[kilgoretrout]

Hi, I am looking to build my first DIY amp. I have some prior experience with soldering, but not much. I am looking recommendations on amps. I will it be using it for beyerdynamics DT-990 headphones, so it should work well those headphones.

What options do I have that will fit a modest budget?

 

[jonjon0nline]

cMoy or Mini^3. If you can read schematic, go for the "Starving Student" Millet.

 

[juniperlater]

Do a CMOY first. It is a rite of passage. Then choose some of the other PCB types.

 

[Colonel Panic]

or skip the cmoy and do the Mini^3 like I did...

 

[Uncle Erik]

How much experience do you have? Take a look at the CK2III - it would give much better performance with a DT990 than a CMoy would.

 

[akione]

Yes. If you've already got a bit of experience soldering, you might as well skip the Cmoy.

The CKKIII is very under-rated, but is a good, straight-forward and cheap build, with no extra power supply to worry about,
as everything is on one board apart from the transformer. Definitely recommended.

 

[kilgoretrout]

Is working with more than one board for a single amp considerably more difficult than a single board? I'm guessing that I have a couple of hours of soldering experience. I'd say that I am still a beginner, but a first-timer.

 

[TimmyMac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kilgoretrout /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is working with more than one board for a single amp considerably more difficult than a single board? I'm guessing that I have a couple of hours of soldering experience. I'd say that I am still a beginner, but a first-timer.

Not really, it just means more work wiring the boards and mounting them in your case. I'd definitely skip the cmoy; my first project was the Alien DAC and I'm currently working on a Bijou. Build something you want to listen to, rather than something you will never use.

 

[kilgoretrout]

The Bijou looks like its probably of a greater difficulty, right?

Do you think you could rank the Mini^3, CK2III, and the Millet "Starving Student" in order of their sound quality and also by difficulty?

 

[FallenAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kilgoretrout /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Bijou looks like its probably of a greater difficulty correct? Do you think you could rank the Mini^3, CK2III, and the Millet "Starving Student" in order of their sound quality and difficulty?

Well, the Bijou can and will kill you if mishandled, so make sure you're OK with that first, it's also not the easiest build.

Mini3 isn't hard, one of the easiest builds, it's portable and sounds great for what it is.

Starving student is another easy build, but it's P2P, would be fun. Should sound nice, great for price, likely very warm.

CKK-III is likely the best sounding and hardest build. All of these are fairly straight-forward builds, but if something goes wrong, this is the one you'll have most trouble debugging.

 

[Mr. Tadashi]

Well one thing to considered the Mini^3 is a portable amp where as the others are home amps.

The mini^3 is rather straight forward with the surface mount soldering is the toughest part of all. For the Millet "Starving Student" the main factor is most likely the ability to read the schematic.(I learned bit about reading schematics but I don't know enough to comfortably tackle one myself.)

 

[jonjon0nline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Tadashi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well one thing to considered the Mini^3 is a portable amp where as the others are home amps. The mini^3 is rather straight forward with the surface mount soldering is the toughest part of all. For the Millet "Starving Student" the main factor is most likely the ability to read the schematic.(I learned bit about reading schematics but I don't know enough to comfortably tackle one myself.)

I really wish someone came up with a guide for it. I'd love to make one but can't read schematic for the life of me.

Fallen- What does P2P mean?

 

[TimmyMac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonjon0nline /img/forum/go_quote.gif I really wish someone came up with a guide for it. I'd love to make one but can't read schematic for the life of me. Fallen- What does P2P mean?

P2P is pin to pin... where you solder the parts directly to each other (using wire where necessary) rather than using a PCB for the connections. Generally considered pretty difficult, and surely impossible if you can't read schematic.

 

[FallenAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonjon0nline /img/forum/go_quote.gif I really wish someone came up with a guide for it. I'd love to make one but can't read schematic for the life of me. Fallen- What does P2P mean?

There is a "guide" built by rds here.

P2P is short for "Point-to-Point", meaning you are not working off a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and are likely hooking up the components to each other using leads or wire.

 

[kilgoretrout]

I think I can read the schematics. I understand almost everything that is going on.

The Millet Starving Student amp website says, "150mA is a nice healthy current to have running in the output stage - it will drive 32 ohm headphones with ease."


The DT-990 headphones are 250 ohms. Will this still work?

I don't need my amp to be portable, but is there any reason not to chose a portable amp even if I am using it at home?