[skeptic]

Yup I didn't use any resisters. Just a cable with spaeds / bananas. I used three different pre amp. The pre on the AMR, the pre on the PWD mk2 and a AMB a20 pre. I haven't used a passive pre yet. Thats because the F1J use very little gain and my main purpose for it was the HE-6 so i needed an active pre.

I just do happened tp try the HD800 to see how it would sound. I was surprised to say the least.

Congrats on the F3. Im looking at a couple other First Watt amps to try as well

 
Thanks very much and for the info!  
 
I picked up the F3 clone about an hour ago and just hooked it up for the first time, powering some old Boston CR85's in my office.  Sounds exactly like I was hoping it would (notwithstanding that I'm using my iphone 6+ as a source for the moment).  In a nutshell, and with these speakers, I'd describe the F3 as having a beautiful, clear jfet sound, with very slight tonal warmth, and none of high order treble issues I associate with feedback amps.  So much better than the t-amp I previously had wired up to these speakers.  In any event, looking forward to trying it with a real source and hd800's soon!  The Neutrik xlr 4pin female jack I need to wire up my adapter has already shipped. 
 
Only negative so far is that this F3 does run just as hot as promised.  I imagine a real First Watt is a bit better in this respect, due to better heat sinks, as well as having been biased via a distortion analyzer.  I may well spring for the real deal one of these days after hopefully finding an opportunity to hear some of the others in the First Watt lineup.  The Rawson clones are still awesome for diy efforts though.  It is a real shame that he and Pass couldn't come to some arrangement where Rawson could serve as an authorized builder, along the lines of what bottlehead has done for those who don't want to take on the kits.  

 

[icebear]

First Watt is Nelson's own "kitchen table" approach and he is sharing a lot of info with the DIY community but this is on a non-profit basis. If someone is making a profit from building Nelson's shared designs, this is violating the "spirit". That might sound a little old fashioned in today's world but I would totally respect that.
 
I got a demo M2 (20W/8Ohms, class A, no feedback) as I don't want to spent the kind of money for a full fleged Pass Labs piece of equipment. Having said that, I am super happy with my 1st First Watt amp and I think that this "as simple circuit as possible" and "only as much power as really needed" yields some exceptional amplifiers. I am rediscovering my music collection ever since I got the M2 (about 6 month) and again and again I am stunned how much I have not heard with my previous amp. New smiles every time

 

[skeptic]

  First Watt is Nelson's own "kitchen table" approach and he is sharing a lot of info with the DIY community but this is on a non-profit basis. If someone is making a profit from building Nelson's shared designs, this is violating the "spirit". That might sound a little old fashioned in today's world but I would totally respect that.
 
I got a demo M2 (20W/8Ohms, class A, no feedback) as I don't want to spent the kind of money for a full fleged Pass Labs piece of equipment. Having said that, I am super happy with my 1st First Watt amp and I think that this "as simple circuit as possible" and "only as much power as really needed" yields some exceptional amplifiers. I am rediscovering my music collection ever since I got the M2 (about 6 month) and again and again I am stunned how much I have not heard with my previous amp. New smiles every time

 
I hear that, and I read a couple of the threads over on diyaudio regarding Rawson.  I just tend to wonder whether there was really any profit being made, since I gather that Rawson was only selling clone amps for ~$500-600 or so a pop before he stopped as a result of criticism on the forums.  A chassis like he used on this F3 probably cost him $250 + shipping, before you even consider the transformer and other components.  So if the guy was making somewhere in the range of minimum wage at the end of the day on his highly skilled labor, and helping folks who weren't up to trying an ambitious project like this on their own (I like diy a lot but find anything involving heavy case work and offboard heat sinks totally intimidating), I see it as more of a community service than a business - particularly when compared to the numerous builders and companies making big bucks on Kevin Gilmore designs.  
 
That said, I think stopping was the right move by Rawson since it sounded like Pass wasn't happy about how many clones he was putting up on A'gon.  Pass is a genius and a hero for his willingness to share his marvelous designs with the community.  Just wish he could have arrived at some appropriate arrangement with Rawson, or others like him, that would have helped get amps of this quality out to a wider audience.  If everyone and their brother had a First Watt or clone, instead of an O2, it would be a better (sounding) world.    

 

[preproman]

Not a builder but there's always Reno... 

 

[icebear]

...   
That said, I think stopping was the right move by Rawson since it sounded like Pass wasn't happy about how many clones he was putting up on A'gon.  ...

 
without knowing anything about that R. guy, this certainly sounds like for profit and not like help for friends who can't solder themsleves ...

 

[knowhatimean]

 

...   
That said, I think stopping was the right move by Rawson since it sounded like Pass wasn't happy about how many clones he was putting up on A'gon.  ...

 
without knowing anything about that R. guy, this certainly sounds like for profit and not like help for friends who can't solder themsleves ...

