[ppl]

I see from the pole that 80% of you like More Power, Big battery Packs and Place these above other considerations Like Size. Well i feel Better i thought only Apheared and myself were into 16 Cell battery packs and the Like. Can we interest you in 1 Amp Plus output Current per Channel? Insight Electronics Has My Fav. Buffer in stock the EL-2008CT from Elantec for $10.52 This Buffer is going to be Discontinued at the end of this year most likley so If you are looking for the Best IC Output Stage for Your DIY Phone Amp I would Grab them While still Available. BTW Insight has a $50.00 MIN order, But Consider you can combine parts to get that total, Or at least you used to be able to.

This will allow you to get all that battery Power into Your Headphones if ya want. Nonetheless It is Good to have More, not less of anything.

 

[Daniel Pumphrey]

So you now prefer the Elantic buffer over the Buf 634? Is this an 8 Pin Dip type? Good to see you here.
Dan

 

[tooler]

Sounds expensive. Are you going to come out with a new "best portable amp" in 6 months that takes another few hundred dollars to complete?

 

[ppl]

Dan I thought i always Stated i liked the Elantec Better but did not mention it but once because at that time it was unavailable. I think apaheared covered this in one of his responces to my amp post that Drew alot of Fire.

aos am i going to come out with another amp in 6 mo. No i am going on Vacation so will only visit the online world one in a while after the mo. Maby This winter when it rains forever Hear will i most lickly get into more amp designs. Thay are AC, Discrete component and may cost about $300 to Build. A Dual mono Quad regulated with a Gilmopre supper Reg fr the output Stage. This is an extention of my present Discreet component design But refined to verry Fine Perfection. Unlike my present designs I may not make the Desigh available to others since if yo think my present ones are to complex and Costly I am sure No interest will be in this all out ausault on Headphone perfection. It may however Go on the market For an Outragious sum of cash, Besides if it Dose Ill have to Compensate Kevin on His supper regulated Power supply. Thats all folks.

 

[aos]

ppl, are we talking the "class A" power supply here?
(btw, I'm keeping the copyright on the name "class A power supply"

).

 

[Apheared]

Yes on three counts: yes expensive, yes rare and discontinued, and yes beter than 634s. No on DIP, they're TO- package, 5 pin. (and yes, you should heatsink them - in a portable amp)

 

[aos]

Heatsinking A PORTABLE AMP??
Batteries are not heavy enough for you guys?
Or is this just to get a free bonus workout as I suspect

?

Btw apheared, nice to see that you've progressed from a DIY newbie to a moderator within a year. Kudos to your enthusiasm for this stuff

.

 

[Apheared]

heh,

I didn't ask for it... but makes sense, you always make your biggest junkies the moderators, you know they read every post and rarely log off.

 

[ppl]

aos, Copyright "Class A Power Supply" Boy I have heared it all now. If This amp is marketed then i would Come up with a Cool sounding Name for the Power supply Have 4 or 5 pages of Nonsence to discribe the Unit Just like all the Other High End manufactures Do Like Levinson calling their form of Dynamic Biasing "Adaptive Signal Biasing". How did thay get away with that since Pioneer has a Patent on That exact Term and the Concept Was thought up years ago by Nelson pass.

My reason for mentioning the Elantec Buffers was a service to other DIY'ers That might Just like the part. and if i sed nothing then some Critic would post What Why....Why... Why.... did not someone Tell me this before it was to late or god wat to do now PPL it is your Fault. So in the interest of avoiding the potential depression someone might endure Knowing the Best Buffer in the world is now unavailable to them. PS I all ready got me a Few of these as well as the Higher Bandwidth EL-2009. besides did not 80% of the head-Fi"ers say that thay wanted Juce over Compact deminsions. No i dont heatsink my El-2008's i mount them flat upon the Board and let the Gnd plane heatsink. But unless you are going to drive loudspeakers with sutch an Amp heatsinking is Not Needed. at the worst this part only gets warm not hot.

 

[aos]

Heh ppl, that was exactly my point. I though marketing guys would be droooling all over it. Think about it, most half-baked audiophiles have heard that "Class A" is the best, now just market them "class A PS" and they will buy it by a pound. I was just kidding btw, that's obvious, isn't it

?

