[Fin1211]

Hey everyone,
I was planning on recabling my klipsch custom 3's, but just decided on sending them in to get replaced by klipsch. Earlier, i was planning on making a mini3 but didnt have any soldering experience-now i am confident in my soldering and would like to build the mini3. I will most definitely be using my KC3's, and will plan on getting some on ear headphones in the future, think in the range of hd-25-1 II's, grado sr225i's, stuff like that. Will probably be getting a line out from my iphone 4. 1st question-will the sound quality be greatly improved from my iphone 4? Second question-gain of 2, or gain of 3, according to what hps i have, will be getting? 3rd question-hows surface mount soldering? extremely hard? havent ever done it before. 4th question-high performance chips or extended run time chips? i think ill be using the high perf chips, due to the glory the AD8397ARDZ receives. Thanks!
Fin

 

[Fin1211]

bump

 

[Fin1211]

please!

 

[Yoga Flame]

Relax. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet.
 
1. That's a subjective question. The sound quality will almost certainly be better than from your iPhone alone. I say "almost certainly" because I have never listened to an iPhone 4 myself.
 
2. I recommend a gain of 2, since your headphones are relatively sensitive. This means you have more space to turn up the volume knob before it gets too loud. This is good because the RK97 pot commonly has channel imbalance at the very low levels.
 
3. The surface mount soldering on the mini3 is not hard, though it is not as easy as the through hole soldering. I suggest watching Tangent's surface mount soldering techniques if you haven't already.
 
4. High performance vs extended runtime. I chose the high performance version myself. But this depends on what your needs are.
 
 
Good luck.
 

 

[jr41]

I use my iphone 4 with my Mini³ . I take the line-out from the phone and feed it into the amp; it sounds very good, with ALAC quality music files of course. Putting the Mini³ into the mix provides a noticeable improvement over the iphone headphone out. I use this combination with my HD 25-1 II. I went with the default gain and it works well with the HD 25, I haven't tried any other headphones. If I were to build one again I would probably choose a slightly lower gain to give me a bit more movement on the volume control.
 
I went with the high performance version.
 
The two SMD op-amps aren't too difficult to solder onto the board. The trick is to use a good quality soldering iron onto which you can put a small enough tip. Using 63/37 solder with a rosin flux core also helps. The video Yoga Flame mentions is a good one, I also believe AMB links to one on this Mini³ pages, but I found AMB's simple instructions (again, on the Mini³ pages) on soldering the op-amps the most helpful. 
 

 

[Fin1211]

Quote:

Relax. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet.
 
1. That's a subjective question. The sound quality will almost certainly be better than from your iPhone alone. I say "almost certainly" because I have never listened to an iPhone 4 myself.
 
2. I recommend a gain of 2, since your headphones are relatively sensitive. This means you have more space to turn up the volume knob before it gets too loud. This is good because the RK97 pot commonly has channel imbalance at the very low levels.
 
3. The surface mount soldering on the mini3 is not hard, though it is not as easy as the through hole soldering. I suggest watching Tangent's surface mount soldering techniques if you haven't already.
 
4. High performance vs extended runtime. I chose the high performance version myself. But this depends on what your needs are.
 
 
Good luck.
 

Thanks very much-will do a gain of 2
 

 

[Fin1211]

Quote:

I use my iphone 4 with my Mini3. I take the line-out from the phone and feed it into the amp; it sounds very good, with ALAC quality music files of course. Putting the Mini³ into the mix provides a noticeable improvement over the iphone headphone out. I use this combination with my HD 25-1 II. I went with the default gain and it works well with the HD 25, I haven't tried any other headphones. If I were to build one again I would probably choose a slightly lower gain to give me a bit more movement on the volume control.
 
I went with the high performance version.
 
The two SMD op-amps aren't too difficult to solder onto the board. The trick is to use a good quality soldering iron onto which you can put a small enough tip. Using 63/37 solder with a rosin flux core also helps. The video Yoga Flame mentions is a good one, I also believe AMB links to one on this Mini³ pages, but I found AMB's simple instructions (again, on the Mini³ pages) on soldering the op-amps the most helpful. 
 