Soldering is not that tough !
 
Figuring out how to position the work so that you don't need 3 hands is a b#@ch !
 
That was the toughest part of hard wiring my HD800 today ! (Once you cut existing wires you gotta buck up ! )

 

[skeptic]

Agreed!  Soldering is definitely the easy part.  The hard part is the case work, wiring all the components up properly with a layout that minimizes noise and, in the case of solid state, making sure the active components are properly mounted to adequate heat sinks so they don't fail.  This is relatively simple when you're talking about kit amps that include on board heat sinks.  It becomes much more difficult with things like diy first watt builds, dynahi's, salas' shunt power supplies etc. where you are having to drill or tap holes in large off board heat sinks and mount the transistors to them directly.
 
Regarding Rawson, to clarify, I suggested that he was providing a valuable service to the audio enthusiast "community" (not simply personal friends) for which he evidently realized little, if any, profits.  (I found a thread on A'gon where he was once asked why he didn't have a website, and he explained that his stuff was priced to "fly just over the trees" in order to offset his overhead and that he was not looking to make a business or any notable profits out of selling product "built not of [his] own ingenuity."  In fact, Rawson's builds were so modestly priced that they tended to sell within a few minutes of being posted, and you can find forum commentary about problems arising from people simply buying and immediately flipping his builds for a profit.)  Again, I think it is to Rawson's personal credit that he hung up his hat when NP indicated he didn't want this to continue, but it was/is a clear loss to those who are interested in obtaining budget diy first watt builds.  Query, given that we are talking about open source designs, if someone ordered up boards and bought all the pieces on the BOM themselves, and then paid Rawson beer money or minimum wage etc. to assemble the amp, would that be problematic?  Or, bringing matters closer to home, does anyone think that there is a problem with head-fiers who commission Gilmore, Krell Klone, AMB etc. builds from long term members and MOT's like Corey at Solderworks, the guys at Rockhopper etc.?  I don't see the problem with any of them requesting reasonable compensation for their time and skill, above material costs, or everyone would want free builds.  It is an interesting line drawing exercise.  For those of you who have a problem with any of this, is your view that custom orders may be okay but building what you feel like building and then posting it to for sale forums is a problem?  Isn't the latter better for the community in a sense because purchasers aren't having to front costs?  Should we hold it against JDS and Mayflower that they are profiting on nwavguy's open source designs?  

 

[icebear]

W/o knowing any details, just what info you provide, my point of view :
As soon as you start offering something you made for sale i.e. vs money not only once but multiple times, then you are in business.
No matter how much/little money you make you are running some kind of business. If some scums buy your stuff and resell for a profit, even worse.
People buying this are not DIY anything, they just don't want to pay the full price the orig. developed deserves.
 
If you aquire all necessary parts and at least put that effort in and then privately contact someone with better technical skills to carry out the actual built for you, that's OK in my book. But selling built amps on A'gon at a number that attracts NP's attention is clearly crossing the line. I bought a demo M2 via Reno Hifi, an official First Watt retailer and still it is terriffic value.

 

[Bestsound]

I own a Woo WA22 headphone amp.  It drives an LCD-3 through a 4-ft ALO Reference 16 cable.  The WA22's original tubes have been replaced with a 7236 Sylvania matched pair, a 6SN7 Sylvania VT231 NOS Matched pair, and a 274B Sophia Princess Mesh Plate.

 

[Bestsound]

The WA22 is only slightly less capable than the WA5, which will perform better if you want to drive two phones at once.  If you try to drive two phones with the WA22, you will experience very slight sound degradation.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

this is a seriously amazing combo.
 

 

[Alexalder]

How is the Asgard2 doing? Considering it's like 1/10 of the price of other amps, i've read a lot but as expected lots of discording thoughts

 

[mcteague]

I have an Asgard 2 with my HD800 and love the setup. I don't hear any of the harshness nor sibilance so many seem to. However, I only listen to CDs that are well recorded and mastered. One day I did listen to a Pandora feed from my Oppo and was not too impressed. GIGO.
 
Tim

 

[Mr Rick]

  I have an Asgard 2 with my HD800 and love the setup. I don't hear any of the harshness nor sibilance so many seem to. However, I only listen to CDs that are well recorded and mastered. One day I did listen to a Pandora feed from my Oppo and was not too impressed. GIGO.
 
Tim

That is good news. My HD800s are due next week and I have a complement of Schiit to use with it. The Asgard 2 among them.

 

[Alexalder]

  I have an Asgard 2 with my HD800 and love the setup. I don't hear any of the harshness nor sibilance so many seem to. However, I only listen to CDs that are well recorded and mastered. One day I did listen to a Pandora feed from my Oppo and was not too impressed. GIGO.
 
Tim

Can you really hear the difference? I have pretty good ears for balance, soundstage, brightness et cetera but any high quality mp3 plays like lossless for me