*** The DIY Audio Thread ***

Hmm stock i found it grainy and almost noisy so to speak. The bass was a little weak and it felt a little uncomfortable to listen to at times. The biggest thing to benefit from the tant's was the bass, it seems to pack a far bigger punch now without being overpowering, i still need to purchase some blackgates for the opamps power section though that is soon to be taken care of. The highs still sound tangy with harsh notes but that is a common pitfall of the lm3886 gainclones, ill look into all that once this project is finished as it isn't going to be the final amp in the set up.

Im definitely in need of a new opamp, how much are these? the shigaclone is my source so im pretty confident in it's quality, i think once the blackgates are on and the new opamp is installed the power amp will be the weakest link so it will be time to move foreword with the amp10 side of things, one amp at first then another soon after, i cant bring myself to bye 2 at once! One thing im undecided about if im honest is the need for a opamp on the DAC for long term plans, is it really needed along side a active preamp and power amp or is it overkill, i definatly want a pre so its something ill have to decide sooner rather than later.

Here is my new 75Ohm high grade DIY digital coax interconnect, made today
S5030586.jpg

New trafo does the job nicely, will be housed seperatly to the DAC along side all the other trafos the system will need.
S5030583.jpg

Tants installed and on the go
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close up
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And my shiga playing my backup of War of the worlds, a real treat to listen to on this system, its my benchmark as i know it well.
S5030581.jpg


Well there she is, im finally making some progress again, kills me to have it sitting aside idally but money makes the hobby go round unfortunately!
 
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ChrissyT88 said:
Its a bit ghetto - the ice cream box holds the power supply, but for now it works. I think im gonna buy a passive pre kit from dantimax to control the volume + output to an LCD, and i have yet to decide on the enclosure, but there are some mighty fine examples on head-fi, so i feel that there may be some significant expense still to go...
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Lol, don't worry about how ghetto it is, I'm listening to my amp in a shoebox right now and couldn't be happer! :D

I'm halfway thru my Amp9 Basic now, so let me know if you find any nice enclosures... I'm tempted to make one myself out of Alu, but it takes ages!
 
I have 4 cases on the way, two 230 X 170's (one for a mate) and two 330 X 230. One is for a full tube headphone amp (tube recitified, futterman output stages) and the other is for a possible gaincloce
 
Hey guys,

I've been reading this thread again and really liking the idea of building a DAC and an amp. I love how compact they're. I'm currently running my amp + bookshelvs from my laptop audio out. I'd like to build a DAC and then have this feed into a reasonable but compact AMP. I only use my system for easy listening with a bit of metal now and again.

I'm a complete newbie to this, however, so what would you guys suggest I went for, as a beginner? I've got a reasonable amount of cash spare, but don't want to go silly. So I'd also need a bit of advice in what I would need to purchase to get this up and running. Also, I'm not sure on whether tube or chip is best? What's the idea? I like the look of tube amps ;)

It would be my first real go at soldering too so a simple one would be good! ;)
 
Got a huge box of stuff yesterday, but had no chance to do anything with it all yet. Social life has taken priority over the electronics for now unfortunately.

Also, the optical cable I ordered was 3.5mm to 3.5mm which wasn't really what I wanted, so the DAC will have to wait for now.:(

Damian, how much did you spend on the coax cable and the Tantalums?
 
again, to anyone that is a beginner. Do not pick the alien dac as your first project. ITs a tough build and one little error tends to fry the main chip.
 
damian666 said:
Wouldnt a DAC, a high speed digital circuit be a tad advanced any way for a first project? better stick with an analogue amp, get to know the ropes and then after a little research attempt a DAC?
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Yeah, most likely. I want to build an analogue amp as well, so which would I be best starting off with?

Thanks :)
 
I don't think the alien kit will be too tough as it comes with everything you need, and also I bought the version which has the DAC chip pre-soldered to the board....it's true the SMC soldering is not as easy but I don't think it will be too tough to get the hang of...

This is the kit I got, also it came out to something like 27 or 28 quid shipped, so if you mess up it's not a huge loss. Not like doing your first vmod on a 300 quid GPU or something.
http://www.glassjaraudio.com/product.sc?categoryId=4&productId=18


on another note my stuff for the enclosure has just arrived...I'm hoping it will be big enough to house the Alien along with a CMOY....

img3423ze8.jpg
 
I had never attempted any real electronics work before building a simple CMOY, and then an amp6 from 41hz.com. I would advise that you try to get as much soldering experience as possible before you attempt to build anything you plan to use in the long run - i spent ages troubleshooting my first amp6 (with lots of help from people on here), but with better soldering skill im sure it would have been a lot easier. I think the CMOY headphone amp was a pretty good first build - it sounds good and is pretty cheap, although it wont be able to drive speakers etc.

As for the enclosures, i really like the look of this:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/post-pics-your-builds-85561/index328.html

(the build by Ferrari is quoted by someone else on this page, although i amnot sure where the actual pic is in this huge thread)

This is the look i would like to go for - the galaxy enclosure from modushop with a fairly simple front panel, although i would like to add an LCD display. How much is the postage Mike? Has anyone had them machined by modushop + rough cost?
 
Mmm... i have just measured the DC offset and have got some odd readings. To clarify, i am measuring by shorting the inputs, disconnecting the speakers and turning the amp on + leaving it running. I am then measuring between the +ve and -ve points of each terminal block with the multimeter set to DC voltage. I get the following readings:

Channel 1: 103 mV (mmm... not good)
Channel 2: -39 mV (??)

The second reading would suggest a short to me, although i cannot see a short anywhere. The first reading just doesnt look too good (although it actually says in the sec section on the manual Max offset voltage 150 mV, so i presume that 103 is OK, but not great). Can someone confirm that i am measuring correctly? Is there anything i can do to correct the problem? I notice adam you pointed out before that the output caps should block the DC offset - i have cleaned the solder joints etc and cannot see any problems with them. Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks
 
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