*** The DIY Audio Thread ***

[adamau5]

its either your source, or you amp. My starving student had no distortion at high volumes.

whats the source?

lol, i just dug out my pics of my first point to point project, which was a very very early starving student.

ratsnest.....

 

[J1234]

ALAC > Fubar II USB DAC > Starving Student.

 

[adamau5]

should be fine. sounds like a prob with the amp. have you got pics of the internals?

 

[J1234]

I haven't no, not at home at the moment. It's very messy though, which probably explains why.

 

[adamau5]

did you solder the resistors to the fet legs? could be oscillations.

 

[J1234]

I did yes. Altough I probably did something else incorrectly inside.

Also, when the POT is all the way down, I can here music through one side which I'm sure shouldn't be normal.

 

[adamau5]

sounds like your input wiring is wrong. that shouldnt, and couldnt happen if it were correct. Should be fixable.

 

[Yaka]

i had that on my first p2p starving student. it was way way messy and ended up replacing the pot and it stopped happening. think someone on headfi said they were suprised it was the pot tho

 

[J1234]

Meh, just bought a Little Dot Mk III off someone on Head-Fi. Looking forward to doing some tube rolling now.

It comes with the power tubes swapped out with some 6N6P tubes.

 

[adamau5]

good stuff. should have fun with it. 6n6p are excellent tubes.

I cased up my bantamdac today. the little beatsy sounds good.

 

[J1234]

Also, going to change the OPAMP in my DAC in the next couple of days. The GD Audio OPA-Earth is supposed to be an extremely good upgrade over the existing OPA2604 and was recommended to me by someone who has the same DAC.

http://www.audio-gd.com/enweb/pro/diy/OPA.htm

Looks very interesting, not too expensive either

 

[Founder_film]

Hi again, just finished a layout for a PSU to be used with my LM1875 amplifier.

Just wondering if you guys could cast your eyes over it just for a sanity check?

Thanks

 

[Kanifee]

Started reboxing my LM3886 AMP, decided on a custom build and got started about 2 weeks ago. im about 75% through and test fitted the hardware into the new case, all i need to do is add trim and paint the rest of the perspex but i couldnt hold off on my music so i got it together enough to have a working amp for my pc while i wait to buy more Spray paint.
Some how in the reboxing my amp has picked up a massive increase in bass, it had plenty before but now the bass just seems a lot harder and defined. i cant figure out why as all i have done is resolder the power lines from the psu to the amp boards to fit the new size of the case and recased it, i have used smaller heatsinks but would this make a differance?
I guess im just amazed at how much deeper the bass has got, any ideas on how any one?

some shots t give you an idea of the sinks, thwere 360 gpu sinks.

 

[p4radox]

Looks good damian. Any chance of some internal shots?

 

[Kanifee]

Im not one for clean and tidy but hey, here goes.

230va 2x25v was the biggest i could have and it only just about fit!!

like i say, im not one for neat, i get things done though it may not be perfect, one thing i am pretty proud of is the finish on this case.
Makes samsung lcd's look Matt black!!!!

i tryed so hard to get rid of the dust but it just wouldnt budge from the shot the reflection though in this shot is pretty impressive.

 

[adamau5]

did you paint that????

 

[Kanifee]

Only the back side, looks really good though for painted perspex.

 

[Yaka]

that looks great.

 

[J1234]

Got my Little Dot Mk III today, stuck some Mullard EF91 M8083 driver tubes (matched military pair) in it, it sounds absolutely fantastic from the brief amount of time spent listening. The tubes were NOS so they're burning in right now with some white and pink noise.

Looking forward to having a good listen tomorrow. Pictures:

 

[Yaka]

that looks great, how much better is it sound wise to the SS?