thoppa
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2007
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Hi,
I just thought I'd start a thread to see if anyone else has built one of these and what they think of it.
I've seen amps like the Keces use these chips and that sells for something like US$450.
I got the pcb on Ebay for US$9 and got some sample chips from National to see how it sounded. I'm just using a simple LM317/337 +/-15V psu. It's dc coupled. I added a deep bass boost into the feedback loop, using a 1uF Soniccap to equalise HD650 (double-helix cable). All the electrolytics are SilmicII and they are bypassed with Vishay MKP1837. Resistors are Dale RN55. IIRC I set the gain to 4.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Low-distortion...item4a9f775327
The PCB doesn't have a ground plane and the decoupling caps are quite a way from the 49710, but there is no oscillation (tested on a scope) or audible noise (depending on the source of course). I used a star earth and isolated the ground of the inputs from the case I used.
The initial dc offset was huge (2 volts or so) but instantly dropped very fast and then started dropping slowly from about 200mV. After getting fully warmed up and burned in, it's settled to about 8mV.
I'm amazed by the definition and clarity. The soundstage is great and the tonal balance is excellent, dare I say perfect. It has plenty of punch and the chips have a huge bandwidth. I'm serioulsy thinking about building a four-channel fully balanced amp powered by a sigma22. I reckon that would be a giant killer.
Anyone else tried this as an amp ?
cheers,
Tom
I just thought I'd start a thread to see if anyone else has built one of these and what they think of it.
I've seen amps like the Keces use these chips and that sells for something like US$450.
I got the pcb on Ebay for US$9 and got some sample chips from National to see how it sounded. I'm just using a simple LM317/337 +/-15V psu. It's dc coupled. I added a deep bass boost into the feedback loop, using a 1uF Soniccap to equalise HD650 (double-helix cable). All the electrolytics are SilmicII and they are bypassed with Vishay MKP1837. Resistors are Dale RN55. IIRC I set the gain to 4.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Low-distortion...item4a9f775327
The PCB doesn't have a ground plane and the decoupling caps are quite a way from the 49710, but there is no oscillation (tested on a scope) or audible noise (depending on the source of course). I used a star earth and isolated the ground of the inputs from the case I used.
The initial dc offset was huge (2 volts or so) but instantly dropped very fast and then started dropping slowly from about 200mV. After getting fully warmed up and burned in, it's settled to about 8mV.
I'm amazed by the definition and clarity. The soundstage is great and the tonal balance is excellent, dare I say perfect. It has plenty of punch and the chips have a huge bandwidth. I'm serioulsy thinking about building a four-channel fully balanced amp powered by a sigma22. I reckon that would be a giant killer.
Anyone else tried this as an amp ?
cheers,
Tom