[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoRedwings19 Hi Mike (pinkfloyd) how would you describe the sound of the WNA 2 compared to the version 1.?

Hi Mike,

I've had the pleasure of listening to the MKl and MKll back to back and to be honest there's very little in it. That is, of course, the MKl with LM6171 and not the standard Mkl which came with OPA134 or OPA627 opamps... the MKll is streets ahead of the original Mkl and features a capacitance multiplier etc. but compared to a MKl with LM6171 and associated tweaks it's not night and day but, on the whole, I think I prefer the delivery of the Mkll to the MKl.... it does everything the MKl does but with slightly more balls... that's as best as I can describe it from memory.

All the best.

Mike.

 

[FritzS]

BD 139/140 is runnig out - RS Austria have it not in stock,
similar (and newer) is BD 239/240 (B,C).

What value of HFE is recommend? -xx is the HFE type
BD139, BD139-10, BD139-16
BD140, BD140-10, BD140-16

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FritzS BD 139/140 is runnig out - RS Austria have it not in stock, similar (and newer) is BD 239/240 (B,C). What value of HFE is recommend? -xx is the HFE type BD139, BD139-10, BD139-16 BD140, BD140-10, BD140-16

Case style T0-126

Rapid have them BD139 BD140

White Noise Audio also supply them

Maplin also sell them

All the best.

Mike.

 

[skyskraper]

what about farnell?
http://at.farnell.com/jsp/home/homepage.jsp

 

[Loko]

Hello there,

Well I got a pair of Sennheiser HD595's bout 8 weeks ago and I have to say I'm falling in love with the whole head-fi thing again!

Recently moved house and I don't really have enough room to place my acoustic energy floorstanders in the entertainment room with pc & hi-fi. Hence I gave the Senn's a go after meaning to buy another seat of headphones after my old faithful AKG's passed away.

Anyway! Digressing, after burn in I'm quite enjoying playback from my Sony CDP-XB930 (great little cd player on a side note) and I was keen to get a headphone amp. So, after reading away for a few weeks in the various forums/sites (including Rock Grotto, nice work there Pinkie) I thought I'd have a go at building a WNA mk II amp. Got in touch with Dr. White and made a payment into his account last week but since haven't heard anything back from him! I hope I got the right guy!

Anyone know if he's away somewhere? Seem to have trouble getting through to email him, couple messages bounced.

That aside, any tips on putting the kit together? After reading a lot, what op amps do you think I should use? I'm confused!

Also any recommendations on caps? I thought I may give some standard black gates a go, since I can source them cheap from work.

Look forward to your opinions. See you around here more...

Loko

(I feel a horrible DIY addiction coming on...)

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loko Hello there

Hi Loko! Welcome to Head-Fi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loko Well I got a pair of Sennheiser HD595's bout 8 weeks ago and I have to say I'm falling in love with the whole head-fi thing again!

Get out while you can..... it's addictive here!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loko Anyway! Digressing, after burn in I'm quite enjoying playback from my Sony CDP-XB930 (great little cd player on a side note) and I was keen to get a headphone amp. So, after reading away for a few weeks in the various forums/sites (including Rock Grotto, nice work there Pinkie) I thought I'd have a go at building a WNA mk II amp. Got in touch with Dr. White and made a payment into his account last week but since haven't heard anything back from him! I hope I got the right guy! Anyone know if he's away somewhere? Seem to have trouble getting through to email him, couple messages bounced.

I was chatting to David this afternoon Loko and his ISP has been suffering some technical problems with their e-mail..... they are working on it and things should be back to normal with his e-mail soon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loko That aside, any tips on putting the kit together? After reading a lot, what op amps do you think I should use? I'm confused! Also any recommendations on caps? I thought I may give some standard black gates a go, since I can source them cheap from work.

I'd start with the kit in stock form (LM6171 opamp) and build it as per the manual says.... sounds awesome. Once you've had the amp for a while you can either just enjoy the music or try rolling some opamps etc. I'd definitely build it up as the manual says to start with though just so you can get a feel of it.

As for caps.. board space is pretty tight so "huge" exotics like Black Gates are probably a tad on the large size. There was a tendancy for the LM6171 to oscillate in the Mkl if you used low impedance caps but that doesn't apply to the MKll so really you can use any cap of your choice. I've used Cerafine, Nichicon Fine Gold and Rubycon caps and they all perform very well.... you may want to try the Panasonic FM series of capacitor, I've tried them in another amp and they are absolutely fantastic.... I fully intend to use them when I build my WNA over the Christmas period.

 

[12796]

I am using black gates and vishays now - I will leave it a few weeks and describe my impressions.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by biovizier I am using black gates and vishays now - I will leave it a few weeks and describe my impressions.

Ah, so you decided to go with the Black Gates then? They take ages to form so, yes, you're probably best leaving them for a few weeks before they will reach their optimum performance level.