I've already added Elantec to my Insight running list. I gotta order some PCM63-K anyway, so the $50 minimum is taken care of anyway, some OPA627 wouldn't hurt either...

 

[ppl]

aos: yes i Knew that you were just being sarcastic. Yup those marketing folks sure do come up with some wild stuff. Audiophiles Like Comfort wnen thay buy Kilo-Buck Equipment. and it is the Job of marketing to Create an aura of Musical Comfort. Knowing that what ever is inputted into an Amp, or other Component is Exactly what went in with the Exception of doing whatever the Component was designed to do Like Amplify of somthing. The ADD Dept. of any Good Company will convince the Audiophile that whatever comes out of their Equipment will be Cleen and Pure and Class A, DC coupling, Lots of output Current, and a Full opwer bandwidth from DC to Lightspeed is Ausuring the Audiophile that any Unplesentness in the Reproduction Must be the fault of some other system Component and not the $10,000 Amp thay just bought. Because the Designer has Covered all the Bases. Well to a certin extent i tent to agree within limits and while No marketing dept will ever confess to the Fact that ALL components are Compromised in some way or another. This is a byproduct of being manufactuired for Profit. But it is true just Say things like (NEW CLASS A SINCRO BIAS) (ULTRALINEAR) (DC-LIGHTSPEED) (100,000 v/uSEC SLEW RATE) Then demo the Amp operating an Arc welder and you will have Audiophiles far and Wide Beating a Path to your Door. The Audio Press will write Volumes about what a Audio Geru you are and How Your Product is truly a Blessing from God.

BTW The EL-2008 works well with the OPA-627 also however i like the AD-825 Better but some like the Smooth Musical presentation of the OPA-627 rather than the in your face Presentation of the AD-825.

 

[thomas]

From the Lexus Brochure:
Quote:

outer outstanding features include the fact that Mark Levinson amplifiers employ forty-seven parts in the audio path for each of the eight channels (most automotive amplfiers use one part)

lol...i wonder which part their referring to? and i guess class F amps are now the rage in high end equipment...


Could you parallel a pair of these buffers per channel to make a simple speaker amp? or would discretes still be better?

 

[ppl]

You can parr these buffers or any OPEN LOOP TYPE BUFFER. but the CLOSED LOOP BUFFERS canot be parralelled because of the fact thay use Voltage gain witth Feedback The BUF-634 and EL-2008 are Open Loop Types and thus can be parralelled. However for Driving Loudspeakers due to the Radical impedance changes a loudspeaker and it's crossover places on an Amp i cosider less than 5-10 amps of somewhat continious output current unsutible for Loudspeakers and I would use Separate transistors and Parralell the output transistors so as to Keep the HFE up in the High range rather than Falling as it will at High Currents sometimes at less than 2 amps for some Heafty Power transistors.

The EL-2008 Buffer can output 1.8 amps into a short or low impedance load but that is Max and driven into Current Limiting. so While thay are great for 20 ohms and above, I would not recomend driving Loudspeakers unless about 5 were parr. Then the +/- 18 volt powersupply limit would restrict the available output power. However You would have a Very fast output stage somthing most Loudspeaker amps lack.

 

[thomas]

thanks... i'll try finding a decent class A or AB discrete mosfet amp on the net for my speakers instead....

 

[ppl]

Ya! tomas thats what i would do, Although i like BJT's as Output Transistors. The only problem is that Most of the ones Available Have Radical HFE changes with Current. Limited Ft. Or Bandwidth and thus Offer a High Current but slow and somewhat Nonlinear output Stage. A few BJT's are Notable Exceptions 2SA1302 and it's compliment 2SC???? And the Ring Emmitter types are Verry Nice But limited in the Secondary breakdown Department. However for me The so called "Mosfet Mist" bothers me alot. One of the few buzwords from the Audiophile Press that is an great Discription of the quality i have Noticed on all Mosfet amps i have Heared. This quality bothers me as mutch as Sibelence dose Apaheared. so i look for the Most linnear wideband low capacitence BJT's i can get and parr as manny as needed to get the Current. I beleive this is the rationall Kevin used in His Headphone amp by parr. those TO-92's. I like that aproach also. One of thesedays someone will come outwith a mosfet i like but for not i have togo with BJT's and Design around the Limitations of this Old but Proven technology.