two amps, and maybe you have no use for two. That doesn't mean that the first one is a waste of money, though, because you can sell it for the cost of parts easily; and it wasn't a waste of time and effort, because it was educational. I'm not sure you can make "the right amp" the first time anyway, so you might as well build a cheap one first. It's not too painful to fry $20 worth of parts.
 
Jul 11, 2002 at 2:16 AM Post #7 of 8
Listen to Tangent.

I had to rebuild my first amp after discovering I'd reversed the pins on the right side of the opamp and needed an 867K resistor in the left channel somewhere otherwise it didn't work; my second amp (a Hansen board) had to be scrapped because it refused to work even though I'd thouroghly checked it for errors, even my first ETA42 had to be scrapped.

Experience helps. And so does good solder (buy yourself a pound of Kester 44 from Digi-Key when you order the Cmoy parts)...

(trust me. I think it was my previous lead-free Multicore solder that caused all those muckups, because it was next to impossible to get shiny solder joints with it)
 
Jul 11, 2002 at 4:07 AM Post #8 of 8
remember 1 thing

Your first amp will not be your last. Nor will your second. Maybe not your third.


If you want a good amp, just 1, buy a manufactured one such as the Corda or a Headroom. Or, contract somebody like Tangent to build you one.

Otherwise as you learn more you'll want to try different amps and it may never end
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Of course if you're looking for a hobby or want to learn go and build a cmoy
 

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