All the best.

Pinkie.

 

[Loko]

Pinkie!

Thanks for your reply. It's too late now, the damage is done, I'm hooked again with the hi-fi virus...

Got my pcb today, little dissapointed after reading the instructions. There doesn't seem to be much detail there, maybe I'm just tiired after a long day!

Will give it a better read again tomorrow.

Just collating the parts list in Farnell. Struggling to find 10ohm 0.1% resistors. Any suggestions where to get them from? AudioNotes tantalum's are £2 squid each!

They are in the signal path so I guess they'd rather be precision resistors and not 1p items!

Also, a question regarding the ferrite bead (R4), the instructions don't have any detail about it. Is there any particular ferrite grade required? What did you guys use?

That's bout it for now. Will investigate the caps and let you know which I pick. Thanks again for your help PinkMeister

Cheers,

Wako

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loko Got my pcb today, little dissapointed after reading the instructions. There doesn't seem to be much detail there, maybe I'm just tiired after a long day! Will give it a better read again tomorrow.

There's really not a lot to read and unless you're using latching pins you can totally ignore the long screed that instructs you how to crimp a latching pin. The amp build is pretty much painting by numbers ie "solder C1 to position C1 on the board" and the only real part where you have to use your brain is when you connect the peripherals..... get those components onto the board and all will become clear the more you populate the board.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loko Just collating the parts list in Farnell. Struggling to find 10ohm 0.1% resistors. Any suggestions where to get them from? AudioNotes tantalum's are £2 squid each! They are in the signal path so I guess they'd rather be precision resistors and not 1p items!

10ohm is 10ohm period IMO unless you are one of these people who believes that low temp coefficient resistors make an audible difference in a headphone amp then it's ok for you to use bog standard 1% metal film resistors and match them up as close to 10ohm as you can. I certainly wouldn't pay 2 quid for one resistor (£2 for 500 yes) especially when the audible benefits of such a resistor equal "zilch".... unless you've got the ears of a bat 10ohm 1% metal film is perfectly acceptable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loko Also, a question regarding the ferrite bead (R4), the instructions don't have any detail about it. Is there any particular ferrite grade required? What did you guys use?

It's an axial ferrite bead and I was the first to try one in this position (R4) the one I use is from Rapid If you can't source them don't worry as a zero ohm link works fine in R4 (zero ohm resistor or a wire jumper) If you can get hold of the ferrite inductors then you can use them in place of all the zero ohm links (jumper positions) across the board....... helps guard against RFI

[/QUOTE]

You'll get 99% of what you need at Rapid components with the CRD's (CCD's) being probably the hardest parts to find........ here they are. you'll want the 3.5mA and 5.6mA "Axial" types.

All the best.

Mike.

PS: if you find any parts of the instructions a bit hard to follow then just ask, there are plenty of people here who will help you out....... best thing to do for starters is to populate the board with the components and then take it from there.

 

[FritzS]

Hi,
I order my kit now - but one question - have you any experience about other input caps - David use RIFA PHE 426 4,7uF 250V - but it gives some others (non expensive) such as RIFA PHE 450, WIMA MKP 4, WIMA MKP 10, Axon, Solen (from Percyaudio).

As output cap I will use a Black Gate Nx 1000uF 25V non-polar - possibly bypassed with a Black Gate 10 uF 20 V N or a polypropylene

For other electrolytics I want to use Nichicon FG / KZ bypassed

My headphone is a Senn HD 600

PS: It is so silent here - Advent and Christmas season?

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nph134 I've just ordered some HD650s and am getting a WNA headphone amp for my xmas prezzie (perk of having David as a father).

A little birdie tells me you got a lovely balanced WNA from Santa

Right...... where's the under the hood pics?

 

[nph134]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd A little birdie tells me you got a lovely balanced WNA from Santa Right...... where's the under the hood pics?

hehe I sure did, I'll do a little review and post some pics later today.

I'll maybe do it in a new thread though as santa also brought me a custom cable for my recently purchased HD650s, I also bought a Sony d-ne20 PCDP and a CMOY in a zippo. This was me lookin for a way to enjoy music still given that I'm travelling abroad lots just now with work and can't bring my beloved Tannoy Mercury M2 speakers and hi-fi seperates around with me

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nph134 hehe I sure did, I'll do a little review and post some pics later today. I'll maybe do it in a new thread though as santa also brought me a custom cable for my recently purchased HD650s, I also bought a Sony d-ne20 PCDP and a CMOY in a zippo. This was me lookin for a way to enjoy music still given that I'm travelling abroad lots just now with work and can't bring my beloved Tannoy Mercury M2 speakers and hi-fi seperates around with me

Great! get the pics up man, I can't wait to see the balanced WNA

 

[nph134]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd Great! get the pics up man, I can't wait to see the balanced WNA

put a few quick photos in another thread...more to come later