General Headphone Audio

[Rroff]

There is merit to the hand-solder way, there is a skill to it, there is an art to it but to an electron, it really makes no difference. The ONLY tangible value I can see is that if he test each part for tolerances that is higher than the manufactured tolerance then on paper, it will be a more "controlled" and "better" product. It certain takes a lot more time, which is what you are paying for,

I tried this when I was building various headphone amplifier designs but truth is just the act of soldering, a few hours of use, different operating temperature, etc. and it is all much of a muchness and a part which might have measured well on initial selection may not be much different to any other ultimately.

From a quick look it doesn't seem like the make and model of components chosen is particularly special either, though from a quick glance the PCB and general layout looked better than your average mass market commercial production.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I tried this when I was building various headphone amplifier designs but truth is just the act of soldering, a few hours of use, different operating temperature, etc. and it is all much of a muchness and a part which might have measured well on initial selection may not be much different to any other ultimately.

From a quick look it doesn't seem like the make and model of components chosen is particularly special either, though from a quick glance the PCB and general layout looked better than your average mass market commercial production.

So for example, take one of the famous pedal, the Klon. The builder originally claimed he used some special diodes* but if we accept each component has a tolerence of say + or - say 5 and one can be +2 and next one can be -2. Due to the nature of the pedal, you have a knob to adjust volume and gain. The result really would be to get the same sound, one pedal you might have to turn to 12 o'clock for that sound and another you turn it to 12:15. They still can sound the same. Some people will turn it around and say "one has more gain"....you know you can turn up the gain right?

Or even loosen the screw on the knob and reset the position so now its the same gain at 12 o'clock.

*So special he wanted to keep it a secret so he put on a lot of goo on top of the circuit to hide it initially, he even done some interview saying how special they are and the pedal won't sound the same without them blah blah. Later on when people found out what that diode was....which isn't special and its cheap, and he also licenced a 3rd party to make small batches for him without these parts in a new edition, he said he was able to make the new one sound the same without them!

 

[Things change I've changed]

One thing I do definitely prefer is through-hole soldering for components but that's becoming less common now for obvious reasons.