[az2123]

Has anybody seen this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/mini3-Headphone-...3%3A1|294%3A50

I did some digging around, and found this related site:

http://www.dynahiaudio.com/content/m...hone-amplifier

$60 for a new Mini3 is extremely low, considering that buying a new one from Rockhopper or MisterX costs over twice as much! Perhaps, it's just a unassembled DIY kit and not a fully-built product? Does anybody know? Also, it ships from some city in Mexico, which is a little shady...

 

[RadiatedAnt]

I built my own mini3 and for 60 bucks that's kind of giving it away for free, I built the high performance amp as you can switch the op-amps, either burr-brown or Texas instruments (extended run-time) version

it's a sweet little amp with no distortion whatsoever I get more bass output on my Grado sr80's through this amp and my Ue super.fi 5 pro's sound livelier and detailed.

Edit: after some more inspection the ebay lists this amp using 2 rechargeable AA batteries when its a 9V 500mah battery thats needed. Seems fishy as the parts alone are worth more than 60 bucks. This is an AMBaudio amp. http://www.amb.org/audio/mini3/

 

[a1m80t]

glancing at it, it looks assembled, but the kicker that its shipped from mexico.

 

[FallenAngel]

Sounds VERY fishy, parts alone (with 9V rechargeable battery and charger) are over the asking price of $75 shipped.

 

[Solid Snake]

I would back off from this. I saw the exact same ad like maybe 8 or 10 months ago. It had the video and everything...Top it off with shipping from Mexico...

 

[jeffreyj900]

I wouldn't buy it either. If it was clear from the feedback that people had bought and were satisfied that would be one thing. On the other hand.... You could take the hit for the team and find out if it is legit

Consider it a public service in the name of Head-Fi!

 

[Koolpsych]

Look at that girl behind the amp. Buy it for the girl

 

[gadgetman]

The charger isn't included. Maybe he's selling it for $100

 

[Xan7hos]

I'm more interested in the lady in the magazine that the Mini3 is on

 

[.coco]

Hmm that is odd, a Mini3 is a bit more expensive to build that that. He might have just used a really cheap enclosure or something.. Most the price of it is in the enclosure.

 

[FallenAngel]

Nope, that's the Hammond 1455C80x (can't tell whether it has plastic or metal end-panels).

Some strange wording about charger:

"9 Volt rechargeable battery included with charger"
"Prices: US and Canada: $ 58 (without charger) + shpping"

Besides the spelling mistake

, the wording is confusing. I asked the eBay seller how the parts work out to this price.

Perhaps the person is simply a DIYer who has an extra amp and is selling below cost, should always give people a chance before jumping on them.

 

[XXII]

Well if you look at the guy's feedback. His 5 most recent transactions are all TI calculators. Each of which he claims to be "only used for one class". A bit dodgy...

 

[applegd]

Interesting! If that guy use the parts with quality same as the ones ordered from digikey/mouse, not sure how much he can profit from the sales.... Maybe his daily job hourly rate is less than 1 USD....

 

[FallenAngel]

Got response from eBay seller - does not come with charger.

Still VERY close to parts cost, no profit unless buying enough parts to build 25 units, but who knows.