Headphone amplifier

Hello my friends...

i´m not sure if i´m posting at the right place... (sorry if not).

I would like to build a headphone amplifier. I´m looking on the internet to get more information, but I found only huge lists of diy amplifiers and i´m lost! lol I really need some tips and suggestions to find the right project for my needs.

I´m a mixing engineer... I do work with my speakers but I like to check my mixes on the headphones. I usually use in ear phones sennheiser and want to buy a Unique Melody Miracle. I´m pluging my phones straight to my RME board... it doesnt sound bad, but it´s a bit harsh to me. I´m not an amplifier expert but I did use some better amplifiers and I know some of them has a more smooth sound and thats what I´m looking for. Something smoother, vibrant... with a more exciting sound... maybe a tube amplifier will give me that sound, I don´t know.

I really need some suggestions and what kind of sound I can get from each amplifier.

Hope to get some tips...

thanks a lot  ;D

Personally, I'd always go with this one:
https://www.jdslabs.com/products/35/objective2-headphone-amplifier/

Or your favourite variant.

It was designed, with a rather interesting history, as a part of this blog: http://nwavguy.blogspot.com.au/ and spawned here: http://nwavguy.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/o2-headphone-amp.html.

What I like the most is that it's been tested thoroughly and scientifically and pushes through the typical B.S. you find attached to high end audiophile amplifiers.

It's also cheap enough that DIY'ing something to compete with it would be a challenge.

Just a suggestion though. Good luck.

He does pile up the bullshit though, page after page of comparison, challenges to himself, requirements,had to dig pretty deep to find a schematic to see what makes it tick. I can't recall whether it was LME49600 based or not. But that's a great chip to be building a headphone amp with. You really need only a few parts. It is expensive though, so you could go with the tried and true opamp and BD139-BD140 follower pair, cheap as chips, somewhat more parts. If you need less drive you can go with BC327-BC337.

I have boards for the two last variants, and a layout for the LME49600 version (to etch your own boards). I also built an amp with 4 opamp stages in parallel. Sounds great but a little bit of a faff to build and the (SMT) opamps get pretty hot.

PM me if interested.

Jarno said:

He does pile up the bullsh*t though, page after page of comparison, challenges to himself, requirements,had to dig pretty deep to find a schematic to see what makes it tick.

Click to expand...

I completely disagree, I don't see any "bullsh*t".

He uses the scientific method, something most people in high-end audio don't even seem to know exists.
He publishes the methods used to make measurements, and the likely accuracy of those measurements (which isn't typical).
He dispels myths via measurement and makes a lot of extremely interesting points.

But sure, it's not a short read, but I don't think it should be, it was clearly a long journey for him.

I just wish more people were as thorough as he is/was.

There is always Jakob's headphone amp with PCB designs ( I think Gustav has PCBs )

Some links:

http://groupdiy.com/index.php?action=search2

That O2 looks very interesting.......