Thanks a ton-i have a weller p2c(butane)soldering iron with a decently small tip. do you use extra flux? And what is the sound sig like?
 

 

[jr41]

I'm not sure butane soldering irons are suitable for this kind of work? I have no experience with them.
 
I do have a flux pen, I used it on the op-amp pins and pads before soldering. Also, once I had tacked the first pin in place, I applied a healthy dab over all the pins to help ensure good joints.
 
I don't have much experience of describing sound signatures and I'm nervous of the risk of misleading people - such things are very subjective. What I will say is that to my ears, the Mini³ provided a cleaner sound over the iphone headphone out - switching back to the iphone headphone out sounded a bit mushy by comparison. Bass was increased a little too.

 

[Fin1211]

i cant see why its not suitable-i have a pretty small tip for it and it is adjustable from an equivalent of 25watts to 75watts. thanks
fin

 

[nikongod]

Butane soldering irons produce carbon monoxide. You run the risk of having CO buildup in your workspace unless you take VERY good precautions to ventilate well. 
 
The use of a Butante iron should be considered a last-resort. 
 
you will probably find that the "heating time" and "recycle time" between joints is NOT the same with a butane iron as an equivalent-power electric iron. And compared to a regulated iron both are a joke that took too long to tell.

 

[Fin1211]

Quote:

Butane soldering irons produce carbon monoxide. You run the risk of having CO buildup in your workspace unless you take VERY good precautions to ventilate well. 
 
The use of a Butante iron should be considered a last-resort. 
 
you will probably find that the "heating time" and "recycle time" between joints is NOT the same with a butane iron as an equivalent-power electric iron. And compared to a regulated iron both are a joke that took too long to tell.

are they really that bad? mine seems to be minimal, and i havent used it constantly for more than 10 minutes.
 
 

 

[Fin1211]

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/112423/butane-soldering-irons
according to some people over there, its fine

 

[psgarcha92]

OK,
this is an old thread, but, what gain do i set for the Mini^3, to run the RE0s?
i have a CMoy, and it has the default gain of 11, and i use the Pot at more than halfway position for volume.
i was planning a gain of 2 fr the Mini^3, but i dont think that would be satisfactory, what do u guys think?

 

[jr41]

What do you use as your source? If I recall correctly - and it's been a while since I last used my CMOY - a gain of 11 was high for my HD 25-1 II's, so I would have thought it would have been even higher for an in-ear phone. I seem to recall 7-8 o'clock was a comfortable listening level, but I could be wrong.
 
If you're listening at mid way volume with a gain of 11 to achieve a comfortable listening level on the CMOY then I would say you would want a higher gain in the Mini³. What ohm pot are you using on the CMOY? I can't help but think that your source must be very quiet. The HD 25s are a higher impedance than the RE0, but I don't know how their sensitivity compares.

 

[nullstring]

Quote:

OK,
this is an old thread, but, what gain do i set for the Mini^3, to run the RE0s?
i have a CMoy, and it has the default gain of 11, and i use the Pot at more than halfway position for volume.
i was planning a gain of 2 fr the Mini^3, but i dont think that would be satisfactory, what do u guys think?

 
Hmmmm... This is an interesting question...
So, gain is basically a multiplier. So, your CMOY will be able to have 5.5x the gain of the Mini^3 (at gain 2)
 
However, sound is perceived logarithmically.
20*log(11) = 20.8dB
20*log(5) = 14dB
20*log(2) = 6dB
10 dB is suppose to double the perceived loudness.
 
 
If you have your pot half way.. Lets go with 60% of 20.8dB = 12.5
(you can use straight multiplication here because your pot is also logarithmic)
 
So, at a gain of 5, you'll need to put your pot up to 90% to get the same listening level.
 
 
EDIT: Although.. I am thinking that maybe the output impedance matters in all this.
The gain is a voltage gain.. but I think the loudness works with the power gain.
So, I think this is wrong.
Ok, so, it's 20* instead of 10* for voltage gain. I've fixed above.
The conclusion is the same.. 90% of the pot to get to the same voltage.
 
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/32334-db-into-voltage-gain.html
 
I am still thinking output impedance matters in all this....