[aos]

Thanks for the info. Minimum of 20 is indeed a problem given the price but that's what you have to live with if you need exotic parts...

 

[morsel]

Tangent, I was thinking the same thing last night but concluded it was a bit too kludgy. Heh, what do you think about putting in a real cascode current source?

We would probably be lynched by the headphone community if we dragged the board back into development yet again, or perhaps Tangent will just shoot me.

We are not exactly bursting with room for an actual cascode current source on board, but it could be done. We could just squeeze in one of those "current regulator diodes" that are really FETs in disguise. What is the will of the people on this?

"Sire, the peasants are revolting!"

"Of course they are, they never bathe."

 

[ppl]

I would rather have no Current source than a resistor. the low value of the resistor strips the dynamic range out of all but the high output Current Opamps. A CRD like the one i used to use 1N5298 1.1 Ma. takes up the same space as the resistor and is only $2.00. however a casscode is way better.

 

[zbuddah]

I'd rather wait a little while longer to have better designed/sounding product than to have it earlier only to regret/think how much better it would have sounded with the casscode.

You guys know what you are doing. Just make it good so it will give me this>

 

[Budgie]

Is this slowly turning into an "all out" amp? I guess the final descion rests with Tangent, as to what all will be included

.

 

[grancasa]

As a newbie to the DIY world, I'll have to get through a few CMoy's before I get to this amp. But when I do, I think I'd like it to be the all out best it can be. But, I'm not one of the ones itching for you guys to get this thing out.

 

[tangent]

The META42 won't be an all-out amp, if only because one constraint I won't budge on is board size. It's now as big as it will ever get. Limited board size = limited features.

However, I can now say that there will be a new thread started on this topic in a few hours. I'd like to save the details for that post. Look for something before midnight Mountain time. (0600 GMT) Transmission ends.

 

[tangent]

The big announcement: there will be a third prototype, due to a few usability issues with the META42 brought up here and at Headwize. These are not electrical issues -- you can work around each one. But, I need to rework the board to clean these problems up. This will require one week to haggle out the details and do a new board layout, and another week to get more prototypes. If that fixes all the problems that I can reasonably fix, final boards will be ready one month from now.

I am terribly sorry for the delay, but I believe it will be worth it.

Full technical details will follow in a post on Headwize in a few hours, where everyone will be welcome to help drive the next iteration. (In the meantime, I'm doing some board layout experiments so I know what changes will be possible and which won't.)

 

[aos]

This must be costing you quite a bit of money tangent - 3 prototypes? To think I was scared to order even final working boards for my DAC... Prototyping samples is the right way to do things though.

 

[eric343]

Heh, yeah, you have no idea what it felt like to order the rev. i2 boards for the META... And here Tangent's spending over $180 just for prototypes! (assuming ExpressPCB pricing)

 

[tangent]

I did rant and rave a bit when I saw all these people popping up at the 11th hour with comments, but since the problems are all my fault, I'm not complaining. Better to hear about it now than after I order final boards.

All I can say is, I think it will be worth it, giving the amp one more pass with the polishing cloth.