DIY Headphone Amplifier

[Rroff]

Pretty happy with this setup after a few days of using it - there definitely was a bit of burn in required - sounds far more balanced now with reasonable bass and less "bright". While I do miss the unnaturally good bass of the 2228/8066 combinations this has a nicely balanced sound, fairly crisp and clean overall and the 2228's mellow/smooth mid-range goes well with the unhurried decay/tonality of the 600s - some might find the 2228 too slow for other headphones however.

Soundstage could be a bit wider but not too bad - good low fatigue setup for longer listening though probably not ideal for analytical type use (I'd definitely be swapping the 2228 out for something like that).

 

[Rroff]

Sounds like you are doing the solid state version of tube rolling - there's your next project, a high quality tube amp

Sadly like my solid state bass too much for tubes - love the mid-range sound of tubes but the bass isn't my tastes.

 

[Rroff]

Noticed an odd one today heh - when using sensitive IEMs with this amp and someone rings the doorbell (really old electric one with electric magnets, etc.) there is corresponding interference in the headphones - must be a fair bit of EMI or something coming off that bell :S

 

[Rroff]

Can't seem to find out easily what kind of frequencies interference from the doorbell/doorbell transformer would be on :S the audio input side is fairly well isolated from <~1.6Hz and >~500KHz and the feedback loop is decently short - not sure if it might also be coming in from the power supply side.

Not a big deal though as it mostly seems to be free from interference and background noise - I literally have to put my mobile phone on top of the amp itself to pickup any interference from its radio i.e. just before an incoming call.

The amp is also sitting right over the doorbell vertically so probably less than 6 foot separation.